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Returning to Canada after years teaching abroad... where to
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canadashirleyblue



Joined: 06 May 2007
Posts: 162

PostPosted: Tue Jun 12, 2007 8:50 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Dreaming Saturn -

You say that British Degrees are seen as equal to Canadian Degrees. Too bad Canadian degrees aren't equal to each other! My degree from Ontario would need to be mostly redone because I have not taken English lit, Math, Science or Canadian Studies as part of it. That's for primary though.
If anyone else is interested the link for BC is http://bcct.ca/certification/requirements.aspx

As for TESL I have done a cert TESOL from Trinity College London. So it looks like I would need to have a PLAR assessment done for $270. And then there is certification for $90. And you have to be a TESL Canada member first. I can't figure that one.

Is there any way of determining whether your certificates are from a valid institution BEFORE you give the nice man your money?

I'm afraid the view isn't as rosy from my glasses as from yours!
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dreaming_saturn



Joined: 25 May 2004
Posts: 37
Location: Netherlands

PostPosted: Wed Jun 13, 2007 1:25 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

canadashirleyblue wrote:
Dreaming

I'm afraid the view isn't as rosy from my glasses as from yours!

Not that rosy, as I said my teaching certification is not valid, in fact I'd need to train up another year at minimum for the BC college of teachers. This is after three years of practice teaching in Dutch high schools, over 200 hours of in-class supervised and unsupervised teaching to meet the Dutch requirements.

I was just saying that It seems my by BA will be seen as a BA, as far as I can gather nobody will be questioning the fact that I graduated from University. Fingers crossed

Also not too happy about paying for TESL Canada recognition.
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GambateBingBangBOOM



Joined: 04 Nov 2003
Posts: 2021
Location: Japan

PostPosted: Wed Jun 13, 2007 1:41 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

canadashirleyblue wrote:
Dreaming Saturn -

You say that British Degrees are seen as equal to Canadian Degrees. Too bad Canadian degrees aren't equal to each other! My degree from Ontario would need to be mostly redone because I have not taken English lit, Math, Science or Canadian Studies as part of it. That's for primary though.
If anyone else is interested the link for BC is http://bcct.ca/certification/requirements.aspx



Those are becoming or are now requirements of primary level B.Ed programmes in Ontario, as well.

The senior high B.Ed from the UK are still equivalent (so long as you have two teachables that count in Ontario, or wherever you want to go) and the Junior Intermediate division is still equivalent so long as you have a single teachable for Ontario.

Being equivalent doesn't mean that there are plenty of jobs available, though. And there is still the Catholic system that is an equal oppotunity employer for Catholic-ONLY people that are half the jobs in the province (based on it being about half the publically funded schools, but more than half the vancancies seem to be in the Catholic system).

Quote:

As for TESL I have done a cert TESOL from Trinity College London. So it looks like I would need to have a PLAR assessment done for $270. And then there is certification for $90. And you have to be a TESL Canada member first. I can't figure that one.


Couldn't you do an ESL add-on from a Faculty of Education? They are often run over the summer.

Quote:
Is there any way of determining whether your certificates are from a valid institution BEFORE you give the nice man your money?



No, I don't think there is, because if a company or school published the information that "this certificate will not lead to TESL Canada or TESL Ontario" then many people wouldn't take it. The only exception I can think of are the universities and colleges. They state on their TESL certificate and also on B.Ed Adult Education (Brock U) as well as M.Ed programmes web sites that those programmes do not lead to an OCT certification. But a private business isn't going to do that kind of thing.

And you mentioned that you're from Ontario, so you may 'need' TESL Ontario certification as well, depending on what it is you want to do (especially if it's LINC). IMO TESL Ontario is even more of a scam than TESL Canada, but I think the training at the universities and colleges is really great. It's just too bad that it gets you a 'certificate' instead of a 'B.Ed TESL'- which is what it used to be called at Brock U, and therefore had a much higher marketability outside of Ontario (where there are almost no good jobs in English language teaching), or a PGCE TESL. This would be a way of getting around calling it a 'B.Ed degree'- the Faculties of Education/OCT don't like the the thought of things outisde of recognized Faculties of Education leading to that qualification. University TESL certificates are one academic year- the same as a B.Ed in Ontario (something else that many people outside of Canada don't understand is why the Faculties of Education get away with calling a one-year programme a Bachelor Degree), and at the same time it would give people a description that means something in an international market, because PGCE is the British term for a consecutive B.Ed, and a 'certificate' can be anything from a weekend at Aunt Sally's TESOL Boutique to a month long CELTA, to the same length of time as a B.Ed. Also, if you do a university TESL certificate and then teach overseas, you will still need an MA in TESOL or Applied Linguistics, which means doing it the distance route for most people. Those programmes do not grant transfer credit and yet just duplicate the same thing as a TESL certificate from a university in Ontario, but you need to write a dissertation at the end. They cost around CDN$30,000. So that's a year's salary in a high paying country just to write one or two papers, edit and rehand in work already done and change the letters on your resume. The Ontario university TESL certificate course providers themselves say that

1. It is their job to teach you how to teach, not to show you how to get a job.
2. The certificates are for teaching in Ontario, not overseas; so the fact that the name of the qualification or the money spend/lost due to inability to work fulltime for a year, is like a lead weight on someone's career outside of Ontario is irrelavant.
3. Because number one is the case, it is none of the course provider's concern that there are very few jobs in Ontario and that this forces people to put themselves in the overseas market (see number 2).
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canadashirleyblue



Joined: 06 May 2007
Posts: 162

PostPosted: Wed Jun 13, 2007 3:58 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Thanks for that information Gam!

