I’m working on a teaching cert and I’d like to teach at an international school or high school as a direct hire. Do you folks find that having the subject matter of your teaching cert be ESL or English has helped you out better? I guess I’m unsure how English lessons go in international schools. And when I say “international schools,” I mean the ones that are actually like Mon-Fri schools, not a supplementary thing that kids go to once a week.
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Also is there any better way to search for real international schools and not glorified preschools other than googling “(City name) international school” and wading through the masses? Thanks all!
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If you want to teach at a real international school, then you want your certs to be in whatever subject matter you plan to teach. There are a couple different kinds of international schools. There are some that are all English and you’ll have mostly or a significant number of native speaking students. An ESL cert will be less useful there. Whereas a mostly Japanese school with some subjects in English will be a different kettle of fish.
The advice is to figure out what you actually want to teach, get your certs in that, and then get a couple years experience in your home country in that subject.
Real international schools require years of experience preferably in other similar schools. Teaching experience with the IB programmes will also increase your chances of landing a job.
What exactly are you hoping to teach? Because ESL is very rare to find at a proper international school. English, on the other hand, is possible though may be a saturated market.
>Do you folks find that having the subject matter of your teaching cert be ESL or English has helped you out better?
Of course. Any decent international school expects you to have some sort of qualification and/or experience in your subject. I’d say 80% of my colleagues have a degree in their subject, and the remaining have experience teaching their subject (but may have started out qualified in a different subject).
>is there any better way to search for real international schools and not glorified preschools
Since you mention preschools, are you planning to teach elementary/preschool level? Those are pretty hard to wade through which are legitimate and which aren’t. Probably the only thing you can do is look for what accreditations they have on their website.
You need qualifications (teachers license, Master’s Degree etc) for the best positions
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An “English” position at an international school would require you to have a background/license/experience in English (ESL where you play bingo as an ALT does not count as experience here). That means you need to be an expert on English literature etc.
I have both a Master’s in TESOL and a teaching license from the UK (elementary school).
I doubt I’d get into an elementary school. They usually expect you to have put in the years back in your home country.
Unless you pick China or the Middle East, but results might vary there.