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gonzo84
Joined: 21 May 2015 Posts: 13
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Posted: Thu Sep 10, 2015 7:32 pm Post subject: What is the best subject to get a Master's in in terms of... |
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hirability? (spelling ?)
MA TESOL
MA English
MA Education
or others you recommend?
Linguistics seems too hard.
I have a worthless Bachelor's degree so should I just get a Bachelor's degree (2nd major) in English, Education or TESOL (if TESOL is offered)?
I want to teach in Thailand or The Philippines. |
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rtm
Joined: 13 Apr 2007 Posts: 1003 Location: US
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Posted: Thu Sep 10, 2015 7:58 pm Post subject: Re: What is the best subject to get a Master's in in terms o |
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gonzo84 wrote: |
hirability? (spelling ?)
MA TESOL
MA English
MA Education
or others you recommend?
Linguistics seems too hard.
I have a worthless Bachelor's degree so should I just get a Bachelor's degree (2nd major) in English, Education or TESOL (if TESOL is offered)?
I want to teach in Thailand or The Philippines. |
If you have a bachelors degree already, then get a masters.
MA in TESOL will generally be geared more toward teaching university/adults.
MA in English is usually focused on interpreting and analyzing literature, and generally won't help you toward getting a job teaching ESL/EFL (unless it is a MA in English with a focus on TESOL, in which case it is essentially the same as a MA in TESOL).
MA in Education (or M.Ed.) is usually focused on teaching K-12 level in the country where you do the degree (i.e., if it is an a university in the US, you'll learn about teaching in K-12 schools in the US). This could be useful for teaching abroad, but could also depend on whether you also have or get licensure/endorsement for K-12, and if so, what subject(s). In general, a degree in education will not help you get an ESL/EFL teaching job as much as a MA in TESOL.
The name of the degree isn't as important as what the degree focuses on.
So, the question is: You say you want to teach in Thailand or the Philippines, but what do you want to teach (ESL? Literature? Math?), and who do you want to teach (university students? primary school children? native English-speaking children of expats in an international school?) |
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suphanburi
Joined: 20 Mar 2014 Posts: 916
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Posted: Thu Sep 10, 2015 10:42 pm Post subject: Re: What is the best subject to get a Master's in in terms o |
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gonzo84 wrote: |
hirability? (spelling ?)
MA TESOL
MA English
MA Education
or others you recommend?
Linguistics seems too hard.
I have a worthless Bachelor's degree so should I just get a Bachelor's degree (2nd major) in English, Education or TESOL (if TESOL is offered)?
I want to teach in Thailand or The Philippines. |
You have a bachelor's degree then you are good to go for Thailand. Get on a plane and be here in Oct or April and take your pick of jobs. Bring your original degree, transcripts and a police check with you.
Unless you have a B.Ed and home country licensure you aren't going to find (legal) work in the Philippines. They are an exporter of EFL teachers to the rest of ASEAN.
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gonzo84
Joined: 21 May 2015 Posts: 13
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Posted: Fri Sep 11, 2015 11:05 pm Post subject: |
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Quote: |
So, the question is: You say you want to teach in Thailand or the Philippines, but what do you want to teach (ESL? Literature? Math?), and who do you want to teach (university students? primary school children? native English-speaking children of expats in an international school?) |
I want to teach English but not kinder level. Too young. I do not mind elementary kids though. I naturally would expect a pay increase because of a Master's. It looks like a Masters in TESOL would be the best fit from what you have told me. I want a better chance at getting a job and more money than the 38,000 baht /month I got last time. This wasn't even terrible to my standards. I do not mind teaching literature or just simple reading and conversational English. I'm flexible. |
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nomad soul

Joined: 31 Jan 2010 Posts: 11454 Location: The real world
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Posted: Sat Sep 12, 2015 12:00 am Post subject: |
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gonzo84 wrote: |
I want to teach English but not kinder level. Too young. I do not mind elementary kids though. I naturally would expect a pay increase because of a Master's. It looks like a Masters in TESOL would be the best fit from what you have told me. I want a better chance at getting a job and more money than the 38,000 baht /month I got last time. This wasn't even terrible to my standards. I do not mind teaching literature or just simple reading and conversational English. I'm flexible. |
Considering you want to earn more, you should be looking at actual job ads to see what level and type of qualifications are generally required for the better jobs. For example, the following is from an expired posting for a pre-school teacher at an American-curriculum international school:
Quote: |
Minimum Qualification Requirement: M.Ed, B.Ed or a relevant Bachelor's Degree with a Teaching Qualification
Min experience requirement:
2 Years
Male or Female can apply to this job
