Job Discussion Forums

[ohdannyboy]

Hello. I spent the last two years working at Eikaiwa's in Japan. As much as I loved living in Japan, the job became a little monotenous so I decided to return to my native England to study for my Masters with a view to returning to Japan and trying to get a University teaching job.

I'd like to ask those people teaching at Japanese universities for their advice. I'm Interested to know about the pay and conditions of a University teaching job.

Additionally, is it essential that university teachers have a Masters in Tefl ? I would prefer to do an MBA simply because I already have a Celta qualification and I think the MA in Tefl would duplicate many of the things I have already studied.

Thank you for taking the time to read and answer my questions.
Dan

[PAULH]

[PAULH]

[Gordon]

Paul covered the qualifications aspect well and there is nothing to add except there are always exceptions to the rules. I have a f/t university job without a masters, but I may be one of only a handful of people in all of Japan.


My conditions:
8 - 90 min. classes/week
No office hours, no scheduled meetings, no outside teaching
Almost 5 months of holidays/yr
Moving allowance
Generous research and travel budget. Last year the uni paid for half my airfare to Canada because I attended a conference there.
Subsidized housing
No max. term contract
No bonuses
Massive unshared office with a laptop and internet
My salary is lower than the avg university, but it is enough

[denise]

There are some alternatives to university teaching.

I've got a semi-university job: I teach in an IEP program for an American university. I don't teach college courses (not credit-bearing courses), but I teach academic English to students who, after finishing the IEP program, stay on our campus and take credit-bearing courses. I'm in a university environment (a rather small campus, though...), with decent library access, internet, my own office (OK, shared with a colleague), etc.

My job required an MA, but no publications. I see it as a good pre-university teaching job: still an academic environment, but more accessible to teachers who haven't yet established themselves enough here, in terms of either connections or publications, to teach for universities.

d

P.S. And I agree that an MA in TESOL will do a lot more for you than a CELTA course would.

[PAULH]

[denise]

Nope. I'm in Niigata, working for... should I say???

Southern Illinois University.

d

[BenJ]

The idea that a Master's degree would just duplicate that learned in a Certificate course and therefore not be worthwhile is simply laughable. If you want to get a uni job you need to be serious about teaching and getting an MBA doesn't sound like you are serious to me - just something you want to do for 2 more years.

[buffy]

Jr. Sr. high schools can also be excellent places to teach. Motiviated students, great salaries and benefits, research money, good vacations and often more job security than university jobs.
I taught at a uni. for two years and am much happier teaching jr. sr. high.

[PAULH]

Found this on the teacher training page:



It seems to me that someone wishing to become an English language teacher has four basic options:

1. Getting a job without any formal training
2. Doing an online or weekend course
3. Doing a four week full-time (or three to six month part time) training course
4. Doing an MA in ELT or TESOL (generally 1 year full-time or 2 years part time)

1. Getting a job without any formal training

Best-case scenario: Schools in many parts of the world will employ English speakers as teachers without any teaching qualification. In some cases, the schools themselves will give potential teachers useful training and in-service development. If you�re a confident type of person, you might well fall on your feet and have an enjoyable time in the classroom � and get a fair number of private students � especially if you can concentrate on �conversation� lessons. You can also find out the basics about language and methodology by reading up some basic books, like �Teach yourself Teaching English as a foreign language� and �English Grammar in Use�.

Drawbacks: Without formal training and a certificate, your options are likely to be restricted to second-rate schools. In many countries, it will be nearly impossible to get legal, decent employment as a language teacher. But there�s an even more insidious problem. You won�t really have a clue what you�re doing. This may well mean that you don�t enjoy teaching and your lessons aren�t as interesting or effective as they might be. You may well have a knawing feeling that you could be doing much better. And the more you care, the worse this feeling gets.

