Job Discussion Forums

[Daedalus]

Hi everyone! First of all, let me just say that I'm not an ESL teacher.....yet. What I would like to know is can you make a living at teaching english around the world and live comfortably doing it? Now I know what some of you are going to say; "You don't get into teaching to get rich. You do it because you love teaching." I'm currently living in Canada making $45,000/year with a $130,000 home. I have an advanced degree in Sociology and I'm single and 31. I'm not too happy with my current job or the city I'm living in and everyone I've talked to has said that teaching ESL is an incredible experience. I just don't know if I'm willing to give up everything I have to move to another country. My city is offering teaching certficates in ESL shortly and I'm debating about going into it. If I did decide to teach abroad, my location of choice would probably be somewhere in Central America.

I know that no one can make that kind of decision for me, but I just wanted to get some thoughts on your experiences as a teacher. I hear that many people teach abroad for 6 months to a year then return home, but when I return home, I would be without a decent paying job and I would have to work my way up again. Teaching abroad could be a "boom or bust" decision for me. I think I would make a great teacher and I'm great with kids (I'm assuming that many ESL teaching jobs involve teaching school kids), I just don't know if the risk is worth it.

BTW, I'm not trying to brag at all about my pay or house, I'm just trying to show what I will have to leave behind if I go teach abroad. There are many people who would give their right arm to have the opportunities we have here in North America, so I find it a little odd that some North Americans would move to some place less fortunate and try and make a living there. Maybe I need to travel in order to see what I have.

Thanks for your time and any comments you may have (good or bad). I hope I don't sound like I'm being pompous. Its just that I've worked hard for what I have and I don't want to return and have to start all over again if teaching doesn't work out.

Confused.

[Gordon]

I think you should try to get a long holiday if you can (about a month). Then travel to some of these places that you think you may want to work. Talk to a few teachers and see what kind of housing they have. This will help you in your decision. If you only want to teach for a year, it may not be worth it for you to quit your job. You certainly won't get rich teaching in Latin America, you are right.

[lozwich]

Hi there! (sorry, feeling ridiculously cheery thanks to having done teaching for the day..)

I agree with Gordon.

I used to have a fantastic career in multimedia design and after 8 years at it had a great job with brilliant perks and had just bought my own apartment (financial numbers similar to yours, but in Aussie dollars, Daedalus). My boss foolishly gave me two months off to go traipsing around Mexico, and when I came back, I decided that I wasn't too happy with my job or the city I was living in. At the time I was 33 and single.

Now, I'm 34 and still single, but living in Mexico. I kept the apartment, and have a tenant in it, helping me to pay it off, and I earn enough money to be happy in Mexico, but not enough to send any home. I travel within Mexico during vacations and have a lovely time. Oh, and I completely *love* teaching.

By no means am I living with all of the 'stuff' that I had back in Australia, but neither am I living with long hours, ridiculous traffic or stress, and I get to practice my Spanish! And the best thing about it all is that if I decide to go back to multimedia at some point, maybe I'll be able to combine my past experience with my new teaching and language skills and therefore will have made myself uniquely valuable in the workplace.

Look at it that way. Maybe your experiences overseas will lead you into areas of Sociology that you never would have been able to enter before. You'll still have all of that knowledge, so you won't have to start again from absolute bottom on your return, and you will have experience of other cultures and languages.

My ultimate question is always 'Am I happy doing what I'm doing right now?' if the answer is no, then leaving to try something else (especially now, while you're single and without ties) is always a good option. And if you go, and don't like it, then that question will be answered and you will be free to go on with the next part of your life.

Good luck!
Lozwich.

[ls650]

Volunteer to teach immigrants English in your local community.
This will give you some idea of what you'd be doing thousands of miles from your family and friends.

I gave up a job making more money than you earn to do this. I had to sell or give away all my material possessions. I don't miss them or regret the decision - and after teaching overseas for most of a year now I'm sure I want to continue for at least a few years.

I don't give a damn about the possessions - what I miss are my family and friends.

[Aramas]

You can buy a house in Canada for $130,000? You can do that here too - in some dreadful little country town that's 12 hours drive from civilisation

[shmooj]

Is650 is on the money here.

Sure you may well enjoy the places your stint in EFL will take you... but if you loathe the teaching that comes with it, you are going to be quite miserable.

Teaching isn't for everyone. It would be good for all concerned if you were sure that teaching was for you before you burn your bridges.

Volunteer locally and see how it goes.

[James_T_Kirk]

[Brooks]

interesting Camus quote, Kirk.

What book is it from?

[Roger]

When I was in my twenties, I spent years travelling around the world, backpacking, not teaching; the one exception was my 1 year and a half stint volunteering in Israel.
I don't think finding another job in a different country will enrich people who suffer from boredom or civilisation fatigue (my word, I know some disagree, but they probably don't know themselves too well..) is the ideal solution. You are simply running away from one situation characterised by repetitiveness to anotther that soon will have the same characteristics.
In these days, why can't folks amass a little dough, keep it in the cooler, and use it for a protracted period of adventuresome travelling?
Take a leaf out of the handbook for hippies, man!

[struelle]

[fat_chris]

Struelle,

Did you make a pact with the devil? (re: your post count total)

[struelle]