Job Discussion Forums

[David Campbell]

Hello there good people of the ESL Cafe,

I currently have an associate�s degree and am considering finishing school here in Thailand. My question is it possible to be hired as a teacher in Japan if my Bachelor degree doesn�t come from an English speaking country? I myself am American and have an Associate�s degree from America, TEFL certified, 2 years teaching etc. Any information on this would be extremely helpful.

[markle]

Which Uni?

Regardless I think you would be putting yourself behind the eight ball, competing with people a full degree from back home.

[flyer]

yes, I am no expert, but some people might look down on it?

but, then you might be OK, its a big question mark!

no matter what we say on this forum, it won't be up to us

[tonyukohi]

I also think it might depend on the uni. Can you say to potential employers that the classes were all held in english? if so, it might not be a problem, though sometimes companies have a very definite view on what they want/don't want. i do know some people working here without any degrees at all, but they were hired years ago when the market was better, and now they have lots of experience. in any case, a degree is better than no degree. good luck.

[David Campbell]

Hey there all,

Thanks for the info. It's an international university and the classes would be in English. I am also considering korea as well. From my research it really hasn't specified anywhere about where your degree is from just as long as your from one of 5 countires originally. It seems like a safer bet finishing in the states. I'm not really trying to go to school in the states, Thailand suits me much more.

[markle]

If it's Webster and it is an international program it might be received better but not by much. Have you considered online programs? They might be better received.

[Rooster_2006]

David, I was in a similar situation to you a while ago -- I was seriously thinking about doing my BA at a Korean university. And I decided not to.

In Korea, an American (not a Korean-American) who speaks good Korean (like me) can get all kinds of scholarships and end up with a degree that literally costs nothing except the effort to get the degree, and it can be at a world-class school. So I probably could have gotten a Korean degree for free, versus going thousands of dollars in debt to get a low-rung US online degree.

In the end, I chose the US online degree route. These are the problems with degrees from Thailand and Korea:

- Even if Thailand and South Korea are not starving, third world diploma mills, necessarily, there are so many ignorant people who perceive them as such. If I tell the average manager in America I have a Korean degree, he's probably going to think of it as being in the same league as a degree from the Philippines, or worse, just a piece of paper that I sent to Korea for.

- It'll be an iffy situation any time you want to enter a new country and work -- you will always be anxious about whether or not the degree will be accepted.

- If you quit part-way through the degree, I highly doubt the credits you earned will transfer. I tried to transfer 39 credits from Korea to America, ZERO of them transferred.

In summary, I recommend that you get your BA from an online US school and take a ton of cheap, for-credit CLEP tests, the NYU test for Thai if you speak Thai well, online community college courses, and low-cost upper level courses (also online). If you do that and transfer all that stuff to a school like Excelsior college, you will be doing extremely well, especially if you look at their degree plan ahead of time and make sure it'll all work. That way, you don't have to leave Thailand to complete your degree, think about it that way.

[David Campbell]

Rooster, thanks for the info! The more I check out the better it seems US schools will cut out possible problems down the road. I will have to check out the schools you mentioned. Thanks again.