Job Discussion Forums

[decgallen]

I am planning on travelling around the world for an as of yet undetermined length of time and want to live and work in parts of south east asia as part of the trip. would i be right in saying that TEFL seems to be the most easily accessible form of doing that?

I am currently a practising Civil Engineer and part time journalist. Would teaching english in Thailand for example be too intense for someone like me who doesn't want to spend his whole life doing it and is only looking for a means to an end. That being the ability to survive in an Asian country for an extended period of time?? I would be willing to complete the TEFL course and pay the necessary fees which would be entailed.

Any advice would be greatly accepted!!!!!

[Sadebugo]

You're going to get a lot of grief from some people on this board about not being dedicated to and/or prepared for teaching. However, truth be told, most people in EFL transitioned from another profession. Anyway, to answer your question, you can get a job in Thailand and survive with little or no experience. Getting the TEFL cert. would give you the skills necessary for your first job and a taste of what to expect.

Sadebugo
Djibouti, Horn of Africa
http://travldawrld.blogspot.com/

[roguegrafix]

Yes he's right about getting a job in Thailand and getting grief on this board. However, if you don't short-change the kids, you'll be fine. As an engineer, do you build a sub-standard road, or a bridge and say, "hey, it's only a means to an end." ? It very well might be, but you should make that bridge and road to the best of your ability. Same goes for teaching. Remember you're dealing with people's futures and will be an integral part in their lives. It is a big responsibility.

[Nabby Adams]

And then again it may not be. You can just as easily find yourself erning pretty good money for doing nothing more than provide a kind of cultural/linguistic entertainment show.

IMO 90% of TEFLers are in it for the travel. It's the nature of the beast. Don't be surprised though if you find that "teaching" English ends up being a price that you are not willing to pay for all that travel. Many people get sick of it within a pretty short space of time.

[Extraordinary Rendition]

Or, like me, you may find that you are suited to that second career and go on to get a Diploma and/or MA in the field and end up loving teaching (actually, I like training prospective teachers even more). Thailand is the perfect place to start. Make sure you get a certificate that's internationally acceptable, some of those on offer in Thailand are not as acceptable internationally as others. I don't want to be accused of being a "shill" for any one certificate, but does anyone disagree that the little extra cash for a CELTA, Trinity Cert., or SIT in this man's case (highly educated, wants to travel the world through EFL, surely wants to do right by all of his students) is not worth it? Doesn't mean better training, but it's the acceptability in Europe, Middle East, South America, North Africa, I'm thinking of...

Since this is a website for teachers, I don't think you'll find much info on other jobs internationally here. But common sense tells me that EFL is the only job available to foreigners, except for labor, in most places. Having said that, you will often see jobs in the Bangkok Post classifieds (a version is available on-line) for other suitable jobs for foreigners such as yourself, not infrequently in civil or electrical engineering or journalism! Such jobs are also frequently on offer in the Middle East, just Google.

By the way, with any certificate and your education, you'll walk into (pun intended) an EFL job in Thailand without trying. And be sure, hardly too intense !