Job Discussion Forums

[ryanlogic]

asking on behalf of a friend:

I've convinced him to consider teaching ESL overseas. He has a BA in foreign language education, and MA in French along with university experience as a TA. He speaks English, Spanish, French, some German, and he is learning Arabic.

He is currently teaching English literature to high school age kids in a private school, but he is not doing well with the teenagers, and he dislikes younger kids so thats not really an option.

He is a convert to islam, and seems to think that teaching in the Middle East would be a good change for him. He also seems to think that he should get some kind of certification for ESL before searching for jobs. Based on my reading here, I steered him away from the online stuff he was initially looking at. I talked to him about CELTA and agreed to ask if you guys thought it was necessary for him to even go through with it.

He is a single guy, no wife, no kids, very simple... He just likes to read a lot, go to cafes, and dine out occasionally. I don't think he would need a load of money, just something relatively professional and comfortable with flights home etc

Aside from unrelated education, I'm assuming the biggest issue might be the fact that he was born in Puerto Rico, has dark complexion, and has a very spanish name...even though he grew up in America, holds citizenship etc.

Is he employable in the Middle East ESL scene?

[nomad soul]

The best way for your friend to find out if he's employable is for him to look at the Saudi and Oman ads listed on the Cafe's and other TEFL sites' job boards and apply for those positions that best match his education, training and experience. Morocco might be feasible for him as well. If he falls short in terms of the requirements (i.e., he doesn't receive responses to his CV), then he should look at China and Korea for teaching jobs.

Frankly, the male students he's likely teach in the Gulf are essentially teenagers---some of them can be a handful. He needs to keep that in mind especially since teaching teens in his current position doesn't seem to be working for him.

By the way, the Gulf is very diverse with the majority of people having medium to dark skin. It's a non-issue.

[ryanlogic]

Ill pass this along to him, thanks. Maybe its easier if he just signed up for the forum himself.

[veiledsentiments]

Yes, I would say that he does need the CELTA - just because employers like to see them. Perhaps he should look into doing it in Morocco?

VS

[nomad soul]