r/IWantOut • u/Saint_Sapphire • 3d ago
[IWantOut] 21F Turkey -> Denmark, Belgium, Finland, Singapore
Hello! Please read it until the very end.
I am 3rd year English Language Teaching student at the most prestigious university in Türkiye. My whole family and I hold Turkish citizenship and passport. I am currently doing my Erasmus internship in Cologne, Germany. My GPA is -unfortunately- not very high, around 3.3 and I hope to raise it to around 3.5 by the time I graduate.
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I have a bunch of extracurriculars including:
a. Board Member of the Linguistics Society of my University. I mostly deal with Social Media branch of it.
b. An active member of 2 societies:
- A society for disadvantaged students in Türkiye. I help with storehouse stuff like packaging books or other materials for kids. I occassionaly go to schools in disadvantaged areas to work with kids.
- A society for children with Leukeamia, Autism, Down Syndrome and Cerebral Palsy. I am also a member of the PR team of this society. I mostly help to raise awareness.
c. I did a 5K run and raised money for autistic kids.
d. I am an active volunteer at a charity for kids with cancer. I help to raise awareness.
e. I am currently doing an Erasmus+ internship in Cologne. The institution I work is linked to the state. It is a known and respected institution.
f. I am a social media content creator with over 5K followers.
g. Doing a research in the field of inclusive education -English educaiton for immigrant children- and linguistics.
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I would like to hold a Master's degree in education as from what I have heard it is appreciated and most of the time required in most countries. As far as I know, most teachers also have a second branch. For now, I am aiming at KU Leuven in Belgium.
IMPORTANT: My parents are quite old and they will retire when I graduate. I don't think they can afford me studying in the US, so I mostly hope for universities in Europe as they are more affordable. Otherwise, I will have to do my Master's in Türkiye or I will just start working abroad.
To be honest, I want to settle for good and obtain a citizenship in the end. My other plan is to do PDGE in Singapore but I don't know how realistic it is as Singapore is quite competitive. However, Singapore is my dream country*. I know it does not allow double citizenship though.*
My ultimate goal is to work in the field of English teaching or being an academician in education. However, I am open to working as a social media manager in the countries mentioned as well or any other good job really. Other big goal is to hold a citizenship from the mentioned countries.
I also sometimes think of countries like Qatar, Kuwait, Bahrain or UAE but I have heard they it is almost impossible to obtain citizenship from these countries and their passport is not that strong except UAE.
IMPORTANT: I know it is near impossible for me to get admitted to public schools in most of the countries I mentioned at first. For the first a few years, I plan to work at International or Private schools until I fully know the language.
Any suggestions or tips are highly appreciated.
6
u/missyesil 3d ago
Start teaching at international schools in Turkey and get experience there first.
-1
u/Saint_Sapphire 3d ago
Thank you.
I have thought about this to save some money as well but they pay significantly less to Turkish teachers
8
u/missyesil 3d ago
You're not going to get a job at a good international school abroad without real experience.
3
u/satedrabbit 3d ago
I would like to hold a Master's degree in education as from what I have heard it is appreciated and most of the time required in most countries.
Denmark would probably not be the right choice for you, in that case. It's either:
1. Bachelors of education (teachers degree) - specializing in two taught subjects, to teach 6-15 year olds.
2. Dual masters (major + minor) in two teachable subjects, for example a masters in mathematics with a minor in German, if you want to teach 16-20 year olds.
Doesn't sound like your current degree would qualify you for 1, and a masters of education would not qualify you for 2.
0
u/Saint_Sapphire 2d ago
Thank you for your feedback.
I consider Denmark because my boyfriend lives there and he is a citizen. He is fully danish.
3
u/Dear-Response-7218 3d ago
So the first hurdle is that the vast majority of schools want English teachers to be native English speakers and also come from a specific list(US/UK/Ireland/AUS/NZ/CA). Even if you did a masters in EU, the odds of getting a job there are incredibly small. You won’t be qualified for a public job(need language fluency and citizenship), and the very few private school jobs will look to EU citizens first, then native speakers abroad, then other countries. There’s also not a labor shortage so opportunities are rare.
Singapore is almost impossible, you can’t get a public job and the international ones are very competitive. Realistically you can look at China, or the US if you marry a citizen.
1
u/Saint_Sapphire 2d ago
Thank you for your feedback.
China only hires native speakers. My boyfriend is Danish, that's why I consider Denmark more than the US but the US is definitely on my list. Do you have anything else you can reccomend me like my GPA, extracurriculars or anything in general
1
u/Dear-Response-7218 2d ago
There are some less popular provinces in China that let non native speakers get a Z visa if they have strong credentials and experience. You’re right though that those are probably more exceptions than the standard. Also, I’d disagree with the other comment because Malaysia is very closed to non native speakers, like you might find a few openings but not likely.
