Job Discussion Forums

chanchanhae · Joined: 10 Jun 2009 Posts: 72 Location: Kenya

CELTA is done in a month and what's wrong with a TEFL/TESOL certificate completed in a month too? CELTA is basically a qualification for British teachers and there is no way in hell, they can impose it as a recognized or international qualification.

You want a real qualification? then a get at least a one-year full time & supervised PGCE with 2 blocks of classroom-practice.

All in all, there is no difference between a CELTA and other TEFL/TESOL Certificates given in other parts of the world. I'd classify them in the same category no matter what they try to say.

Just my 5 cents,

Le Petit Prince · Joined: 16 Jan 2010 Posts: 22 Location: Dubai

Speak of the devil...
Did anybody see the latest job offer on the International board?

Quote..."Interviews to be be held in London and Manilla..."
Nothing against are hard-working Filipino friends..but this does not bode well for the rest of us TESOL losers.

doner · Joined: 21 Jan 2010 Posts: 179

You can bet they are not paying 11 000 riyals to Philipinos. They are going to be inundated with people after those jobs.

Sheikh N Bake · Joined: 26 Apr 2007 Posts: 1307 Location: Dis ting of ours

That job is at a language school, though. Nobody should come to Saudi unless it's for a company, college/university, or the military direct-hire.

Kalima Shahada · Posted: Tue Jan 26, 2010 2:48 pm Post subject:

Pikgitina · Joined: 09 Jan 2006 Posts: 420 Location: KSA

Kalima Shahada · Posted: Tue Jan 26, 2010 4:34 pm Post subject:

Sheikh N Bake · Joined: 26 Apr 2007 Posts: 1307 Location: Dis ting of ours

suzannesmith009 · Joined: 12 Mar 2005 Posts: 9

Words of Wisdom from the Peanut Gallery of a former ADU KG English Teacher: BE VERY AFRAID!!!!
The reason for no one writing in this forum about the "KG" as it was "fondly" referred to by teachers is that we all got sacked if we didn't have a CELTA. It didn't matter if you had Master's degrees or 25+ years in teaching or a darn good teacher (that put up with the endless crap on a daily basis!!) ....... you were fired if you didn't have a CELTA. I started there at one campus and there were 65+ teachers. After all the sacking, there were only 4 teachers remaining.
And the villas on the outskirts of AD???? You must have a car or are VERY friendly with a taxi driver..... KG!!!

secretsquirrel · Posted: Sat Jan 30, 2010 7:53 am Post subject:

Very true. A couple of my husband's colleagues suffered that particular fate. Depsite having 'proper' teaching credentials which allowed them to teach secondary/high school in their home country, they were deemed 'underqualified' and therefore unable to teach the mental giants of ADU KG.

Amazing, but true ... and the entire experience left a very sour taste in everybody's mouth. Who on earth ever gave them the idea the idea that a youngster with a Celta and no experience of the ME region was better than an old crock with 20+ years of experience in the region and a proper postgrad teaching diploma?

veiledsentiments · Joined: 20 Feb 2003 Posts: 17644 Location: USA

Suzanne... long time no see. Your post didn't surprise me all that much (been around too long I guess). Last year or so we had a member of the management there join and he was obviously over-enamored with the CELTA, but to get rid of experienced MAs in a supposed university smacks of insanity. (or perhaps just cash-strapped???) BTW... I'm not sure that I would find someone with a US teaching cert for high school to be qualified to teach EFL... unless they had had that added to their license. But if they got rid of 61 qualified teachers... MAs with lots of experience... I don't understand why many (a few? a flood?) of them didn't show up here to complain. When did this happen?

ADU has always been the UAE leader in odd ideas of how to treat teachers. First it was those 3,6,9 or 12 month contracts because of their retention problems. They seemed to finally disappear but they still are a supposedly open ended contract, rather than the normal 3 year contracts. They are the lowest pay and the only one who thinks it is acceptable to force unrelated adults to share housing like college kids. Apparently this will be the place to go for those without the credentials or experience to get the better jobs so that they can fluff up the CV. (ie just their BA+CELTA and a couple years of language schools in Asia)

I was confused by one thing... do they have more than one campus? Are they for different programs? In different cities?

VS

sarahrempe · Joined: 03 Nov 2009 Posts: 11

the shared housing is OK for short term. long term it blows.
they have two campi (campuses) that i know of, in outskirts of Abu Dhabi, and in Al Ain.
the material is rubbish
but the worst part is they have no interest whatsoever in retaining creative, good teachers. my experience was that half the teachers were "in" with the people in charge even though they were useless in the classrooms
like most of you who posted, the requirements make no bloody sense. no one with an MA in Applied Linguistics should even consider it. I have the Cambridge TEFL but was not considered for a long-term job there after the short course finished because..... have no idea. just tossed to the curb.

sharter · Joined: 25 Jun 2008 Posts: 878 Location: All over the place

Having taught at the university level and been a Cambridge examiner, I find the MA requirement in the ME ridiculous and unnecessary.5 years experience post CELTA is more than enough for a standard teaching job. I've been teaching 15 years, 8 in the Middle East, and that's how I feel. 3000 USD is shite though!

Sheikh N Bake · Joined: 26 Apr 2007 Posts: 1307 Location: Dis ting of ours

Nevertheless, a master's degree is an upgrade in education and should be expected at a university--even in the ME if they are serious about accreditation. In the late '70s I had some professors--fine teachers--with just the master's in my undergraduate college. They no longer hire without the Ph.D. So be it, I guess. PhDs do tend to bring a fresh perspective into the classroom through independent research, and they contribute to the university in more ways than teaching.