Newbie: Limited Experience

[saturnine9]

Hello Everyone,

I am new to this forum and would much appreciate your thoughts and suggestions regarding my situation:

I have a bachelor's degree in English Literature and a Master's degree in Elementary Education. Since receiving certification, I decided to pursue my teaching career abroad. I really wanted to work at an international school due to the fact that English is the language of instruction, however, I lacked teaching/international experience. Fortunately, upon graduating from my graduate program, I was offered a position to teach English as a Foreign Language at a public primary school in South Korea for a year. Although I had a great overall experience, I declined to return for another year because I found the work unchallenging and most importantly, I desired to teach in my certification area (general education, grades 1-6) in my native tongue, English.

I returned to the States last month and have started to send resumes out to international schools that pique my interest. Scandinavia and Japan are my top countries.

With my limited teaching experience, how difficult would it be for me to secure a position for 2011-12? I notice that numerous schools request a minimum of two years experience. Does having a Master's degree help me? Does experience always trump education and/or talent?

Also, I heard that some schools demonstrate a bias toward hiring "Westerners" or Caucasians. Is there truth to this?

Thank you very much in advance!


:D

[puka2]

If you have lived overseas once you will have a leg up.
They know you can at least deal with living overseas.
Working in a local school can work for you in some cases.
You may not make it into a top tier school yet, but some opportunity should come along if you are open minded. You may not get to your top pick the first time around. Join TIE online if you haven't yet.