Job Discussion Forums

[Cruset]

Well I've had this idea to teach English overseas next year but I still have so many questions.... this seems like the best place to get them answered . So here is my situation... I'm graduating university this year and plan on taking a year off before I goto Law School. My thought was it would be a great experience to go over seas and teach in my time off. I am prepared to take a teaching course; however, I am a bit confused about which one to take TEFL (60 hours or 100) or CELTA, everyone seems to have their different opinions on each one. My other quandary is that I would be looking for a contract of 4 to 6 months.... it seems most school require teachers to sign a year contract.... are shorter contracts available? As far a where I want to teach I'm pretty open but preferably somewhere in the East my countries which interest me most are as follows: Indonesia, Eastern Russia, Malaysia, Japan, Thailand, China, and Korea. I do have some previous experience from volunteering teaching english in Russia 2 years ago for 4 months. I would love to hear from some of the more experienced teachers to inform me of my possible options or any recommendations they might have. My plan is to leave some time in October and return sometime in the following July or August... I am fairly flexible and hope to travel either before or after my Teaching. Money isn't that important to me; however, it would be nice to put away some for traveling. Also I am from Canada if that makes any difference. Hope to hear your ideas!

[naturegirl321]

You might be able to get a 6 month contract for some of the countries you're looking at. Camps are also possible. I've seen short term jobs for China, korea, and Japan on the job boards.

120 hour certs are the best with 6 hours of teaching practice. CELTA, Trinity, And SIT are the most well known.

[Glenski]

All of your questions have been answered infinitum ad nauseum. Have you even tried searching?

Re: Japan
Don't bother. 4-6 month contracts are practically nonexistent, and you aren't qualified for the one that is most widely tried (Westgate). Will you even make up the setup costs in other countries in just 4-6 months? You'll barely break even in Japan.

[denise]

If you take a TEFL course in a country where you'd like to stay and work, you could always apply mid-year/mid-semester and hope that they need immediate replacements for teachers who have left mid-year. Instead of giving you a full year contract, you'd likely get a contract that expires at the end of the academic year.

Be wary, though... when teachers leave mid-year (whether or not they do runners in the dark of night...) there are always reasons--some of which may have to do with the overall quality of the school. (Although there are a lot of runners who disappear because, well, they're screwballs.)

d