I'm sure this question has been asked many times and I'm sure it will be asked many more. So, here goes.
My girlfriend and I were both elementary teachers in the US. I was laid off and she resigned. We're now teaching English in small(ish) Thai school. We like it, but we both want to teach at an international school next year.
Me: 34, BA in Journalism, minor English, certified EC-4 general, certified ESL EC-12. I have one year as a substitute, 2 years full-time (2nd grade and Pre-K), one year part-time (4th grade tutor) and about 9 years teaching ESL (Spain, Korea, Thailand, and the US).
Her: 29, BA in Photography, minor photo-journalism, certified EC-6 general, certified ESL EC-12. She has one year as a substitute and two years full-time (5th and 1st grade)
The plan: Join Search, go to the fair in March and find a job for the 2013-2014 school year.*
Concerns: We both have only two years experience, no Masters (we are going to start an online program in January), no teaching degree, no international school experience, we're not married, and have taught almost exclusively in primary schools (I taught one semester of high school ESL).
So, do you think we'll have a shot at finding a job? If so, do you think we'd have a shot at a tier 2 school or is that out of the question?
*if we get an invite to the fair
Many thanks in advance!
My chances of finding a job...
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CGriswald309BC
- Posts: 8
- Joined: Sat Sep 08, 2012 4:56 am
- Location: Songkhla, Thailand
Advice
Advice:
1) Get married and present yourselves as a primary/ESL couple.
2) March is too late, you should be shooting for the Boston/Cambridge fair.
3) Get married
You too barely make the minimum, and the ESL/Language school experience does not count. You have no advance degrees, and more importantly no IB/PYP experience. I dont know how long youve been doing ESL, but primary isnt in very high demand. What would increase you marketability is a school getting 2 of you for less cost, since you have no kids. You can sell that too a second tier school if your willing to go to Asia or the ME.
1) Get married and present yourselves as a primary/ESL couple.
2) March is too late, you should be shooting for the Boston/Cambridge fair.
3) Get married
You too barely make the minimum, and the ESL/Language school experience does not count. You have no advance degrees, and more importantly no IB/PYP experience. I dont know how long youve been doing ESL, but primary isnt in very high demand. What would increase you marketability is a school getting 2 of you for less cost, since you have no kids. You can sell that too a second tier school if your willing to go to Asia or the ME.
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CGriswald309BC
- Posts: 8
- Joined: Sat Sep 08, 2012 4:56 am
- Location: Songkhla, Thailand
1. Hmmm...not sure about marriage quite yet.
2. We're in Southern Thailand so if anything we would shoot for the January Bangkok fair. However, we thought we'd wait because the only schools that would probably want us would be the ones who were a bit desperate to fill the positions they haven't yet filled. That's why we thought March.
3. See one. Haha.
2. We're in Southern Thailand so if anything we would shoot for the January Bangkok fair. However, we thought we'd wait because the only schools that would probably want us would be the ones who were a bit desperate to fill the positions they haven't yet filled. That's why we thought March.
3. See one. Haha.
OK
I appreciate your candor so I hope you will appreciate mine. Get a Pre-Nup then get married. You will not get an invitation to the Bangkok fair. The only way you two would get invited is if you got married and were a teaching couple, and even that would be a maybe (a better maybe but a maybe).
Heres the situation, the fairs and recruiting season are only a couple months away, so you cant 1) Really increase your experience. 2) You cant get IB/PYP experience in this short of time. 3) You cant add a Masters degree by then (its possible you could have one finished by the end of summer). The only thing thats really going to make a significant difference in your marketability is if you can become a teaching couple with an EAL/Primary combo. Thats realistically the only thing you can really accomplish that boosts your resume in the next couple months.
Ok so you dont want to get married, fake it. Google a wedding certificate (south pacific island would be nice and unverifiable) and photoshop your names into it. Buy a couple of cheap gold wedding bands. Go to the fair as a teaching couple and see what offers you get. Schools never check marriage certificates and if they ask just give them a copy of the fake.
