How I Did It?
Having graduated from University College for English Language teacher Education, I decided to explore the world. I wasn’t interested in pursuing my studies and obtaining my Masters, unlike most of my friends. I discovered a student-run organization AIESEC and I applied for an internship in Algeria. To my (bad)luck, things didn’t go as I wished, and I didn’t go there. I eventually applied for a teaching position in Morocco, and went there for, at first, three months. I’ve been in Morocco since 2013, and even though I have been changing jobs and at the moment I am not a teacher, I am still here.
Is It A Well Paid Job?
Everything depends on the company you are going to work with. My first teaching job was really badly paid, barely 350 euros a month, I hardly even made it to live off it throughout the month! On the flipside, I have a friend who has been working for British Council in different countries and she can’t complain about her salary. I also know a guy who lives in Africa and delivers business English courses to CEOs of biggest companies and he earns around 50 euros per class (which is really good as for African conditions). It varies, as you can see, and discrepancies in salaries can be massive!
Apart from your regular classes at school, you can also give one-to-one lessons privately. I know lots of European teachers who went to work in Thailand, Japan and China, because Western teachers are highly desired in Asia.
How Can You Do It?
The possibilities are endless, you just have to look around! I’ll give you some options to choose from:
#1. TEFL or CELTA. These are the most appreciated ESL certificates that you can get. Having CELTA in your pocket, you’re always on the winning position, and you will get any job you apply for. British Council requires this from their teachers. It’s an expensive certificate, around 1000 GBP, and the course takes about one month of every day classes to complete. TEFL is cheaper, it is also widely recognised however, slightly less worth than CELTA. Here’s a review of the TEFL Academy to start teaching abroad today. How to get one of the above? Google it and you’ll see numerous websites offering courses and exams. You can do it in most of the countries, all over the world.
#2 A University diploma in the followign fields: languages, education, philology, linguistics and so forth. You can search for schools by yourself or travel to a country and look for work once there. It’ll be way harder in Western Europe, for this hardcore version, I’d suggest Africa, South America, Eastern Europe or Asia where teachers of ESL are needed and wanted!
#3 AIESEC or any other organization that helps people to find an internship abroad. This organization has local committees in over 100 countries, so it is quite possible you’ll find it in yours as well!
Is It Worth It?
I would say that it is totally up to you to determine your “worth” and “not worth.” If you are a person that loves challenges and work with people, doesn’t like to be stuck in a routine, loves having culture shocks and getting out of the comfort zone – this is definitely a job for you and you should go for it!
Everything also depends on your personality, but I believe that if you’re still reading this article, it means you’re interested and it could be a perfect choice for you to travel the world and teach!
Make up your mind and good luck!
Follow Monika on her blog, www.writingcomeseasier.com.
