Korean Job Discussion Forums

[wizo]

Is it wise to pursue teaching English overseas as a long-term career? Most of the people I know treat it as a temporary job, a one or two year deal.

I'm 26 now and am wondering what the future would be like. Is it harder for older people (35+) to get these types of jobs? Do salaries go up significantly with experience?

[Xylox]

You can make a career out of it if you wish. Salaries in the middle east are pretty legit, can break 100k+ if you take some of the risky jobs and with zero tax, surviving for 5 to 10 years means you got enough cash to straight out buy a house.

[wizo]

Ya, I've heard of those jobs. But I'm not sure if I could handle that culture. Everything is so regulated. It seems extreme :/

[Fishead soup]

[edwardcatflap]

TEFL is a huge industry. Apart from people who teach EFL there are those who write the materials and those who publish the materials. There are teacher trainers who run MA courses and CELTAs, and DELTAs and people who assess the people running the courses. There are people training state school teachers abroad and people managing training websites. There are jobs involved in writing online courses and tutoring on them. There are people involved in writing exams and people assessing and training examiners. There are jobs managing teaching centres and summer schools. The majority of people involved in jobs like these started in teaching and their background in teaching gave them the skills to diversify into other areas. The important things is decide on what you'd like to specialise in; Kids, University Teaching, Publishing etc...get some experience and qualifications behind you and see what's out there. You can have a very interesting career and make a reasonable amount of money if you're keen enough

[ttompatz]

[The_slap_chop]

Wizo, I've been wondering the same thing myself. I am also 26 and I'm almost finished with my first year in Korea.

I'm considering ESL as a back-up plan. I have a job lined up in the financial sector when I return. However, I might hate it.

If I do, I will most likely get an MA TESOL and head the gulf for a few years. After saving some dough I'll probably move to SE Asia for a while. The only problem is I don't have much passion for TESOL. In fact, I don't really have passion for any type of career. But, I don't hate TESOL as much as other careers.

My main attraction to TESOL is the ability to experience new cultures. Second to that is the ability to save a lot of cash. As a major cheapskate, by the end of this contract, I'll have saved over 22,000 usd on a 2.1 a month salary.

I know I will never be able to get rich with this career. However, with the right planning and saving, I can have a comfortable life with a lot of vacation time.

[wizo]