Job Discussion Forums

[CdnInKorea]

I'm currently teaching in Seoul, South Korea and going to be starting a distance Master of Education with a specialization in Teaching English as a Second Language (MEd TESL) at the University of Calgary in Canada soon.

It's a two year programme, and when I finish I'd like to move on from Korea and working in Latin America interests me a great deal.

However, I have no idea which country would be best for me. By the time I'm ready to make this move I'll be in my late 20s, single (read: dating opportunites are important) and looking for university positions that pay enough for me to have some savings (for retirement; the earlier you start the better, right?)

Does anyone have any advice?
By the way if you have any questions about teaching in Korea, feel free to PM me and ask.

[naturegirl321]

Where exactly do you want to go? You'd stand a pretty good chance, just start emailing schools.

[Justin Trullinger]

Choose a country and start applying! (Though you won't get many response if you tell them that you're looking for two years into the future.)

THink of universities and private high schools. Maybe DOS positions?

You've got (well, are getting) the quals for a decent job round here- but know that "decent" is a locally defined concept, and you're likely to be earning less than in Korea.


best,
Justin

[MELEE]

Mexico.

[Tiger Beer]

CdnInKorea,

Saw you posting on the Japan Forum as well.

Look into Framingham State College out of Massachussets for MA-Education/TESL Programs. They have satellite campuses in South Korea, and very heavily throughout South America.

If you were interested in South America, you could do your MA at one of those site centers and still get a MA degree from a North American college while picking up parttime work locally in the country of your choice.

http://www.framingham.edu/dgce/iep/sites.htm

[yaramaz]

I looked at their website and was quite intrigued by the courses offered in their M.Ed in International Education. Does anyone know if this particular degree is valued as an equivalent to an MA TESOL/Applied Linguistics when applying for university jobs in the Gulf, for example, or in Latin America? If I chose to go down this route, would I be limiting myself to a not-quite-applicable degree? The courses offered looked more interesting to me than the ones in the M. Ed TESOL program here or in a lot of the MA TESOLs in other schools.

[MELEE]

Yaramaz,

Where I work your previous TEFL qualifications and experience + an M.Ed in International Education would be very acceptable. If someone had that degree and no previous TEFL qualification or experience teaching a foriegn language than they would not be as attractive as someone with an MA TESOL. It's really the whole package the person presents, not just their degree.

[yaramaz]

Thanks, Melee. I've been doing a lot of research into MAs lately, since work has calmed down for summer and I'm still stuck behind a desk 10 hours a day and I am trying to figure out what to do next (my contract finishes at the end of August and I'm flying back to Canada in September with no clear idea about what will come after that). To be honest, most of the MA TESOL courses don't interest me enough to pursue them with great enthusiasm (too dry and theoretical, based on the descriptions) but I do want to keep teaching.

Any other suggestions for interesting possibilities in further education?

[MELEE]

I've been looking into a degree from South Africa called "Linguistics for the language professional" I would study, SLA, Multilingualism and language attrition, but there are many subfields. I posted about it here.