Job Discussion Forums

Pigilene · Joined: 23 Sep 2007 Posts: 6 Location: Taiwan

Hello,

I'd like some thoughts on the above, I feel that I'm at a bit of a crossroads.

I'm a 35 yr old UK citizen, I've started teaching English after an online TEFL cert & weekend course in 2003. I went to Costa Rica and did some volunteering at a local high school, taught some private adult classes and got a job in 2004 in a kindergarten school.

After the cert, it was all an uphill struggle and I was the only foreign teacher. I read a lot of teaching books but missed out on human support. I felt isolated and doubted my teaching abilities and choice of career.

I decided to bite the bullet and do my CELTA in Nov 2005 and get a better job with some teacher development and gain experience.

I've been lucky to be in great school, which is a franchise of a chain in Taiwan, since Dec 05 and will be here til March 08. I teach elementary to high school groups and private high school and adults from beginners through to Business. Also IELTS as and when is required. The first year was a struggle, but toward the end I felt much more confident.

In April 07, I was asked to apply for the Senior teachers role by HO. The main reason I didn't apply, was that I really consider my time here as the beginning of my teaching experience and I still I have a lot to learn from my peers. One of the teachers here is very creative new games, so I thought I would seriously lack giving advice and observing other teachers.

Whilst I'm trying to work on this personally, I've also started a Teacher development course through HO. I'm not sure if I'll finish it, and it seems a little informal. No quals & is ad-hoc.

I'm aiming to return to the UK in March 08, and have been thinking about about teaching in Italy for the next school year.

I've been looking at jobs and areas, but it's far too early to apply obviously.

I thought about doing the DELTA last year, to see if that would help with my confidence, but really just teaching has helped a lot. Although there is room for improvement. Maybe if I'm too confident, I'll never look at other ways of doing things and stop caring.

I'm wondering if working at a different school, with a different system, would be good for me, if I'm going to get a broader range to be able to help other teachers.

What courses, would people recommend for getting into teaching management? What other options are there other than teaching management? I guess I'm thinking, I'd like to go up the ladder a bit and earn a little more eventually.

I've helped write and illustrate a summer vacation course. As well as some flashcards and worksheets, I've made some scoring boards. I'd like to maybe try getting involved with making or writing teaching materials, maybe as a sideline, but am not sure how to get into this.

Another option, someone has suggested is teaching in universities, does anyone have any experience? What qualifications do you need?

Right now, I'm still thinking Italy, but being over here in Taiwan, it's a bit of a dream, when I go back to England, I'm planning to visit and do some research to see if it still feels like a 'yes'. But having some other options to mull over would be useful.

Thank you very much!!!! Pigilene

spiral78 · Joined: 05 Apr 2004 Posts: 11534 Location: On a Short Leash

Most uni gigs require related MA degrees - applied linguistics, TESL/TEFL. However, you might think of trying to land a decent position in a private language school and doing a distance MA while you're working (in Italy, perhaps).

Essentially, moving up the ladder requires staying in one place, paying the dues, building the local resume, and increasing your experience. There's no quick fix.

tedkarma · Posted: Thu Oct 04, 2007 1:12 am Post subject:

There are a few forks in the road in terms of career development in TEFL - IMO.

For a long and enjoyable career, the route to university work is probably the best path and as Spiral mentioned a relevant MA/M.Ed. of some sort is critical.

University work is/was the best path for me as I enjoy LONG PAID vacations and a four-day work week - both of which tend to be on offer with the better university positions.

Language school work can lead to burn out - but it depends if you enjoy managing and supervising people and putting out last minute fires when someone doesn't show up (I don't). If you want to do the DOS path - then a DELTA and lots of experience is the right way to go. Sadly these positions often offer very little paid vacation time.

A middle of the road path to consider is teacher training - something I quite enjoyed for several years. I enjoy training people and helping them develop their careers - but I don't enjoy supervising them (which the DOS will do - you don't need to). Teacher trainers (in the right jobs) can often get a fair amount of paid time off - typically something in between DOS and university-type work.

Teacher training can tend to be accessed through either the MA/M.Ed. or DELTA type options.

I don't agree that you need to stay in one place. I've taught in five different countries (EFL in four) and I think you learn a lot in each place that adds to your total value. I've also had no problem finding decent jobs at comparable levels in a variety of countries. Though - I have never stayed anywhere less than two years - and have stayed as long as five in one job/country.

Just my opinion/experience.

harry the hobbit · Posted: Thu Oct 04, 2007 3:57 am Post subject:

Harry the hobbit feels that the OP has taken it for granted that ELTing is a career and that there is a career ladder.Harry the hobbit notes that a hobbit of the OP's age should not be still in a language school.

Pigilene · Joined: 23 Sep 2007 Posts: 6 Location: Taiwan

Dear tedkarma and spiral78

food for thought, thank you for taking the time to offer some advice.

kind regards
Pigilene

TheLongWayHome · Joined: 07 Jun 2006 Posts: 1016 Location: San Luis Piojosi

Pigilene · Joined: 23 Sep 2007 Posts: 6 Location: Taiwan

Gracias!!!

MELEE · Posted: Thu Oct 04, 2007 5:44 pm Post subject:

Career paths related to TEFL

Anyone have others to add to the list?

Guy Courchesne · Joined: 10 Mar 2003 Posts: 9650 Location: Mexico City

One could branch off into writing and/or publishing in travel.

MELEE · Posted: Fri Oct 05, 2007 1:23 pm Post subject:

Last night as I was chipping away at a translation---it struck me that I'd forgotten that!
If you've learned languages while TEFLing you can also transition to or dabble in translating/interpeting. If you haven't learned a language there is still clean up work, cleaning up badly translated texts.

harry the hobbit · Posted: Fri Oct 05, 2007 2:16 pm Post subject:

harry the hobbit · Posted: Fri Oct 05, 2007 2:19 pm Post subject:

MELEE · Posted: Fri Oct 05, 2007 9:05 pm Post subject:

harry the hobbit · Posted: Fri Oct 05, 2007 10:19 pm Post subject:

No, there is a tefl theatre group in spain.

Works for Dave-the one and only-then it is career advice for us all.

MELEE · Posted: Fri Oct 05, 2007 11:25 pm Post subject:

I once got a resume from a guy who had the job of "Captain John" in The English Boat, which was aparently a TV program on Polish TV....