Job Discussion Forums

[pila]

Okay, so I've got some questions which *I think* are fairly general and wanted to throw them out there before I do anymore futile searching of my own. Here's my story:

I'll be graduating with a BFA in Creative Writing/ English this May and have looked into enrolling in a TEFL course this summer so that I could try to find a position for the fall. Now, to be completely honest, I don't really wish to make a career out of teaching English abroad but am more looking at it as a worthwhile experience to have for a couple of years before I apply to grad school. I think this is fairly common, and I want to be prepared in this field, not only for myself but for potential students, employers, etc, so I feel that getting certified is only fair, but seeing as how I don't plan on doing this more than a couple of years, would you all still recomend going through with a TEFL, TESOL or what have you?

Also, there are no centers around where I live so I would either be doing an online course (I've looked at several, INTESOL in particular) or doing an on-site course (I'm not sure what these are called) like ITC or Cantebury English, for example.

I've done a fair amount of traveling alone and have lived abroad (ok, England) and as far as looking at the places I'd like to go to, I suppose Poland, Czech Republic, etc are in the running for not only the number of positions that *seem* to be available, but also because I'm quite interested in Eastern Europe history and culture. Western Europe would be where I would ideally like to live (as it seems the majority of people would) ie: Spain, Italy, Portugal, but as I have been lurking around this board for a week or so I've seen the potential disadvantages: wage, not a whole lot of opportunities, quite difficult for someone outside the EU, like myself.

And so you have Asia. I suppose this is where the explanation of me *needing* to pay off some loans while I'm abroad comes in. I know that isn't necessarily looked upon as a good reason to go there, but I'm just being upfront. From what I've read, the only real places that you can put some money away or pay off some debt are Japan, Korea, etc. While Asia would not necessarily be my first choice, I do have to take into consideration my financial status once my six month grace period with loans are up. I've heard sketchy things about many different agencies, countries, etc, that are not specific to any one region, but it seems I've heard of some horror stories from Korea. How about Japan? I understand the cost of living is much higher, but what are the chances of getting a decent job over there?

Also, if this matters, I have some experience teaching at the college level as well as a few years of tutoring writing.

So, essentially I'm wondering
1. whether it's worth me enrolling in a TEFL, TESOL course seeing as I'm not planning to create a career out of this, but am looking for an interesting cultural experience for a couple years
2. if there are any opportunities to pay off some debt and live at the same time in Western Europe or Eastern Europe without starving myself
3. If Japan, Taiwan (I have to admit I'm a little scared by tales of Korea) are my only options to have a great cultural experience and still save some money, and if so, what are some reputable programs there?
4. Also, I am mainly interested in living in larger areas


Yeah, info and questions above are fairly basic and general, but this place seem to be the best spot for inquiries that I've found. I would really appreciate some feedback, and no worries, I'm not a one time poster, I'll be around for a while.

--pila

[Glenski]

[denise]

I agree with Glenski about getting certified. Not all countries require a TEFL certificate, but a country's requirements and your own confidence/comfort level are different things. What did you teach in college? You mentioned ITC--are you looking into the Prague course? I did it about five years ago, and I thought it was a great program.

The Czech Republic (and likely Poland, too) might become more off-limits to non-EU citizens now that it has joined. There was some debate about it a few months back on the CR forum, but I don't recall what the consensus was--some people said it'd be too difficult to get legal work; others, I believe, said it would take a while for the new regulations to go into effect.

d

[pila]

Thanks for the replies. I have also wondered about the difficulty of finding work in CZ now that it has joined the EU, but I'm not sure where they stand as of now. I was in CZ in May when they were joining the EU and felt an air around that it would not be an immediate change for them. I was interested in the ITC program in Prague, though I have to admit that needing to save/pay off some school loans seems to rule out all places besides Asia. Did you teach in Prague after the program, what were you thoughts?

As far as getting certified, while I have never taught English as a foreign language, I feel quite confident in my teaching capabilities, which I know are two different things. I've taught English Composition to college freshman and have worked in various writing centers. If I were to go to say, Japan, without a TEFL, and went through training with a program like Jet, for example, do you feel I would well prepared enough for a year or two? I assume if I decided that teaching English abroad was something I wanted to make a career out of that I could then go for my TEFL. I've just read posts on this board about how valuable it is to be certified (which I agree with) but also not to waste your money if you're not even sure if this is what you want to do. Should I just get me feet wet and then see how I feel?

Thanks again,
pila

[denise]

If you do JET and you've already got teaching skills, you should be OK without a certificate. And if you decide that EFL is the life/career for you, a certificate might not be enough--it's a starting point, but if you truly want to make a career of this after a couple of years, you might want to look into MAs.

I did teach in Prague after finishing ITC--back then, I was debt-free, so Prague's salary was OK. There was at least one person from my training course, unfortunately, who had to go back to the States after his grace period on his loans ended. You can live quite nicely there, but saving money/paying off loans is an unrealistic goal, sadly. I'm in your situation now--after grad school, my debts pretty much ruled out many countries, so here I am in Japan.

d

[Glenski]

[pila]

I just said JET as an example because that is the company I've seen the most around these boards. I thought they offered some sort of training period, but perhaps I am thinking of another company that I've researched. I'd be really interested in other companies throughout Japan that offer positions to people without training and that are known to be more "reputable" while still offering a decent wage. Too much for ask for? I really have no idea where to even begin the search as there seems to be hundreds of companies out there. I'm going to bring the search for Japan over to the Japan board, but would be interested in any feedback anyone had.

[2 over lee]

You�re From the US, right?
In that case I think Poland or the Czech republic will be nigh on impossible, every job on TEFL.com that I�ve seen requires an EU passport.

You�ve also said you like large places, so why not South America, nearer to home and you�d probably get away without certification. That said it has become cheaper to do your certification in Argentina due to the crash.
Not much work here (I�m in BA) but quite a lot in Chilie and Brazil.

Why not consider this as you are yet undecided.

[Glenski]

[voodikon]

i could tell you my whole life story until this point but to keep it somewhat to the point i'll spare you, though i should mention some details:

-i've been in china about a month so far; my experience sounded similar to yours although my college's writing center's students were overwhelmingly esl, and i had about two years of experiencing working with kids. i did not get my tefl.
-i too hoped to teach in europe, and then south america, but it seemed unrealistic, so i started looking into asia. i first looked into japan, then other more developed countries, like taiwan, hong kong, and eventually korea and china.

i'm so far extremely happy with my employer (it's a company, though, not a school, and the company's owner did most of his studies in the u.s.) and am realizing i can save quite a bit of money (around $3,000 by the end of the year, although i do not have student loans to pay off). my boyfriend, however, came along with me and has $400/month to pay off, and is not too worried. surely he won't be able to save, but he'll have enough to pay his loans and live (which is about as well as he could hope to do in the u.s.). we're in a "small" (3 million people) city, but 40 minutes away from shanghai--as "everybody" wants to work in the cities, it's more difficult finding positions there.

i would recommend trying to prioritize your options--namely, how important is your location? how much do you need to make? what age level students can you teach? etc.

teaching kids is EXTREMELY different from teaching adults/college students. handling a class full of students is not the same as one-to-one tutoring. knowing how to construct a semester of lesson plans is very different from tutoring what's put before you by a student. if you haven't had experience in either of these areas, do some reading on the web; see what kind of work is involved in these areas and whether it's something you think you can do with minimal trial and error or not. as for schools who hire you without seeming to worry about your credentials, let this speak for their reputability, and your potential experience as a teacher there.

try posting your resume on some boards--you'll get an overwhelming number of responses, but you don't need to reply to everyone--just the ones that sound interesting. if you get something interesting, do as much research as possible. many of the offers you get will be bogus. take your time to research properly--do searches on google, here, etc. talk to your employer over the phone and ask for references. this is the phase when you learn most of what you'll need to know.

hope some of that helped and wasn't too off the point.

[pila]

Thanks for the very helpful info. At this point, would you advise that I begin contacting companies, schools, etc? I would not plan on going over until the summer, so I don't know the average time this all takes. I'm aware obtaining your visa can be a longer process.

In regards to what kind of students I would like the teach, I would prefer not to teach young children, but am not completely opposed to the idea. I would be more interested in teaching high school age and above. Like your boyfriend, I would also be needing to pay off about $300 a month in school loans. Is your boyfriend able to have live somewhat comfortably and have a bit of a social life while still paying off his loans?

What made you choose your company in China?

[voodikon]

you might as well begin corresponding with them--it can't hurt to get a feel for what options you have available, but you don't really NEED to start making contact until a couple months beforehand. most schools start in september, and i believe the second semester starts sometime around the beginning of the years. but judging from the number of replies i'm still getting from a post i made in july, there seems to be at least a few schools hiring year-round.

in any case, you should make it clear that you're not looking to leave until next summer. (by the way, you might want to consider opening up a separate e-mail account so as to prevent the inevitable spam from invading your primary inbox.) from my experience, many employers/recruiters will be pushy--so don't feel bad if you have to tell them nicely to f--- off. actually, it might be more headache than it's worth to start talking to them now, but it would give you a sense of what is available to you.

it's actually very fast to get a visa--in the u.s. it takes about three days, but it lasts only 60 days from the day you get it so you don't want to get it in advance. the passport takes a while, but lasts for ten years. so that you might as well apply for now if you don't already have it. another thing to be aware of that gave me trouble--don't plan on receiving your diploma the day (or week or month) you graduate. so you might not be able to leave immediately after you graduate because if your school is slow like mine it'll take its sweet time to send your diploma, which you then need to get notarized at the embassy and send to your future employer.

well, as far as living comfortably, yes and no. our company covers most of our food during the week, so we spend about 30 cents a day on food during the week--but we eat really cheaply, as in, on the street. we've stayed away from western-style restaurants (especially mcdonald's and kfc) and most restaurants in general, which are more pricey. but we have been able to travel to several nearby towns--cheap (but sufficiently clean) hotels usually run about $50/night in shanghai and we've been out drinking and to clubs/bars several times. if you know how to live cheaply at home (and since you're a student i presume you do), you'll figure it out quickly here. beers at the store are cheap (about 50 cents). beers in clubs and bars cost the same, if not more, than drinks in american bars.

what made me choose my company, in brief: despite longer hours, average pay and none of the typical benefits (free airfare, free room and board--which actually i liked as i'd heard horror stories about the so-called "western" accommodations, and i felt not living under the control of the boss was a plus--travel salary, etc.), i knew it wouldn't be a traditional tefl job, and it was a company, which to me spelled more practical work experience. on top of that, it's run in a western style and its clients are all american. lastly, i really liked the vibe i got from the employer through e-mails and the phone--which, i know, is nothing concrete, but did end up being a factor when i thought about being somewhat helpless halfway around the world.