Job Discussion Forums

[meyanga]

Happy New Year everyone!

I have been teaching English for nearly 15 years in various different countries. I have an MA History, Trinity Cert TESOL, Trinity LTCL Diploma (with Distinction) and am 2/3 the way through a PhD in Applied Linguistics. So what's my problem????

I am a single mum with two kids age 7 and nearly 9. I need to find a job that pays sufficiently to allow me to put my children to an international school. I have been doing some research but wondered if any of you knew which countries might be able to offer this.

Malaysia, for example, has reasonable salaries and affordable int schools, but a lot of weekend work. Hong Kong, has good salary, but schools are really expensive.

I have worked in Arab countries before and ideally would like to avoid them just now.

If any of you have any ideas about schools/jobs/locations that I might be overlooking in my search, I would be really grateful.

Many thanks

[nomad soul]

With a completed PhD, it's safe to assume you'd be targeting universities. That should be your focus more than which country, since uni teaching jobs tend to have richer benefits. Besides, you'll be perceived as over-qualified for teaching spots at the typical language or international school. Anyway, try sites like TESOL.org, higheredjobs.com, and chronicle.com.

[meyanga]

I know, I know, I know....complete the PhD!!!!!!

I am back in the UK, broke and really fed up studying, it gets very isolating after a while. I was thinking about heading back overseas, working and plugging away with the PhD over the next year/year and a half and then looking for better deals.

I guess I just need to make a decision...to hammer it out as quickly as possible in cold, wet, expensive Scotland or go somewhere nice and take my time...

Many thanks for the advice

Meyanga

[nomad soul]

[rtm]

[meyanga]

Thank you so, so much for your wise and kind words. Deep down I know all of this, but have just hit a moment where it all feels like a bit of a struggle...a struggle which will pay real dividends in the future, that much I do know. But right now, I am achieving virtually nothing study wise. No, that's a lie. I am achieving absolutely nothing whatsoever!!!! My enthusiasm will return and I will bounce back, but in the midst of a sticky moment right now.

Since I am talking to strangers who can't look at me as if I am totally stark raving loony bin bonkers...I had another flash of inspiration last night...I am actually laughing as I write this as it seems somewhat ridiculous to explain, but makes perfect sense inside my muddled fed up head!!!!!

So here goes....instead of completing the PhD here in Scotland where I am getting seriously into debt, I pack up after mid-term (and when my lease ends) and head for a quiet Laotian village or the mountains of India (I am very well travelled so it isn't like a total shocker), rent a little house, home school my kids every morning and study every afternoon and evening. I reckon I could complete in 6 months - and considering the Easter and Summer holidays, it doesn't actually amount to that much home schooling.

We could live very cheaply away from all the drudgery, consumerism, media influences of UK life - personally I think it could work. I mentioned it to my kids this morning and they just laughed, hoping it was just another of mummy's crazy ideas that would pass....

[HLJHLJ]

The final stages are the isolating/lonely/miserable part that makes a PhD so gruelling. You may or may not regain your enthusiasm, you need to press on regardless and keep writing. This is the danger point for dropping out.

If daydreaming about moving to the middle of nowhere helps, then fine, but do recognise this is just another form of procrastination. Debt or no debt, the best thing you can do now is stay put and just get on with it. The grass won't be any greener elsewhere.

RTM has summed it up perfectly:

[HLJHLJ]

Hopefully you know enough about LOTR for this to make you smile

The Lord of the Rings: An allegory of the PhD?

The story starts with Frodo: a young hobbit, quite bright, a bit dissatisfied with what he's learnt so far and with his mates back home who just seem to want to get jobs and settle down and drink beer. He's also very much in awe of his tutor and mentor, the very senior professor Gandalf, so when Gandalf suggests he take on a short project for him (carrying the Ring to Rivendell), he agrees.

Frodo very quickly encounters the shadowy forces of fear and despair which will haunt the rest of his journey and leave permanent scars on his psyche, but he also makes some useful friends. In particular, he spends an evening down at the pub with Aragorn, who has been wandering the world for many years as Gandalf's postdoc and becomes his adviser when Gandalf isn't around.

