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Teaching English Abroad

Dude, Changed, for real? I'm seriously saving up already to move to an Asiatic country and teach English.
Bangkok sounds like money.
 
!!4iV4HF9R34g said:
Dude, Changed, for real? I'm seriously saving up already to move to an Asiatic country and teach English.
Bangkok sounds like money.
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If you have any ambition in Bangkok, or the slightest connections, you can live like a rock-star. I spent my last night in Bangkok partying with one of the biggest movie stars in Thailand, just because one of my friend's friends taught him. We got free bottle service at one of the nicest clubs, posted up in the middle of the dance floor, etc... You can do anything in Thailand (and the options are limitless if you're motivated).
 
Changed, you have completely sold me. I have been planning a move to Thailand soon, but kind of unsure about things and have no travel experience and feel like I wouldn't know where to begin with teaching as i'm only 21 and have no teaching experience, of course.

Would you say I am too young to teach over there? I basically just want to go over there ASAP regardless of whether I can teach aswell....as in, I would take any job, but 30,000 baht a month sounds incredible. I would love to teach and I certainly have the drive and motivation...I might need to refer to you in the near future with some more questions if thats ok? :)

How long you planning on staying out there for? I'm desperate to leave this God-forsaken shithole!
 
attempt4 said:
Would you say I am too young to teach over there? I basically just want to go over there ASAP regardless of whether I can teach aswell....as in, I would take any job, but 30,000 baht a month sounds incredible. I would love to teach and I certainly have the drive and motivation...I might need to refer to you in the near future with some more questions if thats ok? :)

How long you planning on staying out there for? I'm desperate to leave this God-forsaken shithole!
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No, age doesn't matter. As long as you're white they will love you. If you're Scottish and you have that Scottish accent, you might have some problems getting a job.

I have already returned home from Thailand-- after going to Ko Tao I wanted to go home immediately and save up enough cash to return permanently-- it is basically heaven there.

Feel free to PM me whenever.
 
I'm blonde haired and blue-eyed. My friend's girlfriend grew up in Indonesia and told me that they will love me jst for these 2 traits, apparently. As well as being white, of course.

I don't have a thick, typical Scottish accent as I'm not from Glasgow or Edinburgh. It's a cleaner accent than the typical one you are probably imagining. I could make it more neutral if I so wished.

Are you planning on going over to teach? I am going to start my TEFL course ASAP as I recently received my ILA funding to start the course. It sounds absolutely amazing.

Sounds like you had a bloody brilliant time, man! Did you stay with friends or did you stay in a hostel?
,
Each day I spend here, I get more and more depressed. There's nothing for me here at all.
 
i would be wary of teaching in japan right now.....
theres not a great deal of employment,
the bubble burst here 5 years ago, especially with the downfall of the biggest employer of foreign nationals "Nova",
the ceo of which fucked off without paying all the staff their wages for 3 months, throwing the whole leaning english thang into disrepute...

that and this years earthquake.......
japan aint what it was for teaching, and the level of security and support for foreigners is virtually non existent - companies can outwardly flout contract and the government do fuck all about it.....

still possible though........
if you land the right job before you go!
just my 10 yens worth

now taiwan or hong knog or korea is where the easy moneys at!!
 
I've got an interview coming up for a position teaching in Japan.

It's a group interview that involves me giving a 5 minute demonstration of a 30 minute lesson plan that I have to construct. The plan is directed for beginner learners of conversational English, either adult or child (I have to decide on that).

Any tips y'all?
 
I'm leaving for Korea in 15 days. It's been a bit of a confusing, 'on the fly' process, but that has been due more to my negligence than anything inherent to the process.

I did not encounter anything so brutal in any of my interviews, though I botched my first two. I would read up on construction of verb tenses in English...there is so much syntactical action that we take that's totally implicit, while 2nd language learners need explicit instruction, not, "...because it sounds right..."

Feel free to ask any questions about the process though. also, this place has been crucially valuable:

http://www.daveseslcafe.com/

In fact, this is where I posted my resume and found my recruiter. Check back in a couple of months to ensure that things actually end up working out well though. :P

ebola
 
^ Heavy on the repeating back of set phrases at the proper time, light on the correct pronunciation and cloze type substitutions. If you can make it a game, they'll eat it up. Never forget that Asian education systems teach English grammar with math-like precision, make students rote-memorize loads of words, idioms, and set phrases verbatim, and dings them for less than perfect penmanship. A deep understanding of the language, or an ability to spontaneously converse in it, don't much enter into the picture, and very much daunt English learners of all but the youngest levels in this part of the world.

Can you still save any money teaching English in Japan? I'm betting that people there are tightening their wallets more than in the 80s and 90s, and there are more than enough weaboos willing to do this job with nothing to show for it but subsistence in the spiritual homeland.
 
teaching in Asia

I got my teaching job in Korea through http://www.teachaway.com. Working with Teach Away was cool because I applied to a whole bunch of recruiters, but Teach Away was the most informative and the least pushy. Some of the other recruiters promised a lot of good tihngs (overtime and higher salary in some places) but I decided to go to Korea in the end. I'm pretty happy with my job and decided to re-sign to stay for another year!!

PM me if you have any questions.. :)
 
So I'm in Korea now. :P I'll have to wait till next week, when I finally start properly teaching, to say whether I like the work or not.

ebola
 
@ebola and MDAO: based on what you wrote about L1 speakers' implicit understanding of grammatical structure, do you think I would stand a decent chance at getting a job in Asian countries teaching English? I currently study for a BA in English Language, Culture and Literature in Denmark. This includes three semester-long courses of grammar, two semesters of phonetics (one general RP/NA English course, and one specialised in North American dialects), and I have a whole semester-long course (25% of courseload) dedicated to "The English Verb Phrase", with particular emphasis on modal verbs. I don't speak with full native fluency (intonation is hard), but I'm set to go to California next year for a year of linguistics - hopefully brushing up on my pronunciation in the meantime.
With these things in mind, do you think native speakers would still be at a considerable advantage?
 
While you would likely be more than qualified in objective (or plain valid) terms, these programs demand natively fluent intonation and pronunciation; these programs demand explicitly native speakers.

ebola
 
MDAO said:
A deep understanding of the language, or an ability to spontaneously converse in it, don't much enter into the picture, and very much daunt English learners of all but the youngest levels in this part of the world.
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The school I'm at is a little different, as we do a lot of instruction based in books or magazines, via quasi-natural conversation about the stories or articles. Rote instruction centers on correct pronunciation.

ebola
 
Ebola, what school or institute are you teaching at? I too am in Korea. PM me so we can chat.

For those thinking of coming to Korea, I'd think twice. The people are very racist and the 'easy money' equates to teaching 30-50 hours a week if you do not have prior experience. EPIK and GPIK are reputable and give you more vacation, less hours, and timely pay. However, the pay is a bit less then you can make elsewhere. I've taught for the past 8 years (China, Peru, Korea, New Zealand, America, Costa Rica, and Thailand) and would recommend South America for the food, culture, people, students eagerness to learn, drug laws/availability and all around experience. However, you can make good money in Asia and live quite well. I would recommend China, Vietnam, or Spain as well. I'm in Korea because I am married, but this is the last place I would come unless making money is your overall goal.

Unfortunately, if you are not from a country who's native language is English you may be out of luck. I'd look into Europe lulzkiller. There are some amazing places to teach out there as well.
 
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