floss

I'm hoping to persuade Aussie husband to take us (me and 3 children) to live permanently back to Australia end of this year/beginning of next. He works in tv so currently stuck looking at Brisbane ( :scared: the heat) or Sydney ( :scared: the house prices). I also worked in tv for 16 years (lowly graphics operator) but gave it all up 2 years ago for the joys of being a childminder ( :scared: :scared: :scared: )

Anyway, I need to be able to work in Oz - I have a completely impractical degree and am now too old and haggard to go back into tv work. Am looking at doing a course in Teaching English as A Foreign Language. Obviously the value of this depends on the qualification at the end, but can anyone advise if there really ARE jobs in this area around the Gold Coast or Sydney.... See there are lots of Language Schools, but not much good if there are millions of people with teaching certificates looking to work in them!

Or any other suggestions (now 40 and not sitting pretty, so THAT is out of the question!)? Have good but useless degee, but am a dab hand at putting up flat-pack furniture!!??

tonyk38

I did the TESOL and worked in Spain for a wee while. The wage was awful and I became homesick, so I came back to the UK after just a few months.

If you're English is even half decent, then you have a head start on a surprising number of TEFL teachers whose English isn't up to scratch. However, the most important quality for this kind of work is an ability to establish a rapport with a group of people who may speak little or no English.

I wouldn't recommend it as a career choice personally, but you may have different priorities than me. I'm not convinced that it leads to anything better you see. As for work in the Gold Coast or Sydney, I don't know where you'd look to find out what's available, but considering that Aus has substantial ethnic communities, I would hazard a guess that the work is there.

Can I ask you what your degree is in? Would you not consider postgrad training to update your studies and find work that way?

Whatever you decide, I hope it works out for you.

floss

Degree is in Social Anthropology (yup, I know, but it was a fab 3 years!) - no real practical use at all.... Aussie schools do combine a sort of anthropology with history/geography/sociology, but to train as a teacher which I have considered (not sure I wouldn't end up just yelling a lot?) seems to take 4 years full-time... even post-grad (rare) seems to be 2 years! Don't think I could cope with that and need to be up and running sooner!

Any other ideas?

tonyk38

Well, at least if you do decide to do the TESOL, then you can do an 'intensive' in a month flat! Bit easier than PGCE methinks....

Social Anthropology sounds really interesting to me. Are there no lectureships at Uni going? Worth inquiring I suppose....

I'm retraining in Psychiatric Nursing because of similar reasons. My first degree in Rural Environment Studies found me going after low-paid countryside ranger jobs with a zillion other applicants in the midst of the early 90s recession. So hopefully I'll be a tad more employable in the near future as a nurse...

floss

Good for you for retraining - apparently they are crying out for nurses in Australia (and New Zealand and the rest of the world...) But a big change - the calm and serene to the.... not so! Good luck to you! Sending you Karma - don't know what it's for as I'm new to this but seems a nice thing to do!

floss

oops - apparently already given you some - have to share.... sorry!

Jamiem

Hi Floss,

In my opinion, I don't think you'd gain a lot by doing TEFL UNLESS you were going to be based in a non-english speaking country. I know it's pretty big in China and Japan and you can get quite a good wage from it, but from an already english speaking nation, I don't think it's what you're looking for. How about a general teaching certificate? if that's the sort of area you've been thinking of. Just because your degree isn't exactly specific to many occupations, the fact that you have a degree at all does mean something. Maybe try sending out a few emails or applications to jobs you fancy, stating you are willing to retrain if required. You'll never know unless you find out!! Get knocking on those doors of opportunity!!-they won't fling themselves open! Hope you find what you're looking for. I'm sure you'll be fine.

Jamie

floss

You may well be right about the english-speaking nation bit - although I think there is some scope with businessmen/students coming from overseas to learn... but.....Yeah! And true too about knocking on those doors, just suffering from the traditional..."just hit 40, been hanging around with the under-5's for too long, brain's turned to lumpy jelly.... what CAN I do?" syndrome. Need to quit being a whimp really!

Jamiem

Just get out there, and have a scout around. You'll find something, and if you need to, there's always going to be a job doing something to tide you over and keep things running smoothly until what you want comes along.

all the best with it, anyhow,

jamie

floss

You're right, you're right... I know you're right!

Okay - let me come clean. The real issue is my children: eldest is 11, just gone to Secondary School. Always been top of the class - turns out she really is pretty bright... finding GCSE maths easy.... Son's only 9 - does well at school when not clowning around or day-dreaming. VERY frustrated, being to lose confidence. School more concerned about his untidy handwriting - can't write fast enough so writes without joining up. Daughter 2 coming through... seems to be out of the same mold - can't face the frustration and aggrevation of trying to get school's here to get them interested, challenged and engaged. Some school's in Aus do seem more on the ball - they seem to realise that children learn differently and just seem to be more willing to deal with it. But I figure the class size/funding issues must be the same over there as here, and so they might be better in a fee-paying school. The fees in Q'sland are nothing compared to here but still need earning..... hence my worries. (No, I've never been a blue-rinse "if you pay for it, it must be better" - went to LSE for god's sake! - and would never consider private school's here - but friends say in Aus the attitudes are different, and anyway, when it's your own kids........)

Also, it seems pretty tricky to go out there, and know before you get there exactly where you will want to be.... the schools all seem to have "zones" and you need to be in them to apply. At least if you pay fees, the school's don't care where you live, so you can go, get them safely in school and then worry about the rest of it!!

But reading various threads/diaries on here suggests that all my assumptions on class size, etc may be wrong???! We're going out in August for a look-see.... not got long but I'm hoping to come back a little wiser!?! Will also scour the websites for what other's have found.... any suggestions welcome.

Thanks for your imput guys - I'm stuck at home "minding" some very temperamental toddlers for a living and this site has become a life-line.... and source of many chuckles

SarahMarx

Hi There,

I've been working in TEFL for the past 7 1/2 years, mostly in Poland, but right now in Germany. (I'm American BTW). After my contract is up next year I'm hoping to follow my bf to Australia who just got the PR.

Anyway, is it worth training for the TEFL certificate (that's the 1 month intensive course/3-4 month part time course)? From my understanding, the "good jobs" in teaching English goes only to those with this certificate. I personally don't have one, but am seriously thinking about it in order to have more possibilities when I first get down there. (Want to get into something else after a couple of years--maybe MARA agent? :scared: )

If you want any more info, just let me know..

floss

I've been looking around many different training options and thought the following MAY be useful for you, too. Because I'm still working now, I was mainly interested in courses you could do online in your own time - the one which stood out for me was the Certificate in (the Theory and Methodology) of TESOL via www.traininglikonline.co.uk/tesolcertificate.htm .... I've heard it said that the more hours in the training, the better the course - this is 250 hrs as opposed to 100 which many of the others do. The drawback for me is that this course, which seems to give you a higher qualification (Certificate Level 3) than others, doesn't have a practical teaching element - you do that separately.... but you would already have that, which is why I'm mentioning it. It's not too expensive either - pay as you go..... but this isn't an advert - I have absolutely no idea if the organisation are cowboys or anything.... just thought it may be something you may be interested in??? Let me know if you find out anymore - I'm still in limbo! Good Luck