looking for newbie advice to teaching at an intl school

[Michaelesl]

Hello there. I'm new to the international school scene but not new to teaching internationally. I'm based in S. Korea and have been teaching ESL for almost 20 years. I just got my certificate to teach social studies, secondary level. But, I believe I have a better shot at getting an ESL position.

Goal: To get an ESL gig at a reputable school in Central/South America. I speak Spanish & have my CELTA - ESL cert.

I'm now registered here & on T.I.E. - the International Educator. Planning to join Search Associates.

Can anyone give me any general advice about what my prospects look like for landing a job at a reputable school?

Any helpful hints or something I should be aware of?

I would greatly appreciate any feedback.

Thanks!

[PsyGuy]

Your CELTA certification is worthless in IE. None of your experience is worth very much, and very likely is worth nothing. That sounds harsh but a recruiter has; (1) No way of knowing what you did for those 20 years, and far too many ETs are doing little more than edutainment. 20 years of babysitting in a Hagwon is still babysitting no matter how long you have done it for (2) Too many ETs have tried to transition into IE without professional qualifications and experience. Teaching BICS in an ES is vastly different than teaching CALP a year/grade/form level within a students ZPD while navigating and participating in traditional academic studies.

If by reputable IS you mean an upper tier (tier 1, elite tier) IS your successful appointment is very near zero with your resume. If by reputable you mean any tier of IS including third tier bilingual, academy or EAP IS programs, and given you are focused on S.A./L.A. ISs which is a hardship location than your appointment probability is as good as any other intern class IT, which is still low, but not improbable.

THE GOOD:

Forget ESOL, spend a couple years teaching history/humanities/social studies. If you cant bear to do it domestically than concentrate on bottom tier ISs.

THE BAD:

Pick a country in S.A./L.A. you like with a large IS population and move there teaching ESOL. Then keep your eyes and ears open to vacancies (adding primary/elementary would help) and at some point a lower tier IS may take a chance on you as you would be a less expensive local hire. In such cases being in the right palce and right time hs more utility than anything on your resume.

THE UGLY:

Add SPED/SEN/LS than spin the last couple years of your ESOL experience as a Bilingual Language Centric Learning Support teacher. You worked as an outside provider for several SPED students within an IS as such you didnt work for an IS you worked for the parents who contracted with your agency. Now your ESOl experience is countable.

[Nomads]

Tell us more about your experience teaching. Has it been in a k-12 school setting or a tutoring center?

[Michaelesl]

My esl experience: I've been working at a Korean university for the past 11 years. I've taught mostly conversational English but I have taught reading, writing, and listening as well. I've also taught an American Culture class.

Before that I taught at a Korean academy - yes, "edutainment" as some put it.

Oh, I also have 3 dependents, which I'm realizing is a major drawback.

[PsyGuy]

@Michaelesl

Your three dependents is going to be a logistical challenge that you are highly unlikely to overcome. What was near zero with 3 dependents is effectively for all practical applications and purposes zero. Sorry, Id claim zero, but someone will just post that they did it or know someone that did it.

You are an ET with a social studies certificate (a saturated market) and no professional K-12 experience, you havent even recently been working with a K-12 age group. Conversational English is "hobby English" for adults. Your three dependents means an IS has to fly, house (a 3-4LDK), and insure 4 people to fill one history/social studies/humanities classroom with an IT who has no evidence of success in the classroom or can even claim competency in teaching their subject. You are a very expensive hire for a resume in IE that is essentially a lot of white space.

I doubt SA would accept you as a candidate,you dont have the standard two years experience and you have too many dependents. Actually print this forum message and in email tell them PsyGuy stated it was impossible that Search Associates would ever accept you as a candidate.

[Michaelesl]

Wow! This is quite disheartening but I greatly appreciate your feedback.

PsyGuy, you'd mentioned that I might have a chance if I go for a lower tiered school in social studies. Now that you know I have 3 dependents, do you still think that might be worth pursuing? I could market myself as a social studies/esl teacher...?

Any other suggestions? Thanks again for giving it to me straight.

[PsyGuy]

@Michaelesl

Start by printing this message/forum and in your application to SA tell them PsyGuy stated it was impossible. Its the rhetoric equivalent of an unstoppable projective striking an immovable object. Either the associate has to admit PsyGuy is right, or they have to accept you as a candidate. One of three things will thus happen:
1) Paradigm shift
2) Ice skating . in Hades.
3) Rapid collapse of the Universe
Im hoping for the ice skating .

I really loath answering these types of inquiries, because I am not a rainbow farting unicorn. Another contributors designated role is to be the pixie dust and rainbow farting unicorn. The reason being, it would be inaccurate and disingenuous to state unequivocally that its not going to happen (that role also has a designated contributor on this forum, the cave gnome of doom and gloom). There are some scenarios that have a higher than zero functional probability:

1) QSI would hire you regardless of your family size and they have campuses in Belize and Venezuela.

