Masters in Education or Masters in Education with TESOL Concentration?

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twofromusa
Posts: 31
Joined: Mon Jul 22, 2019 10:42 am

Masters in Education or Masters in Education with TESOL Concentration?

Post by twofromusa »

Hello,
I’m hoping to get some advice on selecting a general Master’s in Education vs the one with TESOL concentration.

I just got my Teacher Ready ESOL certification and am considering going for a master’s program since my previous education wasn’t in education-related field.
I’m hoping to land a job at a school teaching ELLs in Asia.
At this point, I’m only thinking of teaching ESL, but it may change down the road...who knows.

I’m thinking of getting an online MSEd in TESOL from the University of Southern Maine (for about $12-13k).

Also, considering a possibility of getting a general Masters in Education from Waldorf University or from UWF (where I went for Teacher Ready). Both schools offer some level of credits towards their general degrees because I got my certification. Each would cost between $9-$10k.

I’m considering the former because I’m hoping to learn more about teaching ELLs and to increase my chances of getting an international teaching job. For the certification, I studied things on my own just to pass the exam. I’m leaning towards working at an elementary/primary school.

What do you recommend? Anyone who got one, but wished they got the other (and why)?

Thank you for your time to respond!
twofromusa
Posts: 31
Joined: Mon Jul 22, 2019 10:42 am

Re: Masters in Education or Masters in Education with TESOL Concentration?

Post by twofromusa »

Forgot to mention that I only have some student teaching and subbing experience at this point.
PsyGuy
Posts: 10789
Joined: Wed Oct 12, 2011 9:51 am
Location: Northern Europe

Response

Post by PsyGuy »

Neither.

First, your very lite on experience, and a Masters just makes you a more expensive intern class IT, theres nothing about a Masters or M.Ed that means youre a better IT at transferring knowledge, why would an IS pay more for it.
Second, your already a classroom edu, a Masters should always do more than get you in a classroom if youre already qualified to be in one. Youre going to spend that kind of coin and resources a M.Ed in Ed.Ld, Counseling, Library, Tech, those are Masters that give you options and opportunities.

A TESOL Masters is really only good for an ET that wants to teach ESOL in a foreign Uni. Otherwise the TESOL Masters might lead to HOD and the C&I Masters might lead to Coordinator (or maybe AP/VP/DP) of Curriculum.
DaZhu
Posts: 9
Joined: Sun Jan 10, 2021 7:27 am

Re: Masters in Education or Masters in Education with TESOL Concentration?

Post by DaZhu »

Hi there,

Looks like you're blazing forward!

We have similar paths--I'm an IT guy turned teacher who started in the ESL path, and ended up on the International School Highway.

First, get it through Framingham State University, they're offering an MA in TESOL online during the pandemic, and it's VERY inexpensive. How do I know? Because I'm doing that right now.

I also got my masters in Educational Leadership, and I'm in the middle of teacher ready also..busy busy!

I think for recruiters a Masters in Education will open the most doors, but you'll learn a whole lot more about teaching English in the TESOL program. So after I got my MA in Educational Leadership, while it's nice, it's not super useful on my day to day experience, so that's why I'm getting the second in TESOL--and it's incredibly useful.

But as someone mentioned, you're super short on experience. With your training, it's like you're becoming a professional athlete without ever having played the sport---you absolutely sure that this is the road for you? Because it's a lot of time and money to be invested in before having experience.

The second part, yeah you need experience. I wouldn't wait at all--go find a school in Vietnam. Super easy, (well, pre-covid), and you can get some experience.

You should know also, you need almost zero qualifications to get a job as an ESL teacher--as long as you have your bachelors degree in anything, and an ESL certification (CELTA if you can)--don't wait years to do it, get that experience now, and it will coincide with your education.

Good luck!
PsyGuy
Posts: 10789
Joined: Wed Oct 12, 2011 9:51 am
Location: Northern Europe

Discussion

Post by PsyGuy »

Framingham Uni isnt cheap, its about USD$14K. There are Masters degrees half that cost and UPe is about a quarter of it.

A Masters value depends what you go into one knowing. Many US M.Ed programs are little more than warmed up Bachelors programs.
DaZhu
Posts: 9
Joined: Sun Jan 10, 2021 7:27 am

Re: Masters in Education or Masters in Education with TESOL Concentration?

Post by DaZhu »

The FSU Masters in International Education, Educational Leadership, Special Education, and TESOL are about $6500.

They fly their professors to China, and around the world so you can have 100% of the lessons in person--which is freaking fantastic. All of the professors had their Phd, EdD, and or an absurd amount of experience an expertise in their field (probably on average 25 years of experience in their craft).

The classes are scheduled during your holidays--so you're looking at 8+ hours per day of classes for 1 week, 2 weeks, 3 and 4 weeks at a time. It's rigorous/intense, but it's also so much fun to be doing it with a bunch of like-minded administrators/teachers from around China, and around the world (we had 12 different countries in my cohort of 24).

They have moved to an online format until COVID isn't such an issue.

I'd say a masters is far more about what a person puts into it than what it is offering directly; you get out what you put in. It's a shock to a lot of undergrads who think their their progress will simply happen to them, as it would in undergrad, and when their results are a reflection of their poor initiative and motivation.

So I had several classmates who put in minimal effort, minimal thought etc. Others were super bright, motivated, and high achievers who paid attention to every details. Those two different groups had very different results in terms of progress.
twofromusa
Posts: 31
Joined: Mon Jul 22, 2019 10:42 am

Re: Masters in Education or Masters in Education with TESOL Concentration?

Post by twofromusa »

Thank you everyone for your responses!
There was quite a bit of development happening in the last few weeks and I landed a teaching job. I plan to focus on getting experience for now and revisit getting a Master's in the near future.
DaZhu, I'm glad that you find a Master's in TESOL useful in teaching ESL. It was my main reason for considering one.
It does make sense to get some experience first though.
I certainly appreciate all the good advice here.
PsyGuy
Posts: 10789
Joined: Wed Oct 12, 2011 9:51 am
Location: Northern Europe

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Post by PsyGuy »

@DaZhu

I see its out of their international edu program, closer to USD$7K but half their main edu department. Potentially some issues (such as the feasibility of hybrid vs. fully online, but for all the people thats an issue, theres another that its attractive too). Still at USD$7K thats very competitive with a lot of UK online Masters programs, a few are still cheaper, and its still twice the cost of UPe.

Id argue that what you can get out of a Masters is capped by what they offer regardless of how much the student puts into it. Youre not going to turn FSU into a global Ivy no matter what you put into it, and if a Masters program is little more than a warmed up bachelors or certificate program with more writing, its still leftovers.
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