Get a Job as an English Teacher

One of the great things about teaching, besides the fact that you are helping shape young lives, is that you can do it just about anywhere in the world. There are international schools in just about every country of the world, teaching an American or British curriculum and native English born citizens who live and work overseas. These schools need certified TEFL (Teaching English as a Foreign Language) or TESOL (Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages) teachers and most of them pay very well; not to mention the fringe benefit of living an adventure.

Facing a financial crisis? then move your teaching career abroad

Are you facing a personal financial crisis that seems endless and unsolvable? Find a teaching job abroad and go from the bottom of the financial food chain to the top.

When you are struggling to make ends meet a radical change in your life is called for. It is a fact that teachers are not well paid, but international teachers working in public, private and international schools receive good salaries and most positions come with an expatriate benefits package.

An expatriate package for an international teacher can include a yearly flight home, housing, utility contribution, health insurance (with pre-existing conditions covered), retirement contribution, contract completion bonus, and more. All of this adds up to money you do not have to spend from your salary.

Currently I save fifty percent of my salary without breaking a sweat or doing without the things I love. I know I save half because I am paid 50% in the local currency and 50% in US dollars. I do not touch the US dollar portion of my salary except to send it home. Can you save half of your salary right now?

Living in a developing country while earning an excellent salary for a developed country means that your money goes much further. In many developing countries things like groceries, household help, transportation, utilities, etc. are much more affordable than at home in the USA, UK, Canada, Australia or New Zealand. You can maintain a high standard of living using only a fraction of your salary and have disposable income to save, pay of debt or travel.

How to Get a Job Without Experience

You all know the Catch 22 statement: "You can't get a job without experience, and you can't get experience without a job."

Young job seekers have always faced this dilemma. In today's shrinking job market, people with years of experience also struggle with it. Whether they face the reality of a layoff, or merely the threat of one, many older workers are trying to reinvent themselves in order to become marketable in a changed economy.

Whether you're launching your career or trying to change its direction, you can get around this Catch 22 situation with some creativity and humility.

Here's how Steve did it:
I worked admin department in for a car dealership. It was unsatisfying and financially unrewarding. I decided it was time to do something that I enjoyed, have a better work life balance and make more money. I'd love the idea of working with people and travelling abroad, so I decided to look abroad for work and job opportunities.

I had learned that there were lots of jobs in the Asia for foreign nationals looking to teach English as a second language. There were so many interesting countries that I wanted to see and travel too in Asia, these were Cambodia, Taiwan, Vietnam, Thailand and China.

While researching on the idea of teaching English overseas and I found that you didn't need any pervious teaching experience, but you did needed to do a Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL) or Teaching English as a Foreign Language (TEFL) course in order to teach in specifics countries in Asia.

The dilemma was that they were so many TEFL and TESOL courses in different locations to choose from in different countries. What to do? I looked at what course would allow me to find teaching English jobs in different countries. Who had the widest network of contacts and job opportunities in the Asia area? I found LanguageCorps.

So I got in contact with Mr Rick the director for LanguageCorps Asia. We chatted for over 2 months asking him every question I could think of before I finally committed myself to getting a teaching English Job in Asia. It was the best decision I ever made. I made contacts in Cambodia, Taiwan, Vietnam, Thailand and China. Since I finishing the course I now have a better quality of life and more money to spend on the finer things in life.

6 Reasons by Katie

Are looking to move their teaching career overseas have three options, teach at public schools, private schools and language schools. I've done all of them and I think that teaching at any school has its advantages and disadvantages. I'd like to share 6 reasons with you.

Reason 1 - qualifications and experience Some sources of information on teaching in international schools state that you have to have a degree in education, a licence to teach and two years experience. This is not always true. You will need some kind of qualification or experience, but there are opportunities for almost everyone.

If you have a Bachelors' degree and a TEFL qualification you will be able to teach in an ESL position in most schools. The nature of your Bachelors' degree is usually inconsequential; many countries expect this basic level of education to qualify for a working visa. My first teaching job was in a private language school.

