if so could you give me some tips? I’m thinking about getting into it.
Don’t expect to earn much more than you’ll need to live a basic local lifestyle… except maybe in South Korea. Among other things, I taught English in Tbilisi, Republic of Georgia about a decade ago. Not an easy way to earn a living at all. Of course it is an easy way to experience living in a different country for a few years.
Hi there - I’ve been an EFL teacher since '94, in Europe for the vast majority of that time.
My main “tip” is “get a qualification”. Trinity ESOL is one Cambridge CELTA another. Yes, it is expensive; yes, it is hard work but at the end of the day you are entering a profession.
It’s akin to a driving licence - you may well be able to drive but who’s going to lend or rent you a car on your word alone ? You need the piece of paper. Being a native speaker is not enough - you want to feel confident in your ability, it’s more fun that way, and if people who may need English to get on in life/careers are paying you the least they can expect is someone who knows what they are doing.
Apologies if I sound preachy but from your post it’s unclear why you are " thinking about getting into it".
My advice would depend on your circumstances, but I can offer some general points to think about:
[ul]
[li]Cat Jones is right, get the best qualifications you can - you will get better jobs and just be happier because you will be better at what you are doing.[/li]
[li]Teaching EFL is really fucking hard because speaking English is something you know how to do but were never taught. You can’t just think back to what your teachers did in school. Also, languages are more complex than most people realise - you probably have more to learn than you think. [/li]
[li]Job opportunities, working conditions and pay vary greatly from country to country. Where do you want to work?[/li]
[li]A lot of people you will be working with will hate their jobs and/or be crap teachers, because teaching is the only job they can get in that country. Also, many people who choose to move overseas are weird and living overseas can make people weird(er).[/li]
[li]It is not necessarily bad, you can meet a lot of nice people and have a lot of fun.[/li][/ul]
I’m teaching English in Korea, and I love it! Money isn’t great; it’s about half what I used to make as a newspaper printer. But I get free room and board, and traveling to other Asian locales from here is a snap.
Your TEFL/TESOL certificate is actually negotiable. Schools prefer you to have 120 hours of coursework, but many will settle for less. I have 20 hours, and we have a couple of teachers with less than that. I do plan to make up the difference in the coming year.
Recruiters want someone fresh out of college, with a BA or MA in any subject, native speaker from US, Canada, UK, Ireland, Australia or South Africa. They also say that unless you are white, you’ll be a hard sell in east Asia. I know people who have gotten around every one of these requirements singly (though I don’t know of anyone who has gotten around more than two of them). One thing all these people have in common is, each acted as his own recruiter.
If Korea sounds good to you, and you meet the bulk of the requirements listed, PM me and I can put you in touch with some schools that are looking. Or shop aroiund yourself at the Dave’s ESl Cafe message board. Lots of countries want English teachers (None in Western Europe; sorry), but Korea has the distinction of being the one that will pay your airfare. You’ll need some paperwork in the States, like a criminal background check, an apostille (basically a notary stamp confirming your criminal background check) and a medical exam in Korea.
If you are positive for drug use or HIV, they will put you right back on the plane. Might want to get a blood test ahead of time and drink all the Diet Mountain Dew you can get ahold of before coming out…
I have been doing it for over a decade. I make gobs of money. But then again I am not a beginner.
Why do you want to do it? Have you ever taught? Do you like it? Do you speak any other language? Do you have a grasp of how a language works?
Strictly anecdotal/MHO-type stuff, but…
I taught ESL in Kashiwazaki, Niigata, Japan for a few months. Truth be told, if I had been working for better people I’d still be there. I loved every second of it, apart from the assholes that I worked for. They were an American couple running a for-profit English school (nothing wrong with that), but they wanted their teachers to basically be their slaves. Clean their house, babysit their bratty daughter, wash their car, etc. I told them to fuck themselves after about six months.
A good friend did it for years, loved it and often speaks of it. The post above about “you learned it without being taught” is spot on. He amazes me with tidbits of knowledge about phonetics, the basic tempos of English speech (which he found difficult for French speakers), the importance of mastering the language of your students as well as English.
Are there specialized opportunities for older people who know various technical subjects, such as law or urban planning?
My word of advice is to be very careful about your contracts and what (if any) agencies you work with. Try to contact more than one person who is working for them…as mentioned, lots of foreigners abroad are just plain weirdoes you might not get the full story from the postings on Dave’s ESL. There are serious drug addicts, schizophrenics, heavy alcoholics, sex tourists, etc. in the business (as well as plenty of normal folks) who will gladly give positive reviews to an agency or school that leaves them alone enough for them to indulge in their behavior, with no concern for what the actual working and living conditions are.
Working for the school directly is probably going to be better than going through an agency, since the agency’s cut comes directly from your salary.
A lot of agencies are able to fudge visa stuff, ESOL certificates, even college degrees…but that leaves you at their mercy and you will basically have to do whatever they ask you to (take a lower rate than agreed, work in an undesirable city, work more hours than agreed etc.) with no recourse. I know people who are stuck in bad situations, but can’t get out because their agency will pull their visa and get them deported with a “you can’t come back” stamp without paying them or giving them their (promised) plane ticket home. It’s even possible for agencies to fudge stuff without you knowing, and use that as leverage. There are a lot of shady people who are out to make a buck on a foreigner, and pretty much no legal recourse. Many countries are not interested in worrying about foreign workers, and will deport any foreigners who have any problems at all, even if the foreigner is absolutely in the right.
