Job Discussion Forums

mrjack · Joined: 04 Sep 2004 Posts: 65

Thirty years old, teach P.E. in a High School in the U.K. will be on 28GBP next year. Want to throw the job away and teach in Asia for a bit then NZ on a work visa? Somedays I have loads of motivation and feel I'm doing the right thing and then other times I think what the *beep* am I doing?

Justin Trullinger · Posted: Tue Apr 05, 2005 4:06 pm Post subject:

Yes!

Good luck, and have a great time.

Justin

Deconstructor · Joined: 30 Dec 2003 Posts: 775 Location: Montreal

Absolutely!

But there is no other way.

Stephen Jones · Joined: 21 Feb 2003 Posts: 4124

Don't even think of it! You'll never get back to normality again and you'll end up in your fifties worried sick about finance and taking jobs ten times worse than the one you have at the moment.

Go abroad on your holidays, and when you retire sell your Uk house, move somewhere nice, and live like a king with the pension and the capital gains.

distiller · Joined: 31 May 2004 Posts: 249

Don't be put off by the naysayers. You can do it but you've got to be smart and careful. Don't take "learning center" jobs or their equivalent. So many people go to Asia and work for enough money to get by in less than professional environments and then wonder why they are past their prime and no better of than they were 20 years ago. Aim for international school positions in reputable schools, some recruit oversees, and locations where the pay is good- Japan, Hong Kong, Middle East, etc. Make sure you have the proper credentials and secure a position before leaving your current one. As I've said so many times before, TEFL can be a crap blow off job or a well-paid career (see my previous posts for details) it all depends on if you treat it as a serious career or as a lame muckabout. Get the qualifications, get some TEFL experience and the good jobs will follow.

Cardinal Synn · Joined: 01 Nov 2004 Posts: 586

GO FOR IT!!!!

You'll have a far more interesting time abroad than in boring old Britain. I know...

Beausie · Joined: 27 Oct 2004 Posts: 43 Location: The outer reaches

Don't know if this helps but....

I gave up a well paid career in the UK, through boredom and the wish to see more of the world than a few weeks holiday a year would allow. At the time most of my friends said I was mad. What astonishes me now, when I'm back in the UK, is the number of people who think I'm 'exotic'. I meet complete strangers who've heard of me and can relate tales of my travels, that they've heard through mutual friends. And the same friends who said I was mad now say "Oh, I wish I could do what you do, your life is so much more interesting". Well, it is, and it isn't.

I think it depends on where you are in your life, what you expect from moving to a foreign culture, and how you envision your future.

As Grandma used to say, you get out of life what you put into it.

Magoo · Joined: 31 Oct 2003 Posts: 651 Location: Wuhan, China

If Distiller can be boringly sensible, so can I.
Apart from agreeing with the above, I would recommend that you set up some kind of private pension fund. A low-risk thing that will ensure your return to Blighty (IF you return Wink

) won't be marred by poverty. You might be planning to be away for a couple of years, but the best laid plans and all that. There are many FTs, here in China, who have ended up getting married and staying. I came here, having just divorced, happy as Larry and without a care in the world. I now have a wife and teenage daughter to think about, which is a joy, in itself, but it does mean that I'm now responsible for more lives than just my own. That does, I'm afraid, boil down to hard cash. Contact the Inland Revenue about voluntary contributions; they can give you an assessment on how much you might want to pay every year towards your pension.
Otherwise, as others have said, go for it. I'd NEVER teach in the U.K., except, perhaps, Down's Syndrome students.

tedkarma · Posted: Mon Apr 11, 2005 2:02 am Post subject:

A practical way for you to go is to teach in international schools. You will be able to work for a comparable wage and security and still see the world. Another teacher asked about this on another board and you may want to read specifically the advice JennyJJ gives him.

http://www.eslcafe.com/forums/korea/viewtopic.php?t=19367&highlight=

Though you are from the UK - the exact same situations will apply. As you are already a well-qualifed and experienced teacher - stay on that track via the international schools. You CAN have your cake - and eat it too.

Norman Bethune · Joined: 19 Apr 2004 Posts: 731

You're going to die one day.

On your deathbed, what do you want to remember? Working years in the same old job in dreary England to get that miserly pension that will pay for your funeral?

Or do you want memories of having lived a life that took you different places, to learn and experience new things.

You're dead a long time. Die, having lived more than just a pedestrian life as a teacher in rain-soaked blighty...darn it!

Is that enough encouragement for you?

GeminiTiger · Posted: Tue Apr 12, 2005 8:32 pm Post subject:

Argh! ESL Pirates off the main sail!

expatben · Posted: Wed Apr 13, 2005 9:42 am Post subject:

Go for it! Just get properly trained and be careful where you go.