After Frodo has completed his first project, Gandalf (along with head of department Elrond) proposes that the work should be extended. He assembles a large research group, including visiting students Gimli and Legolas, the foreign postdoc Boromir, and several of Frodo's own friends from his undergraduate days. Frodo agrees to tackle this larger project, though he has mixed feelings about it. ("'I will take the Ring', he said, 'although I do not know the way.'")

Very rapidly, things go wrong. First, Gandalf disappears and has no more interaction with Frodo until everything is over. (Frodo assumes his supervisor is dead: in fact, he's simply found a more interesting topic and is working on that instead.) At his first international conference in Lorien, Frodo is cross-questioned terrifyingly by Galadriel, and betrayed by Boromir, who is anxious to get the credit for the work himself. Frodo cuts himself off from the rest of his team: from now on, he will only discuss his work with Sam, an old friend who doesn't really understand what it's all about, but in any case is prepared to give Frodo credit for being rather cleverer than he is. Then he sets out towards Mordor.

The last and darkest period of Frodo's journey clearly represents the writing-up stage, as he struggles towards Mount Doom (submission), finding his burden growing heavier and heavier yet more and more a part of himself; more and more terrified of failure; plagued by the figure of Gollum, the student who carried the Ring before him but never wrote up and still hangs around as a burnt-out, jealous shadow; talking less and less even to Sam. When he submits the Ring to the fire, it is in desperate confusion rather than with confidence, and for a while the world seems empty.

Eventually it is over: the Ring is gone, everyone congratulates him, and for a few days he can convince himself that his troubles are over. But there is one more obstacle to overcome: months later, back in the Shire, he must confront the external examiner Saruman, an old enemy of Gandalf, who seeks to humiliate and destroy his rival's protege. With the help of his friends and colleagues, Frodo passes through this ordeal, but discovers at the end that victory has no value left for him. While his friends return to settling down and finding jobs and starting families, Frodo remains in limbo; finally, along with Gandalf, Elrond and many others, he joins the brain drain across the Western ocean to the new land beyond.



(Sorry - I don't know who actually wrote it, it's been doing the rounds for a while).

[meyanga]

hahahahaha...this did, indeed, make me smile although I know nothing about LOTR!!!!

You are all making perfect sense and really - what is 6 months hard labour?

Still feeling rebellious against good old common sense and could jump on a plane any minute....

I really do hope this PhD will be worth it - I really don't want to return to the Middle East - do universities in other parts of the world - Asia being my favourite - give packages paying school fees and housing etc? Maybe I should check all that out to help motivate me.

I started this PhD by Distance learning a few years back when I was still with my husband and working in Saudi Arabia - it had always been an ambition of mine to study at that level and although I was working full time, the maid, nanny, driver lifestyle made it possible. It was like a hobby back then!!! Now, it is my means to feed my kids!

And you are right - maybe instead of fighting against it, the way forward is to simply accept it will be a pretty rough time and get on with it...and I guess there are far worst things in life to complain about than having to write up a thesis... like erm...hunger, poverty, slavery...I could go on

Once again, many thanks guys

[HLJHLJ]

As you know, the ME is usually recommended. I've heard there are good packages to be had in South Korea but I don't know any details. You would need to register on the SK part of the site and as there (we aren't even allowed to discuss it here).

[meyanga]

OK, thanks, I will do.

Now dreaming of a little village on the outskirts of Kathmandu...writing effortless word after effortless word, kids playing with local village children and the sounds of laughter and mountain views inspiring the next chapter.

I am so full of crap and I know it. But thanks for all the help

[simon44]

[corniche]

Will you have travel permission, such as a legal document from the other parent or a court-order stipulating freedom to travel with the children notwithstanding the father's permission? UK/Canada/US are strict at the moment when a mother presents at a international departure with children. Sole custody is no longer enough.

[MsRT]

Really?!
How would they know you're single mum? You could be going on holiday, their father elsewhere...

[corniche]

New rules aimed at preventing parental kidnapping. Not saying for or against, just it is what it is.