There are many universities, and many Masters courses.
A cautionary tale:
The lovely lady who got the job we had hoped for in Toowoomba is younger than us, and has a Masters. However, after giving her the job, they then put her on the lowest pay scale because her Masters was really 'no good'!
She had attained a Masters of Applied Linguistics in TESOL. If you examine this course, you will find that it looks essentially the same as the Master of Education in TESOL - pretty well same subjects, same stuff to learn, same purpose. What's wrong with it? It's not a Master of EDUCATION!
There are several other universities here in Brissie. Some of them offer a "MATE" - Master of Arts in TESOL. Some offer the Master of Applied Linguistics. But the Master of Education is a little hard to find, and we have decided that is what we want.
So, after our very expensive day, we had to decide whether to pay the extra $10000 (!) or look elsewhere. We discovered that the University of Wollongong has the course, and we phoned them to make sure they didn't have the mysterious lack of Commonwealth places.
We had been looking forward to being real students here especially after doing our Bachelors at ECU externally. (Peter thinks maybe he should grow his hair ... ) But, no biggee, we can do that again.
So at this stage we have applied to University of Wollongong to do a "distance" Master of Education.
Another good thing about that - we don't have to wait til July for the course to start. They have several starts throughout the year, and the next one is next Monday, so we can get right onto it!
Friday, April 30, 2010
The Ten Thousand Dollar Day
We were advised to apply for "Advanced Standing" at the same time as we enrolled in the course (the Master of Education in TESOL course). But we were waiting on a particular item to be sent to us before we could do that. So we waited, and we didn't enrol straight away.
We didn't realise that the person who was sending us that particular item had gone on holiday for a month, we kept believing day by day that it would arrive, and so we didn't go ahead and enrol anyway.
Finally the paper arrived, and we put in our enrolment, and our application for "Advanced Standing"
Oh no! They told us. You missed the "Commonwealth Supported" places by one day. Not that it was an announced closing day we had missed, just a mysterious decision that from that day there would be no more Commonwealth places for Master of Education courses. And we were one day too late.
Our course would have cost $2750 (each), but now we would need to be full fee paying students and it would cost $7500 (each) ... a difference of about $10 000 for the two of us. (That is for one semester - $20 000 for the 2 semesters, of course.)
Expensive day, ay?
We didn't realise that the person who was sending us that particular item had gone on holiday for a month, we kept believing day by day that it would arrive, and so we didn't go ahead and enrol anyway.
Finally the paper arrived, and we put in our enrolment, and our application for "Advanced Standing"
Oh no! They told us. You missed the "Commonwealth Supported" places by one day. Not that it was an announced closing day we had missed, just a mysterious decision that from that day there would be no more Commonwealth places for Master of Education courses. And we were one day too late.
Our course would have cost $2750 (each), but now we would need to be full fee paying students and it would cost $7500 (each) ... a difference of about $10 000 for the two of us. (That is for one semester - $20 000 for the 2 semesters, of course.)
Expensive day, ay?
Saturday, April 24, 2010
You can take the boy out of the garden ...
But you can't take the garden out of the boy!
Peter was looking forward to having an apartment, and no garden (especially no lawn) to look after. We even gave away the lawn mower we had bought in Toowoomba - remarkably it had thoroughly paid for itself the way the grass had been growing in those few months!
So we have this little bit of a "balcony" (well, it's the fire escape really) near our kitchen door, and there is a ledge that runs right around the place under the windows.
Perfect place for the odd pot plant.
And, of course, there are a few plants inside too.
Peter was looking forward to having an apartment, and no garden (especially no lawn) to look after. We even gave away the lawn mower we had bought in Toowoomba - remarkably it had thoroughly paid for itself the way the grass had been growing in those few months!
So we have this little bit of a "balcony" (well, it's the fire escape really) near our kitchen door, and there is a ledge that runs right around the place under the windows.
Perfect place for the odd pot plant.
And, of course, there are a few plants inside too.
