Job Discussion Forums

[headdesk]

Hi everyone,

I'm looking for ways to up my teaching qualifications and critically evaluate what requirements I might already meet for the ESL market.

At the moment I'm aiming to teach in Asia (preferably Korea or Japan), hopefully to adults, but am more interested in traveling and gaining teaching experience in general, so location is only a concern to a certain extent. Basically while I would prefer Korea or Japan, I am willing to look elsewhere, including Europe, Latin America, and the Middle East. The point is to travel and see the world.

A rundown of my background and experience:

US citizen, native English speaker. Female, 28 years old. I know some places prefer not to hire ethnic minorities, so if it makes a difference, I'm visibly non-white. No TEFL/TESOL certification. Graduated this winter with a BA in Humanities.

1 year official ESL teaching experience in the US, through a nonprofit school. Mainly adults, beginner to advanced. 1 semester (6 weeks) TA experience in my mother's adult ESL classroom in Turkey. Informal experience tutoring peers. I received teaching training through the non-profit organization in the US, as well as some coursework on the side to improve my teaching practices. I can, if necessary, provide proof of the coursework and my official teaching history to prospective employers.

Planning on a master's in education and an independent TEFL certification.

I've worked with children, but in a limited way, primarily with the disabled.

Language experience/living abroad: Work as a Turkish/English interpreter on the side. I was raised in Turkey, where my mother taught English as well as ran her own business. I'm somewhat familiar with the way ESL businesses operate there, but not necessarily other places.

What would my prospects be in different ESL markets at this point? What would I need to gain to increase my chances of employment?

[smithrn1983]

From what I understand, you have a degree from a U.S. university and one year of verifiable teaching experience. What did the training consist of, exactly and did you get any kind of certificate?

If it was onsite, 120hrs with 6+ hours of observed teaching practice to real students, then you've got everything you need to teach anywhere in Europe where you can legally obtain employment (mostly Central and Eastern Europe and Russia). Without that certification, you'd want to get one to make yourself more attractive to employers in the region. Also, if you have any business experience, I'd put that on your resume, as business English is a huge market here. As for being visibly non-white, employers are more concerned with teaching quality than the color of your skin. Sending a photo with a resume is standard practice, but the vast majority of employers are only concerned with whether you look professional. You should keep in mind, though, that most jobs in this region are found on the ground rather than from abroad. Nevertheless, you can land a good job here while still in America.

I can't really comment on Asia, as I've never taught there, but someone will be along shortly who can fill you in on the details. One of the countries you mentioned has its own forum and can't be discussed here. It's near China, and has a neighbor to the north with a similar name.

[headdesk]

Hi there,

Thanks for the response. Yes, my degree is from an accredited US college. No, neither of the courses lead to any certification, they were just seminars to prepare teachers and train them on targeted topics, such as oral proficiency and writing. The initial training was just to introduce new teachers to the basics of adult ed and teaching English.

Which is why I was considering investing in a 120 hour program that would meet the qualifications for a certificate.

I shall cross post to the aforementioned forums for more region specific info as well. Right now I'm just looking for a general sense of what I might need to work on

Thanks again!

[Glenski]

Come to the Japan forum for advice. What I will tell you there is this:

Japan is extremely flooded with teachers now. Entry level jobs are at a premium, and you should expect a lot of competition from fellow newcomers and from people already established here.

Skin color won't really make that much of a difference, so don't try to make an issue of it. It's overall ability, experience, and personality that might seem to match the students or staff.

If you want only adults, that pretty much says you are aiming at eikaiwas that cater only to adults (not as common as you might think because the market is growing for kids' eikaiwa lessons) or at business English agencies (or direct hires in companies that want their employees to learn English). Often (Usually?) businesses want people with work experience in the same field as their employees so the teachers understand the jargon and settings.

I don't include university students in the category of adults. Don't know about you. Uni kids here are about 5 years younger mentally than their physical age, and university situation is not a mature one that you could equate with true adults. Moreover, uni students are unmotivated for the most part, interested only in the credit to graduate, and pretty much coasting through the 4 years in all classes.

[tttompatz]

[headdesk]

Thanks everyone for the responses. I'm going over the FAQs and info already posted in regional sections to see what info I can get from there as well. Overall it seems like going for a TEFL might be a good idea as an extra for most places along with the teaching experience.

Also, what would count as "business experience" for resume purposes? I've worked as an interpreter in hospitals and state agencies, done clerical volunteer work, and have worked in the family business with my mother and stepfather, but the vast majority of my experience has been as a retail slave.

@Glenski--I don't mind teaching school age children, at least in theory, it's more an issue of experience.

The schools I've worked with teach adults, and I have little in the way of other background in child psychology or childcare.Most informal work I've done has been with kids who are severely emotionally/mentally disabled, and only in one case did that involve hands on caregiving for extended periods of time.

So my concern would be my learning curve when working in a school setting with typical kids.

Thanks again all

[smithrn1983]

[naturegirl321]

I saw that you're interested in Latin America and that you have teaching experience. Is there any way that you can turn your one year teaching experience into time towards a teaching license?

If you had a teaching license and two years experience, you could work at intl schools.

Otherwise get a TEFL cert. In addition to the experience you have, that would be a valuable step into getting your foot inthe door.

[Glenski]