Must be western trained (USA, Canada, UK, Scotland, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand & South Africa)
Must be a native speaker of English
Prefer candidates with international experience
Teachers with a degree but no teaching qualification are NOT accepted
Experienced teachers with no qualification are NOT accepted
Non-western trained teachers who have worked in an international educational institute before are NOT accepted
Remuneration Package:
Salary Range: 50000 up to 70000 THB (Thai Baht) per month based on experience and qualification, 10 % Tax is applied
Medical: State/Public medical provided... |
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santi84
Joined: 14 Mar 2008 Posts: 1317 Location: under da sea
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Posted: Sat Sep 12, 2015 3:09 pm Post subject: |
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I wasn't quite sure what your background is, so I had a peek at prior posts. You wrote that you weren't the best teacher, which makes me think you would best benefit from whichever program provides quality hands-on teaching practice and supervisor observation. That could be an MA TESOL or MA Education, whichever provides the more practical options, as opposed to research. Good luck! |
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t-doo
Joined: 07 Feb 2015 Posts: 7
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Posted: Sun Sep 13, 2015 7:49 am Post subject: |
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Quote: |
Remuneration Package:
Salary Range: 50000 up to 70000 THB (Thai Baht) per month based on experience and qualification, 10 % Tax is applied
Medical: State/Public medical provided... |
[/quote]
Sorry, don't want to derail the thread(also don't want to start a new one), but what kind of living could one have say in Bangkok living on 50,000 baht/month? I've never lived there so genuinely curious. I'm going to go back for my Ed. degree in a year or two and will be looking specifically at international schools.
thanks. |
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suphanburi
Joined: 20 Mar 2014 Posts: 916
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Posted: Sun Sep 13, 2015 7:57 am Post subject: |
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Decent internationally accredited schools (as compared to schools with "international" in their name) pay from 60-100k thb/month for properly qualified teachers.
Top tier schools will pay upwards of 130k (plus benefits) for credentialed teachers with international IB experience in the STEM fields.
You can live comfortably in Bangkok on 50k.
Basic entry level jobs in EFL pay 35-40k. Make some connections and have something beyond an unrelated BA and 50k is easy enough to find.
To the OP... unless you want to pretend to be a uni lecturer (pay is about 25k) then skip the MA and look at a decent PGCE. The pay is better and the job field is larger.
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gonzo84
Joined: 21 May 2015 Posts: 13
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Posted: Thu Sep 24, 2015 8:14 pm Post subject: |
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suphanburi wrote: |
Decent internationally accredited schools (as compared to schools with "international" in their name) pay from 60-100k thb/month for properly qualified teachers.
Top tier schools will pay upwards of 130k (plus benefits) for credentialed teachers with international IB experience in the STEM fields.
You can live comfortably in Bangkok on 50k.
Basic entry level jobs in EFL pay 35-40k. Make some connections and have something beyond an unrelated BA and 50k is easy enough to find.
To the OP... unless you want to pretend to be a uni lecturer (pay is about 25k) then skip the MA and look at a decent PGCE. The pay is better and the job field is larger.
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I will look into the PGCE then. Thanks |
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wanttoteach1
Joined: 24 Sep 2015 Posts: 21
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Posted: Tue Sep 29, 2015 2:13 am Post subject: |
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What was your worthless degree in? Just curious. |
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gonzo84
Joined: 21 May 2015 Posts: 13
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Posted: Tue Sep 29, 2015 10:18 pm Post subject: |
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wanttoteach1 wrote: |
What was your worthless degree in? Just curious. |
Film Studies
Absolutely worthless. Should have studied Business or English. Regrets keep piling on. |
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nomad soul

Joined: 31 Jan 2010 Posts: 11454 Location: The real world
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Posted: Tue Sep 29, 2015 11:26 pm Post subject: |
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gonzo84 wrote: |
wanttoteach1 wrote: |
What was your worthless degree in? Just curious. |
Film Studies
Absolutely worthless. Should have studied Business or English. Regrets keep piling on. |
Gonzo:
If your degree program included producing film and digital videos, it's not as worthless as you think given how multimedia is critical for e-learning in both corporate and academic learning environments. If you add an MA or strong graduate certificate with a focus on educational technology or instructional design (or instructional technology), it would greatly complement your film studies degree. For example, take a look at ATD's Media for Learning Certificate as well as the salary range for a Multimedia Instructional Designer. |
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