High school English teacher (non-teaching degree)

[englishteacher2]

Hello everyone,

Is there any hope for me?

I am a Mexican citizen with a four-year degree in international relations from a Mexican university. Currently, I work as a high school English teacher in Mexico.

My spoken and written English is very good and I have obtained high scores in the TOEFL-iBT test. Unfortunately, my degree is not in a teaching field.

Is there any way that I can somehow leverage my existing non-teaching degree, combined with my teaching experience as a high school English teacher, in order to apply to work in Canada as an English teacher?

I will be turning 38 soon and so am looking for the quickest route to start work in Canada as possible. Given my age, it would be difficult for me to start another degree now and the longer I leave my application, the more points I will lose due to my age.

So I need to act fast but I don't know exactly what to do.

Is there any hope for me to become an English teacher in Canada, anywhere in the country?

 

[scylla]

Hello everyone,

Is there any hope for me?

I am a Mexican citizen with a four-year degree in international relations from a Mexican university. Currently, I work as a high school English teacher in Mexico.

My spoken and written English is very good and I have obtained high scores in the TOEFL-iBT test. Unfortunately, my degree is not in a teaching field.

Is there any way that I can somehow leverage my existing non-teaching degree, combined with my teaching experience as a high school English teacher, in order to apply to work in Canada as an English teacher?

I will be turning 38 soon and so am looking for the quickest route to start work in Canada as possible. Given my age, it would be difficult for me to start another degree now and the longer I leave my application, the more points I will lose due to my age.

So I need to act fast but I don't know exactly what to do.

Is there any hope for me to become an English teacher in Canada, anywhere in the country?

Recommend that you start by researching what it will take from a certification perspective to be allowed to teach at the high school level in Canada. There are steps you will need to complete once you arrive here before you will be qualified to teach. These steps are somewhat different for each province - so you'll have to google the requirements for the provinces you are interested in.

In terms of finding a job, the teaching field is unfortunately quite saturated in Canada - so best to assume that it may take a while to find a teaching role (even once certified) and that you may have to take a job in another field for a while.

To immigrate to Canada, you would need to apply through the Express Entry program which is a points-based system. Those with the most points are selected. Right now you need to have around 460 points to be chosen - and as you've said, you will lose more and more points the older you get. If you haven't done so already, calculate your points to see where you land.

 

[englishteacher2]

For some reason I thought going the teaching route would be the easier way to go, as I'm already a teacher in Mexico.

Based on what you said, I've now looked more closely at Express Entry and it looks like I have a better chance there!

I answered the questionnaire on the Canadian Government website, where it asks questions like if I have a degree, what score I got in the English language test and when I took it etc., and it actually said I would be eligible for Express Entry, which I wasn't expecting.

Do you know how likely it is that an application for Express Entry would succeed if an applicant is advised by the website that they're eligible to apply? 80-90%? 50%? Less? More?

I'm just curious as to what my approximate odds might be at this point, just based on the fact that the website says I am eligible to apply for Express Entry.

Any ideas?

 

[scylla]

For some reason I thought going the teaching route would be the easier way to go, as I'm already a teacher in Mexico.

Based on what you said, I've now looked more closely at Express Entry and it looks like I have a better chance there!

I answered the questionnaire on the Canadian Government website, where it asks questions like if I have a degree, what score I got in the English language test and when I took it etc., and it actually said I would be eligible for Express Entry, which I wasn't expecting.

Do you know how likely it is that an application for Express Entry would succeed if an applicant is advised by the form on the website that that might be the case? 80-90%? Lower perhaps? I'm just curious, in general terms, what my odds might be at this point, based on the fact the website says I would be eligible to apply for EE.

I'm not sure what you mean by going the teacher route. If you mean starting off by getting a job in Canada, that's really not feasible.

For Express Entry, your chances depend on how many points you score. Again, you want to have around 460 points to be selected. Just being eligible gets you nothing. How many points do you have approximately?

 

[CadJohn]

What about teaching Spanish to Canadians? That could be a good position.