Job Discussion Forums

[Kebin]

I'm up against a bit of a dilemma at the moment, and I'm open to suggestions.

I'm currently taking the necessary courses to get accepted into an MA program in Applied Linguistics, which will begin next September. The courses end this December, which leaves me with 8 months and nothing to do.

I'd prefer to be in a classroom gaining experience that I can put on a resume instead of working some nonsense job here at home, but unfortunately money has to be a consideration. All of the 6 month positions I've been able to find have either paid a subsistence wage (in the case of the Georgia program that gets advertised in the job listings on a weekly basis) or nothing at all.

As for myself, I've got just over a year's experience doing the standard intro-to-ESL thing in a Korean hagwon. I have a BA and a 100 hour TESOL cert, plus the few courses I've completed at my university.

I'm willing to go absolutely anywhere. The country or continent doesn't matter in the least, provided I'm not going to be shot in the streets while walking to work. I have a slight preference for places where I might be able to work on learning a useful language, but that's a secondary consideration.

Is there any hope for this, or is it more or less a lost cause? Am I better off just staying home and trying to save money here?

[nomad soul]

Since you say finances are a consideration, you'd save money by staying in your home country and gaining more teaching experience at one or two of your local ESL schools for those 8 months. But if you're intent on going overseas for a short teaching stint, you first need to assess what you're able to budget for your start-up costs (e.g. RT airfare, food, housing, materials, and emergency money) so that others on this forum have more info when suggesting possible teaching situations and locales.

[Kebin]

Unfortunately, being a student once again, start-up costs will be whatever I'm able to borrow from family members. My expectations for this are low... I realize there probably won't be much of anything out there.

[Glenski]

See if Westgate Corporation in Japan has any opening in their 3 or 7-month plans. They reimburse airfare, so that would be a savings.

[BocaNY]

Are there any 6 months contracts in the Middle East to other places in Asia. I want to be able to save money while I am there.