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epik_teacher · Joined: 09 Aug 2010 Posts: 52

I'm currently in my 5th year of EPIK in Korea. Been here 10 years, nearly 16 in ESL-all in Asia. I have an MS Ed from Cal State Hayward in Online Curriculum Design. I'm in the middle an Education Specialist (EdS) program at Mizzo Columbia in Education Technology (Technology in Schools).

I'm also an Adobe Certified Expert with certs in 5 software programs (Photoshop, Flash, Illustrator, Acrobat and Dreamweaver). I know other programs such as MOODLE and Blackboard. I haven't taken the CELTA yet, but I do want to both it and the DELTA, it'll be on the back burner until next year.

My question is, is there a niche market for my background (male, American, early 50's) in the ME? How should I target my search? Any advice would be helpful. I have 6 months left on my EPIK contract. Thanks!

It's Scary! · Joined: 17 Apr 2011 Posts: 823

Well, you've certainly lived up to your username.

It's Scary!

epik_teacher · Joined: 09 Aug 2010 Posts: 52

nomad soul · Joined: 31 Jan 2010 Posts: 11454 Location: The real world

What's your goal: To continue teaching English or focus on educational technology? If it's the latter, then getting a CELTA & a DELTA seems pointless.

epik_teacher · Joined: 09 Aug 2010 Posts: 52

nomad soul · Joined: 31 Jan 2010 Posts: 11454 Location: The real world

You need to be specific about your objective if you expect to promote your expertise to potential employers. In other words, you need to be clear about what you can do for an employer and have a strategy on how to put yourself out there. They may not know how your skills can be used. If you have the educational tech skills to solve a problem or make a teaching/learning system easier, then you should be able to fill that niche.

For some insight, King Abdulazziz University in Saudi Arabia has a Deanship of Distance Learning. I personally know nothing of this program nor am I promoting it, but their site might give you ideas on possibilities that marry both the educational tech and EFL fields. Use google to access the site.

It's Scary! · Joined: 17 Apr 2011 Posts: 823

epik_teacher · Joined: 09 Aug 2010 Posts: 52

Middle East Beast · Joined: 05 Mar 2008 Posts: 836 Location: Up a tree

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

I think he was trying to compliment you Mr Epik... but whatever...

VS

epik_teacher · Joined: 09 Aug 2010 Posts: 52

Sorry! The Korea section is so full of smart asses I guess I went into smart ass response mode. Anyway, is there much call for Education Technologists in or ESL teachers who specialize in Ed Tech? I'm interested in the DELTA because it has an online specialization. I'm considering that and teacher training as specializations because it's what I'm interested in. Or would the online specialization be unnecessary overkill?

Bottom line, after 10 years straight in Korea and 5 in EPIK, I want to escape both Korea and teaching middle school. I've considered the ME for some time and don't have much knowledge about it. Seems to be a very different beast from Asia.

nomad soul · Joined: 31 Jan 2010 Posts: 11454 Location: The real world

As It's Scary mentioned, 60 seems to be the cut-off age for workers in many Mid East countries. You're in your early 50s, so this is something to mull over if you're expecting to complement your education with more credentials.

If you still want to explore educational technology and TESOL, do a search on educational technology tesol CALL (Computer Assisted Language Learning).

It's Scary! · Joined: 17 Apr 2011 Posts: 823

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

Practice makes perfect, It's scary. Cool

Mr Epik... Your credentials are pretty impressive, but I'm not sure how they fit into the niche of Middle East teaching. Even in the universities we spend most of our effort just getting them to be able to write a simple sentence without a half dozen grammatical, spelling, and punctuation errors. It's a whole different world from the driven, hard-working students in Asia... who will end up working for a living theoretically. The students in the Gulf tend to be spoiled rich kids.

That said... take a look at the websites for places like The American University of Sharjah, The American University in Kuwait or even the American University in Cairo, and Zayed University in the UAE which is heavy into tech. See if you find a course description that seems to match your skills. I fear that they will require a PhD though.

While there is some lip-service to on-line education, I don't believe that it will ever become a big thing in the Gulf region. I'd guess that you're probably better with the devil you know...

VS

While I was out · Joined: 24 Feb 2008 Posts: 119

Got to agree with VS there. With your experience, qualifications and interests why don't you try and get into some form of content teaching rather than TEFLing? Perhaps TEFLing will get you into the ME and you could look for a more appropriate niche once there.