Learn
about TEFL:
Teaching English as a Foreign Language Overseas
Is Teaching English Overseas
appropriate for me?
It might be. Only
you can decide if a career in TEFL - teaching English
overseas - is the right path for your life at this
time. While this section serves primarily to raise and
examine the questions you should consider, more in-depth
help with answers for those questions are in the other
sections of this guide.
What are the things
to consider?
Do you have a family
that you are responsible for? How would they feel about
moving overseas and living in a foreign land?
Do you have a
spouse? How would s/he feel about giving up their job?
Will she be able to find work overseas? Is she
interested in teaching English also?
Do you have
children? How will you educate them while overseas?
How might they feel about giving up their friends?
Do you have debts
that must be paid while you are overseas?
Are there special medical issues for you or your family
that must be considered?
Do you have the
financial reserves to return to your home country and
re-establish yourself if things don't work out?
Have you ever taught
before - do you have any reason to believe that you
might enjoy teaching English?
Have you ever
traveled or lived overseas before? Did you enjoy it?
Would you find the
daily problems of living and working overseas
frustrating - or a refreshing challenge?
This list is only a
beginning - as individual as each person is -
so are the questions that need to be answered in making
this decision.
What qualities are needed to succeed?
My
observation has been that people who succeed in TEFL
overseas have the following characteristics and
knowledge:
-
They have
reasonable expectations about their new occupation
and what it can and cannot provide for them
-
They understand
that their new country is not like their home
country
- solutions to problems that work at home often
don't work overseas
-
They realize that
problems they had at home will probably also exist
overseas
-
They know they
will have good days and bad days - just like back
home
-
They know they
may experience good bosses, bad bosses, good jobs
and bad jobs - just like back home
-
They are flexible
people who can roll with surprises and "punches"
-
They are willing
to work under different cultural expectations,
willing to follow different cultural work rules
-
They are
resilient and can bounce back from a bad situation
-
They are not
generally moody or depressed
-
They view their
success as a personal challenge
-
They spent a
considerable amount of time researching their move
- before they moved.
Here's the
directory for this section:
Learn about Teaching Overseas
Is Teaching English Overseas appropriate for me?
What qualities are needed to succeed?
How much might I earn or save?
Is there any kind of job security?
What are my chances of landing a “decent” job?
What types of jobs are available?
Is it possible to find a job teaching for only a few
months? For a few years? For the rest of my life?
Who does this kind of work and why?
What if I don’t speak the language where I want to go?
How long might it take me to find a job?
I hear only flakey things about teaching overseas! Do
people respect the occupation? Is this business full of
misfits?
Can TEFL Overseas be a “real” career?
What if I am not young, white, thin, blonde,
native-speaking, straight, or ?
What if I don’t have teaching experience?
What if I don’t have a degree or TEFL training?
What kind of quality of life can I expect?
