Teaching English abroad
Discussion
hey,
i did this in Tokyo for 7 months and had a great time. In japan there are many companies such as Berlitz and Gaba, who are effectively conversational schools. so you don't need a teaching qualification, which is handy! you can earn alot of money if you put in the hours, but it can be a lonely existance out in Japan.
I had a friend who taught in Vietnam and did a TEFL course and she also loved it.
hope this helps
i did this in Tokyo for 7 months and had a great time. In japan there are many companies such as Berlitz and Gaba, who are effectively conversational schools. so you don't need a teaching qualification, which is handy! you can earn alot of money if you put in the hours, but it can be a lonely existance out in Japan.
I had a friend who taught in Vietnam and did a TEFL course and she also loved it.
hope this helps
I have a degree but no TEFL certificate. Have got quite a promising response from a guy in Thailand, and the TEFL doesn't seem to be too much of an issue, so it seems to make sense to see how I like teaching first then do the course if I want to continue or move somewhere else that does require TEFL.
Good luck with the course!
Thanks for the advice.
Good luck with the course!
Thanks for the advice.
A friend of mine is backpacking around Asia at the moment. One of the places he stayed in Tailand he met a guy who was teaching english out there. He has no teaching qualifications, just wondered into a bar one night while he was travelling and got chatting to someone, who gave him a temporary job there and then. Hes been at it a year, is earning approx $30 an hour, living the high life out there (because of the cheap way of living) and still managing to send home £1k a month to go into savings. I'll try and find out a bit more for you next time I skype my mate
If you're still interested...
Got a job in north east Thailand, starting in early May. The pay is not great by western standards but tax is low (10% apparently), accomodation is provided and the cost of food there is low so I should be able to live OK.
Don't see it as a career, but what the hell. I have no responsibilities here and nothing to lose by giving it a go. Having visited Thailand a couple of times it seems like a pleasant enough place. It might be a different story living there, but I've only taken a contract for one semester so if it all goes wrong I'll do something else in October.
First impressions of the market: very easy to get a job. I have no teaching experience, an unrelated degree, and I like to think, a decent command of the English language. I had a 15 minute phone interview with an agent in Bangkok and he sent me a contract a few days later. What recession?!
Coming at it as a recruitment consultant I'm amazed at how little qualification and preparation there was involved - they must have an incredible drop out rate - but hey ho. On the plus side they have a 4 day induction course in Bangkok before we start so that should tell me more.
I leave on the 25th of April, but I'll no doubt be on PH a lot between now and then, and probably at some point after as well. If anyone has any questions or wants any info feel free to drop me a PM or ask in here.
My understanding of the job from speaking to others who have done similar is that you're basically something like a teaching assistant to start with and then take classes yourself later, assuming all goes well.
Got a job in north east Thailand, starting in early May. The pay is not great by western standards but tax is low (10% apparently), accomodation is provided and the cost of food there is low so I should be able to live OK.
Don't see it as a career, but what the hell. I have no responsibilities here and nothing to lose by giving it a go. Having visited Thailand a couple of times it seems like a pleasant enough place. It might be a different story living there, but I've only taken a contract for one semester so if it all goes wrong I'll do something else in October.
First impressions of the market: very easy to get a job. I have no teaching experience, an unrelated degree, and I like to think, a decent command of the English language. I had a 15 minute phone interview with an agent in Bangkok and he sent me a contract a few days later. What recession?!
Coming at it as a recruitment consultant I'm amazed at how little qualification and preparation there was involved - they must have an incredible drop out rate - but hey ho. On the plus side they have a 4 day induction course in Bangkok before we start so that should tell me more.
I leave on the 25th of April, but I'll no doubt be on PH a lot between now and then, and probably at some point after as well. If anyone has any questions or wants any info feel free to drop me a PM or ask in here.
My understanding of the job from speaking to others who have done similar is that you're basically something like a teaching assistant to start with and then take classes yourself later, assuming all goes well.
Edited by AJS- on Sunday 29th March 18:13
Not dense at all Rach* - I don't speak Thai. At least not in any useful way beyond the normal hello, please, thank you stuff you pick up from a phrase book.
My understanding of it is that there will be a Thai English teacher there as well, and my main role will be to teach conversation skills and pronounciation that you only really get from being with native speakers, mainly to older students who have enough English to learn in that environment and mainly need help with pronounciation and conversation.
I do intend to learn more Thai while I'm there because I want to, but I know of people who have taught in Korea and China for years without picking up more than basic tourist phrases.
Outside of work I'm not too phased by not speaking Thai. I know some people would be but personally I love being a foreigner and learning languages the hard way.