Heres the situation, the fairs and recruiting season are only a couple months away, so you cant 1) Really increase your experience. 2) You cant get IB/PYP experience in this short of time. 3) You cant add a Masters degree by then (its possible you could have one finished by the end of summer). The only thing thats really going to make a significant difference in your marketability is if you can become a teaching couple with an EAL/Primary combo. Thats realistically the only thing you can really accomplish that boosts your resume in the next couple months.
Ok so you dont want to get married, fake it. Google a wedding certificate (south pacific island would be nice and unverifiable) and photoshop your names into it. Buy a couple of cheap gold wedding bands. Go to the fair as a teaching couple and see what offers you get. Schools never check marriage certificates and if they ask just give them a copy of the fake.
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CGriswald309BC
- Posts: 8
- Joined: Sat Sep 08, 2012 4:56 am
- Location: Songkhla, Thailand
[quote]Ok so you dont want to get married, fake it. Google a wedding certificate (south pacific island would be nice and unverifiable) and photoshop your names into it. Buy a couple of cheap gold wedding bands. Go to the fair as a teaching couple and see what offers you get. Schools never check marriage certificates and if they ask just give them a copy of the fake.[/quote]
Interesting...
Interesting...
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CGriswald309BC
- Posts: 8
- Joined: Sat Sep 08, 2012 4:56 am
- Location: Songkhla, Thailand
[quote="DCgirl"]I've had to submit my marriage certificate a few times during the past two years to both the local teaching authority (signed off by the school head) and my HR dept. It's definitely not worth it to fake it. I would go to Cambridge and give it a shot.[/quote]
Good to know. Thanks!
As for Cambridge, well, that isn't going to happen. If were invited to the fair in Bangkok, yes, but not the states.
If we don't get an invite to the Bangkok fair (which seems likely) we may just look for a job at a tier 3 school here in Thailand.
Thanks for all the responses!
Good to know. Thanks!
As for Cambridge, well, that isn't going to happen. If were invited to the fair in Bangkok, yes, but not the states.
If we don't get an invite to the Bangkok fair (which seems likely) we may just look for a job at a tier 3 school here in Thailand.
Thanks for all the responses!
Really not worth risking your careers on a lie. I don't see why you couldn't work at a 2nd/3rd tier school in Thailand, since you are already there, and build up your resumes. If you're U.S. citizens you could try DoDEA, ESL is a needs area and male primary teachers aren't a dime a dozen for us.
Please don't resort to lying to get a job. Your integrity is all you've really got and PsyGuy, as you can see, doesn't have much of that.
Please don't resort to lying to get a job. Your integrity is all you've really got and PsyGuy, as you can see, doesn't have much of that.
@PsyGuy, it doesn't matter what their degrees are in, it matters what their certs are in. If they have the course work, which they could get through University of Phoenix, then they are certified. I don't give advice out like yourself that asks people to fabricate themselves. Something you don't seem to have any issues doing yourself.
Really
And you think with majors and minors like theres they have the coursework? Not if they can get it, but if they have it already. They are in their 30s and havent been teaching long, so they probably went through an alternative certification program, which means they dont likely have any hours for ESL or Elementary qualification, and even then they dont have the professional education hours either.
I'm not going to guess on what they have, or don't have. That's what you do, give advice on pure conjecture. I'm going to offer good advice, roads they can use to achieve their goals and wish them luck. You Google your information, speculate on what they do/do not have, and then tell them to lie to get a job. The difference between us, PsyGuy, is that I'm actually in the education field and work for DoDEA. While you lie about working for DoDEA.
Sorry
Except I am a teacher with a DoDDS school. Your posts are so disingenuous. I cant reconcile how you can be this ignorant or naive. You tell people what they want to hear, with no real concept or understanding of practical realities. Your advice is - to buying lottery tickets because someone has to win.
If you got hired, which none of us believe, then it's proof that DoDEA will hire anybody. You're a pest and you tell people to lie which means that you lie yourself. Also, wanna know how I know that you don't teach for DoDEA? This site is blocked by Bluecoat. You can't access it on the DoDEA network.