Thursday, April 22, 2010
How about going back to Saudi Arabia?
So last year I was teaching in Saudi Arabia - see here: Howdi Saudi.
And today there is a new offer for teachers to teach at our old University, Dar Al Uloom.
Did you see that? $5300 USD! (tax free, per month, and with a living and travel allowance as well).
hmmm ...
And today there is a new offer for teachers to teach at our old University, Dar Al Uloom.
| Job Title: | English language Instructors Required |
| Located at: | Riyadh (Saudi Arabia)->map |
| Vacancy: | 5 or more |
| Salary: | $5300 USD |
| Requisites: | Master |
| Required fields of expertise: ESL/EFL, University Details:  English language Instructors RequiredDar Al Uloom University, in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, wishes to invite suitably qualified and experienced candidates to apply for English language teaching positions within the faculty of English. The university, DAU University is located in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. The medium of instruction is English and the university runs a preparatory year program for students who must reach a prescribed level of English proficiency before beginning their respective major/specialization studies. | |
Did you see that? $5300 USD! (tax free, per month, and with a living and travel allowance as well).
hmmm ...
Great Location
We were so pleased to get a (reasonably priced) apartment close to the city, and close to QUT ... and it is also close to some great parkland for nice walks, as well as a full-size public swimming pool and gym.
And it's a mere 5 minute walk away.
Had a lovely swim this morning in the heated outdoor 50m pool.
And it's a mere 5 minute walk away.
Had a lovely swim this morning in the heated outdoor 50m pool.
Thursday, April 15, 2010
What's at Caloundra?
With time on our hands, and beautiful weather, we thought we should take a trip up the coast a little way to reacquaint ourselves with the beach (because Brisbane apparently doesn't really have beaches).
There were some lovely little rock pools - though not much life in them.
And there was a bit of a sandy beach, with a little patch where people were crammed together swimming between the flags.
Honestly, it didn't look like much fun!
And the wind meant that it was really cold when you got out.
So we went and had lunch in a cafe in the main town (all the places near the beach seemed to be closed for renovations).
And then came home - only an hour and a bit's drive.
There were some lovely little rock pools - though not much life in them.
And there was a bit of a sandy beach, with a little patch where people were crammed together swimming between the flags.
Honestly, it didn't look like much fun!
And the wind meant that it was really cold when you got out.
So we went and had lunch in a cafe in the main town (all the places near the beach seemed to be closed for renovations).
And then came home - only an hour and a bit's drive.
Tuesday, April 13, 2010
The Hill or the Valley?
We are right on the edge of things here.
Just outside the front door there is a sign that pronounces this area to be "Spring Hill" .
A few metres the other way along Gregory Terrace, over Brunswick Street, it declares "Bowen Hills".
But if we actually go down Brunswick Street a little way, we find we are in "Fortitude Valley".
Who cares, anyway - ay?
When we moved in, we contacted the energy people to have the electricity and gas connected in our name. No problem with the electricity at this address in Spring Hill. But the gas - sorry, there is no gas connection at this address!
So we went downstairs and stared long and hard at our gas hot water system, and the meter attached, then we tried again.
After a very long time on the phone we managed to find the gas connection.
It seems that our front door is in Spring Hill, but our back door is in Fortitude Valley. Hey!!
Just outside the front door there is a sign that pronounces this area to be "Spring Hill" .
A few metres the other way along Gregory Terrace, over Brunswick Street, it declares "Bowen Hills".
But if we actually go down Brunswick Street a little way, we find we are in "Fortitude Valley".
Who cares, anyway - ay?
When we moved in, we contacted the energy people to have the electricity and gas connected in our name. No problem with the electricity at this address in Spring Hill. But the gas - sorry, there is no gas connection at this address!
So we went downstairs and stared long and hard at our gas hot water system, and the meter attached, then we tried again.
After a very long time on the phone we managed to find the gas connection.
It seems that our front door is in Spring Hill, but our back door is in Fortitude Valley. Hey!!
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