Job Discussion Forums

[chelsea]

I just finished an English teaching job overseas and came back to the US to start grad school. I have already been accepted into an MA program in International Education. I applied for this before I left to teach English, and now that I've had experience teaching and learned more about the field, I am thinking seriously about getting my MA in TESOL instead.
Another thing is, a friend of mine just finished her MA in TESOL, and talking to her has also swayed my thinking. It just seems like there are more job opportunities with an MA in TESOL, and it may be a better fit for me. What else am I qualified to do with an MA in International Education, besides work for university study abroad programs (this was what I was planning to do with that degree)?
I am hoping someone out there can tell me more about the field of International Education and TESOL. What are somethings I should consider while I'm trying to make a decision about which degree to pursue?
Thanks!!

[web fishing]

If you are interested in teaching ESL, I would say MA in TESOL. As far as MA in International Education, I believe most work with non-profit organizations, or like you said work in study abroad programs. A site Nafsa.org might give you more information on International Education, or even contact the Department of International Education at the university you applied and ask them what job options there are after one graduates.

[tedkarma]

An MA in Int'l Ed - sounds good - but I suspect is a bit like a degree in history or art - few real work possibilites. When was the last time you saw an advert asking for someone with such a degree?

MATESOL - probably a much more workable path.

[chelsea]

thanks for writing back! i am waiting to hear back from an advisor at the school i was accepted at, and i also talked to an advisor at a University that offers an MA in TESOL. i just wanted to post here so i can get as much information as i can.

so, i thought i was totally ready to start grad school, but i think i will probably defer the program i was accepted into, and spend the next few months doing some more research.

what other MA degrees has anyone out there got besides an MA in TESOL that has led to an international type job? i want to do somehing practical, and the MA in TESOL seems good since i could use it to work at a community college or private school in the states and also use it to teach overseas.

[Chris_Crossley]

I have an MBA degree, which I got six years ago, and it is thanks to this (albeit partly) that I have got my current job at a school, where my title is Lecturer in English for Academic Purposes (EAP), since the minimum academic qualification to get a job here is a master's degree (by which I mean postgraduate, not an undergraduate master's degree like a 4 or 5-year MEng or even a 4-year Scottish MA).

My job is not so much teaching ESOL, but teaching them the study skills that they will need when they leave after our one-year (or, in the case of some students, half-year) programme to go to the UK or Australia to study for either a bachelor's or a master's degree. I myself am involved in the pre-master's programme (or PMP, to put it in the school's parlance).

Having said that, I am going to study for an MA (or MEd - the degree title is up to me) in Applied Linguistics on a distance-learning basis with the UK Open University, which includes a TESOL module, albeit one completely based on theory, with no practical element, so it is by no means the same as a DELTA or the Trinity Diploma in TESOL. I will be starting it in February 2006 and, all being well, I will finish it by October 2008.

My hope is that I might be able to get a well-paid job with the master's degree back home by the autumn of 2009, by which time I would also have accumulated eight years of TESOL/EAP experience. I imagine that I might get an EAP lecturing job at one of the universities involved in the parternship to which my school is affiliated, provided, of course, that there is going to be a vacancy, but there are (so far) 19 universities, all based in England, in the Sino-UK partnership, so I could be spoilt for choice! There is also a Sino-Australian partnership involved, so I could even try for a job in Oz!

It is of interest to note that Chelsea wants to study for this degree at graduate school on what appears to me to be a full-time basis. Would it not be better, say, to study it on a part-time or even distance-learning basis? In that way, one can always work and study at the same time. By studying full-time, one is restricting the opportunities for making extra income, whereas part-time or distance-learning study means that one can continue to work full-time and receive both an income and continuing experience, which are vital if one intends to continue in the profession. In my case, it is a necessity, since I have both a family and a brand-new apartment to pay for over the next few years.

[JZer]

Where can one get an MA in TESOL while abroad? I know there is Temple in Japan, what other possibilities does one have?

[Kent F. Kruhoeffer]

[Chris_Crossley]