Job Discussion Forums

dmb · Joined: 12 Feb 2003 Posts: 8397

Newbies might find this of interest.
http://education.guardian.co.uk/tefl/courses/story/0,,1882234,00.html

tedkarma · Posted: Tue Oct 10, 2006 8:29 am Post subject:

She does a decent pro and con.

All other things being equal - having four or six weeks experience in the region, a few friends, and some experience with the local students and language - sure beat getting off the plane a total newbie in the area.

Chris Westergaard · Joined: 14 Mar 2006 Posts: 215 Location: Prague

The rule is to always take a course in the country that you are interested in teaching in. I would say that a lot of people that take a course in their own country never actually teach abroad. The reasons are simple.

1. It is hard to get jobs from abroad. Most schools will not hire someone on the spot from abroad. This means that you will have to interview at the school to do it, which is for obvious reasons hard.

2. During the course abroad you will have 4 weeks to get to know the city, get your own housing, and make friends. If you just show up in a city, where are you going to stay? Who is going to help you figure basic stuff out like the metro and other things?

3. Usually a course within the area you want to teach in will have a lot more contacts then a course in a different country.

4. Taking a course in a different country is also a lot more interesting and fun

5. Most courses abroad cover things like living abroad and help students adapt to the new country via language classes and workshops about the host country.

I hope that all helps. Goodluck.