Teaching English as a Foreign Language Overseas

One of the most popular ways of breaking out of the daily 9-5 grind and earning money overseas is by finding work teaching English as a foreign language overseas.  With over 20,000 jobs being advertised each week, the number of teaching locations that you can choose from is almost endless.

In some instances, such as private tutoring, you can find work simply because English is your mother tongue - but things are changing and if you want to be more assured of a position teaching English overseas you need to check out one of the teacher training courses on offer.  First of all you need to decide what course is going to offer you the best options…

There are a number of different courses available for those wanting to teach English overseas, but the majority of students take either a TEFL (Teaching English as a Foreign Language) or TESOL (Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages) course.  These courses are the most well known and are geared up for training native English speakers to teach English abroad.

Once you’ve completed your course the next step is deciding what your goals are and where you want to teach.  Locations are endless, but if your priority is to save money while teaching English overseas your choice of country is going to be very different than if your aim is to backpack around the globe.  You’ll also need to consider things such as visa requirements in your chosen country, cost of living, airfare costs to your destination as well as political stability. 

Also think about who you want to teach English to.  If you’ve a morbid fear of rugrats, teaching English in a kindergarten in Seoul isn’t going to be your thing. !

The highest paid jobs teaching English overseas are currently in Japan, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and Kuwait - and the lowest salaries are in Africa, Central America and developing countries in Asia.  A teacher working in Japan and augmenting their salary carrying out private tutoring could expect to make around 35,000 to 40,000 pounds sterling per annum.  Any salary will also be affected by other factors, for example degree holders can usually expect to receive higher wages teaching English and in some countries a degree is a requirement to teach. 

Once you’ve got your list of requirements down its time to start looking for that job.  Whilst almost all schools offering courses teaching English overseas will offer some form of job placement assistance, there’s also a wealth of information on the web.  Websites such as Englishclub and Jobs.edufind have a worldwide list of jobs teaching English abroad and cover placements in countries as diverse as China, Taiwan, Iraq and Inner Mongolia to name but a few.  There are also location specific websites like Eltnews dealing solely with Japan. 

If you can’t find the perfect job on the internet another option is to apply to chain schools such as Berlitz or Cambridge schools, these have schools located all around the world and while some require extensive experience for teachers who want to teach English abroad, others are only looking for a degree and a TEFL or TESOL certificate.

After that it’s a case of buy your ticket, a lonely planet guide and enjoy the experience and benefits of teaching English overseas!