aussiestyle1983

Yooyung, on 2012-02-08 13:16:49, said:

I had a very similar experience to you. My first teaching experience in LOS was at the place with the name of a tobaco company. Others teaching there put me in touch with a large private Catholic school chain that was equally if not more dodgy... Anyway, after 2 years of teaching, I returned to Australia to earn a degree. I studied through Open Universities Australia whilst working full-time in Oz and after 4years of studying I have ended up with 2 bachelor degrees, one from Griffith and one from Macquarie. It's good to read a post from someone who had a similar experience. I don't know if I'll ever use the degrees for anything or even return to Thailand (hopefully I can use them for something as I spent about $15,000AUD and used 4 years of my life), but if I do return to Thailand to teach at least I know I will have a real degree behind me...

Dan141:

This is my experience from about 5 yrs ago. I only had a TEFL cert but I was already living in Thailand on a 1 yr Non-O visa based on marriage. I was approached by a Thai lady in the street one day to work so I decided to give it a try. I heard that I could get a work permit on a Non-O and I was able to, as well as a teacher's license - without a degree. I asked at immigration in BKK and at the school (which has hundreds of foreign teachers so should know) if I should convert my visa to a Non-B for work but both the school and immigration said if you're married to a Thai and can get a Non-O, it is always better to keep the Non-O because it is not dependent on your employment situation; you will lose the Non-B if you quit work or get fired and have to do the entire visa process again, whereas you can work if you like or not on the Non-O. When I actually renewed my 1 yr Non-O six months later in Singapore the embassy gave me the same answer to the same question. I had letters from the school and MOE ready in case I decided to apply for a Non-B, but no, the Non-O was stated to be the better visa as it allows more flexibility. So, I was able to get a TL and WP on a Non-O visa and would do it again. I will not even consider a Non-B if I can get a Non-O because the Non-O is not dependent on my working / employment circumstances whereas the Non-B is.

I'd go to Laos, or anywhere where you can get a 1yr Non-O, get the Non-O, and then let the school get you the work permit. If it doesn't work out, you can still live in LOS on your Non-O...

It's good to come back after 2 weeks in Honkers and find this thread going again...

I will go for the Griffith degree, because as about 95% of people I have consulted including those in here, a double major with 2 proper majors from a uni ranked only 2 or 3 places lower in Australia and 100 lower in the world versus a degree from a slightly better uni but with a dodgy sounding major could do more career wise...

As for post-grad study. I was accepted into UOW Wollongong Post-grad cert in Education (TEFL or TESOL) at the same time I was considering starting this degree. They accepted me based on my 2 years of full time TEFL teaching in Thailand. However, the Grad Cert was only 4 classes / units and equv to only 6 months of full time study. I then found this degree through OUA. I asked language schools in Bangkok what they would think if a potential employee came to them with eith a 3 year BA in any field or just a 6 month Grad Cert in Education but no Bachelors degree. All schools I consulted told me they would take the BA first because it is evidence of more time in university, whereas skiping the Bachelors first and doing the Grad Cert, allthought in Edu and thus relevant, it would look like a short cut.

Do you think it was the right decision to do a 3 year BA that can be used as a foundation for anything or do you think it would have been better to just jump straight into the Grad Cert? The Grad Cert becomes a Grad Dip after 6 classes / units (2 more) and then into a full Masters in Education after 8 classes / units (another 2). Even if I got the Masters in Education, it is only a 1 year full time degree based on the study load so I still think a 3 year BA might do more for me.

I am still thinking about slowly doing the Grad Cert, then 2 more units to get the Grad Dip, the another 2 to get the MEd. After all, a Masters degree in Education with a TEFL / TESOL major would really help out career wise there.

Still, do you think I should have just done that given I have the chance to go straight into the Grad Cert, or, was it a more wise move to get a BA first?

I just think that the BA can be used to help get into any career and be used as a building block, where as anything in Education, post-grad or under-grad, is really only good if I want to teach... Nonetheless, if I keep studying, 4 years full time study total for a BA and a Masters in Education (TEFL) is still no too bad...

Xangsamhua: Thanks for your useful reply. It's good to see the same names in here that I used to chat to over 4 years ago now...

There are no minors so to speak, just two majors with the Griffith degree and one major with the Macquarie degree. A lot of units / classes overlapped as core unis for both degrees - I was unsure which one to get when I started so I carefully selected my units so I could qualify for both then decide later. There are 2 Education electives (education psychology and education history), about 4 philosophy electives, and a few classes in SE Asia, Terrorism in Intl Politics, and one in English writing (not that my quick spelling in here reflects that). There are more education units available now, but when I started, there were only 2 so that is all the education units I could do without altering the degree pathway.

But Thanks to all the good advice in here, I am really leaning towards Griffith. Like you said, the double major would show / reflect what I actually did and am qualified in. I don't need to use it to prove I went to a specific uni because of ties, so that won't matter. I 'd rather say to a potential employer 'I have a double major in sociology and history & politics' than 'don't laugh, my major is something you would have never heard of before...'

I wish I could have done more education electives or a minor in EDU, but when I started it wasn't available. Only the 2 EDU classes I did and the one in English writing were relevant to teaching english. OUA now offer a Bachelor degree in primary education through Curtain uni (I think) which is good.

I would not say I have had a change of heart about my feelings towards many things in Thailand - I just decided to get the degree long ago because I am still young and though it would come in handy one day. Also, given that my wife is Thai, if we ever live there again and I need to work, the degree will help out. I got the liberal arts degree because I thought it would be a little more flexible and I could always study more and build on it in case I did not want to teach - a strictly education degree limits your career choices more from what I have heard.

It seems that others are also telling me to get the degree with the double major because it will look better than a degree with one major. Maybe if I consider that I'm not sure what I want to do or will end up doing, at least a degree with two recognised majors will look better on my CV than a degree with a dodgy sounding major that does not reflect what I actually did at uni...