Job Discussion Forums

[TX]

Hello- I am posting for the first time although I love this site!

I taught in Barcelona- went through one of of those month long crash courses, then
did JET for a year in Saitama (loved it)
now I am back in Austin, TX working on my teaching certification for high school social studies (planning on adding on a certfication for ESL and Spanish next year.)

The reason I am back here working on a cert is so that I can
return to international jobs and be able to work at international
high schools.

But- eventually I would like to teach at the University level.

I am considering getting a Masters of Education, specializing in Foreign Language Education from UT Austin (with a focus on EFL)
I have heard this is a good, solid, respected degree and that
it may help me to score the good uni jobs
but I ask you this:
Does it really matter?-
now that there are a TON of Masters in TESOL
floating around on the net-
should I just pick up one of those?
Are they just as employable for the uni. jobs in Japan and Spain?
(These are the places I want to return to.)

I read one girls post saying- don't waste your time on this type of masters- the market is saturated- every one and there cousin has one and there are no jobs for it. I was told that I should consider a Masters in a field in Social Studies to capitalize on the international school gigs.

Any thoughts about this?
I'm sure this has been asked a zillion times before.
Sorry in advance for any repeats!
Gracias + Arigatou Gozaimasu!
TX

[Marcoregano]

You will need at least a Master's to get a decent university posting. So long as it's from a proper university it doesn't matter whether its by distance or campus-based study. However, to get one of the good old fashioned 'tenure' posts, which are dwindling in number by the day, you will almost certainly also need a Phd.

[denise]

For university jobs, you should go for an MA in TESOL, Applied Linguistics, or the like--there are a few other names that are essentially the same. An MEd would open the same doors for you as an MA.

What an MA will not necessarily do for you is help you get into the US public school system--but if you're already working on your state certification then you'll have that covered too.

I think I recall that post that said not to bother with an MA. Well, it depends on what you want to do. If you only want to teach in international schools, sure, stick with certification and experience. (I think that post assumed that everyone in this field wanted only to teach in international schools--quite an assumption!!) Those qualifications alone won't help you get into universities, though.

d

[Marcoregano]

[TX]

Thanks so much for the replies.

The degree Im looking at is an M.Ed with a focus on Foreign Language Education. I can focus on EFL but it will also look good if I want to teach a different language in public schools, etc. I've noticed that many programs are doing this (changing the degree name from TESOL masters to Second Language Education, etc, to make the degree more flexible.)

This degree will be tough though.
I'm wondering once I am overseas again if it will really matter if I earned it from a good uni. or if I just picked one up from an online program, that would suffice.

If so- does anyone know of any online programs that are pretty easy to obtain and would look good on the resume. I know how to teach English, I just want the qualifications so I can get the uni. jobs.
My idea is that I want to be able to pick up uni and intl school jobs
to make myself more employable.

I understand about it being hard to get uni jobs in Spain.
But, the kids I used to teach would always talk about how their
Enlish teachers at their schools were American. How did they get through all of the red tape? Married into it maybe?

Thanks
TX

[naturegirl321]

I think it depends where you want to teach.

At least for Peru, a teacher license is what you need for schools, and starting in 2010, it has to be a Peruvian one.

In order to teach in unis, you don't need an MA, but in order to teach BA teaching courses, you need an MA. Does that make sense? If you just want to teach English coursese, than you're fine with a BA, but if you want to teach Methods, or SLL, etc to those doing a BA in Ed, than you need your MA.

But that's just Peru.

[naturegirl321]

[CdnInKorea]

The programme at the University of Calgary (Canada) looks like a good one: http://www.educ.ucalgary.ca/gder/htdocs/

Expensive though- distance tuition for the MEd totals at around $17,000 Cdn.

[Justin Trullinger]

[TX]

Don't get me wrong- there are plenty of online degree mills that will give you the degree of your choice based on "life-experience," or some that maintain a minimal premise of legitimacy by requiring some "coursework." But these usually aren't related to good universities, aren't accredited (or are accredited in some small country nobody can find on a map) and will get you little.

These are the types of online degrees I was talking about.
Thanks for the great information!
So- the online masters that are worth it
are going to be just as much hard work as an onsite masters?
This is what i was trying to find out- thanks.

Anybody know about the one from U of Indiana-Bloomington?

Thanks
TX

[Marcoregano]

Any proper employer will be savvy enough to figure out if the masters you claim to have is from a real university or a virtual one.

And there's certainly nothing wrong with a proper online masters. They do vary of course in terms of quality, cost and how long they take to complete.

I did mine with Tasmania University (Australia), which was one of the cheapest I could find coming from a real university. Admittedly, that course wouldn't be to everyone's taste, but it suited me - it was quite loosely structured and required a lot of personal research to figure out how to complete modules. If you want regular, clear contact and instruction from online tutors the course will cost more. I worked at mine nearly f/t and completed in 15 months (it was open ended - some online masters you are locked in to a schedule - often 2 years). It cost about 3,500 pounds (UK) - but that was 2002/3.

[naturegirl321]

I've heard good things about teh Tasmania course.

[Justin Trullinger]

[TX]

Thanks so much everybody!

I am now thinking the onsite one I am looking at is pretty good.

A friend of mine just emailed me about getting accepted into
a one year ESL masters program at NYU.
He's saying that with a masters you can really do well financially
in Korea especially. He also mentioned Indonesia.

With a Masters- does it really open up your possibilities that much?

I hear that a lot of the jobs offered to holders of M.A.s and M.Ed.s
are teacher-training positions.

For all of you that have Masters- are you glad you did it?
In the end- was it worth it?

If I stay in this profession- I really want to break away from the
-"dime a dozen" English teacher that works for nothing just to be in
a foreign country- persona that follows a lot of us around.
I've been told that to teach English abroad is to choose a life of poverty.
But, does it have to be that way?
With a Masters- does this change things a good bit?

Thanks,
TX

[naturegirl321]

Masters do help, you can get higher positions, such as ADOS, DOS, or head of department positions. Also, it's worth doing one for what you'll learn. My MA helped me get a nice cushy school job. Three months paid vacations, can't complain

But I think for the good positions, it's a matter of experience, qualifications and simply kowing people. Landing a great position straight off the plane is difficult. Sure, it might be good pay, but you could be working tons of hours.

YOu might also look at the English language fellow programme. You need an MA and a couple years of experience, I think the pay is around 20K