Job Discussion Forums

Integral · Joined: 17 Jun 2006 Posts: 3

I've spent the last two days reading all sorts of FAQs on the Newbie Forums and various countries before posting this. I actually lived/studied in Japan for eight months towards my B.A. in Asian Studies and have an intermediate/advanced skill with the language already.

I'm about to begin the M.A. program in linguistics teaching English as a second language. By the end of next winter (around April) I should have my TESL certificate. But after that, I'll have to wait four months before I can resume classes to finish by the winter after that.

My question is how probable it would be for me to find a worthwhile temporary teaching job in that four month period between classes. Visa runs, country, and travel are not really issues with me. I'm more interested in earning/saving as much money as possible in four months to pay off debts/schooling and getting more experience in teaching English as a second language. So I was reading up on Korea (cheap living, nice pay) and reading about these summer camps and all the bad drama that can be involved with them. The problem is that it seems like these temporary positions are only 3 weeks or so unless I was just reading a specific case. And Japan would be great if I could get more teaching experience there. I've been reading about the really nice English teaching jobs at universities and if I could get a good two or three years of experience over there my language skills would give me more than a snowball's chance in hell of getting a job like that.

With a TESL certificate would I be able to find a temporary 4 month job in any country that would pay me enough to be worthwhile? Or would I be better off just working at Starbucks for $9/hour over next summer and waiting until I obtain my M.A. before attempting to find a job in this field.

Thanks ahead of time for any help you can give me.

leavingonajetplane · Joined: 07 Jun 2006 Posts: 15 Location: Europe

If you only have 4 months, and debts to pay, then get that starbucks app filled in!. In the meantime try to find some students of your own locally to get some practice & extra $$$.

Justin Trullinger · Posted: Fri Jun 23, 2006 9:01 pm Post subject:

Most places in the world, four months is below the time limit to break even on set up costs...

Debts to pay, and only four months to spend...not really likely.

Sorry,

Justin

Integral · Joined: 17 Jun 2006 Posts: 3

So the road towards debt elimination will be long and trying...

Thanks for the advice. It's a shame I live in Michigan with a lot of people who already know English, but I could probably make some money tutoring Japanese for some students at the university. I'd be totally up for spending four months down in California or any other state next year if I could get a temporary full or part-time job teaching English language.

Is anybody here currently teaching ESL in the states? I imagine it would be quite difficult for a student with a TESL certificate and only four months of experience to get a job like that here. Especially after reading that post about not being able to settle down and start a family on this career path...

JZer · Joined: 16 Jan 2005 Posts: 3898 Location: Pittsburgh

Integral,

If your loans are in deferment then why don't you teach some camps abroad for the experience. I am not sure what months you will have off but you could do July in Taiwan at ALV Summer Camp and July 24- August 17 or so in Korea. It would be an interesting experience.

Integral · Joined: 17 Jun 2006 Posts: 3

I should've posted these dates in my original post, but April 27 to August 29 will all be free for some Engish teaching action.

That sounds like an awesome idea, but after paying for travel to Taiwan and then Korea, will I have made enough money to make up for my time over there? I know experience is valuable, especially when you're a newbie like me so if I could make enough to at least pay off travel expenses I'd be pretty happy. Especially since my debts are indeed deferred. If I could hit one or more countries in that period of time, make some contacts, and come back a little wiser from the experience I'd be all for it.

Ideally, I'd want to set it up so that I get my TESL April 27, then travel/teach until late August. Problem is, different countries have different setups for English education so I'd need some help arranging a plan that can get me as much teaching experience in that small window of time as possible.

I love Starbucks and everything, but I don't think it's going to further my immediate career goals.

ls650 · Joined: 10 May 2003 Posts: 3484 Location: British Columbia