If you do not have a Bachelors' degree there are still dream jobs out there. You can find work in public and some private schools in smaller cities and town around the country; however you will get paid slightly less than someone who has a Bachelors' degree in some cases but you will still have a comfortable lifestyle. Believe me you will live a much better quality of life and be will be a valuable member of the community. There are many opportunities to increase your qualifications both by going back to university full- or part-time, or distance learning online.

Reason 2 - disposable income When I taught at public and private language schools, it was a luxury to buy paperbacks, and to have my legs waxed. I had to think about where I was spending my salary because I simply didn't have enough money to spend on non-essential items. Not if I wanted to go on any vacations or have any time off over the summer.

Now that I teach at an international school, I am able to spend my teaching salary as I choose, and still have money left at the end of the month to save. I'm not talking about saving for the summer holidays, or for a rainy day. I can save money just to have it in the bank. I'm now able to save towards a deposit on a house, and contribute to a pension scheme.

Reason 3 - regular paid vacations When you are an EFL teacher, you will usually sign a contract for an academic year calendar year. Generally your contract will include a few weeks holiday, but you will be expected to work a larger proportion of your contract's length.

I spent 4 years working in the TEFL / TESOL sector of the teaching profession, and I chose to work each summer teaching public and private summer school courses. Since I've been teaching at international schools, I have been able to take each summer off and travel.
Reason 4 - normal teaching contact hours Private language schools that specialise in TEFL / TESOL are 'cram schools'. The students mostly attend their English lessons around their other school or job commitments. This means that your working hours will be crazy. At my first language school my working day was any hours I was given between 10am and 10pm. I was lucky because the manager of the branch at which I taught was very considerate of her teachers. Not all the EFL teachers working for the same company were so well treated.

At another school I taught at, each week I had days when I worked a split shift. I would be teaching my first lesson at half past seven in the morning, have a few hours off in the middle of the day, then I would have to be back at work and teaching for another 4-5 hours in the evening and finish the day at 9:30pm.

Public and international schools operate regular school hours. If you are teaching at a school that starts early in the morning, then you will be done with your working day in the early afternoon.

Reason 5 - planning time is 'included' TEFL / TESOL teachers are employed for contact hours. This is the time you spend in front of students. However, lessons don't just appear out of thin air, teachers need to prepare their lessons and organise resources. When you first start out teaching English as a First Language (EFL) you may spend as much time preparing for a lesson as you actually do teaching it. I remember when I began, this was the case on a good day, sometimes I'd spend a lot more time agonising over what I was going to do in the lesson than I actually spent in the classroom with my students. Of course, this is not true now, when I am teaching in a well resourced school, I am able to plan a lesson much more quickly than when I started out. It all comes down to experience.

One thing that TEFL / TESOL teachers need to know is that while your contract says you must teach 20-35 hours a week, in reality this will mean they are working (between lesson preparation, teaching and marking) 50+ hours a week. And the pay for all your extra time spent planning the lessons is 'included' in your hourly teaching rate. I can tell you, teachers become very efficient in planning their lessons quickly!

Teachers working overseas in international schools are employed as full-time teachers who teach a required number of contact hours. But overseas teachers are employed for the whole teaching day, and so their planning time is included in their salaries. I've taught in regular public and private schools in addition to international schools, and I have considerably more non-contact time in which to prepare my lessons when I teach abroad at schools than when I've taught locally at schools back home.

Reason 6 - professional development opportunities I have a number of qualifications in EFL teaching. I have two Cambridge certificates and a Diploma in Second Language Teaching as well. I paid for all of the courses out of my teaching salary, when I didn't have a lot to spare. I sought professional development opportunities to make me a better teacher, and the schools I've worked for have directly benefited from my efforts. But not one of the private language schools I've taught for in the past have ever helped me pay for my professional development.

In conclusion I've taught overseas at international schools, public schools and private language schools since I began my international teaching career, and I am happier and feel more valued now that I am teaching in an international school.

I found that many private language schools were run by people solely interested in their profit margin, and the quality of language education offered was hardly a consideration to them.

I now teach at a school where I'm treated like a teaching professional, the students' education is the top priority of teachers and management alike, and I get regular vacations to satisfy my hunger for travel and new experiences.