Job Discussion Forums

[simplyred]

I am a 39 year-old Canadian woman currently enrolled in the CELTA program (finishing mid-May). I have a Bachelor's degree (Science) and some University teaching experience (2 semesters teaching Nutrition). I had been working in Pharma Sales for the last 9 years and was ready for a change...hence CELTA.

Ideally, I prefer a position in a country where I will be able to save some money. I've been told Asia and the Middle East are the best options. Dubai holds some interest for me however I've been scouring these Forums and get the impression I may not have the qualifications to secure a decent paying position there. I understand the recession has hit Dubai as well; are there still plenty of ESL jobs available for relatively inexperienced teachers like myself?

I would appreciate any and all feedback.

[adorabilly]

simplyred.

there never were that many jobs for unexperienced individuals in the UAE to begin with.

if you were here on a spouses visa and could work then you could find work, but very few employers here will pay for someone with NO MA, and no US/canadian/UK teaching certificate to fly here and work for them.

And with the global recession, now you are competing against LOTS of teachers with those qualifications.

Go to Asia, (China, Korea, Japan, thailand) you won't get rich, but you will live like a king in some places and have a gret time.

w/out the credentials there are very few options in the ME.

[helenl]

As Adorabilly said, you don't qualify and there are many 100s of others who do who are competing for the good jobs.

[Zoot]

Spend a couple of years in the Asian region. South Korea is nice, people are good and the rest of Asia is close by for cheap travel.

[Pikgitina]

Would you consider Oman, simplyred? The truth is, the other posters who replied are all perfectly accurate, but yet, there are MANY teachers in the Gulf (the UAE included) who work without MAs. At least, many start without the MA and get it later on.

I agree that the cushiest, most well-paid positions will be taken by those with credentials that outmatch your own, but that does not mean that there isn't work for you. You will simply have to look harder and, once you've found something, should try as hard as possible to make sure that the gig and all it entails is legit.
I know of people who have very happily lived and worked in the Gulf, especially in Oman, without an MA, for more than five years. You don't have to go to Thailand or Korea.

HOWEVER, they do settle for incompetent administration and management as well as very antiquated and sometimes downright bizarre teaching porgrammes. But from scouring these boards (as you mentioned you have), you may have noticed that even the best gigs in the ME suffer from the above-mentioned problems. These jobs simply offer more to prevent people from leaving right away or after the first year.

Give HCT in Muscat a bash. There are many teachers there with similar qualifications like yours who are also Canadian. If/when you do get in, you won't have a great deal, but it won't be anything near bad either. Besides, Oman is way cooler than the UAE. Good luck!

[Splitting Hairs]

As Pikgitina rightly says - you don't need an MA to get a decent job. I know many at top universities in the UAE who dont have an MA and are on good packages (they are not spouse either). I have found that many of the MA qualified teachers cant teach they just lecture or they have come to the ME to get their retirement because they don't like teaching anymore (burnout perhaps) There are however loads of teachers who love doing their job and they have a variety of low to high qualifications - CELTA to PHD.

[simplyred]

Thanks to everyone who has responded to my post. Special thanks to Pikgitina for the info on Oman. I will definitely look into it.

[Iamherebecause]

splitting hairs wrote

[Pikgitina]

Sure thing, simplyred.

Let us know where you end up.

[Zoot]

iamherebecause, HCT employs people with an undergraduate degree and a CELTA. What needs to be defined in this discussion is 'good package'. I'd have to say HCT actually prefers to hire less qualified people and encourages them to upgrade their quals while employed with them. They seem to prefer experience over quals in the first place.

[Afra]

Where I work, there are many excellent teachers without an MA but they have been with HCT for a long time. They are also limited to teaching either Foundations or Diploma level students. All the more recently employed teachers have had an MA when they arrived; this is all to do with the ongoing efforts to get accreditation from an organisation outside the UAE.

[Splitting Hairs]

Afra
Would you say that it is more likely that an American accreditation organization expects an MA as part of the process or is this a worldwide expectation? In the UK many jobs stipulate a DELTA first rather than an MA. Also true of the British Council.

[Afra]

I believe that an MA is a normal requirement for teaching English language in US universities as it is for the few permanent English language positions available in UK universities. The British Council and tertiary colleges in the UK which offer EFL usually teach general English, with some academic courses, so often only require a DELTA.
HCT is in the process of accreditation and no doubt there are qualification requirements set by the accrediting body.
The British Council has its own take on qualifications. Some years ago, I was told that an MA in Applied Linguistics plus a PGCE in EFL in Higher Education were not equivalent to an MA TESOL: I didn�t take the job.

[wordsmith]

MA or MTESOL?

[veiledsentiments]

Get a Master's degree in ESL or TESL or TESOL or Applied Linguistics. Every university seems to want to call it something slightly different, but they are basically the same... and most important, they are the same to the employers.

VS