Job Discussion Forums

jezebel · Joined: 18 May 2005 Posts: 53

I'm hoping to teach ESL in a year or so but I'm still not sure about the location. I have a general idea of what environment I'd like to live in, but I can't figure out which countries would fit.

My laundry list of things I'd like in a destination is below. I know I'll never find a perfect fit, but some countries are probably better for me than others. Can you tell me what country I'm thinking of?

-I don't need a big culture of drinking, drugs, and sex. I'm low-key, just want somewhere that's safe for a female to wander around and explore at night or in the day - by foot or by public transit. Thailand sort of turns me off in this department, but I suspect I'm not giving it enough credit.

-I'm not picky about pay - ideally I'd like to earn enough for living expenses plus my $300/mo student loan payment, but if the place was right but the pay wasn't, I could probably find another way to make the payments.

-I'm open to new experience, but I'm shy and slow to get my feet wet. I wouldn't mind having some access to the western comforts as a safety net until I get brave.

-I'm not a huge fan of the rush-rush tight-space city life. I need to be able to go to a cafe or public place and sit for an hour and read or write. This is why Japan seems less than ideal. But is that just Tokyo or any part of Japan?

-I'd love to have enthusiastic, respectful students who like having fun in class rather than being serious scholars. Again, negotiable. I have the impression that Japanese students are probably among the most child-like in that sense of enthusiasm for school. Am I wrong? I don't mind a split schedule, though I'm not a big fan of early mornings.

-A big plus would be the ability to access english reading materials for myself (books, magazines) at a library or a store, or at the very least, have reliable access to internet connection (either easy/cheap access in apartments or else lots of public internet cafes).

Does this sound like any country you know of? Are there certain places I should steer clear of? I've thought mostly about South Korea or Czech, but I'm open to suggestions, please! Basically, I'm just a writer looking for a place to observe a new culture, have some time to myself to think and explore, and enjoy a low-key experience.

khmerhit · Posted: Tue Mar 14, 2006 3:30 am Post subject:

Cambodia can be low-key, especially outside the capitol city. It all depends on you and your reaction to the big lights, big city temptations. You can also get work in two other smaller towns, though not as easily. Mod cons and internet access are available if you need them.

Calories · Joined: 17 Jun 2005 Posts: 361 Location: Chinese Food Hell

I only know about China so, I'll tell you this.

You can do all that in China. Lots of net cafes, foreign book stores and places to sit and read even though, there are millions of people around. Depending on what kind of city you are in, you might have to take a few trips to a larger area for foreign book stores but, that's easy enough. I'm at a middle school doing Oral English stuffs and I find the students are great fun to teach. Though, they do have this odd habit of laughing everytime I say hello. I feel it's safer for me to walk around in China than it is to walk alone back home in Canada. I do find the constant "hello lao wei" to be somewhat annoying but, if you go to a larger city with lots of foreigners you won't be a big deal to the locals. Anywhere you are though, you'll start tuning it out and not even noticing most of it after a month or so. You could definitely afford $300 a month for your student loan, if not a little bit more. Pay here isn't extradordinary but, the cost of living is incredibly low and you can save or send back half to three quarters of your monthly pay, that is if you budget accordingly. Larger cities have tons of western food places where you can get anything but, it's often some idiotic price. There are also a lot of Chinese fast food chains as well as the typical McDonalds and KFC. (I like the Chinese ones because it's so much cheaper!) Good luck!

dmb · Joined: 12 Feb 2003 Posts: 8397

Istanbul ticks all the right boxes Smile

denise · Joined: 23 Apr 2003 Posts: 3419 Location: finally home-ish

When I saw that $300 month loan repayment issue, warning lights went off in my head... If you want to go somewhere where you can satisfy your other requirements, you will probably need to find another way to pay them! Defer, change the payment plan, etc. Depending on where you go, $300 could be half, or more than half, of your monthly salary, and where's the fun in experiencing a new culture if you can't afford to actually experience it?!?!

That said... for safety as a single woman, Japan. I also found Prague to be very safe. (Peru, where I am now, is a very difficult place to explore as a single woman! Dangerous, and downright annoying with all of the catcalls!)

For great students, Peru.

For sitting around in cafes, Prague.

For being able to afford English-language materials, Japan.

And no, Japan is not all like Tokyo. I was in a small town a few hours' train ride from Tokyo, and I never had to deal with the insanity of big-city life.

d

khmerhit · Posted: Tue Mar 14, 2006 5:48 pm Post subject:

hey baby whaz happenin?? Jou know jou haff the lovely eyes? Why jou walkin aroun all alone in Peru?? You should take care lovely girl like jou!! Wink

denise · Joined: 23 Apr 2003 Posts: 3419 Location: finally home-ish

JZer · Joined: 16 Jan 2005 Posts: 3898 Location: Pittsburgh

JZer · Joined: 16 Jan 2005 Posts: 3898 Location: Pittsburgh

denise · Joined: 23 Apr 2003 Posts: 3419 Location: finally home-ish

Even medium-sized cities should have some English materials. Just for a couple of examples, Niigata City in Japan (pop. 500,000ish) had a bookstore with a decent English selection, and Concepcion in Chile (pop. anywhere between 400,000 and 1,000,000, depending on who you ask) had a small English bookstore near its chain language schools. Which, by the way, are good starting points when looking for English materials! At the very least, they can probably refer you to local bookstores.

d

Glenski · Joined: 15 Jan 2003 Posts: 12844 Location: Hokkaido, JAPAN

It may surprise you, but Japan DOES fit into most of those ideals.