Negotiate hard, make sure the contract is clear, and keep in mind there is always room for them to screw you over. Contracts have a ways of suddenly changing when you are not looking. Nobody involved is your friend (at least, not yet, no matter how friendly and welcoming they seem.) They are all making money off you. Go in knowing that and fight hard for your share of the money you are earning.
Figure out how this all works in your life plan. If you just want to explore the world for a couple years, make sure you have a timeline and exit strategy. You don’t want to be that guy who keeps renewing his contract because he can’t think of anything better to do, and ends up middle-aged with no transferable job skills. Likewise, commit to learning the language and culture. It’s very easy to get wrapped up in a certain lifestyle, and not to grow personally and professionally. But “I taught English in Asia” people are a dime a dozen in the US, and if you need it to be more than an interesting side-note on your resume (which is not going to impress anyone if that side note is several years long,) you need to have something to show for it.
That said, it can be a great way to see the world, learn a language and experience a different culture. It can be an amazing experience, and I think it is for most people. Just be aware that there is also a seamy underbelly that you will probably at times be negotiating with.
I know people who have have luck teaching business and medical English, but I haven’t heard of anyone doing law and urban planning. Jobs like this will be a lot more formal (and harder to find) than you average English teaching gig that is just looking for a warm body. The vast majority of the work is in conversational English classes, and frankly how you will look on the school’s brochure is often as important as how you are at actually teaching.
Since the OP is looking for advice, this is better suited to IMHO than GQ.
Colibri
General Questions Moderator
A little of my background. I am already middle aged and have always wanted to live in a foreign country. I understand that this is not a good reason to want become a teacher, but I would also like to learn the local language while I’m there. I understand that there are a lot a jobs in translation, especially if you speak something like Arabic. Does this sound like a good idea?
Do you speak something like Arabic?
If you want to learn Arabic I suggest Syria… Yemen would be better but it is quite unstable these days.
Do you mean that you want to live in a foreign country so you can learn a foreign language and become a translator? Because I doubt you’ll be able to teach and learn another language at the same time - at least, it’ll be very difficult to reach that level of fluency. I have friends who have lived in Korea for years and taken classes, but they’re nowhere near the level of a competent translator. You could enroll in intensive courses, but you couldn’t teach while doing that. Some people teach for a year, save up some money, and then take a year off to do language courses.
FWIW, I did learn a language while working as a teacher (for two years), but this was while serving as a Peace Corps Volunteer, which is a little unusual for most EFL teachers - most EFL teachers end up living in big cities where they are likely to run with a community of expats and find an English-language community. I lived in a really really small town (pop. 3000) and no one else around spoke English, so I didn’t really have a choice.
Also, my language skills are still not to the level of professional translating. I think I could translate Bulgarian -> English, but not the other way. I mean, I could do it in a casual conversational context, sure, but no one would pay me to do it, cause sometimes I make weird grammatical errors, etc.
Heh heh heh . I used to spend time on Dave’s when I was slinging verbs. Quite a lot of drama and baggage between posters on that site. Amusing.
I also second what Even Sven said about situating your ESL experience into your broader goals. A lot of guys neglect this…then they find themselves 5 years later working for less than $1000/month in some third-rate city on Mainland China. I managed to spin my experiences into grad school acceptance, yet I’m finding that most employers here in North America could care less.
Yeah, it’s hard to learn a second language when you’re in a position where you’re expected to, you know, teach English. The locals don’t invite you to their home so they can teach you their language, excepting unless if it’s such a rarely studied language that they’ve never heard a foreign accent before.
If you dedicate yourself, you can learn a lot of a language, but probably not enough to get a lucrative defense translator job. I’d give myself five years of hard work to do that.
If you are absolutely serious about learning a language, I would start out with an intensive class. Then find a teaching gig for a year or two (preferable in a small town with no expat scene) while taking a few private lessons a week and of course interacting in the language as much as possible- stay away from the other foreigners. Instead of going on vacations like the rest of the foreign teachers, plow your money into summer language courses. Avoid the big-money English teaching mills that will work you to the bone for a decent salary, and find a small-town high school or university that will give you plenty of time away from the classroom. If you can get up to a high-advanced level, there are scholarships and programs that can help you make that last step studying in a university.
It can be done, and I know a couple of people who have built up marketable Mandarin skills in a couple of years, but it’s not easy. Few people have the energy or insight to do it, and a surprising number of people never bother to learn much more than it takes to order beer. It’s really, really easy to get stuck in the expat lifestyle. Everyone is going to teach you how easy it is to dedicate your life to good food, cheap beer and easy work. Having any sort of higher goal is going to take a lot of discipline.
Plus becoming a professional translator or interpreter is not as easy as simply learning another language. In Korea, at least, translators are expected to earn a translation certificate, which requires a different set of skills than merely learning a language.