Any TESOL teachers ?

Question

I have been a social studies teacher in the states for 10 years. Thinking of transitioning into TESOL position. Anyb advice? Programs? Job satisfaction? Experiences? Suggestions? Destinations to try to get an assignment. Any info much appreciated!

Answer 1

Hi! I'd be happy to share my thoughts...

I just finished the MA in English, ESL/Linguistics focus. So far, it has helped me to get a job teaching a course in regular old composition for native English speakers. As a part of my training in the MA program, I did teach a university course in basic English grammar, and it was really fun!

Teaching methods in ESL have largely moved towards authentic instruction. In fact, it's necessary not to do traditional instruction if you really want to see your ESL students succeed. Therefore, lesson planning can take more time and creativity, but it is a lot of fun if you like to do those things. If you're "artsy" inclined, you'll have no problems!

If you are teaching social studies and already have a certification to teach on the primary or secondary level, you should be able to get a TESOL degree in a jiffy (within a year and 1/2 should be pretty easy). There are TESOL degrees you can get online. I also must recommend my alma mater, the University of Memphis, which offers the MA in ESL, but also the certificate in TESOL, which is only 15 hours (online)!

I can't give you a whole bunch of experiences yet since I haven't been in the field very long, but if you ever intend on teaching at the university level, it'll probably be harder to do that unless you get a Ph.D. in Applied Linguistics or something very similar. But then, if you want to teach ESL classes, you may be less likely to do so with the Ph.D..... instead, you'd probably end up training new ESL teachers.

Well, some of what I've told you, especially in the last paragraph, is a lot of what my previous advisors in this field told me. Also based on what they say, the ESL field is growing rapidly, and ESL teachers are in demand on every level. Coupled with what you already have, you could probably write your own ticket with it. If you also know a foreign language, you could probably go anywhere you want!

Hope that helps!  ;o)

Answer 2

By coincidence I originally trained as a High School Social Studies teacher but have been teaching TESOL in Vancouver Canada for the past 7 years.

Like all teaching it has its ups and downs but for the most part I have really enjoyed it.  

Here in Canada TESOL is mostly taught in the private ESL school context (though some public Colleges and Universities offer TESOL courses too).  

My experience has been that the teaching side of things has gone really well but the pay is lower than the public sector and there is a large variance in how private ESL schools are managed.  (ie - some are very professional and some are fly by night)  I've had some problems on the business side of things.

I don't know about opportunitites in the USA but here in Vancouver there is a huge ESL/TESOL industry with over 200 independent schools.  There is also LOTS of this kind of work available in Korea and Japan (plus many other countries).  I taught in Korea for a short time myself.

I would recommend the website 'Dave's ESL Cafe' for general information, lesson plans/ideas and job opportunities.

Feel free to contact me by e-mail if you want more details or advice.

Answer 3

I've been a high school German teacher for the past ten years.  Got my MA-TESOL two years ago, and have used it only teaching adjunct community college and university night classes.  

In my experience, there are a ton of part-time ESL positions in the public schools, and it's easy to find an adjunct ESL or developmental English position.  But it's much more difficult to find a full-time college position.  Many ESL programs in the schools are second-language specific (that is, they only want to interview candidates that have a working knowledge of a specific second language -- Spanish, Arabic, Punjabi, Armenian, etc).  My classmates report back similar info to me -- easy to find part-time, more difficult to find full-time work.

If you are willing to work overseas (particularly Middle or Far East), you will be able to find a job -- however, many of these schools would also hire any ole' native speaker, or someone with a TEFL certificate.

Answer 4

I agree with the others here. You could probably do quite well overseas. For more information about teaching overseas, consult the websites below: