Two offers, which one is better?(TESOL)

[CherryCAI]

I applied for Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages(TESOL) for Fall 2001and for the time being, I've got two offers from Monterey Institute of International Studies and Penn GSE, respectively. Which one is better if I want to stay in the States and work for a while as a Chinese teacher?

1.locationMIIS:The Monterey Institute of International Studies is located on the scenic Monterey Peninsula, 130 miles (210 km) south of San Francisco and 345 miles (555 km) north of Los Angeles.

UPenn:Philadelphia, PA

2.program difficulty

MIIS(MA)>UPenn(MEd)

3.faculty

MIIS(8): from UCLA,USC,Columbia,McGill,Lancaster,U Wisconsin-Madison

UPenn(10): from UCLA,UPenn,Stanford,U Wisconsin-Madison,Georgetown,Edinburgh

4.students

MIIS: 23, 15% international students(data of last year)

UPenn:around 70, 90% Chinese

5.reputation

MIIS:A graduate school of Middlebury College(top 5 Liberal Arts College),famous for translation&interpretation programs

UPenn:Ivy League,famous for Wharton

6.certificate tracks

MIIS:Teaching Foreign Language, Computer-assisted Language Learning, Language Program Administration

UPenn:Business Communication

7.funding

MIIS: $13,000 per year

UPenn: $6500 scholarship + $3500 graduate assistantship (only for first-year)

My goal for graduate studies: be able to speak English in a native-like way, lay a solid foundation in applied linguistics, be able to teach Chinese as well as English to speakers of other languages,get a better understanding of American society and culture.

Could you give me some suggestions? Which one shall I choose?

[Bukharan]

It is your choice and only you know your priorities so I don't think we can advise much.

But if you do need an opinion, then from what you told us MIIS sounds wonderful: more academic, in a prettier setting, and with a (much) greater concentration of native-speakers (if you are saying your goal is to reach impeccable English, than assuming that since you are currently in Shanghai you are Chinese, it would make sense to stay away from the 90%-Chinese student body of the UPenn programme).

Then again, you know more about the programmes, your career goals and prospects after these degrees. I wish you the very best with this decision!

Most importantly, congratulations! You have two offers!

Edited January 16, 2011 by Bukharan

[balderdash]

Also, there's no need to post the question in three separate subforums.

[CherryCAI]

Simply hope to get more replies. Then what's your take? Which one is better?

Also, there's no need to post the question in three separate subforums.

[rising_star]

Simpy hope to get my replies. Then what's your take?

You won't get more replies by posting in more places. In fact, I deleted the other posts since no one had replied to them yet.

Go to the place that is offering you more money.

[CherryCAI]

Oh, I see. Anyway, thank you for your advice.

You won't get more replies by posting in more places. In fact, I deleted the other posts since no one had replied to them yet.

Go to the place that is offering you more money.

[Agradatudent]

I would personally choose UPenn since I live on the east coast and am more familiar with Philly. Also I personally would not want to be where the closest major city is San Fran. That's more northern california, and everything I find alluring about CA is in the south. Besides UPenn is a much more prestigious school. Also don't worry about a program being any % chinese because if you wanna learn about America, go outside. Everyone in the city will speak English and be native speakers. Also UPenn itself has plenty of native speakers to speak too just not in that program. It also may make you feel closer to home to have a large population where you can speak to about your own culture etc.

That being said, I notice they give you a significantly smaller stipend so.... looks like you should go to the other one.

Edited January 16, 2011 by toypajme

[CherryCAI]

You said that "Also I personally would not want to be where the closest major city is San Fran. That's more northern california, and everything I find alluring about CA is in the south. " What do you mean specifically by saying that? Why is northern California less alluring?

I would personally choose UPenn since I live on the east coast and am more familiar with Philly. Also I personally would not want to be where the closest major city is San Fran. That's more northern california, and everything I find alluring about CA is in the south. Besides UPenn is a much more prestigious school. Also don't worry about a program being any % chinese because if you wanna learn about America, go outside. Everyone in the city will speak English and be native speakers. Also UPenn itself has plenty of native speakers to speak too just not in that program. It also may make you feel closer to home to have a large population where you can speak to about your own culture etc.

