teaching english

[Jerome Scuggs]

so assuming all my plans of grandeur and fame do not pan out, i'm going to have to take my English degree and put it to good use.

my first course of action will be leaving the country.

i definitely want to land somewhere in europe and teach english. i'm just not sure on what steps i have to take to actually do that. i don't know what i need, i just thought "graduating college" was good enough but those bastards want even more of my money, but i have no idea what the difference is between a degree, a master's, a bachelor's, and a phD.

so if i could get some input:

-what level of education do i need to teach the equivalent of American high school?
-What level would I need to teach colleges?
-do i need to speak a foreign language?
-How much do I need as far as initial money - how much would I need to get set up and comfy somewhere?
-How much could I make? How much would I have to make in order to live comfortably, middle-class-ish?
-For that matter, what's a good city or country to live in? Where will i get the least shit about being American? My ideal city would be shreveport-sized (200k people) or less, and fairly modern. All answers in this category must also include a guess on the amount of Asian females per square mile (a/pm).

Like I said, I definitely want to wind up being a teacher.. but I'd also love to not live in America. I specified europe earlier, but I'm open to suggestions, especially Canada.

[D1st0rt]

Knowing you, an Asian country might be of interest

[Kolar]

To teach up here you do need to speak French. Troll King can probably answer the rest on qualifications as I'd just be guessing or using wiki mostly. Teachers make pretty good money, at least 60-70k if not more from what I hear. 45-50k is considered middle class. You'll probably have a harder time fitting in with respects to your nationality in Quebec more so than Ontario, BC, Alberta... Most people wouldn't care anyways but for example 70% of the Canadian population opposed the Iraq War in 2003 so I wouldn't say people are more Anti-American so much as they're just not interested in the kind of politics coming out of DC at the moment or for the past 6 years.

Most cities in the GTA are highly populated so you'd have to keep that in mind. Toronto alone has over 5 million people, the city I live in which is about 25-30 minutes away (the closest city to TO sitting west) Mississauga has close to 700 thousand, probably more. Most of the major cities have a high immigrant population. As for Asians, you'll have no problem here Jerome in the larger cities.

There are some nice places in Mississauga, TO is too crowded and taxes are too high there anyways for me. There are smaller but modern places like Oakville, Milton, Barrie which are out of the way but mostly they're just older cities which have undergone development and modernization because of the population boom in Ontario.

Edit: A lot of English majors tend to run off to South Korea or Japan anyways. Maybe like D1st0rt said, kill two birds...

[Ward]

The way I see it, major in English is pretty useless. I'll graduate from my school of business and know English just as well if not better. Same goes with writing of various essays and reports.

[D1st0rt]

Nice to know we can always count on Ward for positive contributions to any discussion

[Galleleo]

-what level of education do i need to teach the equivalent of American high school?

Teachers with a second degree in teaching can teach the classes 1 to 3 in our High School. Teachers with a first degree in teaching can teach all classes in High School. I don't know exactly what level you have and how it translates to our system and stuff. I believe we still have a shortage in teachers so I think finding a job wouldn't be that hard either. In the city high school will tend to be more diverse (lower class people, lot of immigrants, etc.) in the smaller towns more native Dutch people so also a difference in the problems at the school and stuff.

I had a teacher that was absolutely crazy about the fact that we had to speak English English and not American English. I don't know if that is like a general rule at our High School or just our former teacher (he was a fanatic when it came to English).

-What level would I need to teach colleges?

I know you need the first level degree, as stated above, and probably a master in English. Maybe even a doctorate, not sure on this. I know most professors at, at least mine, our Universities are both teachers as well as working on a research project. Then again, not sure how much Research goes on at a English Faculty.

-do i need to speak a foreign language?

Everyone (almost at least) in the Netherlands speaks English. So using English you would be able to do anything you want in here, of course people would appreciate it if you at least made some effort of learning Dutch. But yeah, I think like 90% of the population at least, knows English (watch out for the farmers and really, really small towns)

-How much do I need as far as initial money - how much would I need to get set up and comfy somewhere?

Depends on where you live. If you live in a city with a University or other School, lot's of rooms for rent (student like rooms, small usually shared bathrooms/kitchens, but also small rental rooms). Ranging anywhere from 150 Euro to 500 Euro a month. It really depends a lot on what you are thinking about to start out with. But I would say a couple of 1000 Euro's would be safe to start with, you can start with less if you get a job right away and stuff, but to be on the safe side and have some money on the side, a couple 1000 would be best.

-How much could I make? How much would I have to make in order to live comfortably, middle-class-ish?

I don't know about teacher's pay over here, it's not that high. You'll will at least get minimum wage, and I would guess more then that. Minimum wage working full time as a teacher should be enough to support you. I did some research, and I got the CAO (the contract in which stuff like salary, healthcare, etc is arranged). I don't really get it, but if I am correct, as a starter you would start with something around 1300 Euro's a month. That will rise with a fixed amount over a fixed time period according to your career progression or something like that. Now, I have no clue really how good this is, and maybe I am not even correct and it's way higher.

-For that matter, what's a good city or country to live in? Where will i get the least shit about being American? My ideal city would be shreveport-sized (200k people) or less, and fairly modern. All answers in this category must also include a guess on the amount of Asian females per square mile (a/pm).

Don't know about Shit you would get about being American here. The South of the Netherlands has a lot of reasonably small city's, also it's not as busy and fast paced as the west part where Amsterdam, Rotterdam, etc are located. I like living in the south, it's laid-back, pretty easy going people usually, very open people. The City I live nearby ('s-Hertogenbosch or Den Bosch) is not that big, it's 4th biggest city of the south, an exact number of people I could not find 1 2 3. But personally I like the smaller towns around the city's more. If you want Asian's, then you would have to go the west part of the Netherlands which is more busy, and has the highest numbers of immigrants/non Dutch people (as in a Dutch family). There are Asian's here, but it's not like you trip over on every time you turn a corner.

This is just done off the top of my head, if you want more info, give me some more specified details on what you want exactly and I'll see if I can find some stuff out for you about the Netherlands and stuff. I could probably go to my old high school and see if I can talk to one of the teachers see if they know anything or something like that.[/QUOTE]

[Galleleo]

The way I see it, major in English is pretty useless. I'll graduate from my school of business and know English just as well if not better. Same goes with writing of various essays and reports.

Because a Major in English only teaches you about grammar, writing essays and reports. It's not like you have to learn about the History of English, the classics when it comes to books, the development of English and whatever else they teach.. teaching English is only grammar, pronunciation and writing essays. You're so right..

[Da1andonly]

You know where it is, jerome. Finland. Even Burzum (who's scoping out this thread as I'm typing this) is on his way over here.

[Troll King]

How strong is your accent? Or rather, how strong is your accent, according to people who are from much different English-speaking regions? That can be a factor in how desireable a candidate you are. Many prefer a neutral-sounding tone that is easy for their students to hear and distinguish. Dialects from the southern U.S. tend to be harder to pick up.

[Fit of Rage]

Having grown up in Florida for 17 years, it's interesting that neither Jerome (Louisiana) nor I developed a southern accent.

[Money]

not everyone gets an accent...its more of a "southern slang" the way we speak in the south, alot diff from the north

[Zeebu]

im from southern indiana...i have gotten rid of it pretty much; but sometimes, i get a shitty accent when i drink a decent amount... i got made fun of alot in college

[Barton]

master is 4 yrs, bachelor is 3 yrs of college/univ

[Galleleo]

Actually Barton.. Master is 1 year. Bachelor is 3 years, the total is 4 years. And you need your Bachelor before you can do your Master. But the Master itself is 1 year in general.

[SEAL]

most information you want is best to look up yourself instead of asking here, IMO. goto www.expatica.com or just google 'working in europe' or whatever. my personal advice for a yank is to stay on the west, south/west side of europe.

Remember that some countries don't let you in, if you don't have a job in the first place.
meaning: you can enter and stay for 3 months on your tourist visa. but in that time you are not allowed to work.
meaning: while applying for a job you gotta remind them you want a visa, which will make it harder to get one.
meaning: its more complicated than just popping on a plane.


oh. remember than spain has nice weather but hairy chicks. and scandinavia have blonds, but the temp. only gets above 60F twice a year.