Job Discussion Forums

[wolfe0829]

Hi all, I am new to this Forum, but have read lots of threads. I hope that people with direct experience will answer some basic questions as follows:

My wife and I are US born and raised, with conventional 4 year BS degrees. We have had varied careers in large and small businesses, including 2 years working in the British Virgin Islands, and a reasonable amount of foreign travel. Our children are grown, and we recently sold a retail book business that we owned and operated for 15 years. All of this has led us to consider teaching English overseas. We have done lots of reading online, including TEFLDaddy, Ajarn, Thorn Tree and others and like what we have seen.

Currently we are considering going to either Thailand or Vietnam, with Korea a less likely possibility. Our questions at this point include the following:

How do we decide which country should be our first choice?

When is the principal hiring season in each country?

If we are willing to pay for the best course, what is the difference between CELTA and TEFL in this country? What about worldwide? Is there any advantage to taking the course in in the US vs. the country where we want to teach?

How do we evaluate different training programs & schools?

How do we find out about availability of medical insurance and prescription drugs in a country?

Are there other web sites or forums that we should be reading?

Thank you

[Glenski]

[wolfe0829]

Thank you Glenski, I appreciate your responses.