That being said, I notice they give you a significantly smaller stipend so.... looks like you should go to the other one.

[qbtacoma]

You said that "Also I personally would not want to be where the closest major city is San Fran. That's more northern california, and everything I find alluring about CA is in the south. " What do you mean specifically by saying that? Why is northern California less alluring?

There is a big cultural difference between northern and southern California (something that toypajme shouldn't expect you to know). San Francisco has a reputation for being very politically liberal and has a lot of residents who are on the cultural cutting edge - artists, people who have very radical political views, people who like to challenge gender boundaries, etc. They are very visible there but you will find all kinds of people there too, and there is a large immigrant population from all over Asia. San Francisco is also a very expensive place to visit. The weather is chilly for most of the year. Southern California, in contrast, has more politically conservative people and its most visible immigrant population is Mexican and Latin American (depending, of course, on where you go - LA is truly an international city). Southern California has a "beach culture" where people spend a lot of time surfing, sunbathing, etc and it is hot year round.

To get into stereotypes, southern Californians are materialistic and care about nothing but shopping and going to movies. Northern Californians are pretentious hippies who spend all their time doing drugs and protesting.

Philadelphia is a whole other game entirely - east coast culture vs. west coast culture. I haven't lived out east so I can't speak to it in detail.

Edited January 16, 2011 by qbtacoma

[Agradatudent]

There is a big cultural difference between northern and southern California (something that toypajme shouldn't expect you to know). San Francisco has a reputation for being very politically liberal and has a lot of residents who are on the cultural cutting edge - artists, people who have very radical political views, people who like to challenge gender boundaries, etc. They are very visible there but you will find all kinds of people there too, and there is a large immigrant population from all over Asia. San Francisco is also a very expensive place to visit. The weather is chilly for most of the year. Southern California, in contrast, has more politically conservative people and its most visible immigrant population is Mexican and Latin American (depending, of course, on where you go - LA is truly an international city). Southern California has a "beach culture" where people spend a lot of time surfing, sunbathing, etc and it is hot year round.

To get into stereotypes, southern Californians are materialistic and care about nothing but shopping and going to movies. Northern Californians are pretentious hippies who spend all their time doing drugs and protesting.

Philadelphia is a whole other game entirely - east coast culture vs. west coast culture. I haven't lived out east so I can't speak to it in detail.

Thank you for explaining the gist. I figured I'd explain if he was interested but you beat me to it. However I didn't want to assume that just because he wasn't from here he wouldn't know-- a lot of these stereotypes come straight out of movies. Like if we were talking about Japan from what I've watched I think of people in places like Tokyo to be the more trendy japanese where a place like Osaka is more rural with more traditional japanese values... etc..

He is pretty much on the money, but I would like to add a lot of my interests outside of academia (like music, for example) have thriving scenes from the southern area and it's almost like a partial statewide museum to visit. LA is also in southern cali if you did not know.

I have to agree that east coast is completely different. Even our hippy types look more like centrists to the ones out west. One of the most liberal girls I knew growing up went out to Boulder University (Colorado, very very left area) for college and came back after a year because it was so past what she was used too. I wouldn't say altogether there's milder attitudes in the east but it seems like we do not have as full of a left as places like CA. I live in a historically (well, since I've been alive) blue (democrat) state (which is generally associated with liberal here) and we have none of the extremes you see in San Fran. It's just more moderate overall from my perspective, but there are those extremists on both sides.

Edited January 17, 2011 by toypajme

[CherryCAI]

Actually, money is not my biggest concern. Surrounded by Chinese classmates, it seems as if I were having a class taught by a foreign teacher in China. I feel like I won't have the feeling of going abroad and enough chance to practice my oral English. I may meet a lot of Americans at other settings, but I'm afraid it would be hard for me to have deep discussion with them if they were not my classmates. Adapting myself to a new environment (both life and study) is not easy. I am wondering whether I'll have enough time and energy to get away from the usual social circle of the Chinese graduates at Penn GSE(amost all Chinese) and find new friends to talk and share stories. U Penn as a whole is fantastic, but how can I enrich myself academically and embrace more about the American culture when most of my fellow classmates are Chinese? If I decided to come to U Penn, what should I do so that I can practice my oral English and have a real feeling of what America is? By the way, I am a Chinese girl. Better not use "he".

