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Teaching English Abroad
Former Member
Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
in Work & Study
Soooo...
I am hoping to have all my debt paid off this year (fingers crossed) and then I am looking to get out of London.
I love working with young people (I do that now) and I know that having a second language will really benefit me long term, both with travelling and also with a career in human rights. I also love to be creative and enjoy energetic jobs and working in challenging environments.
It has been mentioned to me a few times that I would be a good teacher and thus have started looking at teaching English as a foreign language. This is something I am seriously looking in to.
I was originally thinking about going to Mexico for my first country, but then my common sense says Spain as it is less of a culture shock and a hell of a lot cheaper to get there. I am planning on starting Spanish lessons at a college this year and also thinking about putting up adverts on Gumtree, which offer an exchange of language (i.e. I help your English, you help my Spanish).
I was wondering who else has taught English abroad?
What were your experiences like?
Any tips?
I am hoping to have all my debt paid off this year (fingers crossed) and then I am looking to get out of London.
I love working with young people (I do that now) and I know that having a second language will really benefit me long term, both with travelling and also with a career in human rights. I also love to be creative and enjoy energetic jobs and working in challenging environments.
It has been mentioned to me a few times that I would be a good teacher and thus have started looking at teaching English as a foreign language. This is something I am seriously looking in to.
I was originally thinking about going to Mexico for my first country, but then my common sense says Spain as it is less of a culture shock and a hell of a lot cheaper to get there. I am planning on starting Spanish lessons at a college this year and also thinking about putting up adverts on Gumtree, which offer an exchange of language (i.e. I help your English, you help my Spanish).
I was wondering who else has taught English abroad?
What were your experiences like?
Any tips?
0
Comments
But I just wanted to say... Spanish is a very easy languge to learn. I've been doing it a few months, and it's already better than my French which I've been doing a few years!! Good luck!
Xx
I'd say stick your neck out and go for a language that isn't so general, like French, Spanish, German, even though German can be an exception.
To be honest, I would say try Japan first. I've been told from a friend who lived there for a while that you just need to know English (fully...) and have a degree in something. Anything, doesn't have to be English.
But if I had any choice, I'd choose Latin America, or maybe a French speaking African country (the reason being I want a language which I can use in several countries... I would like to be fluent in at least two languages by thirty five)... I think Swahili would be a cool language to know as well.
Oh and there's Nepal. I'd love to go back to Nepal! Thailand is tempting too...
Im currently teaching in China on an internship programme with i-to-i.com, I orginally wanted to go to Spian, but When I went out there I couldnt get a job anywhere as I had no previous experince. I had lots of interviews that I thought went really well, but they always seem to go for teachers with previous experince. Most European Countries are like this, but if you go to Korea or somewhere like that you don't need any qualifications and the money is quite good. So be aware of heading off to spain in search for work! I spent two months travelling around looking for work and didnt get any! Good luck with it though! Its a great way to travel and meet people, its also brillaint for really getting a feel of a different culture as your living and breathing it everyday!:thumb:
Take it from someone who speaks both, has A levels in both, and has a degree in the former, Spanish is far from easy.
Although it is relatively straightforward to get from nothing to, say, GCSE standard, from there to fluency is a really hard. I only achieved it when I worked in Latin America and was speaking it for 8 hours a day.
However, in terms of usefulness, I would heartily recommend Spanish.
Also, I would avoid Mexico at the moment. About as safe as Basra at the moment.
It's about opinion I guess.
Xx
Maybe South Korea, Thailand, China or Nepal would be good to get experience first.
Japan. They have vending machines that sell beer !
Easier than French yes, easy no.
I find French a lot easier than SPanish... there seems to be a lot less grammar, however, the best way to learn a language is just to immerse yourelf in it, my spanish improved immensely after i started visiting my ex boyfriend in spain.
Teaching young learners/kids is really stressful and hard work!
It's not always easy to learn the local language as you speak English most of the time - at work of course, and with friends, and even outside work when you try to practice, you find people reply in English, which can be annoying.
What teaching course did you do?
Anyway, here's a list of courses currently running. Most employers that want qualifications want a minimum of a 4 week, 100 teaching hour course. Basically "CELTA or equivalent." Personally, I'd ignore the "or equivalent" bit and apply for either a CELTA or Trinity Certificate, which are the two world-recognised courses.
Still not 100% sure on the country, but am interested in Buddhism and Asia, so maybe Thailand or Cambodia.
Kinda worried the market is screwed with the recession, as a lotta people apparently are doing TEFL to escape it.
I did CELTA in October last year with Language Link in Earls Court. Terrific fun. Thoroughly recommend it. One of the girls on my course had been teaching kids in Thailand. She loved it, though (like me) I'm not sure that she wanted to go back to teaching children, having taught adults. She is now working in London. There is always a market for teaching children abroad. Strictly speaking, CELTA is the Certificate in English Language Teaching to Adults and doesn't qualify you to teach children, but a lot of my fellow trainees went on to do so anyway.