2. Doing an online or weekend course

Best-case scenario: One of these courses is likely to set you back no more than a few hundred dollars and will give you some kind of certificate, which could prove useful in a number of contexts. There are Online certificate courses which obviously give you total flexibility about when and where you study and do the assignments. The TEFL Certificate offered by Global English, for instance is currently $ 430. The certificate course from English International is $ 175 � though candidates should have completed the introductory certificate first, which would add $195. ETC also offers a two part course totalling ($ 400). Weekend intensive courses tend to cost more or less the same amount. I-to-I offers 40 hour weekend training courses for about $ 312 with the possibility of combining it with extra online components.

Apart from awarding you a certificate, most online and short courses will also offer you some support in getting a job � English International, for instance, promises that �Jeff (the director and tutor) personally will help you in your job search.� The feedback you receive during the course should prove useful and help boost your confidence. Even a one-day or weekend course will also allow you to rub shoulders with fellow teachers and get a taste for what you�re letting yourself in for. Though your certificate won�t open doors everywhere, in a range of different contexts, it ought to put you ahead of the guy with nothing at all.

Drawbacks: Suffice it to say, it�s a bit optimistic to expect to enter a profession over a weekend. You�d be unlikely to think much of a plumber or taxi driver who�d only done a weekend or correspondence course. Your taxi driver might have performed brilliantly in his online driving course, but don't be surprised if he freaks out going round his first real roundabout! Likewise, a teacher who�s done an online course in teaching � only our traffic consists of real human beings! I�ve commented on this issue at length in an article available at. In evaluating an online course, I suggest you seriously consider how much �added value� you�re getting from the online experience that you wouldn�t receive by reading a $ 25 book on English language teaching for yourself.

3. Doing a four week full-time (or three-month part time) training course

Best-case scenario: Most of these courses follow a very similar and practical format dating back to the 1960s. So they�ve stood the test of time and, crucially, many principals and directors of studies did such courses themselves when they were setting out as teachers. That ought to give you a real advantage in getting a job. What�s more, in various states these certificates are recognised as minimum qualifications to teach English, either at government level or because the school has accepted this as a condition of membership of an association of recognised language schools. Cambridge CELTA (http://www.cambridge-esol.org/teaching/celta) has been around since 1974 (it was known as RSA TEFLA until the mid-1990�s when it was revised and came under the Cambridge umbrella). About 10 000 people take CELTA courses each year. Trinity TESOL Cert has been around since the 1980s (http://www.trinitycollege.co.uk/tesol/) and has several thousand candidates each year. Cambridge ESOL and Trinity are the organisations that set the syllabus and send assessors to centres and award the certificates. But they don�t run the courses. The courses are run by language schools and universities and the content and fees vary considerably (from about $ 960 up to $ 1760). Information about course providers is available from the above websites � if the centre is local, it would be a good idea to visit, have a look at resources, sit in on a lesson and perhaps ask for a list of people who�ve previously done the course who you could contact.

Apart from Trinity and CELTA, there are a number of other similar courses run by language schools or universities in various countries. These may not be as well-known internationally but this doesn�t mean they are not good courses. They may also have a local reputation and connections that should help you get a decent job afterwards. Some of these courses are listed as sponsors on this page. You could also contact your local university or community college (TAFE in Australia / FE college in the UK) to see if they run such a course. By the way, many centres offer these four-week training courses on a part-time basis over 3 or 6 months which may suit you if you can�t afford to take the time off work or if you prefer to have more time for reading and lesson preparation during the course. I�ve found that mature candidates, for instance, may do better on a part-time course � at least, it�s an option worth considering if you have work or family commitments and/or it's been a while since you've been in formal education.

Four-week training courses themselves tend to combine theory (language analysis and teaching methodology), observation of experienced teachers and fellow trainees, written assignments and teaching practice (generally 5 or 6 hours normally divided between low and high level classes). All that time spent in classrooms, especially those 5 � 6 hours actually in charge of a class ought to help the theory make sense (in the same way as a few hours behind the wheel certainly brings the Highway Code to life!). The trainers are likely to be experienced classroom teachers who can motivate you and pass on some of �the tricks of the trade�.

