Hello -

I now have 3 years of ESL experience in China, and am about to take a job which pays very low for the amount of preparation time it requires. However, I am not taking it for the money, but for the experience. I am hoping that it will allow me to build the appropriate teaching experience I need so that I can get a higher paying job in the next year teaching in either English for Academic Purposes, primary school, or a joint-venture school. Whether it is here in China or in the UAE, it does not matter to me.

This low-paying school actually mimics an English for Academic Purposes style school. I see this school as a good opportunity not only because it can provide me with adequate experience, continuing to improve my teaching skills, but also because it has a Western affiliation. I can possibly build some Western references, as well as potentially gain some experience that is needed to teach at a higher paying Western-affiliated joint-venture.

The big concern I have, however, is that I don't have the appropriate credentials for getting a higher paying gig after this year. I will have the EXPERIENCE...but I will have the wrong degree. I have a Master's degree, but it is a Master's in Landscape Architecture...not education.

Most people say the same thing..."if you don't have an MA in TESL it won't get you anywhere". But...many of the jobs I have seen just say that they require a Master's degree...they don't mention the specific degree required.

I have experienced a downturn in the economy in the US, and am therefore trying to work backwards with my career. Eventually, after gaining several years of experience in teaching, I might be able to return to the states to get my certification here. But in the meantime...I don't have the money for this and need to keep making an income in China.

I am hoping that I can make more money in the future with the career track that I am choosing.

My question is: am I making the right choice here? To take a lower-paying joint-venture/EAP style job NOW so that I can make more in the near future? Even though I don't have a Master's in Education or in TEFL, can a Master's in Landscape Architecture help me at all? Or am I just going nowhere?

If my plan is bound to get me nowhere, I am thinking that I could just work at a training center. My gig at the training center in my first year was the most fun and interesting for me while in China, as the classes were all very small, and more to my nature. I have never liked the big classes at university. Nor do I like the grading and all that stuff either. The pay has always seemed to low for that kind of stuff.

Additionally, I am a "night person" and love staying up into the night...which these training centers allow for. And I certainly don't like 8am classes [nor 7:50am classes], or living on campus, for that matter. I prefer having my own place, which training centers allow for.

The only problem is the money cap. As said before...I'm doing this all for the "long haul". You can't make but so much money at a training center. And I am hoping that this plan will pay off so that I can have some of these "luxuries" once again in the future. Basically, what I am saying is that my age, 35, is a pivotal one. I don't want to make the wrong mistakes at this point in my life. I don't want to be an interloper for the rest of my life. I want to be able to settle down and get married. But where I am now, I don't think it will allow for this.

Please kindly express to me your opinions. Thanks!