Job Discussion Forums

[krissock]

Hello,

First I would like to thank the owner of this board and all the posters here for all the help they've already given. I hope that I can find what I am looking for here as well, but even if not I appreciate this resource.

Here's my story:

I am 30-year-old American.

I am married to a Laotian woman who has recently become a US citizen.

I was convicted of a (white collar) felony when I was 20 and spent a few months in federal prison.

I attended 1 semester of college before dropping out.

I have traveled the world pretty extensively and I can converse to some extent in Spanish, Thai, Lao, Korean, Japanese and Mandarin.

I have been teaching English to individuals on a volunteer basis in New York for the last 5 years.

I would like to teach English overseas. I don't need much money. As long as I can get a place to live and enough for food (I eat local food / cheap stuff) I am fine.

I am wondering what you people think is the best option for me, if anything is available at all. I could honestly move to any country.

Thanks a lot for your help.

[Otterman Ollie]

Hi Kris

At the risk of sounding pessimistic, your chances of teaching overseas (note spelling) are less than likely. I suggest that at the very least you try and get something on paper that gives the impression you have some formal teaching experience. I am sure others will pitch in with more suggestions, it may be a long list. Good luck!

[krissock]

Thanks. And thank you as well for picking up my spelling error. I do know the correct way to spell the word but for some reason still made the mistake.

Years ago I got the impression that a native English speaker from the US could find a job in places like Thailand without a problem. I guess times have changed.

[tttompatz]

[TeresaLopez]

At the risk of sounding rude, what is it that makes you think you can teach without any formal training. Do you plan to get some training or are you future students going to be your guinea pigs? Please understand that in many countries people pay a good portion of their disposable income to try to learn English only be be defrauded by teacher by a "teacher" with no training, and no idea how to teach. If you really want to teach, at least get some training, have a conscience, and don't be one of those teachers. It is NOT enough to be able to speak a language, not by a long shot.

[krissock]

Believe it or not, I'm a fairly intelligent person. I was awarded a full scholarship to a very prestigious university in New England on the basis of my academic achievements in high school. I dropped out because I wasn't up for the rote learning that passes for "education" in America's tertiary education system.

I'm very familiar with the ins and outs of the language. I've written for a number of newspapers and journals, studied the evolution of the language, etc.

And I do have a bit of knowledge and experience when it comes to teaching. My older brother studied under Paulo Freire and passed on quite a bit to me (including his notes, which I spent a lot of time studying). I taught fellow inmates during my brief stint in prison (GED prep class) and have taught dozens of immigrants English in New York City (at least 6 of which went on to ace the TOEFL with no schooling at all beyond their meetings with me).

The idea that you must have a diploma from a university to be a good teacher is frankly ridiculous. There are many college graduates floating around who are incapable of even stringing together a coherent paragraph. On the other hand, some of the brightest and most skilled individuals in existence posses not a single document to "certify" their abilities.

Besides, the best educators know that they learn as much, or more, from their "uneducated" students as they themselves teach.

I am confident in my teaching ability. Having traveled through many countries and met a fair number of English teachers, I am absolutely sure that I will at the very least be "on par."

I've met English teachers in Laos and South Korea who lacked even the most basic understanding of grammar. I don't mean that they couldn't define parts of speech. I mean that they couldn't complete a sentence correctly.

Will I be the greatest English teacher in history? Far from it. But I will certainly provide a quality education.

I should have mentioned that I do plan to take a TESOL course before I head off, as that certification seems to be a minimum requirement.

Thanks again for any and all help. I do truly appreciate it.

[johntpartee]

Good on ya, krissock. You've nailed it.

[Phil_K]

Mexico could be an option for you. Immigration does no background check, and there is a lot of employment for "unqualified" native teachers. I'm one, and I've done OK here. This would probably be company classes, with its attendant lack of security, but it would be a foot in the door to give you the opportunity to get the qualifications necessary to get into a more stable job.

I'm with you on your point of view. There's more to education than going to school. Go for it!

[spiral78]

I am sure that you need a minimum of a TESOL/CELTA for Eastern Europe
True - plus a clean criminal record.

[Iceman33]

I've looked at EFL jobs in Russian. It seems that even in little towns you need at least a Bachelor's degree if you don't have a reputable EFL certficate. Russia has higher standards than what I initially thought. That said, it seems quite possible to get an ok job there with just a BA if you aren't picky about where you want to go.

In Japan, having the Bachelor's degree is key. If you don't have that, you just can't teach there, despite having the best TEFL certficate in the world (whatever that is!?).

Turkey seems quite relaxed in standards; however, the top schools require TEFL certificates and/or Bachelor degrees. In smaller places, you may land a decent job with few qualifications. Don't forget that it's also a great country for EFL (Many people I know love it there).

Don't forget about Mexico and Central and South America. Even if the pay is very low, you may have many opportunities there with little in terms of qualification (and possibly "some" areas of SE Asia, too).

I'm not sure about China. They seem to be getting a little stricter from what I've heard. Asia, in general, has seemed to have really have gotten stricter qualification-wise.

I'm personally considering Japan or Turkey at the moment. I have an MA in linguistics and a reputable 150 hour online TEFL certificate. Interestingly, some schools find me very attractive just because I have an MA in linguistics (not even in TEFL), while others don't even seem to look at me because I don't have an "on-site" CELTA or TESOL certificate. My MA overrides everything in some cases, and in others, it does nothing, even alongside the online TEFL certificate

Don't be scared to apply to any school in many parts of the world. You never know what they'll say in response.

Best of luck!

[AGoodStory]

Hi, Krissock, and welcome!

It seems to me that you have several issues which seriously limit your chances for employment, and you will need to consider and successfully address each of them to have a chance at this. These include: your lack of a degree, your lack of an entry level TEFL cert., and your felony conviction.

1. Lack of degree: in and of itself, this will not prevent you from finding a job. There are many, many threads here about teaching without a degree. Leaping right over the inevitable "is-a-degree-necessary-to-teach-well" arguments, you will find that you can get hired without a degree. There are two questions: which countries require a degree for a visa; and where, of the countries that do not, will you be most readily employable. Latin America and China seem to be the areas in which degreeless teachers have the best chance. While other locations may not have a legal requirement, it will be difficult to compete successfully with the many, many more qualified entry level applicants, who will have a degree. Forget countries where the market is tight. Even in the countries in which you can legally teach you will be looking at less desirable jobs with less desirable employers. Since you can't quickly acquire a degree, you need do what you can to improve you chances there at the bottom of the applicant pool. That brings us to:

2. Lack of a TEFL qualification: Acquiring an entry-level cert will greatly increase your chances of being taken seriously. It will do two things: improve your chances of employment, and give you the opportunity to learn some basic EFL teaching skills. Teresa makes a good point (amazingly sometimes still disputed) that knowing how to speak a language is not the same as knowing how to teach it. So don't shortchange either your chances or your future students: get yourself a good solid cert. Look for an on-site course with a minimum of 120 hours and at least 6 hours of supervised teaching practice. Skip all the raging debates about necessary vs. not necessary, on-line vs. classroom; generic vs. name-brand; and just get yourself to the best course you can manage. In your particular case, there is an additional argument in favor of a CELTA, Trinity, or SIT course: you already have a couple of major points where you have to explain and sell yourself to an employer; it would be a plus to have a cert that didn't also require explanation.

3. Criminal background: Some countries, such as Taiwan, Korea, and Viet Nam, will require a criminal background check for a visa. (In the case of Taiwan, I think the exclusion is for crimes involving children.) You will need to find out which countries will allow you to work, given your conviction. This is not just a question of which countries will require a criminal background check, but also whether your particular conviction--non-violent crime over 10 years ago--will exclude you. Given the tedious research this might involve, I would start narrowing things down by using both your qualifications and market conditions to eliminate broad areas from consideration. For example: forget the Gulf (unqualified); western Europe (US passport), Japan (tight market, unqualified), and so forth. Then use the resulting short list to ask targeted questions about whether your conviction will prevent you from qualifying for a visa.

One other point: experience. I think 5 years of volunteer teaching to ESL students is a big plus. Is there any way to add classroom experience--say, small groups-- to the one-on-one tutoring? At the very least, your volunteer work suggests a certain amount of commitment, and tells employers that this notion is not just a passing fancy.

P.S. Our posts crossed in the ether. I see that you have already concluded that you need a TEFL certificate. Best luck to you!

[artemisia]

I don't know the situation for the States but have you checked out the Statute of Limitations or whatever it's called there? After a period of time for a minor felony (though I don't know about a prison sentence) as long as there's been no reoffending, people can usually apply to have their records cleared. It'll always remain on file but in terms of employer checks, it'll be clear. Whether that applies to getting visas or not, I don't know. If you haven't already done so it'll be worth checking out as this is likely to be your biggest hurdle. All the others are surmountable.

[Glenski]

[Iceman33]

I read that, unlike the Bachelor's degree, work-related experience is not an automatic guarantee to getting the work visa in Japan (can get some real hassles). I could be wrong, as I am on many things on many occasions. (A humble person I am.)

Genski, why do you say that a TEFL certificate is not needed to teach in Japan, considering that, as you say, competition is fierce? Are you talking theoretically? For higher-end jobs? But then again I do see lower-paying jobs advertised in Japan where nothing is required but a Bachelor's degree and being a native English speaker.

I don't get into the whole TESOL credentials debate, either, because each country is different, and within each country, every school has different requirements/standards. I've researched enough schools to know that. And, as I said in my previous post, my credentials go very far in some countries and schools, while in others, I can't even get in the door.

[Glenski]