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italkenglish
Joined: 28 Feb 2013
Posts: 4
Location: London
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 Posted: Mon Mar 04, 2013 5:09 pm Post subject: destination advice for first job |
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Hello lovely people!
I'm looking into undertaking a CELTA course this summer/autumn, with a view to start working overseas as a tefl teacher in 2013/14. I have several different plans to consider and would love some feedback or thoughts from people who are already living the tefl life. There's quite a lot of info I want to get in, so thought bullet points would be best!
My Background
- BA in Film & Theatre
- No teaching experience yet, but hoping to pick up some work at english schools in London before heading out.
- Native English speaker.
- comfortable public speaking, passionate about education and love working with people face-to-face. I've often been told I'd make a good teacher.
- Have travelled independently a lot, have worked overseas within travel industry, so not worried about homesickness!
The experience I want
- Really struggling to find any enticing full time work in London at the moment. Need to get out of an office environment.
- I want to experience living and working overseas for a few years. Would love to integrate with locals, build a social network and truly find a second home after London.
- Weather is a big draw. Somewhere warm with an outdoors lifestyle, near a coast for beaches would be great.
- Strong leaning towards Latin America in order to develop fluent spanish. This is a region I will probably keep travelling to all my life so fluent spanish would be a goal. Also generally love the lifestyle, culture, music, people etc... Huge generalisation of region I know!
- I love arts, but can rarely afford to enjoy exhibitions/films/theatre/music etc... in London due to lack of disposable income and friends who share my interests.
- I want to look into writing avenues or other creative work whilst abroad. So would like to be based somewhere which allows me to write/film blog/articles for travel. Also interested in places where I could find freelance writing work (in english at first).
Concerns about Latin America
- I want to be saving some money while abroad, don't want to return home in a few years with no money and starting from scratch in London.
- From research, it seems difficult to earn decent wage to save in latin america as a tefl teacher. Any countries/cities where savings would be possible? How much on average saving monthly vs living costs?
- Possible to get decent wage as a newbie to TEFL? Better to work somewhere else first job?
Plan B is Asia for first job
- Best earnings/living cost/savings ratio seems to be in the far east. So I have also been considering South Korea, Thailand, Vietnam. But will I be able to fully integrate with local life and people, considering I will probably struggle with the language?
- Which cities are best for newbie job opportunities, with a good living cost vs wages vs savings potential?
- Is it worth doing 1-2 years here to save money, build experience then move to spanish speaking country, hopefully able to secure better wages?
My final option is to stay in europe and look into teaching posts in Mainland Spain or spanish islands. Anyone know if wages/job prospects are better in mainland cities or on holiday destination islands?
Sorry for such a long post, but I have some really specific reasons for doing this so hope giving you more info helps you to share your knowledge with me.
Thanks for your time folks!  |
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italkenglish
Joined: 28 Feb 2013
Posts: 4
Location: London
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| Posted: Mon Mar 04, 2013 5:18 pm Post subject: |
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Also forgot to mention, I am of Indian origin (but born in UK, so english is obviously my first language).
Is there any bias for caucasian teachers in Latin American or Asian countries? |
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Glenski
Joined: 15 Jan 2003
Posts: 12844
Location: Hokkaido, JAPAN
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| Posted: Mon Mar 04, 2013 10:12 pm Post subject: Re: destination advice for first job |
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| italkenglish wrote: |
| I want to be saving some money while abroad, |
How much? And what do you expect to have in outstanding debts when you leave for abroad? |
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Ixchel
Joined: 11 Mar 2003
Posts: 156
Location: The 7th level of hell
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| Posted: Tue Mar 05, 2013 3:09 am Post subject: |
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| italkenglish wrote: |
Also forgot to mention, I am of Indian origin (but born in UK, so english is obviously my first language).
Is there any bias for caucasian teachers in Latin American or Asian countries? |
No real bias in Latin America. No real money to be made unless you can work at uni level and even then no money.
