Teach English Abroad

[Guest]

I'm looking at getting certified to teach English as a foreign language and second language.

 

Just wondering if anybody on here has done that. Which school did you use? What was your experience finding employment? Any suggestions?

 

 

 

[Guest]

Can't help you with a particular school, there are so many now.

 

Work is fairly easy to find anywhere throughout the world for an EFL teacher but don't expect to earn too much doing it.

[Finnaldo]

I'm looking at getting certified to teach English as a foreign language and second language.

Just wondering if anybody on here has done that. Which school did you use? What was your experience finding employment? Any suggestions?

I'm pretty sure Leicsmanc can help you on here, taught English in South Korea I believe.

[Captain...]

Where do you want to teach? Best thing to do is go there and do the course.

When I did it I found all the courses in the UK over subscribed and I would have had to wait 6 months to do it. I called Cactus who organise a lot of these courses and they asked me that question I said Spain, they said there is one starting in 4 weeks in Valencia I said that'll do and because I had done it in Valencia I was working before the course had even finished I had lots of contacts and some English mates to watch the footy with and Spanish mates to practice with. I did it in September which worked out perfectly as the academies reopened after summer in October and all were recruiting.

[theessexfox]

Teaching English in Germany next month for work experience 

[Captain...]

https://www.cactustefl.co.uk/teachers/course.php?course_id=2061

I wouldn't recommend any of the online courses or weekend courses you get no classroom experience.

[Guest]

Where do you want to teach? Best thing to do is go there and do the course.

When I did it I found all the courses in the UK over subscribed and I would have had to wait 6 months to do it. I called Cactus who organise a lot of these courses and they asked me that question I said Spain, they said there is one starting in 4 weeks in Valencia I said that'll do and because I had done it in Valencia I was working before the course had even finished I had lots of contacts and some English mates to watch the footy with and Spanish mates to practice with. I did it in September which worked out perfectly as the academies reopened after summer in October and all were recruiting.

Interesting. I'd fancy teaching France.  I've looked into a few different schools, and Oxford Seminars seems the most solid; providing actual classroom time and helping you land your first contract.  I'm in the US, so the certification isn't CELTA, but TEFEL/TESOL. They've assured me it's accepted the same, just a different name for the certification. It seems like a good way to see the world, and just about the most universal qualification you could have.

 

Have you used your cert and work experience to get work in the UK, either teaching English to immigrants, working online, or some related field?

[Captain...]

Tesol is the trinity one and it is equally recognised, are you American and do you have any sort of EU passport? there were a couple of Americans on my course and the teaching school helped them find work including academies that would pay them under the table while they got all their work visas sorted out. It wasn't as easy for them as it was for us Europeans. Best bet is to find an academy run by a fellow American they will know what the visa and work requirements are and be sympathetic to any red tape difficulties you might find.

I really can't stress how useful it was for us to do the course in Spain it gave us a chance to acclimatise and get local help in finding a job but also finding a place to live, and sorting out the red tape.

[Vlad the Fox]

I hope all you teachers going off and teaching abroad adopt the attitude of 19 century missionaries. It is your duty to educate and convert all these foreign parts into the church of Leicester City.

[Rincewind]

I hope all you teachers going off and teaching abroad adopt the attitude of 19 century missionaries. It is your duty to educate and convert all these foreign parts into the church of Leicester City.

Yes and use Nigel Pearson interviewsand FoxesTalk  as examples for speaking English and phd phrases. 'Are you an ostrich'?

[Benguin]

For good money and copious job prospects you need to do CELTA - this is quite an expensive qualification and takes about a month of intensive training.

TEFL- is the basic ticket you can do in a weekend but will be competing with so many others, and will get pretty poor wages

[Vlad the Fox]

Yes and use Nigel Pearson interviewsand FoxesTalk  as examples for speaking English and phd phrases. 'Are you an ostrich'?

Ha ha yes, and don't tell the naughty kids or parents at parents evening to '**** off and die'.

[Guest]

Tesol is the trinity one and it is equally recognised, are you American and do you have any sort of EU passport? there were a couple of Americans on my course and the teaching school helped them find work including academies that would pay them under the table while they got all their work visas sorted out. It wasn't as easy for them as it was for us Europeans. Best bet is to find an academy run by a fellow American they will know what the visa and work requirements are and be sympathetic to any red tape difficulties you might find.

I really can't stress how useful it was for us to do the course in Spain it gave us a chance to acclimatise and get local help in finding a job but also finding a place to live, and sorting out the red tape.

Dual citizenship UK/US so I'm all kosher for working in the EU. 

 

When you say academy do you mean the one I would get certified by or the one I would end up working for?

 

I wouldn't mind getting certified over there. But either way I'd probably do the TESOL cert first here in the states while i have steady employment and a place to live. Especially since they can get me situated with my first job. Take it as a good primer, and once i'm reasonably established and comfortable get the CELTA or DELTA certs.

 

I imagine the standards are considerably higher in western europe than the rest of the world. I know a few friends who teach english in South America with absolutely no formal qualifications. And parts of Asia can be pretty lenient. 

[Guest]

For good money and copious job prospects you need to do CELTA - this is quite an expensive qualification and takes about a month of intensive training.

TEFL- is the basic ticket you can do in a weekend but will be competing with so many others, and will get pretty poor wages

 

The impression I got was there are a lot of variation in the quality of TEFL schools. The certificate itself might not mean anything unless it came from a recognised school. Some will certify you for as little as $40, just take a test and bingo. At least the Oxford Seminars school I looked at required 60 hours class room, plus 40 online and a final exam. 

[separator]

Any excuse to play this video, someone on here uploaded this I think...