Thank you for explaining the gist. I figured I'd explain if he was interested but you beat me to it. However I didn't want to assume that just because he wasn't from here he wouldn't know-- a lot of these stereotypes come straight out of movies. Like if we were talking about Japan from what I've watched I think of people in places like Tokyo to be the more trendy japanese where a place like Osaka is more rural with more traditional japanese values... etc..

He is pretty much on the money, but I would like to add a lot of my interests outside of academia (like music, for example) have thriving scenes from the southern area and it's almost like a partial statewide museum to visit. LA is also in southern cali if you did not know.

I have to agree that east coast is completely different. Even our hippy types look more like centrists to the ones out west. One of the most liberal girls I knew growing up went out to Boulder University (Colorado, very very left area) for college and came back after a year because it was so past what she was used too. I wouldn't say altogether there's milder attitudes in the east but it seems like we do not have as full of a left as places like CA. I live in a historically (well, since I've been alive) blue (democrat) state (which is generally associated with liberal here) and we have none of the extremes you see in San Fran. It's just more moderate overall from my perspective, but there are those extremists on both sides.

[Agradatudent]

Then I guess I should use she then! You really can't tell on forums and I'm all to lazy to use a slash. Well, if that is how you feel then that is the way to go. I do interact with people in my class about the classes themselves and work with other people etc so I'm sure that time would be useful for you to practice. Are you going to be TAing or anything like that if you go to UPenn? That if anything may be more helpful because you'll be forced to be clear to students and have office hours. But I do not know if your program would be like that. Also you have an advantage really because your a girl. Girls definitely have the advantage in the "who people want to talk to" area. I have had many classes where the room is silent save for the group who sat around the only girl in the class. Maybe that's an undergraduate thing.. but that was happening in a physics class.

I'm sure it will help your english to be around native speakers for your goals. Most of the time we don't slow down for you guys, even if we suspect you are having trouble. We will ramble away and if you miss it, you miss it-- unless you make it clear we need to slow down. If we think you're not understanding, nine times out of ten we get frustrated and talk quicker ahaha. That is students anyway, professors can just be completely misunderstandable because many of them have their own strange accents, even if their English is impeccable. You will most probably have classes taught by foreign teachers as well, just perhaps not chinese! It's just a stange world out there for English! I think the hardest part is how many different people speak english and how all the accents are different. I'm sure this is similar to all languages but I doubt as many people learn chinese as they do English...

I go to a major state school and over 40% of the department were not from the U.S. I've had Greek, Japanese, Korean, Russian, South American, British and small eastern European country teachers. You will definitely see the spectrum of how English can be spoken where ever you go in a college setting because the market is so diversified for teachers.

Good luck!

Edited January 17, 2011 by toypajme

[qbtacoma]

Actually, money is not my biggest concern. Surrounded by Chinese classmates, it seems as if I were having a class taught by a foreign teacher in China. I feel like I won't have the feeling of going abroad and enough chance to practice my oral English. I may meet a lot of Americans at other settings, but I'm afraid it would be hard for me to have deep discussion with them if they were not my classmates. Adapting myself to a new environment (both life and study) is not easy. I am wondering whether I'll have enough time and energy to get away from the usual social circle of the Chinese graduates at Penn GSE(amost all Chinese) and find new friends to talk and share stories. U Penn as a whole is fantastic, but how can I enrich myself academically and embrace more about the American culture when most of my fellow classmates are Chinese? If I decided to come to U Penn, what should I do so that I can practice my oral English and have a real feeling of what America is? By the way, I am a Chinese girl. Better not use "he".

At many schools there are conversation groups for speakers of all languages. If you can't find a formal group like that I suggest putting up a poster on campus or a notice on Craigslist saying you are looking for people to chat with in English for an hour or two a week. I'm sure someone will be delighted to talk with you!