Job Discussion Forums

[timothypfox]

I am working in Japan at a private high school near Kagoshima City, and I had a question about no or low cost professional development classes, seminars, or conferences preferably online.

For those of you who have worked in public schools in the USA, you may be familiar with the Professional teaching license. In New York State the unconditional Permanent teaching license no longer exists, but teachers can keep the Professional level license indefinitely provided they complete and log about 175 professional development hours every 5 years.

I would like to keep my NY State license in TESOL in good standing while in Japan (i.e. I don't want it too expire), so I wondered if anyone knew of no or low-cost ESL professional development I could do preferably over the Internet. I could probably claim some of my school meetings for some of these hours - but I am sure they will look for seminars, courses, or conferences as well when checking my hours.

Any thoughts? Thanks.

[naturegirl321]

I think the best thing to do would be to call the NY Dept of Ed and ask what they would approve.

[timothypfox]

Thanks for the suggestion. I think I have a pretty good idea of what they would approve. But, I am trying to find low or no-cost alternatives. Unlike the US, I will not be able to benefit from tax write-offs as an educator here in Japan and so the cost of these classes could become prohibitive over time....

[naturegirl321]

[timothypfox]

Thanks for the tip! I will look into that.

[hollysuel]

Check out www.learncentral.org

It is a professional development organization sponsored by a virtual classroom. Not sure if it offers the types of professional development classes you will need for your license, but no harm in checking it out.