My understanding of it is that there will be a Thai English teacher there as well, and my main role will be to teach conversation skills and pronounciation that you only really get from being with native speakers, mainly to older students who have enough English to learn in that environment and mainly need help with pronounciation and conversation.
I do intend to learn more Thai while I'm there because I want to, but I know of people who have taught in Korea and China for years without picking up more than basic tourist phrases.
Outside of work I'm not too phased by not speaking Thai. I know some people would be but personally I love being a foreigner and learning languages the hard way.
Thanks very much... my email is Rachael dot England @ yahoo . com
Has anyone done a TEFL course? There are heaps online, I'd want to chose an appropriate one and the right amount of hours
http://www.onlinetefl.com/
Has anyone done a TEFL course? There are heaps online, I'd want to chose an appropriate one and the right amount of hours
http://www.onlinetefl.com/
I haven't done the TEFL course. From those I have spoken to who have it's a mixed bag. It won't make you a great teacher, but it will open some doors. I believe most countries in Europe require a TEFL certificate for all teachers regardless. Most in Japan also value it apparently. It will also put you in touch with other teachers who are on the same course, and with potential employers via the school.
They're not cheap either, so my plan is to do the first semester, see how I like being a teacher, and if I want to do more then I'll probably do the course later this year.
I'm getting more keen on the idea of living in Spain or Italy for a while, and this seems like a good way in.
They're not cheap either, so my plan is to do the first semester, see how I like being a teacher, and if I want to do more then I'll probably do the course later this year.
I'm getting more keen on the idea of living in Spain or Italy for a while, and this seems like a good way in.
Haha, pretty skint too right now. The thing that always gets me though is how damn expensive it is having a full time job in England, and double everything in London. By the time you've paid rent and tax, fed yourself and run a car, that healthy sounding pay cheque doesn't go far. If you, as I did, keep up with your friends and colleagues in the showing how succesful you are going to be, then you can very easily make a loss. I've met people who have done this in £100K plus jobs. Fortunately I managed to get my s
t together, clear my debts and knock that on the head before I got into mortgages and £30,000 car loans.
Get the plane ticket, get your accomodation sorted and you can live nicely on £50 a week in Thailand, eating good food and drinking at weekends. Most people I've spoken to who have done teaching like this have actually saved money while working and usually gone travelling or something with it later.
t together, clear my debts and knock that on the head before I got into mortgages and £30,000 car loans. Get the plane ticket, get your accomodation sorted and you can live nicely on £50 a week in Thailand, eating good food and drinking at weekends. Most people I've spoken to who have done teaching like this have actually saved money while working and usually gone travelling or something with it later.
AJS - Where did you find the thai job?
I don't have a batchelor degree (I do have a foundation degree/hnd though) so not so sure I can get a job so easily especially in Japan or Korea which pays the best (I'm most interested in working in Japan too
).
The weekend TEFL course I done was about £200 iirc, it was one spread in Friday afternoon, all of Saturday and up to 2pm on sunday, I believe this is the best way to do a weekend course as my instuctor said the ones doing full days on Saturday and Sunday usually arn't paying attention by the end of Sunday.
It will open doors straight away if you want to volunteer, but getting paid is a little more trouble (but still very do-able).
I'm in Malaysia at the moment, I don't think it's appropriate to teach here as all the Malays are taught in English in secondary school anyway so are usually advanced enough to do minimal conversation, I guess private tuition is possible though. I'm heading up to Thailand for a month June-July time but won't be looking to teach just yet.
A few teaching contracts I've seen (especially for China) give free local language teaching if you want it too. For a years work I'd be looking at that, so you can learn Chinese whilst teaching English, and getting paid for it all at the same time!
I don't have a batchelor degree (I do have a foundation degree/hnd though) so not so sure I can get a job so easily especially in Japan or Korea which pays the best (I'm most interested in working in Japan too
).The weekend TEFL course I done was about £200 iirc, it was one spread in Friday afternoon, all of Saturday and up to 2pm on sunday, I believe this is the best way to do a weekend course as my instuctor said the ones doing full days on Saturday and Sunday usually arn't paying attention by the end of Sunday.
It will open doors straight away if you want to volunteer, but getting paid is a little more trouble (but still very do-able).
I'm in Malaysia at the moment, I don't think it's appropriate to teach here as all the Malays are taught in English in secondary school anyway so are usually advanced enough to do minimal conversation, I guess private tuition is possible though. I'm heading up to Thailand for a month June-July time but won't be looking to teach just yet.
A few teaching contracts I've seen (especially for China) give free local language teaching if you want it too. For a years work I'd be looking at that, so you can learn Chinese whilst teaching English, and getting paid for it all at the same time!
Gassing Station | Jobs & Employment Matters | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff