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Teaching english abroad
Former Member
Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
in Work & Study
hey all,
was just wondering if any of you have tought english as a foriegn language anywhere in the world? was thinking of doing it soon and any tips or advise would be much appreciated...
was just wondering if any of you have tought english as a foriegn language anywhere in the world? was thinking of doing it soon and any tips or advise would be much appreciated...
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Where you planning on going?
I would recommend a CELTA if you can afford it... The countries you can work in depends... There is a need in some countries, others you need a degree, or even a Masters to get in.
My mate reckons however, that it's getting harder for British, American and Aussies to get TEFL jobs because Indian people will work for cheaper.
I don't know which countries would rather hire an Indian English teacher than a native speaker, but all the teachers here (Turkey) are native speakers.
A CELTA will help. To teach here you must have a degree and a CELTA.
Don't think teaching is an easy option. It's actually pretty hard work and can be stressful. Teaching can be a real struggle if you're not actually interested in teaching/have knowledge of the English language/have a difficult class.
Your degree is generally required for immigration purposes, rather than as a requirement of the job.
Assuming I get on the course I want, I'm going to have to pay $1500, plus about £500-600 for the flight, plus living costs for the first two months (a month for the course, and at least a month before a first paycheque), as well as things like security deposits.
That's gotta be bollocks. The only reason you're hired over local teachers is because you're native. Why would they import non-native teachers, when there are plenty in the country in the first place that will normally work even cheaper?
Well yeah I wasn't including course costs. I just used my overdraft and saved up money for that. You can do CELTA in the UK, part time as well as full time, could be cheaper.
Plus the company that runs it also owns schools, and will give you a job (with a $750 startup bonus) if you're any good, or help you find one with proper continuous training. I'd rather do that, than go to a new country blind and try and find a job. You get a month to look for a job, make some friends, and get used to your new country, which I'd prefer.
What company??? thanks for the info by the way i was planning on booking a course this week, there is a deal on for the month of January so it is a few hundred euro cheaper.
also what is a CELTA?
as katchika said, all she paid was the plane ticket.
Which course are you looking at doing? Most jobs will ask for "CELTA or equivalent." What they mean by that is a 4 week full time (12 week part time) course, at least 120 hours teaching in total, with at least 6 hours of practical teaching experience. That last one is the most important, because a lot of online courses will claim to be 120 hours, but you'll never even teach a student. So make sure any course you do offers that. Some places offer weekend courses, or even online courses, but they're really not worth your time. If an employer will hire you with one of those, then they'll probably hire you without qualifications in the first place.
CELTA. It's the industry standard entry level qualification run by Cambridge University (Trinity CertTESOL is the other one, run by Trinity College).
Oh, btw, I'm just repeating advice I've been told.
http://www.onlinetefl.com/weekend-tefl/course.html
It was the 120 hour one i was thinking of doing....im confused now as what to do, they claim that they will help place you in a job before you go over and it is quite cheap at the minute
Hmm, I'm still dubious. I think it might be false economy. All courses will offer help in getting a job. But you're not paying all that money to access to a database of jobs. It's not a 120 hour course in the same way as a CELTA, and £400 is still a pretty hefty investment. Personally, if I was going to make an investment to qualify me as a teacher, I'd pay a bit more for the industry standard. I'd rather pay £800 and know I've got the best qualification than £400 and not be sure. Obviously they can find testimonials from people who have done the course and now have work, but I could find you plenty of people who are working without qualifications. Some countries require a minimum legal standard for TEFL teachers, and I would be surprised if this course would be considered enough. I'd find out how much practical teaching practice you do in the course. If the answer is none, as I suspect, then I wouldn't bother.
If you're interested, they're offering a CELTA in Wroclaw for £779, or Krakow or Budapest for £799. All offer a £50 discount for early payment. There's also one in Johannesburg for £769. But they are all intensive full time courses, so you would need to be able to live for 4 weeks without wages (8 weeks in reality, because if you get a job afterwards, you're probably not going to get paid for at least a month - this is where picking a cheap country is a good idea). I know it's double what you wanted to pay, but it is the best course you can do, and the only one I'm certain will be accepted anywhere in the world. Here's the details of the Krakow one as an example. The others are on the same website.