Salary will be 250,000 yen/month, and you'll burn half of it for basic necessities. If you send home US$300 per month, that's roughly 30,000 yen, leaving you with 90,000 yen/month to play around with.

Don't know why you think you can't sit in a coffee shop in Japan and read for an hour. People nurse one cup for longer than that (and Starbucks is smoke-free).

The only caveat is your perception of kids. I don't deal with the younger ones, so others will have to help out there, but junior high kids are pretty enthusiastic, then their interest and motivation hits rock bottom in high school. But, as for being "serious scholars", they are not. Poor kids are all stuck in a rut of preparing for arcane entrance exams, so it is up to native English teachers to find ways to use such grammar in conversation practice. Kids, even JHS ones, don't always take to that, but it's not their fault. Plus, they don't often volunteer or ask questions because that's the way their system works. You will have to break them free of that regime and their innate shyness.

Access to English reading material is possible. You just need to know where to look. Amazon.co.jp ships for free with orders over 1500 yen, and usually within a week. Besides, you can always have family or friends send a few CARE packages using cheap rates.

ls650 · Joined: 10 May 2003 Posts: 3484 Location: British Columbia

It sounds like a moderately-sized city in Mexico might be perfect for you ... except for the $300/mo part. It's not difficult to cover your living expenses here, but it's difficult to find a job that pays much more than that.

Cdaniels · Posted: Wed Mar 15, 2006 1:33 am Post subject: Stay home- USA, Canada, England

Stay home. Pay off your debts, do some ESL volunteering. Maybe get a cert with a part-time weekend program. Visit www.englishteacherx.com TeacherX should be very helpful in picking out places to go. Also try www.englishdroid.com Twisted Evil

Then come back here and ask us again about our enthusiastic, respectful students. Wink

schwa · Joined: 12 Oct 2003 Posts: 164 Location: yap

Korea could work for you. Point-by-point:

A good bit of drinking does go on here, but its not required. You can be as low-key as you want. Definitely one of the safest countries in the world.

You'd be able to pay your $300 & still have several hundred left over each month, living well.

"Western comforts" -- not sure what that means. I had similar vague thoughts before embarking but I've been comfortable in a small city. Life here is different but its not strange.

No reason you cant hang out in a coffeeshop & do whatever you want as long as you want.

Students in public schools are generally enthusiastic & respectful & just wanna have fun. Private academy jobs take a bit more work to win the students over, but thats doable too. "Shy" doesnt work for teaching, but maybe you could discover a more outgoing classroom persona. Majority of jobs arent split shift & its easy & advisable to avoid that scenario (exhausting, I'd think).

Seoul's got some decent bookstores, medium cities have some stuff on offer, small towns about zero. But theres a great online bookstore in Seoul that can send you books & magazines reasonably & conveniently.

Re: internet -- I dont think theres any more wired nation in the world. Cheap easy access everywhere.

Korea has its quirks & exasperations but also a lot of endearing qualities. It might suit you. Be warned though, some just hate it here. It'll fit your personality, or not.

But from your post it strikes me it might be worth your interest & further research.

jezebel · Joined: 18 May 2005 Posts: 53

Thanks for all the great input! I'm glad you've helped dispel some of my misconceptions!

The problem with the student loan thing, is that I can't just wait until they're paid off.. I'll be 40 then, and I'm not waiting that long! Loan deferrment may be an option, as could be saving up $4000 before going abroad in order to keep making the payments. But I'm doing some freelance writing, so presumably that may still be a small source of income (in US or Canadian dollars) even if I'm earning poorly exchanging Yuan.

Here's some followup thoughts:

Japan - Someone told me once that because space is at a premium in Japan, it's also hard to find cafes or other public places where you can sit for a long time without distracting noise and lights and/or having to pay a lot for the privelege. I do like the idea of teaching outside of downtown though, so it's good to know that I might be more comfortable in a smaller city.

Korea - So far I haven't read anything that turns me off Korea. It's never really my first choice on any area, but it consistently scores favourably on any criterion I judge it by, so it's sort of the underdog leader in my books. Seems like there's a growing scientific community (which is interesting to me for both the culture as well as possible side-employment editing scientific papers or teaching technical english), the pay is good, the culture seems favourable and not too extreme in any way (unless you count their neighbours!)

Prague - I have very romantic notions about Prague, as this great place to be.. well, let's face it, bohemian. Seems like an artistically inspiring place, and *relatively* convenient to travel to various places in Europe or Asia - which is good since I've never been out of North America. But the Czech forum doesn't really paint an overly impressive picture of the teaching environment there...

Cambodia - I also have romantic notions toward this country, but I'm also a bit wary of the violence and (probably ridiculously afraid, but still) land mines, and being a woman. It's a very intriguing place, but it almost seems like a place you have to earn the ability to see - like it's not for amateur travelers.

China - Definitely interests me as well. Mandarin would be one of the most useful languages to (try to) learn, and it's a very intriguing place in the media these days, for both business as well as epidemiology as well as the 2008 Olympics being held in Beijing... as a freelance writer, this could be a great asset since there would be a lot of things to write about directly around me. The financial thing is my biggest concern, but over the next year before I'm more serious about going, I suppose I can get a better sense of my finances and whether I can rely on writing to earn enough to make my student loan payment.

I forget what the other suggestion was, but I have a feeling it was Istanbul. Another fascinating location, but I'm concerned that being a woman, I would have trouble being respected as a teacher or having freedom outside of school. Might be a majorly ignorant idea, but still it's a major concern for me. Also seems like a place that you almost have to earn to see... might be better appreciated after having more travel experience.

Anyway, thanks for your input! I still have a year to think about where I'd like to go, but it's good to know what to expect to help narrow the choice!