I am wondering if this is a realistic way of making a living. I will likely be getting TESL Ontario and Canada certified by taking a course at the Canadian College of Educators in Mississauga Ontario between September and December of this year. However, I worry that I will have to endure years of contract and part-time work before finding a full-time position...if full-time positions exist at all.
Can any experienced ESL teachers here give me some guidance as to what I can expect, and if this is a realistic career choice? I love the volunteer ESL tutoring I'm doing at the local public library, and think I would like to make an honest go of it as my primary source of income. Being 27 years old, I feel it is time to make a firm choice and to dive into the teaching field. I see this as a good way of doing that.
Any thoughts or advice on this topic would be very much appreciated. For your reference, I have an Honours BA in Contemporary Studies, and an MA in Humanities. I will also be seeking work in Southern Ontario Canada.
Adult ESL as a career choice?
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Alex Makar
- Posts: 1
- Joined: Tue May 13, 2008 2:39 am
- Location: Southern Ontario, Canada
career choice
I can't really say what it is like in Canada, but I can say that I made a living with two part time jobs teaching ESL to adults. It was not ideal, but I certainly learned a lot by working in programs with different approaches, sizes, etc. I also had a couple colleagues who did the same thing--put together two part time jobs.
After 2 1/2 years I was able to find a full time job and I consider myself very fortunate. Having an MA in TESOL and Linguistics certainly has helped.
Anyone who really wants one full time job in the field would find it easier to do so teaching elementary or high school-- as long as you have a teachers' license, that is.
After 2 1/2 years I was able to find a full time job and I consider myself very fortunate. Having an MA in TESOL and Linguistics certainly has helped.
Anyone who really wants one full time job in the field would find it easier to do so teaching elementary or high school-- as long as you have a teachers' license, that is.
Re: career choice
Goodness. Two MAs? And one of them in Linguistics? (What is your B.A. in?) I'd certainly hope you had (and have) no problems finding work, or there'd be little hope for the rest of us.lisie wrote: Having an MA in TESOL and Linguistics certainly has helped.
MA
It is one MA in both TESOL and linguistics.
I didn't have too much trouble finding a job, but I did have challenges finding one full time job. There isn't a lot of funding for adult basic education, so many programs can only hire a few full time teachers. A new teacher has to stick with a couple part time jobs until a full time position opens up in one of the programs.
My undergraduate degree is in English.
I didn't have too much trouble finding a job, but I did have challenges finding one full time job. There isn't a lot of funding for adult basic education, so many programs can only hire a few full time teachers. A new teacher has to stick with a couple part time jobs until a full time position opens up in one of the programs.
My undergraduate degree is in English.
The rewards are seldom financial!
Adult education, at least in the United States, remains the distant step-child of public education. The quality and funding for all public education in the United States remains a profound problem.
If you want to become an administrator, your prospects of finding a satisfying fulltime job increase. Finding a fulltime position as an adult educator teaching in a classroom, at least in Southern California, remains both possible and difficult. Although LAUSD pays the best, it offers the least positive workplace environment. The best adult education position I found was combining two part-time positions. Eventually, I switched to just teaching at the community college level and university level. The desire for a normal middle class life with benefits played a major role in my decision. Stability, at a certain point, becomes attractive.
Of course, public funding for adult education depends on the political climate. If either Senator Obama or McCain want to push through a comprehensive immigration bill, they will need to include some mandate for learning English. The last amnesty bill required 40 hours of classroom instruction; this time the number might be closer to 100 hours. Perhaps that extra funding will lead to a long overdue expansion and greater appreciation of adult education. But don't hold your breath.
Good luck. Teaching adult students provides many satisfactions on many levels, but the rewards are seldom financial - especially if you prefer actually teaching to shuffling paper.
If you want to become an administrator, your prospects of finding a satisfying fulltime job increase. Finding a fulltime position as an adult educator teaching in a classroom, at least in Southern California, remains both possible and difficult. Although LAUSD pays the best, it offers the least positive workplace environment. The best adult education position I found was combining two part-time positions. Eventually, I switched to just teaching at the community college level and university level. The desire for a normal middle class life with benefits played a major role in my decision. Stability, at a certain point, becomes attractive.
Of course, public funding for adult education depends on the political climate. If either Senator Obama or McCain want to push through a comprehensive immigration bill, they will need to include some mandate for learning English. The last amnesty bill required 40 hours of classroom instruction; this time the number might be closer to 100 hours. Perhaps that extra funding will lead to a long overdue expansion and greater appreciation of adult education. But don't hold your breath.
Good luck. Teaching adult students provides many satisfactions on many levels, but the rewards are seldom financial - especially if you prefer actually teaching to shuffling paper.
Eric18,
I was wondering if you had any thoughts on the occupational outlook for secondary teachers (English) in the L.A. area in 2009? Also, have you heard about the proposed four-day workweek for teachers? I am not sure if it would affect you as a college professor or not, but I'd like to hear your thoughts on it.