Drawbacks: Well, first of all, these courses vary a lot in quality and don�t work for everyone. To take CELTA as an example (as I said in the intro, it�s the course I know best) some people don�t complete them successfully (they either withdraw or fail the course). This means they�ve spent over $1000 without getting qualified. The money question is important even if you do pass. If you�re only thinking of teaching for the short-term, you might wonder if it�s worth the investment of time and money. And what about the courses themselves? Clearly such short courses can only serve as an introduction. And some doors will remain closed to you after the course. If you want to work in ESOL in the UK, for instance, you will have to do additional courses � particularly in the areas of basic literacy and course planning. Obviously, if you want to teach in colleges or universities, this type of certificate isn�t going to be enough!

4. Doing an MA in ELT or TESOL (generally 1 year full-time or 2 years part time)

Best-Case Scenario: An MA clearly has prestige, as shown by the explosion in course providers. In the UK, for instance, there were only a handful of relevant courses in the 1980s, but all of Britain�s 100 or so universities offers at least one relevant MA course. Some universities offer dedicated MA�s in such fields as language testing, materials writing, younger learners as well as the standard MA in ELT or Applied Linguistics. It�s the same all over the world. In many places, an MA will �trump� other qualifications and is only trumped by a doctorate � and then only for university jobs. A year of full-time study should allow you to explore the full range of issues, including bilingualism, language acquisition, testing etc. You ought to be able to tailor the course to your own interests and needs. Some of these courses include a practicum, which should allow you to gain real experience and possibly use this as the basis of your research. The opportunity to read widely should give you up-to-date and broad knowledge of the field � this should help you evaluate course and teaching materials at a deeper level. Research seems to take an inordinate amount of time to filter through to the classroom and an MA should allow you to short-cut this process. What�s more, the other members of the course may include some experienced teachers and participants from various countries, which may allow you to network.

Drawbacks: What has been said about four-week courses applies to an even greater extent to MA courses. I wonder how many people invest a year of their life and thousands of dollars in an MA only to find they don�t actually enjoy teaching or aren�t really any good at it? There�s no MA course in the world that will make you a teacher if nature hasn�t endowed you with personal qualities such as charm, patience, creativity and a brass neck. MA courses obviously stress theory and are evaluated according to written assignments and dissertations � ie even bad teachers can get good MA�s, as many recruiters know. Without substantial experience of your own, how much of the theory is going to make sense? It�s rare to find a thorough �How to do it in the classroom� component to these courses � and useful training on such issues as:

How to give instructions
How to use the board
How to plan a lesson
How to monitor
How to use the classroom space
How to use visual aids

Well, such things as these are the bread and butter of teaching � and, no, they don�t come naturally. And finally, you have to remember that every course - even an MA or a PhD - has its sell-by date. Ok, you can still hang that MA certificate on the wall, but how much of that reading you did is still in your head and how much of whatever is still clinging onto your brain cells has stood the test of time?

Conclusions: There isn�t any definitive answer to the cluster of questions that get asked all the time on this forum � is it worth getting trained / what course should I do / what�s the best course / etc etc. What I�ve tried to give here is some food for thought flavoured to a considerable degree by my own experience. If you are in the position of asking one or all of these questions, I think you need to do a little personal means and aims evaluation. In other words, �What are you in it for?� and �How much time, effort and money are you prepared to put in?� If there�s one tip I would give it�s this. If at all possible, go and visit courses and centres. And phone some of these centres � even if they�re far away. If you�re set on going to a particular country, use the Yellow Pages website to get a list of schools there and then email or preferably phone some of these schools. Ask them about demand for language schools and what they require. Get it from the horse�s mouth. The saddest postings I've seen here are from people who expect others to do their thinking for them and are seemingly content to pass on their life choices to people who they've never even met!