Job Discussion Forums

[shift_]

hi all,

i'm considering teaching abroad. one thing i'm curious about is the reduction in income. i'm currently a software engineer, so I make ok money, and will definitely take a hit if I teach.

curious how you guys dealt with this.

thanks

[Gordon]

If you're in this for the money, then stick with computers especially if you're just starting out in this business.
If you live in a developing country, your paltry earnings will probably allow you to live quite well. It is all relative.

[Justin Trullinger]

I was a jobbing actor and street performer before taking up TEFL. It was actually a substantial wage increase, and nearly as much fun!

But if you want to teach, and don't want to start on rock bottom wages, the word is QUALIFICATIONS. Get well qualified, and doors open.

Regards,
Justin

[Gordon]

Justin, I guess in many ways your job hasn't changed all that much.
Korea would be a good fit for someone with street performing experience.

[shift_]

i don't want to teach for the money...but i know that i will take a big salary hit, just curious how others have handled it....

[GambateBingBangBOOM]

I used to be a supervisor for a night crew in a big box store. I made what I consider to be alright money (it was a little more than the big eikaiwa chains in Japan pay), but OTOH I lived in shared accomodation.

I now earn (quite a bit) more, but

1. I'm in the the JET programme, so the pay is higher than at private language schools,

and

2. between starting JET and leaving my night crew manager job I spent two full time years back at university- completing a one year a TESL certificate and a year studying Japanese language, Japanese history and Canadian history. (There is a lot of competition to get into JET).

Two full time years of univeristy also means two full years without full-time employment and the upshot is that it will be near to half-way through my third (and normally the limit on JET is three years) of JET before I am back to where I was (financially) when I left my night crew job, and this has meant sending home a significant partion of my pay each month, meaning that my disposable income is actually lower than it was when I worked the night crew.

You deal with it the same way that most immigrants deal with adjusting to life in a new country- they make a mental division between before the new country and since arriving in the new country. Different cultures, languages, ways of life, costs of living. A lot of EFL teachers (and immigrants to Canada, at least) keep one foot in their home countries due to needing to send money back to pay debts.

Which leads me to qualifications. As mentioned by an earlier poster, qualifications are really important if you want to avoid the lowest end of the pay scale (as well as having the benefit of knowing what's what in teaching a language). The issue with the training is that employers need to have heard of the specific program (ie CELTA). I spent a univeristy year doing training (September through May- same as k-12 teachers where I'm from) after finishing a BA, and the practicum began very early into it, lasted until the end of it, and (like many of the people in the program) I was asked, and agreed to continue teaching at the school until the end of their term (and extra couple of months, but the number of days jumped up a bit). All of the courses were in the Linguistics department and most were at the senior level. Outside of Canada, many employers read 'certificate' and think it must be equivalent to a CELTA, at most. The university profs themselves will tell you that it is the same as an MA TESOL offered through universities in the US (and these professors are from the US and used to teach the MA TESOL program at their univeristy/universities). In Ontario, you need to do one of these certificates and then apply to get into an MA in Applied Linguistics if you want to teach at the university (and usually at the community college) level. If you spend a year getting the TESL certificate, and then do not get into an MA in Applied Linguistics, or a Bachelor of Education (only one in ten who applies to a B.Ed in Ontario gets in, so many people do a certificate in TESL and get experience in that in order to beef up their application), then you can find yourself stuck in the lower end of the language school area because so few employers take the time to look past the name of your training, or spending thousands of dollars (which is a lot for most EFL teachers, and even more for most ESL teachers in Canada) to essentially redo work, possibly even at a lower level, in order to get a more well known qualification. IMO, the OP should look into getting an MA in TESOL or Applied Linguistics if at all possible in order to be able to compete for the better positions.

[teacheringreece]

I think it depends on the lifestyle choice you want to make. If you want to carry on doing all the things you did at home, but just do them in a new environment, you'll struggle, because these things may be more expensive (e.g. going out drinking). But if you're willing to make adjustments, and look to how locals rather than other ex-pats live, you can do just fine.

[charleyjarv]

Yes I made my first post , sorry, losing money is worth it just to get a bit of sand between your toes count your blessings your out of the rat race not the cash .

[denise]

As Gordon says, it�s all relative. Yes, you will most likely take a huge salary cut, but your cost of living will go down quite a bit. San Francisco is expensive!

On an EFL salary, you will generally make enough to live comfortably just about anywhere. You should be able to go out, travel domestically, etc. Just don�t always go to the expensive tourist hang-outs or go on major shopping sprees.

You could run into trouble if you�ve got debts back home.

d

[ls650]

[Guy Courchesne]

[denise]

Government-funded student loans (at least in the US! don�t know about elsewhere) can be deferred, and the payment plans can be modified to accommodate reduced incomes. I know someone who�s on a 30-year repayment plan. Private loans, credit cards, etc., are, as far as I know, a bit more difficult.

d

[Jizzo T. Clown]

[Glenski]

If you're asking how one takes the salary loss emotionally or psychologically, you have to prepare for it from day 1. Look at all of the details of why you want to get into TEFL in the first place, what sort of major changes in lifestyle you will be facing, etc.

From a practical standpoint, I took the pay cut in stride. I did the math to see how much I'd be making vs. how much I'd be spending, and worked out a budget for myself.

Preparation is everything.

[tedkarma]

_shift said,