teaching english abroad

In My Humble Opinion
1

For quite a while I have been considering giving this a try for various reasons, which I go into in the following link if anyone is interested. I do not mean to double post or anything, so Mods. please close the other thread if you wish.

http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=100811

Anyway, I would like to know if anyone has or is doing this, what you experiences were and any other comments you would like to make.

I have just started really looking into this, have visited several web sites and got a few books from the library, and talked to some people who knew people who did this. So far I have not heard one bad thing (other than low pay, but I am used to that) about it.

TIA

2

I taught English in Japan for about 5 months.

Apart from being 6,000 miles from home, getting horrible pay, and nearly dying of culture shock, I enjoyed the experience. I met some great friends and learned a new culture.

Despite my friends’ (both American and Japanese) best efforts to make me feel at home, the feeling of being a stranger in a strange land was, at times, overwhelming. I remember once walking aimlessly through the neighborhood I lived in and thinking how much money I’d pay to go to a Western-style bar and sit around a fireplace (it was the dead of winter) and drink coffee with other Westerners. Of course, no such bar existed in Kashiwazaki, Japan, so it was back to my wee little apartment to drink tea and sit around the kerosene heater, by myself. Bleah.

If you’re going to do it, I suggest one of two things (or both).
[ul]
[li]First, go someplace that isn’t a complete 180 from the culture you live in now. From your list, Mexico and Russia are the most “Westernized” of the lot. I’d definitely consider starting there first and then branching out later if you’re comfortable with it.[/li][li]If you can swing it, take half a dozen of your closest Western friends with you. Believe me, the day will come when you will ache to hang out with people who look like you, speak the same language as you and worship the same God as you.[/li][/ul]

I hope the tone of this post hasn’t turned you off to the idea. Like I said, I got the chance to learn a new culture and make some great friends, and all in all I’d say it was an amazing experience.

3

I taught English in Osaka in Japan for 6 months. I had a fantastic time. The people in the Kansei region of Japan are really friendly, and genuinely interested in Western culture. Some very minor experiences with racism, but nothing overt. There is a huge network of English teachers there, so you’ll meet lots of Westerners from all over the world (US, Canadians, NZ, Aussies, Brits, even French and Germans), and you’ll meet Japanese people as students. I met lots and lots of people. Its been almost 5 years and I still keep in touch with 2 of my old students. I did a lot of overtime work in Kobe (45 minutes by train) and that was a cool city too, with really nice people. Osaka is close to Kyoto, 35 minutes by train, and Kyoto is one of the most beautiful cities in the world. Contrary to what rastahomie says, I got paid well, but I agree that the culture is very different. I can’t recommend it enough.

4

I also taught English overseas and loved it. I taught in Micronesia (two years), Japan (one year) and Thailand (nine months. As I said it was wonderful. It was a constant adventure. For me the culture shock was part of the fun and adventure.

Yes, there were some serious lonely times, but I have found any time you go someplace new there are lonely times. When ever that set in for me, I set out to discover something new and different. Often got frightened sometimes on those occassions but didn’t stay lonely.

TV

5

Talk to Astroboy14 - he teaches English in Korea.

[shamelss plug]
And he’s an author of a new two-volume book of English colloquialisms translated to Korean
[/shameless plug]

[sub]Hey, I felt semi-obligated to pay you back, since you were nice enough to send me an AUTOGRAPHED copy!![/sub]

6

Thanks all, so far it is sounding better and better. I am interesting in both positive and negative comments, although everyones exeriences are unique, it does help. Currently I am leaning towards Mexico, Russia or Germany (though from what I have seen it is more difficult), but am considering Asia.

Also, I have not seen Astroboy14 on the boards recently, but will keep my eyes open.

Thanks again.

7

Former ESL teacher checking in.
I taught in Hong Kong for three months and in South Korea for six years. Overall, I enjoyed it, but there were definitely some rough patches. some tips:

Know your subject
If you’re going overseas to teach English, you should, ideally, prep by getting a TESOL Certificate from a local university or intensive language program. If you don’t want to invest the dollars and time to get a cert, then at least get English grammar books and bone up on the parts of speech and verb tenses. If you’re teaching children, you may not need to explain the difference between the past perfect and present perfect tenses, but for higher level classes you most certainly will.