Thanks,
Donna
I was wondering if you had any thoughts on the occupational outlook for secondary teachers (English) in the L.A. area in 2009? Also, have you heard about the proposed four-day workweek for teachers? I am not sure if it would affect you as a college professor or not, but I'd like to hear your thoughts on it.
Thanks,
Donna
Mixed outlook with budget woes
Donna - Good questions.
California, as you may know, has a huge state budget deficit of at least $15 billion. While some compromise seems likely to raise $6 billion in upper income taxes and sales tax increases, that will leave a considerable gap - and the state has used every accounting trick in the books for the last 7 years. Upshot: cutbacks in education programs, including K-12, seem very likely.
Declining enrollment in public schools in LA - for a wide variety of reasons from safety to very low academic quality - are also putting some pressure on employment. Immigration policies also play a role given the huge number of undocumented workers - and their offspring - in Los Angeles. A popular billboard campaign organized by the Mayor reads "Legalize L.A." because such a large number of people lack legal status. During economic downturns and increased raids, many people self-deport and return to Mexico and Central America. That pattern seems to be occurring again.
On the other hand, charter schools and private schools are opening left and right - pun intended - but the pay can vary. As ever, quality stands out - but there are many bureaucratic hoops too.
My conclusion: mixed outlook in LA for ESL and secondary English teachers.
California, as you may know, has a huge state budget deficit of at least $15 billion. While some compromise seems likely to raise $6 billion in upper income taxes and sales tax increases, that will leave a considerable gap - and the state has used every accounting trick in the books for the last 7 years. Upshot: cutbacks in education programs, including K-12, seem very likely.
Declining enrollment in public schools in LA - for a wide variety of reasons from safety to very low academic quality - are also putting some pressure on employment. Immigration policies also play a role given the huge number of undocumented workers - and their offspring - in Los Angeles. A popular billboard campaign organized by the Mayor reads "Legalize L.A." because such a large number of people lack legal status. During economic downturns and increased raids, many people self-deport and return to Mexico and Central America. That pattern seems to be occurring again.
On the other hand, charter schools and private schools are opening left and right - pun intended - but the pay can vary. As ever, quality stands out - but there are many bureaucratic hoops too.
My conclusion: mixed outlook in LA for ESL and secondary English teachers.
Four day work week - a good idea ignored for too long
Santa Monica, as so often, is far more green than most of the U.S. The local government has had a rotating 9 day workweek for city employees since the early 1990s.
The four-day work week - with 10 hour work schedules - has been floated for decades. Unfortunately, business leaders tend to look askew at the idea since they often can cajole employees into working 10 work days... five days a week. Some city and state governments, most notably Utah, have taken a second look at the idea to save money and commuting time.
Yet the good idea has yet to build enough support. Perhaps if there is a third war, gas reaches $5 a gallon, and budget deficits increase even more there will be a stronger push. So far, Utah is standing alone in moving toward a four day workweek for state employees.
The four-day work week - with 10 hour work schedules - has been floated for decades. Unfortunately, business leaders tend to look askew at the idea since they often can cajole employees into working 10 work days... five days a week. Some city and state governments, most notably Utah, have taken a second look at the idea to save money and commuting time.
Yet the good idea has yet to build enough support. Perhaps if there is a third war, gas reaches $5 a gallon, and budget deficits increase even more there will be a stronger push. So far, Utah is standing alone in moving toward a four day workweek for state employees.
Thank you Eric18. I have been told by many people who work in education that public school teaching, as a profession, has always been a cyclical proposition, fluctuating according to the tides of demographics, budget, and other factors. I've also been told that everyone has known that a budget crisis was forthcoming for at least 5 or 7 years now (except me, who happily and obliviously waltzed into credential school and subbing as a mid-life career change), and that some schools deferred money each year from their own budget to avert a crisis when the inevitable bottoming-out happened with the state of California's budget. The left and right openings of Charter and private schools are possibly good news; they are a glimmer of job opportunity in what may be a tough job market for me in 2009, but they also have the reputation of being jobs which require more work but pay less than their LAUSD counterparts.
As a Los Angeles County native I was looking at the larger picture, albeit in a slightly reductive and naive way, that becoming a teacher in L.A. was a fairly recession-proof career because the number of children (and adults) is ever-increasing, and always has been ever since I've been alive whether or not the economy was booming or busting, and so it would therefore be impossible for the demand for teachers not to increase. I'm better able to see the fallout of economic downturns and immigration policies, which I wasn't as aware of but quite sure I was still affected by to the same extent, than I could when I worked in the private sector.
Thanks again for your thoughts,
Donna
As a Los Angeles County native I was looking at the larger picture, albeit in a slightly reductive and naive way, that becoming a teacher in L.A. was a fairly recession-proof career because the number of children (and adults) is ever-increasing, and always has been ever since I've been alive whether or not the economy was booming or busting, and so it would therefore be impossible for the demand for teachers not to increase. I'm better able to see the fallout of economic downturns and immigration policies, which I wasn't as aware of but quite sure I was still affected by to the same extent, than I could when I worked in the private sector.
Thanks again for your thoughts,
Donna