I am teaching overseas (well I'm on holiday right now!) but I HAVE to return to Canada. I am nearing retirement and in order to collect my old age pension I will have to spend my final year in Canada (it's not like that for everyone but for me and most people born before 1952 it is). I have 5 years left.

So I have been exploring my options. They seem pretty limited. Even the dole doesn't sound promising!

Maybe I'll have to set up my own "school".
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chola



Joined: 07 Apr 2004
Posts: 92
Location: the great white north

PostPosted: Thu Jun 14, 2007 5:01 am    Post subject: returning to canada.. Reply with quote

Canada=Land of the Tax Grab!
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canadashirleyblue



Joined: 06 May 2007
Posts: 162

PostPosted: Fri Jun 15, 2007 2:30 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

dreaming saturn
Could you tell us about the outrageous taxes in the Netherlands? I thought they were outrageous in Canada!

I am also suspicious that there must be "reasons" for those school boards training their own ESL teachers. Do they get money for doing it? Or maybe they figure they won't have to have ESL departments and hire extra teachers if all the regular teaching staff have to be able to do the job? Am I jaded or what?
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VanKen



Joined: 29 Oct 2003
Posts: 139
Location: Calgary, AB Canada

PostPosted: Sat Jun 16, 2007 9:42 pm    Post subject: Who Offers Training that is Recognized by TESL Canada? Reply with quote

canadashirleyblue wrote:
Is there any way of determining whether your certificates are from a valid institution BEFORE you give the nice man your money?

You bet there is! TESL Canada's website lists all the institutions that offer TESL certificates that they will recognize.

Then you have to find the schools that require that their teachers all have training that is recognized by TESL Canada, which are generally speaking schools that are members of CAPLS. (See page 17 of the CAPLS Quality Standards doc.) Membership in CAPLS is usually posted on a school's website under "Affiliations". CAPLS has a list of the language schools that are members at http://www.capls.com/en/study/school_search_results.asp?filter=true&prov=Any&snav=2.
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GambateBingBangBOOM



Joined: 04 Nov 2003
Posts: 2021
Location: Japan

PostPosted: Mon Jun 18, 2007 12:41 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

canadashirleyblue is from Ontario. The requirements for TESL Ontario membership are far mroe than the requrements for TESL Canada.
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Vanica



Joined: 31 Aug 2006
Posts: 368
Location: North Carolina

PostPosted: Sat Jun 23, 2007 2:01 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

choctawmicmac wrote:
Just don't come to Quebec. No matter what people say about the need for English teachers here, because no one really wants to learn English you will get nowhere. Unless you have contacts here already. It's more about who you know than what you can do.


Every school I visited said they are not offering English in the school because they don't have a teacher. Go to the district and apply because we need someone who speaks English and French. But I applied to every single school district in Montreal, North Shore and South Shore (this is a big area). Not even one single response.
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dreaming_saturn



Joined: 25 May 2004
Posts: 37
Location: Netherlands

PostPosted: Sun Jun 24, 2007 1:14 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

[quote="canadashirleyblue"]dreaming saturn
Could you tell us about the outrageous taxes in the Netherlands? I thought they were outrageous in Canada!

/quote]
About the situation in NL:
Well, the cost of living is high, groceries for one thing are 2 - 3 times more expensive, Eating out is also very pricey. We own a small apartment in the Randstad area ( the triangle between Amsterdam/Rotterdam. The Hague) which is the only place to find teaching work, really, and things like water, electricity, cable, etc are are comparatively very high. Income tax for my husband is 40%, mine 35%. Things like council tax, health care, insurance all add up to much higher than they did in Canada, but wages aren't much higher. We have much less space and pay dearly for a garden that's maybe 4 square meters. Hard to save, thus I am in Korea saving up for the Move to Canada soon.

We have decided, tentatively, on Vancouver or the surrounding towns, even though all of my family are in small town Ontario. Just seems to be more work for us there.
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canadashirleyblue



Joined: 06 May 2007
Posts: 162

PostPosted: Sun Jun 24, 2007 2:23 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

dreaming_saturn

I understand what you mean. I lived in the Uk for quite a while and it was very expensive. In the end I decided that I wasn't getting enough bang for my buck and I took an international job. I have been doing it ever since and have no inclination to change (except that I HAVE to do my last year in Canada before I can retire).

You really need to go to Vancouver yourself - spend some time there and check it out. Housing is very expensive there. When I last worked in Ontario I paid out 45% of my income in all that stuff they take out that you don't have a choice about.

Where is your family in Ontario?
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Vanica



Joined: 31 Aug 2006
Posts: 368
Location: North Carolina

PostPosted: Sun Jun 24, 2007 3:26 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

/quote]
About the situation in NL:
Well, the cost of living is high, groceries for one thing are 2 - 3 times more expensive, Eating out is also very pricey. We own a small apartment in the Randstad area ( the triangle between Amsterdam/Rotterdam. The Hague) which is the only place to find teaching work, really, and things like water, electricity, cable, etc are are comparatively very high. Income tax for my husband is 40%, mine 35%. Things like council tax, health care, insurance all add up to much higher than they did in Canada, but wages aren't much higher. We have much less space and pay dearly for a garden that's maybe 4 square meters. Hard to save, thus I am in Korea saving up for the Move to Canada soon.[/quote]

I had a job offer in The Hague, but was warned about the expense of living there.
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FuzzX



Joined: 14 Oct 2004
Posts: 122

PostPosted: Wed Oct 10, 2007 4:16 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Quote:
I have two questions, with these credentials, and I likely to find a job or is the market in Canada flooded?


Join the military, you'll be made an officer right away.
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