Yesterday was the first time since May 2003 (the date of my graduation), that I actually put my degree in World History to practical use…I mean for something other than yelling “Who is Cortez? Dumbass!” at my television while watching Jeopardy. Somehow I got roped into tutoring a Korean-American high school student in history.
Oh how awesome it was! I mean I like teaching English and maybe it was just a nice break from the normal routine or maybe it was the fact that I didn’t get the “I don’t understand, please rephrase it,” blank look, but I had so much more fun teaching history. Things I need to consider when I head back to graduate school.
No offense intended, but here’s some food for thought:
http://suburbdad.blogspot.com/2005/11/ask-administrator-stopping-cycle-of.html
Comment by Anonymous Coward — June 1, 2006 @ 13:56 pm
AC,
Thanks a lot. That was actually a very good read. In the event that I decided to persue a career in history I would more likely than not go the high school route anyhow (which the author says is slightly less problematic). Anyway it’s still just something I’m toying with, and in reality I will probably just go and my Masters degree in Teaching English As A Foreign Language as I had originally planned.
Comment by Wyatt — June 2, 2006 @ 7:57 am
An MA in TEFL would probably be far more practical than an MA in history, especially if you plan to live in the US. You can actually make a reasonably comfortable living teaching ESL in the States. In those states where there are a lot of immigrants, the demand for qualified ESL instructors is pretty strong. I don’t know if NY has any centralized job banks for academic work, but here on the left coast, we do:
http://csucareers.calstate.edu/
(Under the discipline/category drop-down menu, choose “Letters” for English)
http://www.cccregistry.org/
http://www.edjoin.org
Take a look at a few of the salary schedules, see what I mean:
http://www.miracosta.cc.ca.us/OfficeOfThePresident/GoverningBoard/Policies/Appendices/Appendix%20V.C-01.pdf
The salary schedule from the above URL is probably the best-paying two-year college in the US.
http://www.auhsd.k12.ca.us/hr/teachersalary.php
The salary schedule from the school district linked above is one of the higher paying districts in the southern california area.
The salary schedule for the CSU is more than a hundred pages and very difficult to navigate, so I didn’t bother to link it.
Comment by Anonymous Coward — June 2, 2006 @ 15:26 pm
if you are more passionate about history than esl then go for it. follow your dreams and all that
Comment by dust bunny — June 3, 2006 @ 15:40 pm