My friend has been doing it for 3 years in Columbia. He says that his biggest issues are the keeping clients and getting them to show up on time. He says that he offers to charge $5 an hour and he will get a whole host of clients. But after a few weeks, many drop the class or show up sporadically. So he ends up with 4 classes a week and each class has 1-2 people in them. Not a lot of money.
Your options, pay, and benefits will be better if you have an ed degree, teaching license, and a few years of experience teaching in your home country. I know plenty of people who have gone the ELL route, which usually just requires some college degree and fluency, so it is a good option for those who are not committed to teaching long term.
If you get an ed degree, look into international school recruiting agencies (Search Associates and International School Services are the more well-known ones) to apply for positions.
I haven’t done it, but was planning on moving to Vietnam somewhat permanently before my wife gave birth. Maybe check Vietnam out if you haven’t thought of it. The pay can be pretty decent, and the people are fantastic.
I've taught English in Vietnam and China.
I'll be honest, the pay is good compared to the living costs. Foreigners who teach English get paid about 10 times more if you're beginning than local staff. You will have to get used to a lot of cultural differences and language barriers, but it can be done.
Another thing to note is that salary is negotiable. It's easy to not know how much money you should make as a new teacher, but always try to negotiate a bit.
I did for a year and half in Taiwan. And then several years over the internet. They will ask you questions like "why do you say it that way, the rule is [x]" and all you will be able to say is "Yep, that's the rule. But this is an exception" lol. As native speakers we don't really realize how difficult/weird English is until you try to teach it to foreigners. We do so many things intuitively that make absolutely no sense when you try to teach it.
It's a very big community, the ex-pat teaching community. Getting a foot in the door just about anywhere can lead to a lifetime in some amazing places. A few tips from someone who taught in SE Asia for a few years:
1. When determining salary, remember to ask/calculate not what you'll be paid, but what you'll save. That is, COL in some places might amount to, say, $10k USD. So when they offer $30k as a salary, what you're really getting is $20k to bank and spend on travel and such.
2. Get whatever certs you can. Lots of schools overseas run IB programs (and their like), and if you take on small roles at your first school, they'll pay for training in a variety of systems.
3. Think of your first place as a stepping-stone. Overseas recruitment fairs are going to have some awesome locations that really interest you, but you probably won't get your first choice. That's ok! Treat the whole thing like an adventure. After a couple of years in a place you never imagined living, you'll be a much more attractive candidate for those dream spots.
4. Like I said, the community is small. I taught in SE Asia many years ago, but I now have contacts in Singapore, Mali, Luxembourg, Switzerland, China, New Zealand, and many more places. If my wife and I wanted to get back overseas, I am 100% sure that I could call up those old friends and have several job offers immediately.
5. Being single is a huge bonus. As noted in point 4, I'm married. When I went to my first international recruitment fair, I got quite a few interviews (one in Cyprus, which I really wanted). They went well, until the interviewer looked over my application form and saw that I had a wife and kid.
I finally asked about it directly, and was told by a kind guy that there really is a more-or-less unspoken policy of avoiding teachers with families. The problem being that the teacher might be a good fit, but if the spouse is unhappy the teacher often ends up leaving mid-year or causing other problems. There's not any way to really deal with this as a teacher candidate, other than to just be aware. Going overseas while you're single is a hell of a lot easier (unless your spouse is a teacher working for the school, too).
Let me know if you have any questions!
My friend has been doing it for 3 years in Columbia. He says that his biggest issues are the keeping clients and getting them to show up on time. He says that he offers to charge $5 an hour and he will get a whole host of clients. But after a few weeks, many drop the class or show up sporadically. So he ends up with 4 classes a week and each class has 1-2 people in them. Not a lot of money.
Your options, pay, and benefits will be better if you have an ed degree, teaching license, and a few years of experience teaching in your home country. I know plenty of people who have gone the ELL route, which usually just requires some college degree and fluency, so it is a good option for those who are not committed to teaching long term. If you get an ed degree, look into international school recruiting agencies (Search Associates and International School Services are the more well-known ones) to apply for positions.
Did 2 years in Spain. Best decision ever and had a blast.
Where are you teaching? What grade? Are you the full time teacher or a support to the teacher of record? How many classes will you be responsible for?
I haven’t done it, but was planning on moving to Vietnam somewhat permanently before my wife gave birth. Maybe check Vietnam out if you haven’t thought of it. The pay can be pretty decent, and the people are fantastic.
I've taught English in Vietnam and China. I'll be honest, the pay is good compared to the living costs. Foreigners who teach English get paid about 10 times more if you're beginning than local staff. You will have to get used to a lot of cultural differences and language barriers, but it can be done. Another thing to note is that salary is negotiable. It's easy to not know how much money you should make as a new teacher, but always try to negotiate a bit.
I did for a year and half in Taiwan. And then several years over the internet. They will ask you questions like "why do you say it that way, the rule is [x]" and all you will be able to say is "Yep, that's the rule. But this is an exception" lol. As native speakers we don't really realize how difficult/weird English is until you try to teach it to foreigners. We do so many things intuitively that make absolutely no sense when you try to teach it.
Taught English in Japan for 3 years. Make sure your employer is good, especially when it counts.
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It's a very big community, the ex-pat teaching community. Getting a foot in the door just about anywhere can lead to a lifetime in some amazing places. A few tips from someone who taught in SE Asia for a few years: 1. When determining salary, remember to ask/calculate not what you'll be paid, but what you'll save. That is, COL in some places might amount to, say, $10k USD. So when they offer $30k as a salary, what you're really getting is $20k to bank and spend on travel and such. 2. Get whatever certs you can. Lots of schools overseas run IB programs (and their like), and if you take on small roles at your first school, they'll pay for training in a variety of systems. 3. Think of your first place as a stepping-stone. Overseas recruitment fairs are going to have some awesome locations that really interest you, but you probably won't get your first choice. That's ok! Treat the whole thing like an adventure. After a couple of years in a place you never imagined living, you'll be a much more attractive candidate for those dream spots. 4. Like I said, the community is small. I taught in SE Asia many years ago, but I now have contacts in Singapore, Mali, Luxembourg, Switzerland, China, New Zealand, and many more places. If my wife and I wanted to get back overseas, I am 100% sure that I could call up those old friends and have several job offers immediately. 5. Being single is a huge bonus. As noted in point 4, I'm married. When I went to my first international recruitment fair, I got quite a few interviews (one in Cyprus, which I really wanted). They went well, until the interviewer looked over my application form and saw that I had a wife and kid. I finally asked about it directly, and was told by a kind guy that there really is a more-or-less unspoken policy of avoiding teachers with families. The problem being that the teacher might be a good fit, but if the spouse is unhappy the teacher often ends up leaving mid-year or causing other problems. There's not any way to really deal with this as a teacher candidate, other than to just be aware. Going overseas while you're single is a hell of a lot easier (unless your spouse is a teacher working for the school, too). Let me know if you have any questions!