You'll be far better off in Asia. |
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HelplessKitten
Joined: 15 Feb 2013
Posts: 1
Location: UK
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| Posted: Tue Mar 05, 2013 5:23 pm Post subject: |
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Hey! I'm in a similar situation! I'm hoping to take the CELTA course in May if I manage to get on to it with a view to teaching in Asia initially. I'm going backpacking with a friend in June and I'm hoping to stay on in Vietnam after he's left and teach there. Hopefully after 6 months of doing that I will be moving on to South Korea (purely for the chance to save money tbh).
I would love to teach in Latin America as well for multiple reasons, eg attractive people, great weather and culture, but I just don't think there are enough well paying jobs to make the idea feasible. |
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italkenglish
Joined: 28 Feb 2013
Posts: 4
Location: London
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| Posted: Wed Mar 06, 2013 2:35 am Post subject: Re: destination advice for first job |
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| Glenski wrote: |
| italkenglish wrote: |
| I want to be saving some money while abroad, |
How much? And what do you expect to have in outstanding debts when you leave for abroad? |
Well, I'm delaying moving abroad until next year because majority of my debts will be paid off, so Ill only have fixed outgoings of roughly �50-80 a month whilst overseas.
Ideally, I'd like to be saving �5000 minimum over a year in Latin America, but this doesn't seem this is possible. I would hope to save a lot more in asia because I know the potential is much higher. Could you give a rough estimate of how much I could expect to realistically save on a first tefl job, without living like a hermit? |
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italkenglish
Joined: 28 Feb 2013
Posts: 4
Location: London
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| Posted: Wed Mar 06, 2013 2:41 am Post subject: |
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[/quote] No real bias in Latin America. No real money to be made unless you can work at uni level and even then no money. You'll be far better off in Asia.[/quote]
Hmmm, it seems not worth exploring tefl in Latin America due to low wages. Maybe I should do a few years in Asia to save a nest egg and some point in future live in latin america once I've got some other kind of freelance work up and running, or dont have to earn too much.
The racial bias in asia is something I've definitely heard about, and it does concern me a bit. Mainly because people have told me you'll always be treated like a foreigner, and I've never had that feeling in some other countries I've lived or travelled in. |
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Prof.Gringo
Joined: 07 Nov 2006
Posts: 2236
Location: Dang Cong San Viet Nam Quang Vinh Muon Nam!
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| Posted: Fri Mar 08, 2013 3:29 pm Post subject: |
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| Ixchel wrote: |
| italkenglish wrote: |
Also forgot to mention, I am of Indian origin (but born in UK, so english is obviously my first language).
Is there any bias for caucasian teachers in Latin American or Asian countries? |
No real bias in Latin America. No real money to be made unless you can work at uni level and even then no money.
You'll be far better off in Asia. |
I agree with you on both points. LatAm isn't all that racist. And it's a nice lifestyle. But the wages are...Low to say the least, mostly, there isn't a huge premium in pay for foreign teachers.
And there seems to be a "consensus" on the Forums that Asia is the place to earn & save. while LatAm isn't. That is true, to an extent. Wages and the quality of jobs (far-fewer full-time gigs, more and more part-time gigs with NO bennies of ANY sort) seem to have peaked and are now in decline in Vietnam, while Mexico seems to be pretty steady, as an example.
There are "gems" to be found in LatAm but that comes down just as much to plain old dumb-luck (right place, right time) as it does to any quals, certs or exp. you might have. And of course, connections are still KING in LatAm! Long-Live Nepotism!
Good luck!
