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jaytron
Joined: 20 Sep 2010
Posts: 7
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 Posted: Mon Oct 10, 2011 8:41 pm Post subject: Best place to bring a family? |
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My spouse and I are hoping to move abroad to teach English next year with two children (age 9 and 11) and I am wondering if anyone has had any experiences with this or something similar. I have a BA in English, a master's certificate in TESL, and am currently pursuing a k-12 teaching license with TESL as a content area. I have two years of teaching English at the university level and three years of volunteer TESL teaching. My spouse is a licensed social worker with a BA in social work.
Our main motivation is to earn enough to live with a relative degree of comfort, study the local language, and provide a cultural experience for the children. We prefer smaller cities close to the outdoors as opposed to huge metropolises although we will need access to a school with English language instruction for the children.
I would really like to hear from anyone who has done this before and what their experiences were. Also, I would appreciate information from anyone regarding countries/cities/schools etc. that you may think would be a good fit for us. Thank you in advance. |
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tttompatz
Joined: 06 Mar 2010
Posts: 1951
Location: Talibon, Bohol, Philippines
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| Posted: Mon Oct 10, 2011 11:33 pm Post subject: Re: Best place to bring a family? |
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| jaytron wrote: |
My spouse and I are hoping to move abroad to teach English next year with two children (age 9 and 11) and I am wondering if anyone has had any experiences with this or something similar. I have a BA in English, a master's certificate in TESL, and am currently pursuing a k-12 teaching license with TESL as a content area. I have two years of teaching English at the university level and three years of volunteer TESL teaching. My spouse is a licensed social worker with a BA in social work.
Our main motivation is to earn enough to live with a relative degree of comfort, study the local language, and provide a cultural experience for the children. We prefer smaller cities close to the outdoors as opposed to huge metropolises although we will need access to a school with English language instruction for the children.
I would really like to hear from anyone who has done this before and what their experiences were. Also, I would appreciate information from anyone regarding countries/cities/schools etc. that you may think would be a good fit for us. Thank you in advance. |
You didn't say where your country of passport was (it does make a difference) but I assumed you were American.
Unless you are prepared to home school your kids, stay home.
You won't make enough on a TEFL salary to afford a decent international school.
One BIG caveat here:
IF you can find a decent job IN a decent international school then the picture changes.
IF you are American then look to Asia. Your wife will also be able to (legally) teach if she is inclined.
IF you are from the UK then look to the EU.
It certainly is do-able but it will take some work on your part, a willingness to travel and a (significant) lifestyle change on the part of your family and in the case of your wife, willingness to abandon her career (she won't find work abroad as a social worker).
One more thing to note here.
When you look at salary offers, look at the bottom line (NET SAVINGS per year) and NOT the gross salary. $30,000 per year don't mean much in the US but in Asia it goes a long way and leaves you room to SAVE as much as 60-70% of your income (savings on the order of $20k per year) while still enjoying a very comfortable lifestyle.
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naturegirl321
Joined: 04 May 2003
Posts: 9041
Location: home sweet home
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| Posted: Tue Oct 11, 2011 2:02 am Post subject: |
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YOu might want to look at "intl schools" I just saw an advert on Dave's for a place in Myanmar. New school, about 10 years old, but now IB. Although it's an intl school, due to it being in Myanmar, I can't imagine they get tons of applicants.
They'd probably let your kids study there as well, for free or with a heavy discount. |
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toteach
Joined: 29 Dec 2008
Posts: 273
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| Posted: Tue Oct 11, 2011 2:39 am Post subject: |
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Husband and I taught in China for some years. At the major schools we worked at numerous ESL teachers had their children with them. As a few of the children were babies, schooling was not an issue. The others actually sent their school-age kids to the local school (!).
China typically pays a comfortable wage. We lived off of one salary and saved the other--and still had money to travel during the breaks... |
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lucia79
Joined: 18 Jun 2011
Posts: 156
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| Posted: Tue Oct 11, 2011 6:07 am Post subject: |
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Istanbul is a great place to go and there are lots of schools, but it may not be to your liking since it is a big metropolis. I'd suggest Izmir and it is a nice location. A big city, yet it has the feel of a smaller city. A great launchpad for day trips to nearby coastal towns. Here is a link for an international school:
http://www.international.mef.k12.tr/izmir/index.asp?cid=69 |
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desertdawg
Joined: 14 Jun 2010
Posts: 206
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| Posted: Tue Oct 11, 2011 6:21 am Post subject: |
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From personal experience, I would (with hesitation about experiencing indigenous culture to the full) recommend Oman and the UAE. Saudi Arabia can be surprisingly very pleasant if you are on a family contract and live on a decent compound.
I have heard very good things about Brunei (not sure if Americans are welcome though!). There's a thread: "Thumbs up for Brunei" on the General Asia forum.
For me the most important things are to make sure there is a local school of the kind you require and it is affordable for you. And to consider what your partner would do. I'm speculating here, but perhaps a place where English is widely spoken such as Mexico or the Philippines would allow your partner to find work in their field. Bearing in mind the latter, an international school might be your best bet. But I believe competition is fierce and post K-12 qualification experience necessary.