Get equipped
If you’re going to teach in an impoverished country like Mexico or Russia, you can bet the institute you work for will have few resources for you to use. You should bring over flash cards, board games like Scrabble or Upwords, grammar books, and language exercise books with copiable handouts.

Watch out for scams
The language teaching industry is a snakepit of con artists, and you would be wise to make sure that you have a work visa in your passport and a signed contract before you go. Some schools may want you to come first and get a visa after you arrive, but make sure that you have something written to that effect in hand. Be sure to hammer out pay and benefits BEFORE you leave, in writing. UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES should you hand over your passport, return ticket, or your original diploma to the institute for “safekeeping.”

Don’t expect to get rich
The glory days of lucrative teaching in Asia have passed with the collapse of the Asian ecomies in 1997. Most of the exchange rates have yet to recover, so Korea and Japan are not the money factories they used to be. (Oh, how I miss 750 won to the dollar!) In Mexico, Russia, Turkey, and other third world nations, you can count on making merely adequate wages, at best. If possible try to get your salary pegged to the dollar, so you don’t get reamed if the Turkish lira takes a nosedive, for example.

Expect culture shock
No matter how cosmopolitan you think yourself, and how much you embrace the local culture and language, the day will come when you would sell your mother for a Big Mac and ESPN. Culture shock is inevitable, and you will find yourself bitching about the stupid locals, their dishonesty, weird customs, and annoying habits, and why the hell can’t they act like Americans?! The stages work like this
Arrival-Wow, this place is so cool!
1 month later–I don’t want to hang with Americans, I want to be just like the locals
3 months–Why the hell do I have to negotiate with cab drivers, why do I have to eat rice every stinkin’ day, and where can I watch Sportscenter?
6 months–I speak the language reasonably well, the locals are cool, and I can get along within the culture comfortably.
I hope this helps.

8

Here’s an exhaustive source of information for teaching English in Thailand. It’s very long, and might be good to read even if you don’t consider Thailand, though it is very Thai specific.

I was an expat in Thailand, but did not teach English. Bangkok has a substantial expat population and culture. If you want a different than teacher perspective, e-mail me and we can talk.

9

I taught English in Moscow when I was a grad student. Over all, I’ve lived overseas for a couple of years. Both in Russia and Kosovo.

My advice is to go to a smaller city, or village rather than the capital. Avoid hanging out with other Americans, or westerners and dive into the culture. Eat the weird food, talk to strangers.

Bring a stack of cheezy escapist literature for down time. I remember the first time I flopped down in front of the tv to veg out and let my head stop spinning, only to realize Homer Simpson like, that everthing is in Russian, d’oh!

If you can afford it, also bring a laptop, with DVD player and a bunch of movies and tv shows. I find having a night set aside to watch an episode of a series a nice treat during the week.

Most importantly, GOGOGOGOGOGOGOGOGO! The experience will be life altering and growth inducing. Nothing like testing the limits and in my experience, one can never predict who is going to be a good traveller and who is going to freak out.

10

I taught ESL in Germany and Switzerland for over 14 years and loved it.
Regarding the person who said you won’t make much money, that is not particularly true. I ended up with a job that paid almost $1500 per week - granted, it was an intensive course for engineers, a series of week-long seminars in hotels around Europe.
I met great people - lots of other teachers from US, UK, Australia, NZ and many are still close friends to this day.
A few tips:
NEVER BE BORING!
Our rallying call among teachers before class was “it’s showtime!” Stand on a table to show what “on the table” means. Sing - dance - make faces - throw things…class retention will be huge, and this will keep you employed.
NEVER SIT DOWN!
Keep moving and you keep the students awake and the classroom alive.

Also: Call on students in random order, sit in a circle, avoid any conversation regarding religion/politics - especially in larger classroom settings, assign fun and simple homework: listen to lyrics of English song, watch CNN from 8:00 pm to 8:15 for a quiz the next day, order food at McDonalds in English. Always have a bag of tricks for emergency situations: pictures, riddles, jokes, crossword puzzles, video tape, audio tape - you got the idea.

MOST IMPORTANT TIP
When teacher burn-out comes, and it will, leave teaching before anyone notices.