2) You may find an IS that would hire you as an intern. Intern class ITs are fully certified educators, but lack the two years post certification experience. Intern packages vary but a common option is full salary but no OSH benefits, this would mitigate your family logistics in terms of IS expense. SA runs their intern fair at/during the BOS fair. It would get you access to the SA database at least.

3) Follow the "BAD" advice as above. As a LH you are more marketable to a lower tier IS thats desperate.

4) Get married to another IT, one with a decade of IB maths and science experience would be ideal. If your already married, get your spouse certified to teach.

5) Move into leadership. With 20 years experience, language proficiency and a certification, there are admins in bottom tier ISs with similar qualifications running various bilingual and academy IS programs. If you spin your resume, its not a reach making that happen in a rural, hardship location. Family logistics are less an issue in leadership.

[Michaelesl]

I see.

Your reasoning is clear and I don't sense any malice, just telling me my options and how it is.

Thanks very much, again!

[wrldtrvlr123]

PsyGuy wrote:

> I really loath answering these types of inquiries, because I am not a
> rainbow farting unicorn. Another contributors designated role is to be the
> pixie dust and rainbow farting unicorn. The reason being, it would be
> inaccurate and disingenuous to state unequivocally that its not going to
> happen (that role also has a designated contributor on this forum, the cave
> gnome of doom and gloom). There are some scenarios that have a higher than
> zero functional probability:
------------------------------

Hey! If you are referring to me as the first role I bitterly resent that (or at least I would be if I wasn't high as hell on pixie dust and rainbow fumes and having too much fun galloping around on my unicorn).

To be fair, I don't usually just say, "Come on in the water is fine. They'll be rolling out the red carpet and killing the fatted calf" to everyone who asks about their chances.

As for the OP, I would agree you face an uphill climb (but not an impossible one). If you are based overseas already then the answer is to at least try and move into an int'l school in area/country and get experience in your desired area (possibly Social Studies and some ESL support). Since you would be a local hire that eliminates the problem of dependents.

If you can do that and put together some years of successful int'l school experience, then you would at least be a more viable candidate then you are right now to an int'l school in another part of the world. You might then to be able to spin your certification and experience, along with the Spanish and ESL experience and get some decent schools interested in you. Yes, that might also involve negotiating so that the school is not completely responsible for all of your dependents (e.g. travel, school etc) but you would certainly be more attractive as a candidate than you are right now.

Or at least I think that's what the unicorn has been mumbling in my ear.

[shadowjack]

Your problem with SA or CA initially is that the kind of school that would hire you would pay about 22K a year and that's about it. You wouldn't get medical for your family, or flights for your family, or a large housing allowance for your family.

Just saying...

[Thames Pirate]

Don't lose heart. While it's true that you aren't IS gold having 3 dependents and no IE experience, you can certainly find something you will enjoy. Hubby and I were told we had zero chance of landing anything but a third tier school in places we didn't want to be. We ended up at a decent school in Western Europe as our first international gig. Be realistic, sure, but don't let some people on a forum tell you that it's impossible and stop looking. Remember that the system is both subjective (there are no official "tiers", and one man's tier 1 is another man's tier 2) and personal. What you want in a school, a job, a community is different from what someone else might want.

Be creative in your search. You'll find something that works for you.

[Michaelesl]

Thanks so very much for all of the replies.

"Don't lose heart." To be honest, I was feeling a bit down after reading about my dismal prospects, especially after spending 20+ grand and lots of time & effort to get my teaching cert.

But, persistence, persistence, persistence I'm sure will pay off.

It seems that I need to get my foot in the door - get the min. 2 years experience - and then move on from there.

Ideally I would love to move to Central/South America (CSA), but that doesn't seem to be an option right now. Staying in country seems like the wisest move - the dependents issue being ameliorated. Market myself as a social studies/esl teacher and get experience under my belt. Then, CSA, here I come.

I'm also thinking that I should get my master's degree. I only have 3 classes left to get it because I've been taking classes with The College of New Jersey; they have a 2 pronged program - 1st is the teacher's cert & and the 2nd is the masters. I believe that will get me extra security & make me more marketable.

[PsyGuy]

False hope is just as if not more dangerous. Candidates get lucky, for every one of those stories there are 19 that didnt work out that you never hear about (and 'decent' among ITs means third tier).
I would advise going to CSA, the only advantage to waiting is if that wait equates to an OSH package and with your dependents thats going to be an insurmountable barrier. Go to CSA and wait for a LH opportunity. You can just as easily teach EE in CSA as you can in SK.