Best of luck. |
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Teacher in Rome
Joined: 09 Jul 2003
Posts: 1286
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| Posted: Tue Oct 11, 2011 7:18 am Post subject: |
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| Quote: |
One more thing to note here.
When you look at salary offers, look at the bottom line (NET SAVINGS per year) and NOT the gross salary. $30,000 per year don't mean much in the US but in Asia it goes a long way and leaves you room to SAVE as much as 60-70% of your income (savings on the order of $20k per year) while still enjoying a very comfortable lifestyle. |
But didn't you say, tttompatz, that this is only really doable after you've been in Thailand for a couple of years, made contacts, got your name known, that sort of thing? I'm sure I recall you saying that in the first year, teachers in Thailand would be on a far lower deal, but maybe I'm wrong!
To the OP: if you have EU citizenship, your kids can attend local schools in Europe, so no need for expensive international schooling (unless, of course, you want them to attend an international school). If you don't have EU citizenship, then working legally here will be difficult. |
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tttompatz
Joined: 06 Mar 2010
Posts: 1951
Location: Talibon, Bohol, Philippines
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| Posted: Tue Oct 11, 2011 9:27 am Post subject: |
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| Teacher in Rome wrote: |
| Quote: |
One more thing to note here.
When you look at salary offers, look at the bottom line (NET SAVINGS per year) and NOT the gross salary. $30,000 per year don't mean much in the US but in Asia it goes a long way and leaves you room to SAVE as much as 60-70% of your income (savings on the order of $20k per year) while still enjoying a very comfortable lifestyle. |
But didn't you say, tttompatz, that this is only really doable after you've been in Thailand for a couple of years, made contacts, got your name known, that sort of thing? I'm sure I recall you saying that in the first year, teachers in Thailand would be on a far lower deal, but maybe I'm wrong!
To the OP: if you have EU citizenship, your kids can attend local schools in Europe, so no need for expensive international schooling (unless, of course, you want them to attend an international school). If you don't have EU citizenship, then working legally here will be difficult. |
A certified, experienced teacher with a related BA & MA is a different ball of wax than your average 30-day TEFL wonder coming fresh out of high school or even with a BA.
He can get decent work in Taiwan (70-80k TWD per month + benefits), HK NET program, as well as decent international and/or bilingual schools all over Asia.
The point of my post was to NOT compare salaries abroad (gross pay) with salaries at home because of the significant differences in the costs of living.
Look at what you can save while enjoying a comfortable lifestyle and not just the base salary when comparing jobs.
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Perilla
Joined: 09 Jul 2010
Posts: 792
Location: Hong Kong
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| Posted: Tue Oct 11, 2011 10:55 am Post subject: Re: Best place to bring a family? |
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| jaytron wrote: |
My spouse and I are hoping to move abroad to teach English next year with two children (age 9 and 11) and I am wondering if anyone has had any experiences with this or something similar. I have a BA in English, a master's certificate in TESL, and am currently pursuing a k-12 teaching license with TESL as a content area. I have two years of teaching English at the university level and three years of volunteer TESL teaching. My spouse is a licensed social worker with a BA in social work.
Our main motivation is to earn enough to live with a relative degree of comfort, study the local language, and provide a cultural experience for the children. We prefer smaller cities close to the outdoors as opposed to huge metropolises although we will need access to a school with English language instruction for the children.
I would really like to hear from anyone who has done this before and what their experiences were. Also, I would appreciate information from anyone regarding countries/cities/schools etc. that you may think would be a good fit for us. Thank you in advance. |
Hong Kong meets most of your criteria, but will only work if you can get a job at one of the city's top international schools, which are very competitive. The HK govt's NET programme, which also pays well, might be more realistic, but then schooling your kids could be a headache, financially and otherwise. If you can swing one of the international schools it would include education for your kids, I think. |
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AGoodStory
Joined: 26 Feb 2010
Posts: 738
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| Posted: Tue Oct 11, 2011 1:01 pm Post subject: |
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| naturegirl321 wrote: |
YOu might want to look at "intl schools" I just saw an advert on Dave's for a place in Myanmar. New school, about 10 years old, but now IB. Although it's an intl school, due to it being in Myanmar, I can't imagine they get tons of applicants.
They'd probably let your kids study there as well, for free or with a heavy discount. |
Is this recommendation from personal experience working in Myanmar?
Title of thread: "Best place to bring a family." Myanmar? Really? Or perhaps there are reasons that ". . .due to its being in Myanmar, I can't imagine they get tons of applicants?"
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globalcitizen1968
Joined: 03 Oct 2011
Posts: 34
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| Posted: Tue Oct 11, 2011 7:41 pm Post subject: |
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Try Japan or South Korea or some other place in asia. The money is good in some places. Try to avoid Latin America in general unless you like living in poverty.
A good example of this is Mexico, especially Mexico City. Salaries are VERY LOW and then most will not pay you on time. I know someone who is working for the SEP since August and still has not gotten paid. No excuse for that.