 

[Vlad the Fox]

Any excuse to play this video, someone on here uploaded this I think...

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QkcUcW_JWu8

I was thinking of this video when I made my first post above.

[Captain...]

I hope all you teachers going off and teaching abroad adopt the attitude of 19 century missionaries. It is your duty to educate and convert all these foreign parts into the church of Leicester City.

I always used to print out the league table and put up Leicester match reports when I had a projector as something to read when they came into class, it was usually a good talking point.

[Captain...]

Dual citizenship UK/US so I'm all kosher for working in the EU.

When you say academy do you mean the one I would get certified by or the one I would end up working for?

I wouldn't mind getting certified over there. But either way I'd probably do the TESOL cert first here in the states while i have steady employment and a place to live. Especially since they can get me situated with my first job. Take it as a good primer, and once i'm reasonably established and comfortable get the CELTA or DELTA certs.

I imagine the standards are considerably higher in western europe than the rest of the world. I know a few friends who teach english in South America with absolutely no formal qualifications. And parts of Asia can be pretty lenient.

I mean the academy where you will work. You probably won't get in to any schools unless you go as a classroom assistant through the British Council.

As for levels of qualification some people just rock up with their only qualification being the ability to speak English and just get through on confidence alone. I think I would have crumbled in my first week if I had done that the course is very good and gives you a good grounding and classroom preparation.

[Guest]

I mean the academy where you will work. You probably won't get in to any schools unless you go as a classroom assistant through the British Council.

As for levels of qualification some people just rock up with their only qualification being the ability to speak English and just get through on confidence alone. I think I would have crumbled in my first week if I had done that the course is very good and gives you a good grounding and classroom preparation.

Thanks for all the feedback. I'll look carefully to see what my target areas generally require.

 

One more question if I may.

What are your thoughts on small cities/towns versus large cities? Using france as an example I've heard lots of people advise staying away from Paris or other major cities as they're over saturated and too expensive. Whereas smaller towns are likely to be easier to find work as they're just happy to find a native english speaker. Any personal experience on that?

[Captain...]

Thanks for all the feedback. I'll look carefully to see what my target areas generally require.

One more question if I may.

What are your thoughts on small cities/towns versus large cities? Using france as an example I've heard lots of people advise staying away from Paris or other major cities as they're over saturated and too expensive. Whereas smaller towns are likely to be easier to find work as they're just happy to find a native english speaker. Any personal experience on that?

I would agree in general but on the flip side you will have more opportunities in a bigger city. Really it depends what you want out of it. If you are just looking for somewhere to spend a year and earn a bit of money but it is more about the experience you don't want to be stuck somewhere you don't like so prioritise somewhere you will enjoy, a larger city will have a larger ex-pat community and you will make more friends and have more fun but the bigger the ex- pat community there will be more jobs but more competition so lower wages.

If you are looking to make some quick money then look for somewhere not that accessible or popular. You will find better wages and a smaller ex pat community but be careful going too rural as there will not be as many opportunities.

Being a native English speaker in a European country means plenty of opportunities I did some translation work on a gaming website for example, a local company needed a native speaker. A friend of mine did the voice on a treadmill for the English setting, someone else was a voiceover on a computer game, another guy I know started doing English dinners where people would pay a lot of money to have dinner with an English speaker, I got copious amounts of free beer for going to pub a speaking English to a bunch of spaniards, some of which were very hot and found this humble English native very attractive. English radio station, English evenings, English tours, English weekends all aimed at Spanish people who want to improve their English and not sit in front of a text book.

I worked in Valencia and Pamplona, and I much preferred Pamplona better weather smaller city, about 250,000 no international airport so not as much competition for jobs, but enough English people around to watch football with and get a good group of friends easily and felt like part of a community. Valencia was too hot, much bigger and impersonal and you always felt like an outsider, and poor wages.

Personally I would prioritise somewhere you think you will enjoy living, or have friends, but it really depends on your motivations saturation of English people is something to consider but really native speakers are massively in demand and even in Paris you would have no problem getting work.

[Guest]

Thanks for all the feedback. I'll look carefully to see what my target areas generally require.

 

One more question if I may.

What are your thoughts on small cities/towns versus large cities? Using france as an example I've heard lots of people advise staying away from Paris or other major cities as they're over saturated and too expensive. Whereas smaller towns are likely to be easier to find work as they're just happy to find a native english speaker. Any personal experience on that?

 

It's easier to find work in large cities in France. If you're young that's where you want to be too.

 

France has some very quiet areas.

[Captain...]

Where would you recommend FIF, lots of people and global industry (business classes are where the money is), but not a lot of native English speakers?

[bovril]

I've done it in a few different countries and it's enjoyable, you can earn decent money and learn a language. And as Captain said, it opens a lot of doors for other types of work, too. Something to fall back on as well, I still teach from time to time.

[leicsmac]

Only just had the chance to respond to this.

 

My opinion is pretty much the same as bovril - it's enjoyable, lucrative in places and educational, as well as something to fall back on. I've taught for three and a half years in South Korea, with one more to come beginning this August. 

 

From what I can tell a TEFL/TESOL/CELTA qualification is pretty much de rigeur along with a Bachelors degree for most of the decent posts these days, but really the best way to find good posts is by word of mouth and trawling the relevant internet fora. Really, the only limit is where you want to go. The most lucrative posts tend to be the Middle East international schools, but for those you need a specific teaching degree as well as a fair bit of experience, so it's dependent on how much you want to commit.

[Guest]

Just had a quick look round on the interweb this morning at a few different schools in france. Seems like all the positions do require either a teaching degree or a good level french.

 

May also consider an easier country for a year or so if only to get some solid work experience in. Any suggestions? What country in the EU would possibly be a good starting point?