Teaching Abroad

col89

Hi there,

I have recently finished my final year at university studying English and Sociology (and German in first year) and I am very interested in teaching abroad. I have looked on various websites about doing this (most of which require TEFL training either beforehand or when you fly over to where you would be teaching), and majority of these require at least €4,000 in expenses before you go over to the specific country and start earning your own money. I have had some training with teaching before in two schools but I have not completed a TEFL course as of yet because I have heard different things about them and whether they are, in fact, useful for teaching abroad.

Basically, in a nutshell, what I am asking is whether anyone knows of a reliable website that can faciliatate the bare essentials for a graduate, one who is willing to teach abroad? I'm not rife with money (like most recent graduates), so if there is such a place that might be worth looking into, I would greatly appreciate anyone that is willing to suggest somewhere that is reliable and considerate for those lesser privileged graduates.

dapto1

How long are you planning to work in TEFL? If it's for a couple or more than it might be worth investing in the CELTA. I know it's expensive at about €1400, but in general you'll make your money back in the increase in your pay after a couple of years and you'll have far more options. Also, where do you want to work? Some places don't require a TEFL certification. Having a degree in English will also really stand to you.

There are two excellent books that give a good grounding in the techniques and theory of ELT, they are The Practice of English Language Teaching (by Harmer) and Learning Teaching (by Scrivener). One of them is enough, there's no point getting both.

Best of luck, if you have any more questions fire away!

cloneslad

if you want to do TEFL and don't have much money, then I'd suggest going to Korea. It will be a year long contract, which you can extend if you wish.

It won't cost you much, basically the cost of the visa (€40), the cost of getting a few things stamped at the dept of foregin affairs (€40), getting your degree notarised (€20), sending you documents to korea (€60).

You may also need to get a copy of your results for each year in University (these should cost less than €20, or nothing at all if you already have them).

The school that hires you would cover your flights to and from korea, they would provide a rent free apartment (you pay utility bills), they would pay you anywhere from 1350-1500 euro a month in a private school for a recent graduate. You also get a bonus months wages upon completion of your contract. Realistically you should be able to save anywhere from 8-12 grand in a year.

You don't need a tefl qualification either. (though, obviously having one makes you more employable)

If you want to find out more information, go to the TEFL in South Korea thread in this forum. (should be just a few places above / below this thread by the time you read this)

col89

Sorry that I am only getting back to replying now, thank you both for replying to my topic.

I was thinking of teaching abroad for a year and returning to my studies the year after to do an MA and continue from there. But I would think that doing this would really stand to me because I have heard that it really works in a person's favour if they have been able to dedicate their time to teaching in a completely different country.

I was looking into Korea, indeed. I applied for a couple of positions in particular but, either, received no replies (as of yet), or it had some requirements that I wouldn't have been able to meet.

@cloneslad, thanks for giving me some more detail about teaching in Korea - I really had no idea that it could have been so cheap! I will definitely look further into it later; at first, I was afraid on where to start looking on the forums here because there is so much detail, but now that I know that Korea could be the best, most affordable option for me, I shall rummage through the big thread in this part of the forum!

Thanks again for both of your replies!

cloneslad

col89 wrote: »

Sorry that I am only getting back to replying now, thank you both for replying to my topic.

I was thinking of teaching abroad for a year and returning to my studies the year after to do an MA and continue from there. But I would think that doing this would really stand to me because I have heard that it really works in a person's favour if they have been able to dedicate their time to teaching in a completely different country.

I was looking into Korea, indeed. I applied for a couple of positions in particular but, either, received no replies (as of yet), or it had some requirements that I wouldn't have been able to meet.

@cloneslad, thanks for giving me some more detail about teaching in Korea - I really had no idea that it could have been so cheap! I will definitely look further into it later; at first, I was afraid on where to start looking on the forums here because there is so much detail, but now that I know that Korea could be the best, most affordable option for me, I shall rummage through the big thread in this part of the forum!

Thanks again for both of your replies!

I did as you are now doing. I grqaduated in November and went to Korea in February for a 12 month contract. I ended up extending by 6 months so that I could come home in July and have a bit of a break before doing my masters degree, which started in september.

I then finished my masters and went back out to my old job again.

You will have no problem getting on to most masters courses, providing an interview is not part of the procedure. I got accepted to the two universities I applied to and I was in Korea at the time of applying and accepting, so you don't need to worry about that either.

As for people not getting back to you. Apply for as many positions as possible, don't wait for one recruiter to get back to you, just keep on applying and applying to anyone that interests you.

Should you get offered a position, go to the TEFL in Korea thread and ask questions about the area you've been offered and do some further research. Not every job is great, some people get well and truely shafted by their employers, so it's important to research it, ask questions to the current teachers there etc etc etc.

Good luck with it, the experience you will have will be awesome, I loved it there.

The Agogo

If you'd like somewhere a little closer to home, you could try Katowice (Poland).

I'm about to leave my job here as a native speaker (and I don't have a CELTA) at the end of this month. They're probably going to look for somebody else at that stage.

Drop me a message if you want to know more (e.g. Rate of Pay, Hours, What it's like, weather, living conditions & exp etc)