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Teaching English Abroad

Z Y G G Y

Z Y G G Y

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Joined
Apr 10, 2009
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American Suburbia
Meaning teaching it abroad mainly English speaking countries like USofA, Canada, Australia, UK etc.

What kind of school would I need? I'm planning on moving to one of the post Communism European countries where I was born. I have a Biology degree, BS level and some Master's level TESOL/Linguistics courses but no degree yet.

Besides finishing the MS degree what kind of certificates/exams did those teaching abroad do? My English is at the advanced level, I could pass any exam no problem with at least 80% proficiency I would say. I'm getting ready to move and I want to teach English there as I see it to be my biggest commodity.

Anything I should do now to make it easier for myself when I get there in 6-12 months?
 
I was looking at the Certificate in Advanced English (CAE) and the Certificate in Proficiency of English (CPE). They are each around $300, both not offered anywhere near me so would have to fly out to take them on specific dates. Any point in getting these done or for teaching is it better to get the other exams done? If there are any people who taught abroad, what qualifications did u have?
 
thanks

I've been looking into it more also myself everyday.

I might be leaving actually in a month or 2 instead of a year and I might just do it over there but I still want to know as much as possible on the topic.
 
Hello,

I'm not sure how easy it will be to find an English teaching job in an English speaking country. Maybe you could teach English in one of the European countries that are not English speaking?

I am currently teaching English in Cambodia. I basically did a TEFL Course (www.i-to-i.com) online, I forgot the costs but you can check out that website. You can find websites like that whereupon they offer to help look for a job for you. Otherwise, you could just go there and see what happens. It all depends on what country you're going to and the style of doing things there. In Cambodia everything's really laid back and I basically just came out here with my boyfriend (who's also doing English teaching) and his cousin was here when we arrived (he was previously teaching) so he could introduce us to the place and so on. It took a bit of getting used to but once we were over the initial culture shock we got names and addresses of schools to go around to drop off our CV's and included a telephone number they could call, and in a couple of weeks we got a job.

I don't have a degree but here having a degree would do you a whole lot of good. Even better that you have a TESOL AND a degree. I don't think you will have any problem finding a job, you just need to do more research on what country you plan on going to do this.

Hope I've helped! Good luck :)
 
I actually have been thinking about this for a few months now. I really want to tech english abroad but am trying to find the right company to go through. I honestly don't really want to just arrive someplace without having a job though. Does anyone have any experience with this?
 
I taught English in Japan after finishing a BA in religious studies - my major was irrelevant, but the fact that I had a BA was what was important, coupled with the fact that I was a native English speaker.
Most jobs in Japan let you work around 25-30 hours a week for a decent salary, so I used the free time to study Japanese.
 
To add to this, one thing people often overlook is that you need to *know* English to teach English abroad. What I mean by this is, well, we all can write well and such, but can we really remember what all of the terminology is? Adverbs, adjectives, indirect objects, clauses, gerunds, etc? Who verses Whom? Diagramming a sentence? It's surprising how badly some people who can write flawless English would do on a year 8 English exam.

Some of the higher-end TEFL companies will actually ask you a bit about your knowledge of the English language proper, either in your interviewing process for the program (if you do a classroom-certification deal - expensive, but probably worth it if you can afford it), or when you show up and try and get hired.

So my moral is that it might be wise to check out a high school English book from the library and casually read through it before you decide to attempt this. Again, you'd be surprised what you can forget.
 
I'm heading to S.E.Asia in January to teach. I was in Cambodia this summer so shall return to there and move around for a few months before picking a base and getting a job.

I have a TEFL, but need to do some classroom time over winter for teaching experience. I have gigs of lesson material from various torrent sites.

Getting the piss taken by my family (all fucking teachers) at me going off to teach English when I swore for years that I never, ever, ever would become a "fuckin teacher"

:o
 
This is interesting to me as I had thought that a degree was absolutely needed to teach ESL. However, my job requires lots of composition and editing and even though I don't have a degree I have a Paralegal Certificate. Was wondering, if I were to complete a refresher course in English and then take the test, if I received a high score would my chances of securing employment be greater?
 
I spent the first 13 years of life out USA, not teaching as I was too you. I've traveled to may different paces outside the state if that count. The country I want to travel to I know the native language very well and that might help with the job. Once I get there I want to get some course to teach me more of the psychology of teaching as well as pass proficiency exams. I love teaching English as I'm more humanities oriented and have a special ability in that regard. I scored in the over 90th percentile for verbal , if that means anything, A think verbally and have a good memory.

I'm also very good at doing group Teaching. My skills are very high in English and I would prefer to go into conversational based teaching. Teaching people how to speak as opposed to leaning grammar all day. Discussion all sort of topic to get the students ready for the conversation examps they need for college. I went my student to have an edge at competition and want o proved them the pest possible leaning environment which means u=I want o give them as much possible knowledge in the time the spend with me.

I already started working n sample curriculum and exercises and mu own website for practice exercises quizzes samples exams, game, Whatever might work forr one student might not for another that's why I want to take more psychology education courses just fort that. I want to take an active role in the lives of the students.

