Job Discussion Forums

[babybee]

I've been a in TEFL now for 7 years, have taught all over the world, kids adults etc. I have decided to start a Masters in Applied Linguistics next year through Macquarie Uni in Sydney online - (I'm Australian, living and teaching in Santiago at the mo) I am particularly interested in what other doors the MA might open for me, especially in terms of textbook work, and how you can apply for such jobs? I don't know if anyone has any ideas about this? Especially for in Oz as I'll be heading back there next year, or if there is any freelance work online? Also anyone else who may have done an MA and what it lead to??

Cheers!

[Insubordination]

I would ask this question to Macquarie Uni. They are the only institution that consistently asks for their teachers to have an MA and they pay pretty well. They are also one of the few organisations which publish (though not very often).

Otherwise there's only AMES (fugedaboudid - they have writers with years of experience and they're not going anywhere) and self-publishing (especially if you do it in a group for a particular curriculum).

Occasionally I see ads for writers but it's more likely to be writing a syllabus to fit whichever training package they're trying to teach (in which case, they ask for the Cert IV in Training and Assessment).

In any case, Macquarie is probably the best uni to pick for this field. UTS is also good.

Good luck!

[MELEE]

Do you ever go to TESOL conferences? If you do, smoose with the publisher's reps big time--that's one way to get your foot in the door to get a start in the textbook industry. There are also a couple of UK uni's that have MA's with a materials development focus.

[Stephen Jones]

I would say your MA will mean zilch for getting a textbook writing job (and why on earth you should want one is another matter).

[Shan-Shan]

Come to China. I've known several foreigners here who've written text books without even having first mastered the English language. The compensation they received wasn't all that shabby either.

[alexcase]

As stated above, having an MA in no way leads directly into publishing. I know two teachers who did the Materials Development option in two different MAs and both found it pointless both in terms of learning to write publishable stuff and in terms of getting tips on how to get published (if your MA tutor is published, they might want to keep that writing work for themselves??). However, if you do manage to get into publishing, the more qualifications the better in terms of looking impressive in your mini-biog in the front of the book, so it that way it can help.

Some tips and links on this topic on my blog:
http://www.tefl.net/alexcase/teaching/efl/elt-publishing/career-paths-in-elt-publishing/

[Julieanne]

You have to be careful I think about these kind of jobs.