Job Discussion Forums

[snowboard]

Brief version:
China, Japan, Eastern Europe, or Turkey in April. No cert, BA degree, American.



What interests me:
-Learning a new language (or few)
-Being in new cultures, travelling
-Music, mountains, the environment, ocean, reading
-I find I am happiest around international/academic crowds
-Teaching of course, I've been a ski/snowboard instructor the last 7 winters and now run/train a snowboard school. I've coached swimming (and swam) my whole life. My only classroom experience comes from tutoring and 1 semester, 1 hour a week teaching earth education in a primary school. I feel very confident in my abilities as an educator for adults, teens, and children though.

My background:
-Just got back from 4 months in NZ, very varied, went over for ski instruction ended up all over the place and loved it
-Spent 2 months as road crew for punk band in Europe a few years back. Visited very non-tourist areas in 10 countries
-BA Economics, additional courses since graduation in the School of Ed, Cultural Anthropology, and Musicology. Went through Intermediate Japanese 1.
-Don't drink/party, 30 year old male, American

Where I'm at now:
-Working a winter in the US until mid-April, after that looking for what to do. I am not set on one country. Japan has always been an interest, but the last few years China has held my attention, and the last few weeks its been former-Yugoslavia. Turkey sounds fitting because of less (alcohol) partying, I like the music and coffee too! As long as I have the opportunity to learn about the country before hand, and continue learning while being there, I think any country would be great for my first ESL teaching experience. Would prefer to teach adults.

-My longer-term goals with this career move (from ski instructing to teaching ESL) are to travel. Not to do the backpacker type, but spending at least a year at each place. I love the US and being able to call it home, but I've hit a bit of a plateau on the experiences it offers.

-So, where to go in April? I am able to take an online TEFL course this spring. I would rather not take an in-person cert in the US, nor do I want to pay a few thousand dollars only to realize teaching ESL isn't for me. I would rather show up and get the experience, even if it's a few months of volunteering. From what I've heard, 2 years of ESL teaching experience in one country is near worthless (on paper) when trying to get a job in a different country, it's all the cert.

?
-Online TEFL
-Cert training in another country
-Volunteer
-Nothing, just follow the job board as it gets closer if nothing pops up go somewhere on tourist visa and try to make it work. I imagine most of the jobs will be beginning in August/September, leaving me 2-3 months with no income. So for this I'd probably go to SE Asia where the cost of living is a bit lower.


A bit long-winded, but thanks for any feedback. I ultimately got into ski instructing as a means to travel, but through a roundabout way ended up here and it seems to be exactly what I'm looking for.

[nomad soul]

You'll be limited to those countries that accept an unrelated BA, an online or no TEFL cert, and zero EFL teaching experience. That rules out E. Europe, where a CELTA is the norm. I suspect it's the same for Turkey---ads seem to point to a CELTA or equivalent TEFL cert. That leaves Asia as a viable option.

In the meantime, to test the ESL waters, I suggest you volunteer at one of your local nonprofit refugee/ESL literacy organizations. There's usually a need for classroom assistants/tutors as well as volunteer teachers. It will give you an opportunity to see if you like teaching ESL.

[spiral78]

Second nomadsoul's advice re: Europe. As 99% of newbie teachers in CEE have a CELTA or equivalent, showing up with an online or no cert puts you at a significant disadvantage on the job market.

April is a horrible time to job-search here - most contracts are September-June. As a US citizen, you only have 90 days in the Schengen zone before you must file for a work permit. No dawdling about for a few months before starting work in countries that are Schengen members.

SE Asia is probably more do-able in your situation.

[snowboard]

Sounds good, thanks for the replies.

I'll start looking into in-person TEFL/CELTA courses offered abroad.

[rtm]

[snowboard]

Good to know rtm, thanks.

I guess I have to decide if I want to take an online TEFL cert now and start applying in Feb for a May placement, or do a 4 week CELTA course in SE Asia (through LanguageCorps or the like) in May and go from there.

China will most likely be my destination.

[MuscatGary]

Don't do online as it closes too many doors for later.

[MotherF]

You might be able to teach Snowboarding-English in Japan?

To give EFL a try before getting educated in it look to a language school that follows a set method and will make you do their trading before starting to work for them regardless of your education.
For example, Harmon Hall in Mexico. There are such schools in most countries. The pay is not great, but the offer an opportunity to try on this career before retraining.

[snowboard]

The season for teaching snowboarding is so short and is vastly limited location wise. I'm looking forward to taking a break and being able to travel without a refrigerator sized bag.

[Sashadroogie]

Come to Russia.