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Nuttsie76
Joined: 05 Nov 2014
Posts: 3
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 Posted: Wed Nov 12, 2014 11:01 am Post subject: Introduction and a few questions. |
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Hi,
I am so excited to be able to post, I have spent the last week going through all of the exisiting posts and have had lots of my original list of questions answered.
Before I bombard you with my questions (that I am sure you have all answered a thousand times before) I thought I'd take a little time to tell you about me.
I am a 38 year old mother of 2 teenage children from Australia. I have 15 years experience in early childhood education (all in Long Day Care). I have just this year finished my first year of my Bachelor of Early Childhood Education which in Australia will allow me to teach children up to 8 years of age. I still have 3 years of this degree to go, but am big on planning ahead.
I desperatly want to teach children overseas (am unsure about teaching adults as I have no experience in this area), and through reading lots of other posts am reassured that I am NOT too old to be considering this once my degree is done.
Now to my questions.
Due to previous qualifications I have recieved some course credit and the university that I am studying through offer some TESOL courses that I could easily fit in to my timetable. Do you think it is worth doing these courses? Or should I just wait and complete the CELTA course that is offered in my capital city when I am finished my degree?
When everything aligns and I am able to apply for a position I will be going on my own (my children will be in there 20's and my husband has no interest in joining me). Is there anything that I should take into consideration? Are there any destinations that may be more or less suitable? I have travelled, but it has all been to English speaking countries (Canada, US, England). I am planning a trip to Malaysia in July next year to see what it is like, and this is one of the places that I had considered to work in (along with Vietnam, Cambodia, or Thailand).
I am so sorry for my lengthy introdution and look forward to any knowledge you are willing to share with me.
Kind Regards
Nic |
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nomad soul
Joined: 31 Jan 2010
Posts: 11454
Location: The real world
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| Posted: Wed Nov 12, 2014 11:47 am Post subject: |
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| Nuttsie76 wrote: |
I have 15 years experience in early childhood education (all in Long Day Care). I have just this year finished my first year of my Bachelor of Early Childhood Education which in Australia will allow me to teach children up to 8 years of age. I still have 3 years of this degree to go, but am big on planning ahead.
I desperatly want to teach children overseas (am unsure about teaching adults as I have no experience in this area), and through reading lots of other posts am reassured that I am NOT too old to be considering this once my degree is done.
Due to previous qualifications I have recieved some course credit and the university that I am studying through offer some TESOL courses that I could easily fit in to my timetable. Do you think it is worth doing these courses? Or should I just wait and complete the CELTA course that is offered in my capital city when I am finished my degree? |
It's great that you're planning ahead; few do and often end up going back to university or into a credible TEFL course to get the proper training/education in order to move forward in their career.
A few points:
- Be aware CELTA is specific to teaching English to adults, which isn't your goal.
- Your age may or may not be an issue; it depends on the country and any biases against 40+ year-old TEFL teachers.
- However, if you were to finish your degree in early childhood education, get your teaching license, and teach for a few years in an elementary school in Australia, you'd be qualified to teach elementary school level in the better international schools throughout the world. Plus, your strong qualifications as a licensed elementary school teacher will overshadow your age in which it's not likely to be an issue for most employers.
Others more knowledgeable about Asia will also comment about the countries you've mentioned. |
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Nuttsie76
Joined: 05 Nov 2014
Posts: 3
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| Posted: Wed Nov 12, 2014 12:22 pm Post subject: |
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Nomad Soul, thank you for that information about the CELTA course! It was an additional expense that I was more than willing to pay to achieve my goals however adding several thousand dollars on top of my already hefty student loans was not something I was looking forward to!
So my 4 year plan may be more like a 6 year plan, to allow time to gain some teaching experience here in Austria before looking to go overseas! I think I may have to take the time to not only study my degree but also learn some patience too!!
Nic |
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nomad soul
Joined: 31 Jan 2010
Posts: 11454
Location: The real world
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suphanburi
Joined: 20 Mar 2014
Posts: 916
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| Posted: Wed Nov 12, 2014 4:19 pm Post subject: Re: Introduction and a few questions. |
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| Nuttsie76 wrote: |
Hi,
I am so excited to be able to post, I have spent the last week going through all of the exisiting posts and have had lots of my original list of questions answered.
Before I bombard you with my questions (that I am sure you have all answered a thousand times before) I thought I'd take a little time to tell you about me.
I am a 38 year old mother of 2 teenage children from Australia. I have 15 years experience in early childhood education (all in Long Day Care). I have just this year finished my first year of my Bachelor of Early Childhood Education which in Australia will allow me to teach children up to 8 years of age. I still have 3 years of this degree to go, but am big on planning ahead.
