Recorded on Sunday, May 3, 2020.
Goings On
Summer is here, +32 – the virus won’t be able to survive on surfaces as much, so this is a good thing
We’re expecting a thunderstorm today
New bans in place here in Beijing: no more spitting, no more Beijing bikini, no odors on metro
Stereo equipment cant’t be used – so what about the square dancing that takes place and gives the older population something to do and some fitness?
Was out at the pub last night and it was full, not at capacity, but full enough. Looks like the restrictions on the number of people allowed inside has been loosened as well.
Still need to do health checks before going in, both with a thermometer and to scan a QR Code.
Chinese government to begin meeting on May 21 and 22, these are known as the “Two Sessions”
Re-opening of the USA – why? Because it’s a tax issue
Introduction
Neat little APP called Duolingo, which you might recognize if you’ve ever tried to learn another language. I took the practice test. And scored 125 to 150, out of what, I don’t know.
But with the current drawdown in employment and my recent few episodes about preparing for an interruption to your work, should you go teach English overseas?
Should You Go Teach English overseas?
I actually wrote an ebook about this topic years ago and have been thinking of updating it but thought it would be easier for everyone if I just did a podcast about the subject. I went through the ebook, which is still available on my website, stevensirski.com, and I think a lot of the information is still relevant worldwide, even though it focuses on “East Asia”. If I do re-do the ebook, I’ll change the title.
Is this time different from 2008? 2000? A little bit because there are travel restrictions
Seven countries considered to be “native” English speakers: Canada, USA, UK, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa.
It does help to learn the native language, but you don’t have to. You will most likely be told not to speak their native language in the classroom, but use English instead.
Why do you want to go?
Money Culture? Immigration? Experience? Did you study history or something and want to know how people live and work elsewhere in the world, kind of like what I did? Or, simply, you can’t find a job in your current location?
If you have the opportunity, I suggest you take it.
Where to go?
- North America
- Europe
- Asia
- Middle East
- Australia
- Africa
- South America
- Online
- Your neighbourhood
Asia and the Middle Eastern countries
South Korea was big when I started ten years ago, along with the Middle East, such as Abu Dhabi and Saudi Arabia. But a lot of those jobs required “professional certifications”, such as subject-specific degrees AND an education degree. Unless it was a university, then a bit more of a variety of degrees were accepted if you wanted to be an ESL teacher.
Japan before that, in the 1990s and is now seeing a resurgence.
Since about the early 2010s it’s been China, which is where I am now. The market is starting to hiccup here as can be seen by government crackdowns on the people who are being hired. I don’t blame them, some of the people you find in these schools aren’t very qualified, which we’ll talk about later.
Eastern Europe is nice, but there’s no money, unless you tutor all the time, or have proper qualifications to get a proper job at a university of some where. But good luck getting a proper visa. Paperwork is insane, not in English, and, lots of bureaucracy.
Europe is great if you can secure the visa, which will be difficult for most North Americans if you’re over 30 or 35, since that’s the cut off for most working travel visas. But if you’re younger than that, I just missed the age-limit when I first started teaching, then go for it. Don’t expect high paying jobs, however, as there’s lots of competition. But history, culture, food, and ability to travel, there’s your ticket.
South America, sadly, I’ve never been so I don’t know. There are chain schools no doubt, pay isn’t as good, of course the lifers out there will yell at me and say “it depends on you” to which I say yes, it always does but, the way they’re making their money is by private tutoring which may or may not be legal in every country you go to. So it is something to be aware of.
Same with Africa, which is a lot tougher to get into if you exclude Saudi Arabia and Egypt. There are some jobs in Ghana and South Africa, but everywhere in between, yes, they exist, but you’re not paying off students loans with those jobs. You might be volunteering for the experience.
Then, of course, there is North America and Australia, opposite ends of the world (if looking at a flat map), but there is demand to teach immigrants and foreign residents who may want to improve their English for any number of reasons.
Do you need to work or would you be okay volunteering?
Volunteering isn’t a bad thing, gives you something to do, builds up experience, exposes you to people of different cultures and students learning abilities, you’ll modify your approaches and learn what really matters and what doesn’t, especially if you teach in impoverished areas. But it’s not the same as being paid for teaching as there will be far fewer expectations placed upon you.
What type of schools?
- Chain schools (private institutions such as EF, Wall Street English, the British Council, English Town, Pimsleur)
- Universities (check Wikipedia for a massive list of universities all over the world)
- Companies (could be very specific and are often recruited through agencies)
- Tutoring one on one (not just in person, but also online)
Visas
Keep in mind you’ll face visa restrictions.
There are some other visa schemes such as working holidays, that are available to people of certain ages. Under 35, under 30 and under 26 for Europe. Outside of those ages and you have to get sponsored for a visa (which is what your teaching company or school will do).
What do you need?
- Proper visa
- University degree(s)
- May need a degree in education
- May be able to get by with an ESL certificate, make sure it’s 140 hrs at least and includes classroom work or else many schools won’t accept it.
- The CELTA is the standard certificate
- Trinity CertTESOL (put on by Trinity College in London, not Oxford, which is what I say in the podcast)
- Not restricted to nationality, if you speak English and are able to work in the language, then you can take the course.
Check the terms of your contract
- How many hours (teaching / preparation)
- Airfare reimbursed?
- Time off
- What will you be expected to do when there are no classes?
What’s the process like?
- It’ll take a long time: four to six months
- Police check
- Certificates
- Degrees
- Passport
Career progression?
- There are no teachers driving Lamborghinis, but there are a few who have several houses, and they do get to travel quite a bit.
- DELTA for administration
- Other management certificates to move up within your organization
- Can move around to any country you like
- As for that whole “looks great on your resume”, some companies will care, others won’t.
Resources
Books you will need to show that you know what you’re talking about
Read Michael Swan’s book Practical English Usage and How English Works: A Grammar Practice Book, the standard works on how every single student you’ll ever teach has difficulties pronouncing English words because of their native tongue. Read it, understand who you’ll be teaching, and you’ll save yourself a lot of trouble trying to explain things.
Ship or Sheep, Tree or Three, also good books for pronunciation
Jim Scrivener’s book on Learning Teaching: A guidebook for English language teachers, another standard work
Susan Griffith’s Teaching English Abroad is an encyclopedia of where to go and how to do it. Only gets re-printed every few years but even old copies will at least give you an idea of what to look for. It’s probably the only book you could or should spend money on.
Various series of textbooks, American Headway, Cambridge or Oxford ESL books.
For teaching resources
- Lots!
- BBC
- TED Talks (comes with transcripts)
- business news english
- ets.org and IELTS websites for practice tests
Life of an English Teacher
- My website, I currently write about living in China
- If you wanted to read more about this, check out the blog posts and books by English Teacher X, who says things rather matter of factly and has a lot more experience in the chain school and independently-run schools in different parts of Asia.
- expatsblog.com – links to other travel bloggers around the world
Websites
- eslcafe.com – the standard job board, been around almost as long as the internet!
- Goabroad.com – their links seem to change quite a bit
- transitionsabroad.com
- teachaway.com – recruitment agency
- footprints recruiting, another recruitment agency
Chain schools:
- EF, British Council, Wall Street English, Pimsleur, International House
- iTalkie.com – work online as a teacher