TEACHING ENGLISH OVERSEAS
Date Modified: 07.13.2008
Content: Information on Teaching English
Overseas
Source: Wikipedia, Wikitravel, ESL Teachers
Teaching English Overseas
Teaching Overseas is highly interactive, fun and challenging. In the classroom too much talk by the teacher is fatal; you cannot teach language-using skills either by lecturing or (except in tiny groups) with a series of one-on-one interactions between the teacher and different students. You should set up situations for students to actually use the English language. Often this means introducing some vocabulary and/or grammatical structures on the board or in a listening or reading exercise, then setting up some sort of pairs or group task where students can try it out. Various sorts of discussion, role-playing or game activities are often used.
>> Popular Oversees Teaching Destinations
- China - Jobs teaching English in China
- Japan - Jobs teaching English in Japan
- South Korea - Jobs teaching English in South Korea
- Taiwan - Jobs teaching English in Taiwan
- Eastern Europe
- Middle East
- Latin America
In some countries, ESL is a major industry; sometimes it seems there is an English language school on every corner. Japan's eikaiwa ("conversation schools") range from small schools to major chains. Both hire native English speakers from overseas. South Korea's hagwon and China's and Taiwan's buxiban do the same. Demand for English teachers in some areas is enormous.
>> Pay and Conditions Teaching English Overseas
Nearly all ESL jobs that hire from overseas include worthwhile benefits. A free apartment is typical, though some employers offer only a room in a shared place. Most contracts are for a year, though some provide salary for only a 10-month school year. Most include two-way airfare, or at least some money toward the cost.
Overseas English language teachers typically do not get the high salaries and juicy benefits package that an expatriate, such as an engineer, sent by a company to work in an overseas branch would.
It is also common for schools to hire locally for summer programs, for part-time work, and sometimes for full time employment. These overseas teaching jobs often have fewer benefits than the overseas hired posts.
The best pay for overseas English language teachers is generally in the Middle East. They can afford to be choosy, though; most teaching jobs there require a degree and TEFL certificate and some require an MA.
Some jobs in Japan also pay well but living costs are high. There are also some highly paid teaching jobs training oil workers; usually these involve an on/off cycle — 42 days working long hours then 21 days away or some such — with the employer paying a flight out every cycle. Most of these want good qualifications — typically degree, CELTA and five years teaching overseas experience.
>> Teaching Hours
For most classes, considerable lesson planning and preparation is needed to produce reasonable quality lessons. A language teacher's workload is generally 15 to 20 contact hours a week; with prep time and perhaps marking, that is a full time job.
There are exceptions. With small advanced classes, sometimes all you need to do is start a discussion. Preparation consists mainly of choosing a topic; students just grab it and run. Or for some classes, you may be given a carefully laid out program with a textbook, student workbook and sometimes even presentation slides provided; such courses require less preparation. On the other hand, some schools will just dump you in the deep end ("Here's your class; teach it!") with no materials, and sometimes with other problems like no photocopier or Internet or a class where students have wildly different levels of English. In those cases, you put in quite a bit of extra time.
There can of course be problems with this. Some employers want 24 or more classroom hours a week, sometimes with (usually unpaid) additional duties and perhaps with (usually unpaid) travel time to different schools on top of that. They tend to burn out teachers, to be unable to keep staff, and to be continually advertising jobs. Beware of such schools!
Some teachers assume that showing up for class is all they have to do, wandering in with no preparation and inventing a lesson plan as they cross the threshold of the classroom. Expert teachers can pull this off occasionally, but making a habit of it or trying it without a lot of experience generally leads to disaster. Teaching english overseas is not just part of your holiday; it really is a job and needs to be taken at least somewhat seriously.
>> Risks in Teaching English Overseas
There is some risk in taking any overseas job.
If you travel somewhere and then look for work, you avoid some of the risks but you incur expenses. Also you may miss out on benefits; free housing and annual airfare home are more-or-less standard when hiring from overseas, but less common for local hires. Finally, you will likely not be able to get a working visa in advance since you don't have a job. Depending on local regulations, this may be a minor detail or a major hassle.
If you are recruited from half way around the world, it is hard to know exactly what you are getting into or who you are dealing with. Most teachers end up just fine in their overseas jobs, but problems are common enough that being careful is absolutely necessary.
Japanese school Nova goes broke
In October 2007, a large (1000 locations) chain of English schools in Japan crashed, leaving several thousand foreign teachers stranded. Most had not been paid in six weeks or more, and most were in company-provided housing.
>> A School or Business?
Some schools are greedy businesses exploiting both teachers and students; some recruiters are amazingly slimy and interested only in their commission. Many schools and some recruiters are just fine, but definitely not all. There are plenty of horror stories — horrible accommodation, outrageously large classes, demands for unpaid overtime, broken contracts, etc. Of course there are lots of happy teachers in other schools, sometimes even in the same school.
The lowest risk jobs are the government-run recruiting programs described below; these can offer a safe way to get your feet wet. Other government-run places, such as universities and public high schools are also relatively safe.
These factors indicate higher risk for an English Teacher:
Private language schools are riskier than government programs.
"Third-world" countries and those with highly corrupt "systems" are also much riskier.
If a recruiter is involved, your risk is significantly higher; either the school or the recruiter can mess you around.
If the culture is wildly different from your own, then you may not understand the negotiation process you are involved in or know what questions you should be asking.
That said, thousands of teachers are having a wonderful time in jobs with one or more of those risk factors. Some are perfectly happy in jobs with all four! Be aware of risks and use a little caution, and you should be fine.
>> Protect Yourself And Do Your Homework
Check Wikitravel and other teaching overseas sources for information on the location. Do a web search on "pollution" and the city name. If having modern conveniences and Western food is important to you, check websites for major retailers like Ikea or the European supermarket chains Metro and Carrefour to see if they have stores there. Ask the school to email you photos of the accommodation and classrooms.
Checking on the job and the employer is harder. The most important precaution: Ask to talk to current foreign teachers before agreeing to anything. Be extremely wary of any school that will not let you do this.
You can also check the web for comments on potential employers or on recruiters. ESL teachers are a chatty bunch, and mostly literate, so there is a lot of information available. There are many country-specific forums offering school reviews or just a blacklist of problem schools. Take reviews with a grain of salt, though; even quite a good school may have a few angry ex-employees ranting on the web. Look for other web comments and talk to current teachers before drawing any conclusions.
Find Jobs Teaching English Overseas
Browse all jobs teaching English in China, Korea, Japan and Taiwan.
Teaching English Abroad
Get more information on overseas employment teaching English.
Living Overseas
Get more information on living overseas.
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