Any advice, please. Ether its teaching abroad or continuing my my pych doctorate which will take so long. I'm at crosswords.I could go there and now make a decent living wage as almost native English speakers abroad make good money or I would continue getting the Psych decorate which mean years being poor/Enjoy both professional tremendously but don't know if I can hande 5-7 years of more education .I might want to have kids soon as I I am 27.5.

What do u guys think. Any dive good or gad is appreciated greatly as I wanto know as much respective as anything possible.All advice will greatly appreciated

Please give me advice, bad or good as long as it give me some food for though.

Thanks for giving me time of ur day to help me. I'd do the same for everyone in a situation like that.

AM <3:(:\
 
Just to add the county I;m going to is not English speaking, just want to get st get there at some point. From what I hear everyone want to learns English, so there is booming market for that. There are many opportunities as it is in high demand and with skills and education I could probable lends a decent job plus private tutoring which everyone seems to be doing that. Plus scoring over 90th percentile almost native speakers tells me tat I ave special abilities in English and am good at taking standardized test. I wan to try it and it doesn't work out I can always come back to the states.
 
ZYGGY, I hear you. I have high verbal intelligence (and only modest mathematical and logical intelligence, interestingly enough), and tried the whole teaching English abroad thing. Overall it was a fucking blast. It all depends what age group and socioeconomic stratum your students come from, and how well you take to the host culture. I think Taiwan would've been paradise if it had a touch less pollution; I was happy teaching a bunch of engineers at their headquarters after hours. Teaching kindy at 7AM, not so much.

I somehow wonder if you might be thinking of Korea. I know that was a really good gig (if you could tolerate the locals) up until recently, but I'd check and make sure it still pays decently relative to costs of living, and isn't saturated with competition. I know by the time I left Taipei in '05, this city was becoming a hard one to find a job in, and word on the street was that Tokyo was so expensive and flooded with wapanese Americans that there was stiff competition for English teaching gigs that didn't pay a living wage.
 
Many placement organizations want you to have a university degree before they will talk to you or look at your application. That said, though, if you show up at their front door on the day they need a teacher, the situation is different. Having a TEFL or TESOL certification is helpful but not mandatory. Your biggest set back right now is that you are not a native born English speaker.

There are high schools spanning Europe and Asia where non-native speakers are teaching English, just as many American Spanish teachers are not native Spanish speakers. The main difference is that they went through the red tape to become a teacher in that (school/city/district) and then taught (language).

What you are trying to do is be an English speaker that teaches English, not a teacher who teaches English. That being said, assuming that the country you are looking at is not a part of the EU, then they would typically pick any similarly qualified Australian, Brit, Scot, Irish, American, or Canadian applicant to one that was not born and raised in one of these countries.

One caveat, though is if you still retain citizenship in that country. If you still retain citizenship in the country in which you want to teach, then you have the option of trying both roads, that of being a teacher that teaches English and that of an English speaker who teaches English. Just remember that each one carries its own set of prerequisites before you are able to move forward.

The third option works best with local knowledge, but can be done with sheer determination, and that is to advertise yourself as a private tutor. You can set your own rate, you can set your own hours of availability, you can choose the audience that you teach. However, you will meet with resistance from the established English teachers and you need to actively hunt for your own students. By doing things this way, you can choose to do things legitimately and get a business license and a tax ID number or run your business on a cash only basis.

You are an outside contractor. You can offer your services to others, or you can cut out the middleman and go into business for your self, taking all of the risk and reward involved.

Many degrees are just a piece of paper, but if you want to move forward with teaching Enlgish as a foreign language, you need some of the paper to get anyone to hire you.
 
I'm very interested in teaching English in Japan (or another non-English speaking country, I'm not overly fussy). I have a bachelors degree and am a native English speaker. Not to mention I tend to test with high verbal intelligence (I spend a lot of my free time on internet forums and reading books...)

I've been signing up to a couple of online recruitment things for it. Don't really plan on getting over there and then looking for a job...

It seems odd that many sources claim you don't need any knowledge of the students' native language. I may start looking at some Japanese language books. Surely it would help to know a bit of their language as well?
 
I'm in Thailand right now-- all of my friends are teaching English here, while I am just living off of my savings. Here in Bangkok there are jobs everywhere that pay around 30k baht a month-- these jobs barely require a Bachelors degree in anything-- it is more important that your skin is white and you speak like an American. Most of my friends average 20 to 25 hours a week working. None of them prepare before class, and most call the job a well-paying joke-- this is at one of the most prestigious schools in Thailand...

To put that 30k/month salary into perspective: I currently pay 4.5k a month for a quiet furnished apartment with 5mb/second wifi and swipe-card security. You can eat a great meal for 60 baht ($2 USD). Transportation across the entirely on this gigantic, sprawling city costs about a dollar. I couldn't find a way to spend 30k in a month if I tried. Hell, I'm living off my savings of only a couple thousand dollars and I could be here for close to a year.

If you want to teach English, don't mind sweating all the time, and like to party, come to Bangkok.
 
Anybody used Footprints Recruiting?

My friend said I should go through the JET Program because it's done through the embassy so it's official. However they go through a yearly application process. So I wouldn't probably wouldn't be working in Japan til like the second half of next year with this program.
 
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