EDITED ONCE for a SMALL spelling mistake 
Last edited by Prof.Gringo on Sat Mar 09, 2013 1:54 am; edited 1 time in total |
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spanglish
Joined: 21 May 2009
Posts: 742
Location: working on that
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| Posted: Fri Mar 08, 2013 6:29 pm Post subject: |
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| I totally agree with prof gringo on the above. |
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Glenski
Joined: 15 Jan 2003
Posts: 12844
Location: Hokkaido, JAPAN
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| Posted: Sat Mar 09, 2013 1:48 am Post subject: Re: destination advice for first job |
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| italkenglish wrote: |
| Ideally, I'd like to be saving �5000 minimum over a year in Latin America, but this doesn't seem this is possible. I would hope to save a lot more in asia because I know the potential is much higher. Could you give a rough estimate of how much I could expect to realistically save on a first tefl job, without living like a hermit? |
In Japan, if you have only the one main teaching job, expect to earn pre-tax about 220,000-250,000 yen per month. Deduct half that for basic necessities on average, and decide how much of the remainder you can bank. Rough estimate is 70,000, depending on many factors including lifestyle.
So, 12 x 70,000 = 840,000 yen per year
Taking on supplemental teaching is always possible, but I wouldn't recommend it for 5-6 months, so you can get acclimated. That will bring in more money, and how much depends on too many things to make a decent guess. If you have 2-3 private classes per week and can get 4,000 yen from each, that's 8,000 x 4 or 5 = 32,000-40,000 more yen per month. Just an example, though. |
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Prof.Gringo
Joined: 07 Nov 2006
Posts: 2236
Location: Dang Cong San Viet Nam Quang Vinh Muon Nam!
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| Posted: Sat Mar 09, 2013 2:00 am Post subject: |
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| spanglish wrote: |
| I totally agree with prof gringo on the above. |
Thanks! I have walked into a K-12 private colegio school in Mexico City and I was offered a job on the spot, Mon-Fri 7:30AM-3:30 PM (not all class time, lot's of breaks) with benefits, with a salary of $1,800 USD per month.
I have also walked into a private colegio school and been offered the same deal, but at the following rates of pay: $400USD month & $600 USD month being the worse. While $800-$1,200 USD month were more common, but with a tendency towards the $800-$1,000 month range being normal.
NONE of this is based in ANY way on your certs, degrees, quals, exp etc.
Right Place, at the Right Time is the name of the game in LatAm. Simple as that. |
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Prof.Gringo
Joined: 07 Nov 2006
Posts: 2236
Location: Dang Cong San Viet Nam Quang Vinh Muon Nam!
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Gregorpie
Joined: 03 Apr 2013
Posts: 1
Location: West Midlands, UK
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| Posted: Sun Apr 07, 2013 7:47 am Post subject: Update? |
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Hey, italkenglish, read your post and everything you're saying is near word-for-word the same for me (including the BA in Film), so I was just wondering how you were getting on?
It might be useful for me to know what considerations you ended up taking, if you've begun on your way to teaching abroad? |
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coledavis
Joined: 21 Jun 2003
Posts: 1838
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| Posted: Mon Apr 08, 2013 8:40 am Post subject: |
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CELTA (or Trinity) - good move.
Picking up some experience in London before heading out - excellent idea.
You can start to develop some skills (the CELTA is just the start) and
have something to put on your cv when you apply for the overseas job.
Like to work face-to-face with people - yes, that helps.
Savings - try to ensure that accommodation is thrown into the deal.
I think you are more likely to earn enough to save in Russia or Ukraine.
There is high demand in Kiev, if it is anything like it was a couple of years
ago when I was there. Big demand in Russia as a whole.(Check out China and Korea forum as well, but I don't know that much about those countries.)
'Europe'. Assuming you mean the EU: high competition even for experienced teachers, so probably not a good move.
Racial bias. Unfortunately this is common, as the psychology is often
'native speaker = white'. However, it does rather depend on the school.
Take Russia: yes, it is well known for racism but individual schools can
be tolerant. I'm less sure about Asiatic countries, but I suspect similar.
How about somewhere like Nepal, where a Britsh person of Indian extraction is not likely to be a big novelty? |
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creeper1
Joined: 24 Aug 2010
Posts: 481
Location: New Taipei City, Taiwan
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| Posted: Wed Apr 17, 2013 5:44 am Post subject: recommendation |
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| I personally would recommend Korea. You have the potential to bank boat loads of money and racism virtually doesn't exist as evidenced in this video. - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n5hycsP002g |
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