Some here will justify such irresponsible behavior but not me. I had a friend who did real well in South Korea. It was the little island about 50 miles off the coast, it's part of South Korea. Je do do I think it's called. I know I didn't get the spelling right, sorry.
P.S. The U.S. Embassy issued a travel alert for Veracruz in Mexico due to the violence between the cartels which the government will do nothing about. There's another reason for you and your family to consider asia over Latin America and Mexico in particular.
Good luck!! Hope you have a REAL nice savings my friend, you'll need it. |
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MotherF
Joined: 07 Jun 2010
Posts: 1450
Location: 17�48'N 97�46'W
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| Posted: Tue Oct 11, 2011 9:19 pm Post subject: Re: Best place to bring a family? |
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| jaytron wrote: |
My spouse and I are hoping to move abroad to teach English next year with two children (age 9 and 11) and I am wondering if anyone has had any experiences with this or something similar. I have a BA in English, a master's certificate in TESL, and am currently pursuing a k-12 teaching license with TESL as a content area. I have two years of teaching English at the university level and three years of volunteer TESL teaching. My spouse is a licensed social worker with a BA in social work.
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| globalcitizen1968 wrote: |
| A good example of this is Mexico, especially Mexico City. Salaries are VERY LOW and then most will not pay you on time. I know someone who is working for the SEP since August and still has not gotten paid. No excuse for that. |
Actually based on what Jaytron said above, I think he could do okay in Mexico. He could either get a job in one of the top rung private colegios once he's got his K-12 license. Or He could get a job at a university. The problem is that like someone mentioned for Thailand, those jobs are easier to get once you've established yourself in the country and with the family in tow he can't really afford to take the time to do that. Still, he might be able to get a job in the 15,000 to 20,000 peso range and his wife could get something in the 7,000 to 10,000 peso range so they could be getting 22,000 to 30,000 pesos (or more in some cases). Cost of living varies a lot and so does cost of schooling. I would actually recommend they not put their kids in an entirely English medium school as part of the purpose of this trip is to give them a once in a lifetime opportunity for deep immersion. Mexican primary schools run 8am to 1pm so plenty of time in the afternoon for English time. My girls go to a private school that cost 600 pesos a month and the most expensive one in our city is 1000 pesos a month--but I know that in Mexico City the costs are much higher.
There are plenty of blogs out there of people who have done such a thing. I suggest you google move family abroad to get an idea of the kind of struggles such a family has. |
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Glenski
Joined: 15 Jan 2003
Posts: 12844
Location: Hokkaido, JAPAN
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| Posted: Tue Oct 11, 2011 10:35 pm Post subject: |
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| globalcitizen1968 wrote: |
| Try Japan or South Korea or some other place in asia. The money is good in some places. |
What do you know about Japan? Money here is going down, and jaytron doesn't qualify yet to work in an international school. (That takes a license plus 2 years of experience after you get it.)
Jaytron,
What did you expect your wife would do? Having your kids in school (a Japanese one is most likely, an international one is possible but will cost you a bundle) doesn't mean she can necessarily work during the day.
And, how do your kids feel about being immersed in a culture where they couldn't even read the language or speak a word of it, let alone like in Japan where they couldn't even look at a written word in kanji and sound it out? Put them in a mainstream school here, and they will be thrown to the wolves in terms of language skills. Exchange students, for example, get daily language lessons, but they still have to attend regular classes in math and geography, etc. without any help at all from the Japanese teacher.
You want to move next year, so I would strongly suggest figuring out what country ASAP. Applications are due soon for some places. For example, the school year in Japan begins in April (international schools in the fall). Bringing a family means you probably will have to set yourself up in an apartment instead of taking a secondhand one meant for a single teacher, and that will cost you big money here in Japan. |
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globalcitizen1968
Joined: 03 Oct 2011
Posts: 34
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| Posted: Tue Oct 11, 2011 11:46 pm Post subject: Re: Best place to bring a family? |
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| MotherF wrote: |
| I think he could do okay in Mexico. |
Nope. The salaries you mention will come in late most of the time or he and his wife (if both work) will get paid only a part of what they are supposed to get. Trust me dude...head to asia. Better yet, stay where you are, do some research and make real money for your family and their future.
Good luck and remember...take a LOT of money with you because EFL is not known for its good salaries and youo have KIDS and a WIFE. |
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Perilla
Joined: 09 Jul 2010
Posts: 792
Location: Hong Kong
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| Posted: Wed Oct 12, 2011 1:57 am Post subject: Re: Best place to bring a family? |
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| jaytron wrote: |
| I have a BA in English, a master's certificate in TESL, and am currently pursuing a k-12 teaching license with TESL as a content area. I have two years of teaching English at the university level and three years of volunteer TESL teaching. |
Ah, I just noticed that you're only now getting your QTS. In that case forget about the top international schools or the HK NET programme, both of which require substantial post-qualification experience. TBH, I think your hopes are a bit optimistic at this stage - probably best to get a couple of years of post-qual experience under your belt while planning your big move. |
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