Hi everyone!
My husband and I are looking into finding jobs in an international school. He's certified in social studies and IT and I'm certified in French (with a MA as well). We've both been teaching for 10 years.
In our state if you can pass the Praxis II exam in another subject area you are granted certification in that area. My question is: would it be a good idea for me to try to take the English test in order to have more opportunities for finding a job or would it not make a difference to an international school since I will not have actual experience teaching English, just a certification to do so.
Thanks in advance for your responses.
Newbie with a question
Depends Really
well how hard would it be for you to take the test and pass it? I have mixed feelings about this. On one hand increasing your marketability can hardly be called a bad thing, and expanding your qualifications would over time open up schools, and regions that wouldnt be available to you otherwise.
Another perspective would go that a certificate in the eyes of an admin alone does not make a teacher. Usually schools state a requirement of "2 years experience", and what they really mean is 2 years experience teaching the subject your applying for.
Fortunately your situation spares the academic discourse of the subject. The reason being two fold: 1) French is not a very in demand field there were a dozen or so vacancies globally last year. So anything that moves you into a teaching category with more common and more plentiful positions is an advantage. 2) Your husband would be in very strong demand (especially with the IT) that means to make you a very desirable "teaching couple" you need to make yourself valuable to meet the teaching part of a teaching couple. An english certification (which the IB supports with a number of works of french literature from the world lit. list). Thats whats going to make you a very hot and attractive commodity to a hiring international schools, a teaching couple that they can use and fill 2 vacancies with. So if its not to difficult to pull off, and you can do so quickly and inexpensively (end of the holidays) I think you'd be making a very beneficial investment.
Another perspective would go that a certificate in the eyes of an admin alone does not make a teacher. Usually schools state a requirement of "2 years experience", and what they really mean is 2 years experience teaching the subject your applying for.
Fortunately your situation spares the academic discourse of the subject. The reason being two fold: 1) French is not a very in demand field there were a dozen or so vacancies globally last year. So anything that moves you into a teaching category with more common and more plentiful positions is an advantage. 2) Your husband would be in very strong demand (especially with the IT) that means to make you a very desirable "teaching couple" you need to make yourself valuable to meet the teaching part of a teaching couple. An english certification (which the IB supports with a number of works of french literature from the world lit. list). Thats whats going to make you a very hot and attractive commodity to a hiring international schools, a teaching couple that they can use and fill 2 vacancies with. So if its not to difficult to pull off, and you can do so quickly and inexpensively (end of the holidays) I think you'd be making a very beneficial investment.
Thanks for the great info psyguy. I had a feeling French would be hard to sell outside of the U.S.
The English test is in January and the results would come back right before the Feb fair in Cambridge so I should be able to study for and pass that test in time to throw it on my CV.
I'm also happy to know that my husband is an in-demand candidate. Hopefully someone will take me in order to get him :-)
And one more quick question if you don't mind... I'm certified French K-12 so should I be trying to market myself as an elementary school teacher too?
The English test is in January and the results would come back right before the Feb fair in Cambridge so I should be able to study for and pass that test in time to throw it on my CV.
I'm also happy to know that my husband is an in-demand candidate. Hopefully someone will take me in order to get him :-)
And one more quick question if you don't mind... I'm certified French K-12 so should I be trying to market myself as an elementary school teacher too?
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lightstays
- Posts: 116
- Joined: Tue Sep 20, 2011 9:07 am
- Location: Americas
As with most schools, it's your years of experience that will qualify you for a position, not your certification or endorsement alone.
Foreign languages can be tricky in that the first-tier is's--which is to say the ones you would be qualified for by your years of experience, and depending on the region, the only ones you should bother with--often insist on hiring native speakers. This is especially true in Europe and la francophonie. However, since you are looking as a couple, a school could also hire your husband and then work to accommodate you in your subject area(s). Best of luck!
Foreign languages can be tricky in that the first-tier is's--which is to say the ones you would be qualified for by your years of experience, and depending on the region, the only ones you should bother with--often insist on hiring native speakers. This is especially true in Europe and la francophonie. However, since you are looking as a couple, a school could also hire your husband and then work to accommodate you in your subject area(s). Best of luck!
Qualified
I dont know the specifics of your states certification, but internationally primary school education is a separate qualification (people actually get degrees in Early Childhood Education). A K-12 french certification is going to be seen as qualifying you to teach french. If you want I assume you could take your states elementary/primary certification exam and become qualified to teach elementary/primary. I think this is a good idea for you to do, since primary is a very common field for teaching couples, usually one partner has a very in demand field, and one spouse is a bit weaker then the other. Most schools will save a primary school position or two for just such instances, where they need to accommodate a teaching spouse with a vacancy. Id argue that the primary certification would be more valuable then an English Lit. certification. You should understand that most English Lit positions are at the IB Dip. level, which you really have to know what your doing, and a school admin is going to look at your resume, and see that you havent taught english and have no experience in it, and with other candidates who likely are better qualified, an english certification alone would be a hard sell.
Lightstays brought up a very good point, though I have a different perspective. I'd say the elite schools (the top tier 1 schools) and host language schools (teaching french at schools actually in france) would only really consider a native language speaker. Many schools in the tier 2, and general tier 1 category would be fine with a fluent speaker.
While many people say you should only be interested in the top tier one schools anyway, with your experience, and narrow teaching areas its really unlikely that many if any of those schools would be interested in you. You have no International or IB experience and your french experience is really only applicable to a very small niche of schools, and I think if you held out for a top tier one school or elite school youd just be frustrated. Most of them have very few teaching vacancies a year anyway.
Typically teachers break into the international school market t a tier 2 school in Asia and then move onto a tier 1 school in asia or the tier 2 schools in Europe or High Desire Locations (Japan, etc).
Lightstays brought up a very good point, though I have a different perspective. I'd say the elite schools (the top tier 1 schools) and host language schools (teaching french at schools actually in france) would only really consider a native language speaker. Many schools in the tier 2, and general tier 1 category would be fine with a fluent speaker.
While many people say you should only be interested in the top tier one schools anyway, with your experience, and narrow teaching areas its really unlikely that many if any of those schools would be interested in you. You have no International or IB experience and your french experience is really only applicable to a very small niche of schools, and I think if you held out for a top tier one school or elite school youd just be frustrated. Most of them have very few teaching vacancies a year anyway.
Typically teachers break into the international school market t a tier 2 school in Asia and then move onto a tier 1 school in asia or the tier 2 schools in Europe or High Desire Locations (Japan, etc).
Even though we'd love to live in Europe, we figured after reading through these boards that we'd probably have to start out in the middle east. I've noticed that on these boards people don't (or won't) always say where they've worked that was nice and not so nice. Can anyone give us an idea about what a nice school to teach at in the middle east would be? A place that's reputable and where we could also save some money?
If you can't say for anonymity reasons, we understand.
Thanks in advance!
If you can't say for anonymity reasons, we understand.
Thanks in advance!
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overseasvet2
- Posts: 191
- Joined: Wed Jun 08, 2011 10:50 pm
Only 2 for me.
Id only endorse the American schools in Abu Dhabi and Dubai, and it would have to be the right position and a whole lot of other things to happen for me to take a position in the Middle east at all.
If I was planning to work in the Middle East, I would check the nationality ratios at any school that offered me a contract. I have found that the schools in that region that tend to be not too "nice" tend to be those that are really national schools. On the other hand, the schools that are genuinely international with a mix of nationalities (such as ABA in Oman, or the American School of Dubai) tend to get good feedback on sites like this.
PS: still try for those schools in Europe. In this game, you never know how your application will be received.
PS: still try for those schools in Europe. In this game, you never know how your application will be received.
More great information from all of you helpful veterans!
We will send applications to European schools too with our fingers tightly crossed.
We're starting to question our middle east idea after reading some of your responses and some other threads. It seems like a lot of teachers favor Asia after Europe rather than the ME.
Ah, now another region for us to research...but I guess this is just half the fun.
We will send applications to European schools too with our fingers tightly crossed.
We're starting to question our middle east idea after reading some of your responses and some other threads. It seems like a lot of teachers favor Asia after Europe rather than the ME.
Ah, now another region for us to research...but I guess this is just half the fun.
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overseasvet2
- Posts: 191
- Joined: Wed Jun 08, 2011 10:50 pm
the Gulf is not the world
Seriously, TAISM, ACS in Amman and the American School in Qatar are all great places to be. They can be heavily American if that's an issue for any of you out there but they are NOT local schools with an American name. Do your homework - the pay is also good compared to the cost of living. I heard that ACS in Amman has a fleet of cars they rent to teachers for a small rental every month. A hassle free car?? Not too many schools have that to offer.
Agreed - don't give up on the Middle East. I have friends who worked in Dubai and loved it. You just need to be careful of the for profit 'international' schools that are 99% local students - they are the ones that get the dodgy reviews on ISR. I have not checked, but I doubt if the American School of Doha or Dubai has many negative reviews.
I am currently in the ME and am enjoying a nice lifestyle. The school is definitely local and not one of those much-touted "top tier" schools but admin is positive and trying to make changes. I researched very carefully and ruled out the UAE and Saudi, and targeted countries with their own culture, where women could fully participate, and in which I could enjoy the outdoors easily.