posted
Since I graduated from uni, I’ve been trying to work out what to do with my life.
Basically, my main ambitions have always involved things other than the obvious career path - I want to be a writer and I want, most of all, to travel and see as much of the world as I can.
So, since there are not many jobs which allow a twenty-three year old history grad to do much travelling, and considering how I've enjoyed learning French recently, and one-to-one informal tutoring of friends in English, I’ve been thinking about maybe spending a year or so somewhere teaching English.
There are a lot of options - whether to train first or find a scheme which trains abroad, where to go (there seem to be a lot of jobs in various bits of Asia, like China, Japan or Korea)…
And of course, the big question - can I do this? I've never taught a class before. What’s it really like, how expensive, how hard, how lonely?
If anyone has any experience doing something like this, I’d love to hear about it. Posts: 1528 | Registered: Nov 2004
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How lucrative this will be for you will depend entirely on where you go to teach. If you're willing to go to, say, the UAE you can conceivably make quite a lot. If you go to a poorer country you'll make enough to get by there, but not much more than that.
I enjoyed teaching quite a bit, bit it's one of those things that depends quite a bit on your personality.
As for the lonliness of it, my understanding is that the teachers bond with each other pretty tightly, forming little communities of ex-pats. That's how it was when I went to Thailand to teach, certainly.
Posts: 16059 | Registered: Aug 2000
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posted
I spent a year teaching English in South Korea right after university.
From the night that I first started looking at jobs on Dave's ESL Cafe to the day I set foot in Korea, it was 6 weeks. In other words, it's really easy to get a job, but the paper work is a pain and takes a while.
There are two sides to the experience: class time, and what goes on when you're off the clock.
My classes ranged from kindergarteners to about 13 years old.
I had never worked with kids before, and for the first month, September, my classes were total chaos. Now I know what being a substitute high school teacher is like. I thought the kindergarteners alone would kill me; I wasn't sure if I could finish the year out.
October wasn't much better. But I could see the light at the end of the tunnel. By November, I was learning the ropes, and by December, my classrooms, for the most part, ran with factory precision. The vast majority of my year was basically classroom stress related free.
Outside school, I consistently had a blast. Seoul is a great city with plenty to see and do. The other foreign teachers I met were all great, and 2 years later, we're still in touch.
The alcohol is cheap, there are mountains nearby that you can spend all your weekends in, the food is good and cheap.
I earned 1.8 million won a month, which at the time was roughly $2100 Canadian dollars. Because the school paid for my apartment, as well as school day lunches and dinners, I usually saved $1200 a month. That's with spending as much money as I wanted on entertainment. I didn't travel, though. I came home with $14 000 after one year, with bonuses and whatnot.
It was easily the best year of my life, and I plan on going back next year once I finish my MA.
Posts: 1515 | Registered: Feb 2002
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posted
I did the JET program around 10 years ago (teaching English in Japan). It was a good experience, I made a lot of take-home money (I lived in the middle of nowhere, so living expenses were low), and I made some good friends, both Japanese and other foreigners. I was also very lonely (living in the middle of nowhere), ran up a huge phone bill to my fiance, and disliked the job, mainly because I didn't have enough teaching responsibility. However, because people's experiences vary so much depending on where they're placed, my experience can't be called typical...there really isn't a "typical" experience, or at least there wasn't in Oita prefecture during the 1996-1997 placement year.
Would I go again? Well, not now...I think I may even be too old for the program. But I would go again right out of college, even knowing what I know now. It was an experience that definitely made me a better person and a better teacher.
Posts: 834 | Registered: Jun 2005
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posted
I have a lot of friends who've done this. Most went to Japan, another to South Korea, a couple to South Africa, a few to Thailand, a couple to Dubai, and so on. The overwhelming response I hear is that it's completely worth it. I don't know of any of them who regretted it.
Posts: 8355 | Registered: Apr 2003
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posted
Thanks for sharing your experiences guys, I think you've really helped me to believe that maybe this is actually possible!
I'm glad that most people see it as a positive experience - but I'm not expecting it to be all rainbows and kittens. However, I really want to shake my life up a bit, prove to myself that I'm capable of doing something outside my comfort zone.
Now I'm off to check out Dave's.
Posts: 1528 | Registered: Nov 2004
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posted
The program I am applying for next year is called Oxford House TEFL.
Google it to find the main site. It's the most well known accreditation program for ESL teachers all over the world. The program is 4-5 weeks, and you can do it in Paris, Barcelona, Cadiz, Oxford, and Prague, I am probably going to Barcelona or Prague.
The advantage of the program is that it is the gold standard in ESL certs for people like you and me, just out of college, AND oxford house helps you get a job once you leave the program. I knew a few people who did the program in Europe and lived there at least 2 years, and they said that they had upwards of 30 job offers within a few weeks of leaving the program. So yeah, that's my contribution.
Posts: 9912 | Registered: Nov 2005
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