Job Discussion Forums

[carolinagirl25]

I need some advise... I would like to teach English over seas. I am a 25 year old American girl with a BS degree and experience subsitute teaching(if that counts as experience??) I want to go to a county where I can have a good time, meet lots of awesome people, save money and if its possible be somewhere near a beach with a good surf spot or some kind of outdoor activities. Is that asking to much for a first Teaching job?? Have any ideas of places to go??

[GambateBingBangBOOM]

If you have experience as a substitute teacher, does that mean you have k~12 qualifications in your home state? What's your BSc in?

Whether you do or do not have a k~12 qualification would make a huge difference in the types of jobs you should be looking at going after.

I think the easiest answer to where you could go would be somewhere on one of the coasts in the US. If a place has a lot of beach space and is warm, it will probably be a tourist magnet. Which means that saving money would be difficult. If you take away beach and surfing, then you could go pretty much anywhere, especially since 'having a good time' and meeting 'awesome people' means very different things to different people.

Also, do you mean save money in the sense of the local economy, or in the sence of being able to send a significant dollar amount in US currency back? If you want to save money (as in earn anything like the kind of money that you could in the US) without having graduate qualifications, then you should look at Japan, Taiwan and Korea and work in a conversation school. If you want to be able to live half-decently in the country in which you teach and have savings that could buy you the odd thing or two in that country (but aren't really sending a huge amount of money back to the States), then you could go to many other countries as well.

[PAULH]

[Glenski]

[carolinagirl25]

well, like I said I am new at this. I could be wrong, but from my experiences so far, it seems to be easy to find an okay job. I was trying to narrow it down by picking a location first then looking for jobs in that area. Is that a bad approach?? I am leaning towards a country in Asia, but I have never been there and would like to know about others experiences to help in my decision.

By "awesome people," I am talking about nice, friendly, fun people to make friends with. I just don't want to feel stuck on the other side of the world, in new country, by myself.

Also, I have a BS in Advertising, so I am not a certified teacher. I know that will limit the jobs a bit, but I have lots of experience working with children.

[Justin Trullinger]

Any Bachelors degree is considered sufficient to get a work visa in many countries, so you're okay there.

But...are you sure you want to teach EFL? If you're thinking about spending a year or more doing something, I'd do a little preparation to be sure that you have the best time you can.

For me, this means doing a specific EFL qualification. No need for anything fancy, but an entry level qualification. CELTA, Trinity TESOL, or any other face to face 120 hour course, with teaching practice. This does two things- it gives you a brief taste of the EFL classroom, to see how you feel about spending A LOT of time there. And it gives you a lot of the needed tools to make sure you're ready for it when/if you get there. (There is nothing more stressful than being in your first EFL job, and not knowing what to do. And many employers provide far too little support.) I know, these courses aren't cheap, but if it improves your quality of life in your first year, I'd say it's well worth it.

Another idea would be to do volunteer EFL tutoring at a local university before you go.

And when you get ready to go, I recommend latin america. Awesome people, beautiful countries, some very nice beaches. Erm, saving is a different story though.


Justin

[jeffchik]

[Glenski]