Teaching English in an Overseas School: All Your Questions Answered
By Lovelyn Hunter

Maybe you’ve just graduated from college and are still unsure about what you want to do. Maybe your nine-to-five-grind has grown tiresome, and you’re ready for a change. If you’re looking for adventure, you might want to consider teaching English abroad.

ESL teachers are in demand throughout Europe and Asia. Some jobs require that you have a TEFL/TESL certification, but there are also quite a few jobs that only require a bachelor’s degree in any subject.

While most contracts are for a year, it is also possible to get six-month contracts from some companies. There are a few things you should consider before packing your bags and boarding a plane to a foreign land.< Where do I want to go? Asia is overflowing with ESL teaching jobs. Japan and Korea have the biggest markets. If you want to build up your bank account, it’s best to go to one of these countries. Many ESL teachers who teach in Japan and Korea use these countries as their home bases. They work for a while, save up money, then travel until their money runs out. Then they return to find more work and save up more money. It can be an endless cycle, if you want it to be. Working in China and other areas of Asia can be fun and culturally rewarding but don’t pay very much money. You can make enough to live but can’t really save. Working in Europe is not as lucrative as working in Asia, and because of the European Union, it’s also hard to obtain a working visa if you don’t have an EU passport. Some people go to Europe and teach illegally on tourist visas, but I wouldn’t recommend it, unless time in prison and deportation is your idea of fun. You can get work legally in a country that has not yet joined the EU, such as Turkey. In Asia, teaching children almost always means teaching on Saturdays, unless you teach in an English preschool. This is a big con for most people. If you teach adults, on the other hand, you don’t usually teach on Saturday, and have no discipline problems, but the hours can be difficult. Many language schools for adults offer classes before and after work. For teachers, this means early morning and late evening hours. For example you might work from six thirty to ten in the morning, then start again in the evening from six until nine. If you teach adults you have to be very sure about your grammar, because they will ask you a lot of grammatical questions that you have never thought about before. What should I expect for an interview? Most schools will give you a phone interview, but some do have recruiters in various cities that they will want you to meet in person. These interviews are just like any other job interviews. Dress professionally and be prepared to answer their questions and ask some of your own. They are looking for people who will be culturally sensitive and will adjust easily to different living situations. Oftentimes they will ask for an example of how you would teach a certain grammar point or vocabulary word. Think of some ideas ahead of time so that you’re not caught off guard by the question. Dave’s ESL Café can also help you with ideas. For the phone interview, they will arrange a certain time to call you. Be sure to be home at that time. It will usually be in the evening hours. Keep any notes you might have made before hand next to the phone so that you’re prepared when it rings. What should my contract contain? Before signing a contract, there are a few things that must be considered. Only take a job that offers visa sponsorship. It’s almost impossible to get a working visa on your own. The school should send you the information you need to obtain a visa from the nearest embassy before you leave the country. Some companies will pay for or reimburse you for your airline tickets. If it’s not mentioned in the contract or interview, be sure you ask. For your first year in the country, it is best to sign a contract with a school that will provide your housing or at least provide you with temporary housing for the first month while you look for your own. You don’t want to be stuck in a foreign country with no place to live. Housing should be mentioned in your contract. If it is not, that means they don’t provide it. Make sure that it is written in your contract that you’re to work no more that thirty hours a week; anything more should be overtime pay. It’s difficult to find a job that will pay you in US dollars. You have to be aware of the exchange rate. Use Yahoo’s Currency Exchange to find out what you’ll be making. How can I avoid getting into a bad situation? Before signing a contract, ask if you can talk to one of the teachers currently working at the school. If they refuse to give you the faculty room phone number or a teacher’s email address, don’t sign a contract. Once you talk to some of the teachers you should ask about the following things that may be important to you. Ask about training, do they train new teachers? What are the students like? How is the management? Do they have good teaching materials? How is the teachers’ housing? How much are living expenses? Can you save any money? You should talk to more than one teacher at the school to get an accurate information. I also strongly recommend that newcomers start out at a large well-established school or even work for a government sponsored teaching program, for example JET in Japan. Korea has a similar program called EPIK. Smaller schools may promise more money for fewer hours, but once you get to the country, you might find they don’t deliver on these promises. After a year of work, if you want to teach at a smaller school, you can find out from other teachers which places are good and which are not. Now that you’ve got your contract signed and your ticket bought, I suggest that you go to the library and read up on the country you’re going to and buy a phrase book. Learn some basic greetings in the native language before you get there. Use that knowledge; it will be appreciated. While you’re there, take advantage of the opportunity to travel and enjoy your adventures. Adapted from escapeartist.com