I’m currently a teacher at an Eikawa, I’ve got a masters in screenwriting and a CELTA and I’ve now been teaching for over a year. I’ve got some experience teaching full time at a language school in the UK before I moved to Japan. But now that I’m getting close to my contract end here in Japan, I’ve been thinking of how I can curate a career for myself in hardcore teaching as opposed to just jumping around EFL. I’ve been thinking of getting an M.Ed, but I had a some questions about it –
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Where I should ideally get one from (my home country is India and even though it would be cheaper and has English as an official language, I know my CV would benefit from a native country degree. I’ve seen some stuff about needing exp from your home country and wanted to know how true that is when it comes to jobs.
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My bachelors was in Journalism and Marketing, would I be able to do a M.Ed directly?
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If I got a MA TESOL, would that open doors to International schools or would I still face the same problems with a license I’m facing right now?
If y’all could give me some advice I’d really appreciate it! Thanks!
by MimoEskimo
4 comments
If you mean an international preschool or kindergarten, you wouldn’t need an MATESOL. You can apply now. If you want to work at a primary or secondary international school you would need teaching credentials and some years of experience in your home country.
You could go the uni route and start now by applying to part time positions now. You could teach writing classes, for example.
If you’re serious about university teaching, I’d recommend linguistics or applied linguistics, which are respected here. Masters degrees are expensive so you should try to get a scholarship for a PhD program and get a ‘free’ masters degree in route to your doctorate.
3. TESOL is not the way. International Schools tend to be overseen by a specific country and all classes are taught in English (or French or language of the country overseeing the school). Thus ASIJ (American School in Japan ) is overseen by US educational policy, all classes taught in English, and they would want teachers who have taught in the US or one of their territories. Basically, International Schools do not need a person who “teaches English to non-speakers.” They need math, science, history or actual English language arts teachers.
If you want to teach in International Schools, you should have a subject focus (math and sciences are in short supply) and an M.Ed with years of experience in home country of the school.
That said, there are some good Nepalese and India overseen International Schools in Japan – so I’d suggest reaching out to them and asking them what their advice is.
2. Yes.
I second the comment about international schools not needing ESL teachers. The language of instruction is English, and students are expected to have a fairly fluent command of English when they enrol. International schools may have a small ESL department to improve the academic English of second language speakers, but it isn’t “true” ESL and there will be very few teachers needed.
“Home country teaching” is the phrase used as it’s assumed most people get qualified at home, get experience and then move. You don’t need to have taught in the country of your citizenship, but for a good international school in Japan you will need a few years of teaching experience after getting qualified as it’s a competitive market.
If you’re clever you can probably sneak into university teaching.
A master is all you need for the minimum, up to you how to frame that so you get in.
Start with part time or dispatch, try to get just a lesson or a day a week, then see where it goes.
Lots of ppl have done it, my masters yeah is closer to education than yours but it’s not perfect. I got in through teaching young adults in technical colleges.
As for doing another masters, yeah can’t hurt, and you’re right it’s better to go an “inner circle” English country (unfortunately).
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