Job Discussion Forums

[hdoherty]

Hi,

I've already gained a load of advice from previous posts, but I have a few questions relating to my specific situation.

I have a degree in Business and a grad dip in education. I have been teaching Business and Economics for over 10 years - 6 years in my home country Australia and now just over 4 years in the UK. I have my UK qualified teacher status but will be finishing up my current post at the end of July.

I would prefer to find a job teaching Business and/or Economics at an International School in latin america or asia, but as I've left it until fairly late, this may not happen. I am currently searching via the TES site in the UK and the CIS site. Are there any other sites for me to search for jobs at an International School?

In the event that I don't find a job at an International School, I could travel through the rest of 2011 and start a job back in Australia in February. However I wouldn't have enough funds to travel unpaid for 6 months. I would love to travel through latin america and maybe south east asia and thought maybe some part-time / temporary teaching along the way could help me through. But a few questions spring to mind:

1) Is temporary english teaching my best option? If so, at what sort of institution?

2) Are very temporary (ie 1 month) posts available and easy to find? If so, how?

3) With my qualifications, would I need / be best to do a CELTA course?

4) Which countries in latin america / south-east asia would be best to find a temporary job?

I hope you can help. Thanks for taking the time to read this.

[Glenski]

If you want to teach something other than a language, and you can't get into an international school situation, you're usually going to have to do the teaching in the students' L1.

I can think of a very few exceptions in Japanese universities. (See the FAQ stickies in the Japan forum for a couple of links to international schools.)

Do international schools (elementary school, junior high, HS) need such courses, by the way? Seems to me that those would be uni courses.

[naturegirl321]

IN Some parts of Latin America, the school year starts 1 march, so you have plenty of time. I think your best bet would be to hit up an intl school job fair. YOu'll know that all the eemployers there have jobs to fill and many walk away with job offers in hand. It's a bit better than just sending your CV as you both can meet each other and see if the school is a good fit for you.

There are also last minute openings, espeically now, as people quit before the next semster. You might also find short term jobs, due to research or maternity leave.

I think your best bet would be to stay in London and work there for the rest of the year and go to the job fairs. You could travel and work in Latin America, but most job fairs are held in English speaking countries, so you'd have to cough up airfare to go there.

I'm pretty sure you could get an intl school job offer for Sept, BUT, it might not be where you want to be. There WILL be openings though.

So you could just accept a job, stay for a couple years and then look for one that you like better.

Or, you could look for any job in the UK and interview for jobs that start next year.

Or, look for a short term job in Asia, such as HK or Korea. They often have job fairs in HK as well.

I'd highly advise against teaching and travelling becuase in Latin America you won't make enough to fund the flights you need to take to go to the job fairs.

DOn't need a CELTA if you want to teach in intl schools. Temporary jobs are ALL OVER latin America and SE Asia. PAy is the thing you'll have to worry about.

[hdoherty]

Thanks Glenski and Naturegirl.

Glenski - Most International Schools, especially those with IB, have Business Management and Economics for Years 10 - 12. Am still hoping that I can find such a job, if not then teaching english at some sort of ESL instutution may be necessary.

Naturegirl: Just missed the CIS job fair here in London, they wouldn't accept my late application My work permit expires this summer so no chance of staying in London (unless I get married!). I'm confident I can get an International School job for Sept but would be wary of signing a 2 year contract unless I was satisfied with the location. A couple of jobs are on offer in Hong Kong, one in Singapore which I might apply for.Ideally if I was in asia i'd prefer to be in Thailand or Phils, but it's looking like I might have to settle for what I can get. I wouldn't have the funds to travel through until March...so it sounds like the only way Sth America could work is by getting ripped off teaching ESL. Oh well. Thanks for the job vacancy links!

[naturegirl321]