Job Discussion Forums

[trailrunner]

Hi all
I am a South African 43 year old male with a solid Masters Degree in development, looking for advice on how to go about getting a job teaching in the UAE. Although I have no TEFL/TESL qualification I taught briefly in Turkey a few years back. If anyone could offer advice on how to get in with my qualifications I would be most appreciative.

[773]

I don't think you will have much luck without relevant qualifications. Could you get a CELTA or some type of reputable TEFL cert before you start your job hunt? That would help out a lot.

With a Masters (in any field), you could get university teaching jobs (EFL) in places like Korea, China, Taiwan... if you don't have any luck with the UAE, maybe you could work in one of those places while studying toward a pertinent degree that would get you into the UAE.

[trailrunner]

Thank you 773, I will certainly lok into the Asian option, do you know of any reputable schools hiring South Africans at the moment. What according to you are my best options. Sorry to pick your brain like this, but you have been kind enough to respond with some solid advice and you seem to have been in the game a while. Thanks again.

[mishmumkin]

[al bidarnd]

[trailrunner]

Thanks to all who have responded with advice,The eventual aim is to work for the UN but I have only just graduated in SA and the job situation is not to bright here at the moment. After applying for several jobs within the development front I get the impression that I have been turned down due to a lack of experience. I am currently persuing a position in Korea with an agent operating out of Cape Town called Teach Korea, anyone heard of them ?

[ajnabiya]

Have you tried these sites for development:

www.devnetjobs.org
www.develomentex.com
www.jobs.undp.org
www.reliefweb.org

I think I was offered a job through Teach Korea, but decided to stay in the gulf region. The process was very fast and the interviewer seemed ok. It was for a government secondary school I think. Don't remember any alarm bells going off.

I am sure you are aware of the online vounteering you can do with the UN as well as the range of internships they offer around the world. Some people I know have started there and then moved onto paid development work with the UN.

Good Luck

[trailrunner]

Thanks for the advice, I would happily work for the UN but am not in the position to volunteer or take an internship right now as I need to earn an income and that is why the teaching option seems so atractive.

[773]

I wish I could give you the names of specific places that are hiring in the countries I mentioned before, but I am simply not sure. In Taiwan, technical colleges hire people with Masters (and some private unis possibly) but those jobs are harder to come by without actually being there. I would suggest Korea though, as there are always university jobs being advertised on Dave's and the pay and benefits are pretty good (and much better than Taiwan). You could teach at a uni there (English) with a degree in any major, so it wouldn't matter that your degree is unrelated.

I have met a number of people here in the UAE who taught for a few years in Korea and studied for their Masters in TESOL or Applied Linguistics while there (by distance), and then moved on to uni jobs in the Mid East. My husband and I lived in Taiwan for many years, saved up, and then went to Australia for a year and did our Masters there. Of course you probably wouldn't be interested in doing anything like that since you invested your time and lots of $ into your development degree, but anyway I think that if you want to teach overseas and want the best financial situation you can get without a relevant degree, Korea would be a great choice.

By the way, when I was in Taiwan there were loads of S. African teachers there. I am sure there are many in Korea as well.