Job Discussion Forums

[JohnRambo]

I am a U.S. citizen who is tri-lingual; I speak English, French, and Arabic. I am certified as a social studies and French teacher, and I have taught English in Korea for 2 1/2 years. Would it be difficult to land a job at a decent place making 4,000 dollars? At the moment, I am working like crazy in Korea for chump change (considering the hours). I may return to the US and do my master's, but if it is lucrative to teach in the UAE, I would consider going there. Also, are the universities there very expensive?

Thanks...

(Two people are using this account)

[veiledsentiments]

Not a chance in the world of getting that kind of money with your credentials. Go back home and get your MA if you are serious about staying in ESL/EFL.

Not sure what you mean by whether the universities there are expensive... but you probably wouldn't go there to study unless you had to. The standards in the universities are... um... not so great. The only place in the UAE that I would consider would be the American University in Sharjah. Their MA in TEFL is a very new program and I haven't encountered anyone who studied there.

If you are considering getting your MA abroad, you might want to look into the scholarship program at the American University in Cairo. You end up with a free MA and two years of experience teaching Arabic speakers which makes you very competitive for the jobs in the ME. Check out the AUC website as they are now accepting applications for Aug, 2009. It can take a bit of searching to find the right page.

VS

[Sheikh N Bake]

Yes, and as I always add, there are also MA assistantship opportunities in ESL in the United States. You teach a few hours a week and in return you get free tuition and a stipend of at least $600 a month. I did two master's that way for free.

[veiledsentiments]

One benefit to his doing it at AUC is that Cairo can be much cheaper than most US cities that have a uni offering Fellowships. I'd hate to try to live on $600 even here in my small rural town. There is more leeway for picking up cash from private lessons overseas. It also gives the benefit of working with Arabic speakers if you see a future for yourself in the Middle East.

Our OP should look at both options as these do tend to be competitive...

VS

[JohnRambo]

[Sheikh N Bake]

VS makes a good point, for sure. In the early and mid-80s, my stipend was probably $600 in 1985 dollars, and I simply shared an inexpensive apartment (in Carbondale, southern Illinois) with another grad student. It did help to have a few thousand on hand to actually move there from the Northeast, buy a few sticks of furniture and --gasp-- yes, a TV, and pay deposits on rent, phone and utilities.

On weekdays, what with teaching part-time and studying full-time, I had exactly half an hour to myself. I rewarded myself with Mary Tyler Moore reruns, but that's neither here nor there. Anyway, it was a highly rigorous life, and I loved it. Great EFL (the degree was in fact "EFL") classmates. I hope you're as lucky to get such a nice group.

As for the PhD., that depends on your temperament. If you naturally tend toward the life of the mind, and have an intellectual bent, then teaching EFL in the trenches of the Middle East or anywhere is not for you in any long-term sense. A Ph.D. in linguistics or English so that you can do research and teach graduate students may be more rewarding--if there are any jobs open. But the PhD will make you overqualified, generally speaking, for EFL jobs overseas. Some exceptions to that rule are universities in Japan, Taiwan and Korea.

Assuming you'd rather be a professor than an ESL peon, is the cost of a PhD worth it? If comes with another assistantship or fellowship and is therefore mostly free, you bet! Some schools do indeed offer one or both options.

[JohnRambo]

[Sheikh N Bake]

Less than that on weekdays--half an hour. The Chronicle of Higher Education reports in its pages somewhere the median salaries of tenure-track professors in various fields. Of course, they vary by institution and location. They should be better than high school salaries, in any case, generally speaking.

Yes, to settle in the U.S., and you want to teach but keep out of high schools, you'll definitely need to upgrade to a doctorate. It is not impossible to get a good community college job, for which an MA is sufficient, but difficult. I frankly don't know how difficult it is to find university jobs for PhD's in linguistics and ESL.

[veiledsentiments]

[zignut]

The University of Washington, in Seattle, offers a MA TESOL degree the tuition for which can be waived by working as a TA in the English Language Program. This amounts to 5 contact hours a week for $7,000 per quarter out-of-state tuition, and a $1,500 per month stipend. Not bad, right?

Not every program in the US offers such a deal, but they are out there. Good luck!

[Iamherebecause]

In the UAE the British University in Dubai offers a decent Masters programme for teachers, forget if it's MEd or MA but it's underwritten by the University of Birmingham.