# Anyone have experience teaching ESL?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-have-experience-teaching-esl/312728>\
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion\
**Created:** [July 15, 2005, 10:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-have-experience-teaching-esl/312728 "2005-07-15T22:39:34Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Fionn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/a587f6/32.png) [@Fionn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fionn)\
**Post date:** [July 15, 2005, 10:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-have-experience-teaching-esl/312728/1 "2005-07-15T22:39:34Z")

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I work in a career services office, and a lot of students are interested in teaching English abroad for a year or two before they start their careers. Although we have books about it and such, I have no personal experience doing it, and I wanted to ask Dopers about their experiences.

When and where did you teach?  
How did you find your teaching job(s)?  
What sort of certification did you get, if any?  
What were the biggest challenges you faced?  
What were the best things about the experience?  
How did the experience affect your job search when you came back to your home country?

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**Author:** ![Kyla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/eada6e/32.png) [@Kyla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kyla)\
**Post date:** [July 15, 2005, 10:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-have-experience-teaching-esl/312728/2 "2005-07-15T22:42:02Z")

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I currently teach ESL at a non-profit here in Chicago. I have no idea if that’s helpful to you, but if you have any questions, let me know. I just started recently and hey, you know what? Teaching is _hard_.

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**Author:** ![Fionn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/a587f6/32.png) [@Fionn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fionn)\
**Post date:** [July 15, 2005, 10:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-have-experience-teaching-esl/312728/3 "2005-07-15T22:55:34Z")

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It’s definitely helpful. Did you get any sort of certification for it?

I talked with one student who wanted to teach ESL in the US before grad school. As he didn’t have any certification, didn’t want to pursue it, and had no prior teaching experience of any kind, I’ve always wondered what he ended up doing.

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**Author:** ![Kyla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/eada6e/32.png) [@Kyla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kyla)\
**Post date:** [July 15, 2005, 11:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-have-experience-teaching-esl/312728/4 "2005-07-15T23:01:11Z")

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> [@Fionn](#):
>
> It’s definitely helpful. Did you get any sort of certification for it?
> 
> I talked with one student who wanted to teach ESL in the US before grad school. As he didn’t have any certification, didn’t want to pursue it, and had no prior teaching experience of any kind, I’ve always wondered what he ended up doing.

Well…I have a certificate. I had to attend two all day training sessions and then they set me loose. I’m an unpaid volunteer, though, the situation is likely different if you want money for it.

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**Author:** ![Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ccd318/32.png) [@Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paul_in_Qatar)\
**Post date:** [July 16, 2005, 2:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-have-experience-teaching-esl/312728/5 "2005-07-16T02:24:29Z")

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Fionn, I sent you an e-mail.