Job Discussion Forums

[GreenHorse]

I've noticed almost all the blogs, youtube channels, and frequent posters on the subject of teaching overseas are male. There are definitely women doing it too, but much fewer seem to keep it as a lifestyle long-term.

As a guy who wants to teach overseas forever, what are my chances of finding female ESL'ers to date, get into relationships with, and potentially marry someday?

Yes, I realize it's still a ways off, but is the situation as dismal as it seems? I want to see the world, but not as a foreveralone lol.

[Mr. Kalgukshi]

With the understanding this is not a dating site and that postings focusing on dating here are routinely deleted, this thread is available for discussion on the thread topic, as stated in its title.

Please advise the Mod Team by PM or Report Post of any and all off-topic or derailing postings.

[nimadecaomei]

I think it is probably a matter of location. I think east Asia is definitely male majority. What about Europe/South America?

[nomad soul]

[getbehindthemule]

From my experience of living in China, particularly in a big city like Shanghai, there are loads of female expat teachers (many of whom would be only delighted to meet somebody such as yourself I'm sure).
On the flipside there's a huge imbalance when it comes to Chinese female/male teachers. Some schools possibly prefer hiring males due to this but there are loads of positions where a female foreign teacher would be the preferred candidate.

[GreenHorse]

This is reassuring, thanks. I was worried it would be more akin to the military, where you're posted overseas and have a family back home that you never see lol.

Teaching overseas is becoming more realistic for me now, thanks everyone for the info!

[1st Sgt Welsh]

I've TEFLed in quite a few countries now and, from what I've seen, I'd say males are overly represented in the industry. Personally, I suspect that has a lot to do with men just being more open to leaving their family and friends in order to try their luck living and working in foreign lands. Whether that's genetic or environmental is open to debate and, of course, one must be careful when it comes to generalizations. There are plenty of female TEFLers out there, but, I think that might be a significant factor. Anyway, just my two cents.

[HLJHLJ]

At the places I worked in Japan, new arrivals were fairly evenly split, but the long-termers were mostly male. In Ecuador, there seem to be slightly more women in the new arrivals and also for the long-term. I'd guess specific jobs or even institutions are as big a factor as the country. For example, even in Japan the international schools tended to recruit women for kindergarten and elementary school positions. In Ecuador, English departments at universities have noticeably more female staff.

[The_Big_White_Elephant]

I worked at a private language school in a second-tier city in China for one year, and roughly half the teachers at my school were female.

[MotherF]

In Latin America among native speakers there's a mix, maybe 60% male 40% female. But among local teachers of English it's like 80% female!

[scot47]

Teaching languages is often stereotyped as a female pursuit. In many places there are more females than males in this work.

[yurii]

[dragonpiwo]

90% male long-term I'd say with a few regional variations ie the UAE. 95% of the guys I know have 'foreign' wives, much more interesting lol.

[scot47]

I too moved in that world where Anglophone husbands had wives from more "exotic" backgrounds . Most exotic was in the compound for foreign employees of Saudi Arabian Airlines in Jeddah (Saudia City in Khaledeya) but KFUPM had a fair number too.

[yurii]