Job Discussion Forums

[jbourne]

Hi everyone! Where should I begin...

My experience:

I am a 25 year old graduate student. I am a native of North Carolina, USA. This is also where I currently reside.

When I graduate from this program (Spring 2011), I will have a graduate certificate in secondary education (concentration in history). This basically means that I will be a little over halfway to reaching my master's degree in secondary education. I will be licensed to teach, and I will have a semester's worth of experience teaching within a public high school.

I spent two years mentoring children of all ages, who had developmental and/or psychological disorders.

I also have a BA in psychology.

Where I need help:

I have very little experience traveling, and I have never really had the means with which to gain more. I have always been VERY interested in countries and cultures different than my own. I have always loved academia as well. Therefore, teaching abroad seems like a great way to embrace these two passions of mine.

For a while now I have researched the best way to achieve this goal. However, I have become a bit overwhelmed. I have run across so many websites and books with contradictory information. I am not sure what certifications I would need to teach where. I am unsure as to what websites, certifications, and other information sources have more credibility than others.

I am really very interested in teaching in east Asia, or Europe. Though, I would consider teaching basically anywhere. I have read though that the demand for english teachers in Japan is declining. I have also read that it can be difficult for an American to be hired to teach in Europe, for a variety of reasons.

Where would a person with my background be most likely to land a decent position teaching? I would imagine that China would be the largest new market for this sort of thing.

What certification providers are legitimate? Do I even need a certification?

Any insight or resources that you all could provide me I would be greatly appreciative of. Thank you!

[denise]

Is there any particular reason you're thinking about teaching English and not history? I'm asking because of your comment about liking academia. Many (most?) entry-level English teaching jobs are far from academic, so you might be disappointed. There are some universities that actually feel academic, with conferences and seminars and whatnot, but you generally need an MA + a few years of experience for those jobs.

If you stick with history (you'd need more than one semester of experience), you can apply to international schools. Since I didn't go that route myself, I can't comment on how academic they are, but at least you'd be surrounded by other career teachers who, in theory, are interested in education--not necessarily the case in language schools.

d

[Chancellor]

You could add an ESL endorsement (or whatever North Carolina calls it) to your teaching certificate (it always helps to have extra endorsements) and then get a couple of years of experience teaching in North Carolina before heading overseas to, say, an international school (e.g. those under the IBO umbrella www.ibo.org) or the Department of Defense school system. Another option is to get your teaching certificate and go teach in one of our trust territories (Guam, American Samoa, etc.), which would be a good jumping off point to travel around Asia in your spare time.

[jbourne]

[jbourne]

[natsume]

[Glenski]

You'll have problems getting a visa in most of Europe, so look at the eastern side only.
As for east Asia, could you be a little more specific? That covers a lot of ground. Visit the country-specific forums for advice on certifications and other requirements.

What do you consider a "decent" teaching position, BTW? (salary, duties, schedule, type of students)

[jbourne]

[sojourner]

You may not be aware that in many countries there might be several different categories of "international schools". For the top range schools, one needs to posses not just a degree and a trained teachers certificate; but also to be registered as a teacher in one's home land, and provide evidence of having completed at least two years teaching at a primary or secondary school. (If you intend to teach at a school that happens to emphasise the I.B. curriculum, it might also be necessary to have completed a course in I.B. teaching). However, there might be other schools that happen to refer to themselves as "international schools" but which are not preparing students for UK/US/AUST/NZ curricula exams, or for the I.B. - in such schools, the entry requirements for teachers may not be as strict as those that the better schools usually require - however, the salaries being offered may not be as high ! So, be aware that not all "International schools" are the same ! For further info re searching/applying for international school jobs, check out some of the recent posts from a poster called "Naturegirl".

You also said something about teaching in universities. With an academic background in history, you might want to consider teaching at a uni in China. Most of the uni teaching jobs will require that you teach Oral English, but with your history background you might well be asked to teach subjects such as Western Culture and British/American Societies. Even if you are applying for a job as an Oral English teacher, you might want to mention on your covering letter that you would also be interested in teaching those other two subjects. But, be aware that teaching such subjects will involve much more work (preparation and marking written homework ) than those jobs that merely involve the teaching of Oral English. Something else that you should know is that most unis in China are not on the same academic level as most unis in the US/UK/Canada/AUST/NZ - most would be on the same level as TAFE or Community colleges - or, even lower !

However, a big benefit of teaching at a Chinese uni is that the hours are quite good - eg, in my current job, I'm teaching only 14 "teaching hours" pw ( British/ American Societies, Intercultural Communication, and Writing) - each "teaching hour" is of 40 minutes duration. Also, as recently mentioned in another thread, I have 5-day weekends each week - my teaching week ends at 11.10am on a Wednesday, and I resume teaching at 2pm on Monday - thus, plenty of time to take private lessons; do work for an online Master's degree programme; or travel to Shanghai, or wherever ! Sounds great, doesn't it ? However, there are several drawbacks in working at a uni in China, eg bureaucratic BS in most unis, such as lack of coordination between, say, faculties/admin/examination department, etc. But, its a small price to pay for such an easy life. Also, in many unis, such as my own, as long as students provide good feedback on your teaching performance to the faculty head, and don't cause too many ripples (eg complaining too much about minor issues) you will probably not experience too much interference from the "leaders" into your teaching approach/content - thus, as I've remarked elsewhere, this is v.much a "teacher's paradise" !

If you are interested in China, check out some of my most recent posts where I've explained how to search for uni jobs in China. However, I should point out that there is now much more competition for uni jobs, thanks to rising levels of graduate unemplyment in the US and UK. If interested in uni jobs, focus on jobs in small towns that happen to be "off the beaten track".

Good luck,

Peter

[Glenski]

[Chancellor]

[mimi_intheworld]