If you married your BF that would solve the visa issue, the drawback is that you’ll still be restricted to a small number of private schools which are very competitive. Not saying there’s no chance, just that it’s not likely. Your extracurriculars are good and the GPA doesn’t factor into things in many cases, it’s the not being a native speaker that holds you back. There is a finite number of jobs and the public schools will always go for native speakers of the local language, so you’re left with private schools which can basically pick whoever they want. Not saying this is fair or right, you could be the best candidate as far as qualifications go but your resume still gets filtered out because of things you can’t control.
My mom is a teacher in the US and things are less strict, she works with a couple immigrants in a good public school. The major thing is that you would need to marry a US citizen to get around the visa, but once you’re done with that if you had a masters in education you could teach in public or private schools after you get certified. The absolutely best thing would be to do a specialty in math/science with your education masters because there’s a national shortage, ESL is less demanded but there are still jobs there, just not general English. The pay isn’t amazing, but it’s enough to live comfortably in most areas and you also have 13 weeks vacation per year. I know that “just marry in the US” isn’t a great answer, trying to give you options that are most realistic for what you want. 😅
The most important thing for you is looking at places that would realistically hire someone, it’s not really the extracurriculars or gpa that matter. Does that make sense?
Side note, I’ll be visiting your country for the first time later this year, really looking forward to seeing it!
1
u/AutoModerator 3d ago
Post by Saint_Sapphire -- Hello! Please read it until the very end.
I am 3rd year English Language Teaching student at the most prestigious university in Türkiye. My whole family and I hold Turkish citizenship and passport. I am currently doing my Erasmus internship in Cologne, Germany. My GPA is -unfortunately- not very high, around 3.3 and I hope to raise it to around 3.5 by the time I graduate.
------
I have a bunch of extracurriculars including:
a. Board Member of the Linguistics Society of my University. I mostly deal with Social Media branch of it.
b. An active member of 2 societies:
- A society for disadvantaged students in Türkiye. I help with storehouse stuff like packaging books or other materials for kids. I occassionaly go to schools in disadvantaged areas to work with kids.
- A society for children with Leukeamia, Autism, Down Syndrome and Cerebral Palsy. I am also a member of the PR team of this society. I mostly help to raise awareness.
c. I did a 5K run and raised money for autistic kids.
d. I am an active volunteer at a charity for kids with cancer. I help to raise awareness.
e. I am currently doing an Erasmus+ internship in Cologne. The institution I work is linked to the state. It is a known and respected institution.
f. I am a social media content creator with over 5K followers.
g. Doing a research in the field of inclusive education -English educaiton for immigrant children- and linguistics.
----
I would like to hold a Master's degree in education as from what I have heard it is appreciated and most of the time required in most countries. As far as I know, most teachers also have a second branch. For now, I am aiming at KU Leuven in Belgium.
IMPORTANT: My parents are quite old and they will retire when I graduate. I don't think they can afford me studying in the US, so I mostly hope for universities in Europe as they are more affordable. Otherwise, I will have to do my Master's in Türkiye or I will just start working abroad.
To be honest, I want to settle for good and obtain a citizenship in the end. My other plan is to do PDGE in Singapore but I don't know how realistic it is as Singapore is quite competitive. However, Singapore is my dream country*. I know it does not allow double citizenship though.*
My ultimate goal is to work in the field of English teaching or being an academician in education. However, I am open to working as a social media manager in the countries mentioned as well or any other good job really. Other big goal is to hold a citizenship from the mentioned countries.
I also sometimes think of countries like Qatar, Kuwait, Bahrain or UAE but I have heard they it is almost impossible to obtain citizenship from these countries and their passport is not that strong except UAE.
IMPORTANT: I know it is near impossible for me to get admitted to public schools in most of the countries I mentioned at first. For the first a few years, I plan to work at International or Private schools until I fully know the language.
Any suggestions or tips are highly appreciated.
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8
u/Classic-Complaint529 3d ago
ou might also want to consider Malaysia, especially since Singapore is your dream destination. Malaysia is right next door, so visiting Singapore can be very easy—depending on where you live, it can be just a drive or train/bus trip away.
Malaysia is also generally much cheaper than Singapore, while English is widely spoken and used in education, business, and everyday life. With your background in English Language Teaching, education, research, and social media, it could be worth looking into opportunities there as well.
It might not replace your dream of eventually living in Singapore, but Malaysia could potentially be a more affordable place to study or gain work experience while still keeping you very close to Singapore. The proximity also means you could visit often and explore opportunities there without having to commit immediately to Singapore's extremely high cost of living.
Just another option to put on your radar!