I desperatly want to teach children overseas (am unsure about teaching adults as I have no experience in this area), and through reading lots of other posts am reassured that I am NOT too old to be considering this once my degree is done.
Now to my questions.
Due to previous qualifications I have recieved some course credit and the university that I am studying through offer some TESOL courses that I could easily fit in to my timetable. Do you think it is worth doing these courses? Or should I just wait and complete the CELTA course that is offered in my capital city when I am finished my degree?
When everything aligns and I am able to apply for a position I will be going on my own (my children will be in there 20's and my husband has no interest in joining me). Is there anything that I should take into consideration? Are there any destinations that may be more or less suitable? I have travelled, but it has all been to English speaking countries (Canada, US, England). I am planning a trip to Malaysia in July next year to see what it is like, and this is one of the places that I had considered to work in (along with Vietnam, Cambodia, or Thailand).
I am so sorry for my lengthy introduction and look forward to any knowledge you are willing to share with me.
Kind Regards
Nic |
Allow me to be so bold.....
A Bachelor degree in ECE (when you are done) + 15 years of toddler care experience ...
Skip the crud you read about EFL. At those ages it is more about language acquisition than language teaching anyway. You might want to add in some theory on "Content Based Learning" (language through content) as it applies in ECE and perhaps CLIL (double objectives in content AND language) before you step abroad are the only additional things I can think of.
Everything else you will need will be more than adequately covered in your B.Ed/B.ECE; far more than you will get by taking some 30-day wonder course in TEFL.
Back to your query, this sector (ECE) is probably the highest in demand labor sector in all of Asia. I have over 60 ECE teachers on staff and can't find enough qualified individuals to cover the demand. I could easily hire 40 more qualified ECE staff (if I could find them) for positions in our own schools.
Other employers have similar problems finding qualified ECE staff.
Complete your degree and pick a country.
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Nuttsie76
Joined: 05 Nov 2014
Posts: 3
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| Posted: Fri Nov 14, 2014 10:43 pm Post subject: |
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Thank you for your response Suphanburi, it is reassuring to know that there are employment opportunities that will be avaliable to me.
I will finish my degree in 2017 at which time I will have 20 years experience in early childhood, which is my passion.
So I shall focus my energy on my degree, hopefully travel a little to a few of the countries that interest me (I'm all for a little adventure, but I would like to know what to expect when I eventually apply for a position in a country) and continue to read these boards.
Thank you again
Nic |
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nomad soul
Joined: 31 Jan 2010
Posts: 11454
Location: The real world
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| Posted: Sat Nov 15, 2014 1:37 am Post subject: |
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| Nuttsie76 wrote: |
I will finish my degree in 2017 at which time I will have 20 years experience in early childhood, which is my passion.
So I shall focus my energy on my degree, hopefully travel a little to a few of the countries that interest me (I'm all for a little adventure, but I would like to know what to expect when I eventually apply for a position in a country) and continue to read these boards. |
Even with 20 years of long daycare experience, you should still get a teaching license and subsequently, some post-license and post-degree ECE teaching experience in your home town. Simply completing your degree and picking a country to head off to won't be enough to qualify you for work worldwide and with the better employers. Also, since the Cafe is focused on ESL/EFL and not on teaching mainstream content, you might head over to sites like Teach Away and International Schools Review, which are geared more for your teaching situation. |
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3701 W.119th
Joined: 26 Feb 2014
Posts: 386
Location: Central China
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| Posted: Sat Nov 15, 2014 2:28 am Post subject: |
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CE offer a Young Learrners extension to the CELTA. I never paid much attention to the details, as I never wanted to teach kids, but I believe it's almost like a 'CELTA and a half' (with the extra 4 hours supervised TP and 2 written assignments focusing specifically on teaching children).
Might be something to consider. |
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nomad soul
Joined: 31 Jan 2010
Posts: 11454
Location: The real world
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| Posted: Sat Nov 15, 2014 3:30 am Post subject: |
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| 3701 W.119th wrote: |
| CE offer a Young Learrners extension to the CELTA. I never paid much attention to the details, as I never wanted to teach kids, but I believe it's almost like a 'CELTA and a half' (with the extra 4 hours supervised TP and 2 written assignments focusing specifically on teaching children). |
However, getting the (adult-focused) CELTA in order to obtain the Young Learners' extension is a huge waste of time and money for someone with long daycare experience and university studies in Early Childhood Education. Besides, as Suphanburi suggested, the OP can talk to her uni advisor about incorporating a component on content, language and learning skills into her degree program. She's early into her ECE studies, which offers her time for add-ons/endorsements, if needed. |
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