What ESL abroad program is easiest to get into?

Get teaching credential or master's...or both (California)?

• • 25 years old, 2.78 GPA from UC Davis, BA in Political Science/minor in History • currently teaching ESL in Korea, will have almost 2 years teaching experience (elementary + middle) by the time I leave in September. My long-term goal is to become either a high school teacher or community college professor teaching history or government in California. I'm currently looking into master's programs at some of the California State University programs, and I'm aware that I will have to go back to undergrad school and get straight A's to boost my GPA and get the required units to try and get into a master's program in History. What I'm trying to decide on is if I should: A) Just go straight into a program to receive my teaching credential or B) the more risky approach, go back to undergrad and if I can manage to pull off straight A's, possibly get into grad school with the minimum required GPA. My questions are as follows: • Is a teaching credential worthless if I go for a master's? It would be more convenient for me to get a teaching credential first, but I don't want to bother spending a year of my life doing that if a master's degree would automatically supersede it. • Is a teaching credential program 1 or 2 years? I'm getting mixed answers on this one. • I know the job market is bad for teachers, esp. in CA, but just HOW bad is it, and is it roughly the same for community college professors? • If I don't boost my GPA by going for a master's, how much does my low GPA hurt me in getting a high school teaching position? And is my time spent teaching in Korea relevant at all? • My understanding of teaching community college, esp. with a high-demand subject like history/government/political science is that they don't like to hire full-time professors so they can pay lower wages, so basically the pay grade wouldn't be more than a high school teacher anyway, plus you have to travel around because you're working at multiple community colleges. Is this accurate?

• Answer:

  lots of innacuracies. A masters does not allow you to teach k-12. You need a credential to teach high school. *some* masters programs are dual purpose and earn state credentials as part of their courseload - but most subject specific are not. So your idea of one superceding the other is incorrect. time it takes depends on the school you choose. most are 1.5 years in length. the pay for adjuncts would be far, far less than a k-12 teacher. The job market is impossible unless you are math. There are fully credentialed teachers with experience looking for work - and this next year there will be more. Many of the out of work are taking the CC positions - because the average teacher has a masters. (thus the outlook at colleges is far worse) GPA does not matter, nor does teaching abroad. good luck.