I've just done a quick Google, and came to this negative writeup of i-to-i. In the comments section at the bottom:
Whatever you do, don't base your decision on the fact that there's a special offer on at the moment. These things come and go all the time. Make sure you research the thing fully and make an informed decision.
A good resource is Facebook. Find out if there's a group for expats in whatever city you want to work/do a course in, and you can bet that a good number of them will be English teachers. Then you can find out how strict schools are with qualifications, whether a particular course provider has a good reputation, etc. Also, search for i-to-i TEFL on Facebook, and there are a lot of groups for people who have done the courses, so maybe you could ask some of them for their experience of the course.
But personally, I would do a CELTA or TrinityCERT if you can afford it. They're just so much better and widely recognised than anything else on offer.
i have no teaching qualifications whatsoever, yet i have taught english abroad to children from 10 to adults of 76 and have 2 years of experience doing just that. all this in western europe. like in any job, contacts are more important than qualifications. and experience is more important than qualifications. of course, it's catch 22 - how to get the experience without the qualifications...
finally, please don't think that it's easy. i certainly never learned our own english grammar at school, and as a teacher you need to really know your shit. teaching is a high pressure job and it's difficult. private students can pay up to 60 euro an hour with companies like berlitz (even if the teacher will be lucky to see 18 euro of that) and you need to give them something worth their money.
it's fun and rewarding, but not an easy job at all. you could get lucky with customers, but you might not. you might get someone who just wants to speak to a native, but you might get someone who demands to know why you use the past participle and 3rd form in past perfect as opposed to any other form etc. and if you don't know, you're not worth paying for but don't worry, its learnable!
I am currently studying for the DELTA while teaching EAL in the UK, and hope to go into training teachers in the future. I wouldn't agree that qualifications aren't necessary, they definitely are to teach in the UK and in the majority of other countries (in desirable schools, anyway). Previously I taught in Germany, it's an incredibly tough job market out there... but the good news for you is that Spain's a bit easier, particularly for summer schools and short-term contracts (which it sounds like you want). I would say that a lot of it is luck, being in the right place at the right time and "talking the talk".
It's an amazing job, can be a lot of fun and very rewarding. I began in the field as a means to an end, so I could travel and now I have a family so I can support my children wherever we end up. At the moment I'm focusing on building a career, but it's reassuring to know wherever we end up (being of a nomadic nature) I can work. My husband is a sometime worker in the field, too, and has also taught in Australia and New Zealand on the back of his CELTA (from the same UK college I trained at, which is definitely a step up the ladder in some respects from some courses in other countries).
The CELTA will always get your foot in the door, but experience and knowledge of the market/the subject area are always going to seal the deal.
Any questions feel free to ask, I'm no expert but I've worked in a few different countries and heard a million horror stories and rave reviews of ESL
Oh, I would advise to avoid Berlitz if you want to work anywhere else afterwards. They may offer to train you up from novice-status but their methods are at odds with everyone else's and incredibly prescriptive which goes against EAL certainly (if not so much the EFL of Japan and China). Well, if you wanted to work for a year I would recommend getting trained up by Berlitz and then moving on to other work. If you're playing a longer game it's a bit of a waste of time --- from the mouths of my colleagues who have been Berlitz-trained and CELTA-trained, too. They don't pay too well either, but they're certainly not alone on that. There's a bit of an internal problem in the ESL market at the moment due to unqualified teachers who are willing to take low wages which undercuts the demands of qualified teachers. If a country (certainly some countries) can employ an unqualified but native speaker for lower wages they will do, despite the low standard that may provide...
Erm anyway I'm off on a ramble. Hope you decide to do it, it's an amazing field to work in. I teach refugees and asylum seekers now and it's so, so hard emotionally but amazingly rewarding nonetheless. I loved teaching kids in Germany and adults in Poland just as much. It can offer so much, go for it! :thumb:
It's only what I have been told by somebody who is studying international business. I don't know how true it is.
that's probably true
another reason to hire a non-native speaker is that they generally know the grammar a lot better than native speakers do
Two friends of mine teach there (I just got back from seeing them) and it seems like a good job.
I met some of their kids, who are awesome
It's a fantastic country with lots to do and see, very very friendly helpful people and if you can teach in the Seoul area you'll never want for anything - good food (Western and Korean), plenty of bars and enough attractions to keep you busy for months is all easily reachable by a very cheap but effective transit system.