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Teaching English! Overseas!

geegollygosh — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 20:38:50 -0800

TEFL outside of korea/japan/china (most interested in Latin America/Africa/non-gulf parts of the middle east)-- seeking info on job prospects, requirements, personal experiences... Apologies if this is a repeat question, I tried sorting through the TEFL tag but couldn't find this exact question because I am a special snowflake.

I'm a recent american college grad. I'm currently working as a teacher in environmental education, this position is temporary and will end in August. By the time my position ends and I sell my car, I will have only a few thousand dollars in (student loan) debt, and I will have maybe three thousand dollars savings (could potentially work for a few months in a specific potentially soul-crushing job opportunity I have and save up another couple thousand). Anyway, I'm considering taking a year or two to live in another country when I finish up this job. Teaching english seems like an interesting option.

The thing is, none of the countries where there are abundant jobs (to my understanding: china, korea, japan, the persian gulf) particularly appeal to me. I would be most interested in being in a spanish speaking country and getting my not-quite-conversational spanish up to snuff. I would also be pretty interested in learning Arabic (although I'm not sure how much arabic I could actually pick up in even a few years of immersion) so the middle east/north Africa also appeals--culturally as well, although the persian gulf does not, really, and I understand that's where the jobs are. I'd also be interested in [the rest of] Africa or South Asia.

These are my qualifications (and lack thereof):
-B.A. in liberal arts
-no real experience teaching english, but two years full time working with kids in classrooms as a teacher or presenter and another 6 or so years doing academic tutoring part time, summer camps, that sort of thing.
-enough experience spending significant time internationally that I'm not too worried about culture shock-- specifically 5 months in India, 3 months in Peru.
-a willingness to commit to a year or possibly two years if the program sounded worth it.
- an ability to front plane fare and costs of relocation.
...and my lack of qualifications...
- no teaching degree/cert
- no TEFL certificate. I'm not completely opposed to completing a course but it seems like a big commitment (time and money wise) for a temporary job. If I did this I would take it seriously and put in the time and effort to prepare for it and be a good teacher but setting aside a month or two and a thousand dollars or more would be difficult at the moment. Not impossible, but difficult.

I'd be looking for:
- something that wasn't a black hole financially-- I'm not necessarily looking to save money up (though obviously I'm not opposed), but an opportunity where I was bringing in enough money for room/board/living expenses/modest fun. also, ideally, a situation where I recouped the cost of my airfare.
- a job that could be lined up from the US
- I have the most experience working with young-ish kids, say ages 5-13ish and that would be the group I would be most interested in teaching.
- a situation that didn't make me hate my life or drive me to flee in the dead of night.

So, yeah, I'm interested in any info or resources y'all could provide. I've been over to esl cafe, didn't find it all that helpful but that was a while ago so I should take a second look. Biggest questions are:
1. TEFL courses-- do I absolutely need it, which course should I take, is online good enough, etc.
2. General job situations in any of the regions I'm interested in
3. Reasons that Korea/China are Actually Very Nice Places That I Am Writing Off Unfairly
4. Whether you feel that this would be a good fit for me
5. How to get started looking for jobs in these regions.
6. Your general experiences with TEFL/anything else you'd like to add

Oh, and I'm not actually dead set on teaching english so if anyone knows of any other international opportunities that seem to fit definitely let me know.

creatively extend and speechify tefl/esl coursebook material?

Not Supplied — Wed, 23 Jun 2010 11:27:24 -0800

I'm using textbooks for my tefl/esl classes (teaching English to adults). I'm looking for ways to use the coursebook material more creatively and extend practise time, and how to create speaking material from it. I don't have a lot of prep time at the moment as I'm teaching 6 hours a day and I'm also a new teacher, so making tailored lessons that lead the students through step by step is not on the cards.

I'm looking for ways to quickly extend and create new stuff out of my coursebooks. My students are badly in need of more speaking practise so I've tried to get them talking with the materials.

They are mostly monolingual and either not that motivated or speak much worse than their other skills so need to find ways to get them to use the target language as well instead of just saying what they've always said in a half arsed way.

What I've come up with so far:

Use the answers to questions as ideas only, students come up with different answers

Students write their own questions

Turn questions into a pair speaking activity.

Personalise it - make it about a place they know from home.

Also any good reading for this sort of thing. I've come across 'Humanising your coursebook' by 'Mario Riavluen on the net, but haven't seen a copy.

Any active forums to discuss this kind of thing as well?

Some questions about teaching English as a second language

Lemon of Byzantium — Fri, 05 Dec 2008 09:28:24 -0800

I have two TESL/TESOL related questions. 1) Where should I do my training 2) Which are the best places to go given my interests? More inside. More specifically:

1) Where are the best places to do teacher training in Ontario? I'm 22 years old and have a B.A. I want to avoid a joke school (i.e., Billy-Bob's One Room on the Second Floor of a Shopping Mall Two Weekends' Worth of Training in a Month International Superstar Language Academy, and their ilk). Does CELTA/Trinity TESOL certification = reputable? Coventry House International in Toronto is a possibility, but I'm not 100% sure what I'm doing. I need to start applying soon if I want to get into couses that begin in January!

2) One of the main reasons I'm doing this is to immerse myself in an environment which would make language learning relatively easy while having a means to support myself. In effect, I would be just as much a student as a teacher. I'm interested in learning Spanish and French (although not at the same time, obviously). For those of you who've done it, which countries are best, and how did you go about it? Should I perhaps do a home-stay program to get a feel for the language, and then begin teaching. I may have the finances to pursue that option.

Also, one final question - some of teacher training schools require a phone/personal interview before they accept you. What sorts of things do they ask? I'm sure they're not a million miles away from typical job interviews, but it would be nice to know what to expect nonetheless.

I know this is a lot of stuff to take in, so any help would be much appreciated. Thanks in advance!

Acronym overload! Which certificate is the best for teaching English to non-native speakers?

HotPatatta — Mon, 01 Oct 2007 06:22:13 -0800

I want to teach English. TEFL, TESOL, TESL, CELTA, ESOL: what, exactly, is the difference? Which ones are the most highly respected? I live in the U.S. and I want to teach English to non-native speakers both here and abroad. Which certificates are the most widely accepted and respected?

Teaching English in Italy

snsranch — Sat, 17 Jun 2006 18:25:31 -0800

Are there actually well paying (enough to support a family) English Teaching jobs in Italy? Euro MeFites, I'd love to hear from you. Much Friends of a friend in Padua say that there is a demand for English teachers in Italy. Google reveals many sites selling TESOL and TESL courses for certs, but no actual job listings.

The wife teaches and is certified for ESL and has a Masters in Cross Cultural Education. I'm DOD but also have many blue collar skills. I've lived there before and would be fluent in Italian in a few weeks.

If we do this it will be in two years and we're willing to commit to three to five years service. (Yes, we're researching and planning way ahead of time.)

The questions:

1. Are there really jobs for certified experienced (foreign) teachers?
2. Is this feasable for a family of four? The kids would be 10 and 11 yrs old.
3. What is the best way to go about researching actual positions and contacting people in the profession there?

BTW, I've read previous AskMe threads but they mostly spoke about visas and temp jobs.

Thanks in advance.