Job Discussion Forums

Andros · Joined: 24 May 2012 Posts: 20

Hi guys,

I am looking for some advice on where I should make my next port of call.

A little bit about myself, I am an Australian, mid 30s, I have a BA, a masters in Journalism and I am about 2 months away from a masters in tesol. I have about 10 years experience in Japan, Korea, Brasil, Italy, Vietnam and in China. My last job has been for about 3 years at a uni in China. I have a Celta.

I am looking for a place I can stay long term, pays well (enough to consider the place a home and not be scraping by), has holidays to travel, teaching adults (preferably a uni), tropical and near beaches. I am also considering doing further study, so I need a position that will allow me to do that. I know that is a tall order, however I don't expect all of those things! That is just an ideal situation.

So, does anybody have any ideas? Any advice is very much appreciated.

I am already ruling out China, I have a decent position here, but it is time for a change. I do not particularly care which continent I am on.

esl_prof · Posted: Sun Apr 26, 2015 12:45 am Post subject:

You might post this inquiry over on the Middle East forums. My initial thought is that would be the place to fulfill most of your criteria.

Andros · Joined: 24 May 2012 Posts: 20

Thank you esl_prof, I will do that now.

All suggestions are welcome!

happyinshangqiu · Posted: Sun Apr 26, 2015 1:58 am Post subject:

Malaysia sounds to fit the bill, Oman maybe.

MuscatGary · Posted: Sun Apr 26, 2015 2:57 am Post subject:

Oman.

Andros · Joined: 24 May 2012 Posts: 20

I posted on the middle east forums and I am asking them about Oman.

As for Malaysia, I am mostly looking for a Uni position, how are the job conditions in Malaysia? I have sent my employment package to the Uni of Nottingham.

I have been looking into unis in Thailand, but the pay looks to be incredibly low. And Vietnam's pay has decreased significantly in the last couple of years, not to mention the lack of uni jobs there.

happyinshangqiu · Posted: Sun Apr 26, 2015 6:36 am Post subject:

En929 · Joined: 22 Feb 2015 Posts: 25

MotherF · Posted: Tue Apr 28, 2015 3:58 pm Post subject:

You might want to look at Mexico. The only problem would be having enough money to travel back to Australia. I work in a university system in the state of Oaxaca that would pay you enough to live well and give you a chance to work on further studies. There are multiple locations around the stare some near beaches.

Andros · Joined: 24 May 2012 Posts: 20

Thanks guys,

MotherF, I hadn't considered mexico, I have worked in Brasil and that ended up costing me money once I had paid for plane tickets. It does sound like a similar situations to what I have now, low working hours, near beaches etc, but I wonder about the long term prospects of something like that.

Ideally I would like a position that offers me the university life but with the pay that means I can stay somewhere long term and build some kind of life. But perhaps those days are gone and are only available to a few.

At this point I have sent out some cvs to some places mentioned above and I will see what happens. I am happy to stay here another year as I have probably missed some of the better jobs, and make a serious attempt at job hunting in the early parts of next year.

Andros · Joined: 24 May 2012 Posts: 20

And EN929,

I can recommend China, especially in a university. If you have read the chinese forums, you will see that you should not use a recruiter, and should find a list of universities (wikipedia can help here) and apply directly to the unis. The recruiters offer dodgy contracts.

Experiences can vary depending on the uni, so make sure you talk to some current teachers. Essentially what you get is low working hours, freedom of teaching, students that care for their grades and therefore will generally work hard enough to obtain a decent grade, and long holidays. You can save some money, but the value of the currency is low, so it doesnt mean that you take much money home.

There are some negatives of course, you probably will just be the foreign teacher and not considered as important as the other teachers (perhaps that is common in many places!). There may be little or no support in teaching methodology, materials, etc. The classrooms may be basic. Also life in China can be frustrating as people never follow rules, the quality of service can be disastrous, taxi drivers are essentially thieves, the government, etc. But once you get settled in, make some friends, you can enjoy it here. I usually move from one place to another every year, but i have been here almost 3 years now and if nothing comes up shortly i will do a 4th year.

If you have some specific questions, feel free to ask me, or pm me.

MotherF · Posted: Thu Apr 30, 2015 1:20 pm Post subject:

In the heat of the moment · Joined: 22 May 2015 Posts: 393 Location: Italy

BadBeagleBad · Posted: Sat May 30, 2015 3:06 pm Post subject: