From August 2010
A few months ago I decided to get serious about going back to teaching. A few days ago, I finally did something about it.
On Tuesday, I sent my CV (on which I found a typo today, horrors!) to Teach Away. I'd been dropping in on eslcafe.com from time to time, sussing out potential jobs for next year, then conveniently missed the summer hiring season through procrastination and second-guessing. But while I was visiting ESL Cafe, I was directed bit by bit to going through Teach Away to get hired in UAE.
So, like I said, on Tuesday I finally sent my CV.
Thursday they called and said they'd like to consider me for a position starting in January, email with more forms to follow.
Today (Sunday-almost-Monday, if you're following along) I sat down and wrote my short philosophy of teaching essay and tidied everything up to send back Monday morning after I sign and scan my background check.
They are hiring for hundreds (hundreds!) of positions in Abu Dhabi Emirate (both the city and the surrounding countryside - desert-side - of AD). Starting. In. January.
In the spring of 2008 I decided to move to the UK and teach there. It had been a decade-long goal, and, happily or not, I achieved it. That time I went through Bluewave International, which hires internationally for UK placements. It took about six weeks from original application to interview, and I thought that was pretty darn fast.
So far, Teach Away is moving even faster.
I was eager and hopeful and suspenseful and all the rest while I was waiting for my Bluewave CV to be perused, but I didn't even have a chance to be hopeful with Teach Away. I was, in all honesty, just doing a preliminary, see-what-happens kind of application to Teach Away, knowing as I did that the hiring season was actually over - no place I'd actually want to teach would be hiring in August for a September start. I had already resigned myself to another year in horrible boring Columbia SC.
Anyway, Abu Dhabi!!!
Why are they hiring hundreds of teachers in America, I hear you ask. After all, UK schools were recruiting US teachers because UK teachers knew better than to teach in failing schools. They HAD to get suckers from the US. Turns out nothing like that is the case in AD. The Abu Dhabi Education Council (hereafter, ADEC) has overhauled the education system in order to incorporate English into lessons at every level. They are currently hiring for K-3 to teach English, as well as to give math and science lessons in English. They're also hiring for Year 12 English teachers (I guess to give kids heading to university at least a minimal grounding in English). So it's kind of like getting in on the ground floor.
I don't know what sounds more exciting, teaching little people or 18-year-olds. Either way, it'll be EFL, basic communication stuff. I LOVED doing EFL, both in Thailand and in Texas, because I am so in love with languages.
Right now I feel I have a pretty healthy chance at a job for January. Which still seems quite impossible. So I haven't told work yet. Or my mum, for that matter.
Therefore I'm secretly Quite Excited and look forward to the next step. I'll keep you informed.
Meantime, I think I should go read some linguistic theory or something. Practice my Arabic? I know a few words now...
A few months ago I decided to get serious about going back to teaching. A few days ago, I finally did something about it.
On Tuesday, I sent my CV (on which I found a typo today, horrors!) to Teach Away. I'd been dropping in on eslcafe.com from time to time, sussing out potential jobs for next year, then conveniently missed the summer hiring season through procrastination and second-guessing. But while I was visiting ESL Cafe, I was directed bit by bit to going through Teach Away to get hired in UAE.
So, like I said, on Tuesday I finally sent my CV.
Thursday they called and said they'd like to consider me for a position starting in January, email with more forms to follow.
Today (Sunday-almost-Monday, if you're following along) I sat down and wrote my short philosophy of teaching essay and tidied everything up to send back Monday morning after I sign and scan my background check.
They are hiring for hundreds (hundreds!) of positions in Abu Dhabi Emirate (both the city and the surrounding countryside - desert-side - of AD). Starting. In. January.
In the spring of 2008 I decided to move to the UK and teach there. It had been a decade-long goal, and, happily or not, I achieved it. That time I went through Bluewave International, which hires internationally for UK placements. It took about six weeks from original application to interview, and I thought that was pretty darn fast.
So far, Teach Away is moving even faster.
I was eager and hopeful and suspenseful and all the rest while I was waiting for my Bluewave CV to be perused, but I didn't even have a chance to be hopeful with Teach Away. I was, in all honesty, just doing a preliminary, see-what-happens kind of application to Teach Away, knowing as I did that the hiring season was actually over - no place I'd actually want to teach would be hiring in August for a September start. I had already resigned myself to another year in horrible boring Columbia SC.
Anyway, Abu Dhabi!!!
Why are they hiring hundreds of teachers in America, I hear you ask. After all, UK schools were recruiting US teachers because UK teachers knew better than to teach in failing schools. They HAD to get suckers from the US. Turns out nothing like that is the case in AD. The Abu Dhabi Education Council (hereafter, ADEC) has overhauled the education system in order to incorporate English into lessons at every level. They are currently hiring for K-3 to teach English, as well as to give math and science lessons in English. They're also hiring for Year 12 English teachers (I guess to give kids heading to university at least a minimal grounding in English). So it's kind of like getting in on the ground floor.
I don't know what sounds more exciting, teaching little people or 18-year-olds. Either way, it'll be EFL, basic communication stuff. I LOVED doing EFL, both in Thailand and in Texas, because I am so in love with languages.
Right now I feel I have a pretty healthy chance at a job for January. Which still seems quite impossible. So I haven't told work yet. Or my mum, for that matter.
Therefore I'm secretly Quite Excited and look forward to the next step. I'll keep you informed.
Meantime, I think I should go read some linguistic theory or something. Practice my Arabic? I know a few words now...
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