Hi, I stumbled upon this site by accident when looking for a site to talk to teachers who teach abroad. I will be a senior in high school and am interested I teaching english abroad. Th problem is I dont know where to start. which college would be best? what questuons do i ask about their english and foreign language program? Where should i teach where i can find a job the easiest? any  advice or tips would mpbe much appreciated. Thank you!

Hi there,

There are two ways to get into teaching abroad. The first is by taking a TEFL course, either an online certificate, a four-week face-to-face intensive course or a Bachelor's degree in TESOL. Any of these will enable you to teach at private language schools around the world (subject to meeting visa conditions). The second way is by becoming a certified elementary/high school teacher in your home country and using that to teach in International Schools (schools that teach the British/American schools curriculum) around the world. Only you can decide which route would suit you better.

Your nationality and the passport you hold will determine where you can teach. For example, if you don't hold a passport from an EU member state, much of Europe will not be an option for you; if you are non-native English speaker, South Korea is out; if you are under 25, Indonesia is out, etc.

Without knowing where you're from, where you're interested in working, whether you see this as a gap-year or a full-time career, or what you hope to gain from teaching abroad, it's difficult to offer more tailored advice.

Briona

Hey, just to add to what Briona said, you seem to be asking about which university degree would be best for TEFL. Now, a degree in TESOL is great to have when you are TEFLing, but equally good are degrees in English language, teaching and Linguistics normally. A teaching degree is great, as it opens up a lot more options, but if this isn't for you (turns out it wasn't for me, I tried to do a one year teaching course called a PGCE) then the others are great. Maybe you will spend the rest of your life TEFLing, but if you don't, employers for other jobs look a lot more favorably on a linguistics course than a TESOL one, as a general rule. 

As for where you should teach, the general areas are

1. The Far East: This is where I am now, quite easy to get a job as a general rule, and in the developed countries the pay is good! The down sides are generally really long working hours and little holiday, although this is just a general overview.

2. South America: Desperate for English teachers, Spanish is easier to learn than Korean and the work week is less hours generally. The downside is that it's pretty difficult to get visas, and pay isn't amazing.

3. Europe: Nearly impossible without an EU passport, especially if you're looking at a carear. However, for those of us with EU passports, it's close to home. The language is generally latin based, especially in Western Europe. Generally a classroom course, rather than an online course and a degree are necessary, but experience can outweigh this. It's harder to get a job here than in 1 and 2.

4. Africa: Nearly all voluntary, but there is a little paid work out there. I don't know a lot about this one.

5. The Middle East: Requires a degree in one of the things I mentioned before, often plus a classroom course, plus experience. Generally not somewhere to start out, unless you are a full qualified teacher. BIG cultural differences, which can be a good or bad thing. However, the pay is awesome, as are the benifits. Also, there is more of a carear path here.

6. English speaking countries: You need a classroom course for these, and generally experience. Pay is terrible, as there are a lot of people qualified and with experience, but you won't have as much trouble finding your way around. The people you teach are different to who you teach in other countries (and it isn't called TEFLing in an English speaking country, it's called TESLing). You will have trouble doing this legally and long term in any country you don't already have the right to work.

thanks! i appreciate all the responses. I have been to japan and absolutely LOVED it! I talked with an english teacher from America while I was there and learned a bit. I would love to teach in the east. i love learning about new cultures and am very open minded. Are these specific degrees, TESL and whatnot, only available online? Im from the united states as well.

No, you can do any of the degrees I mentioned at a regular university, anywhere in the world. There are some distance learning courses.

Most people don't have a degree in TEFL/TESL (TEFL is teaching English as a foreign language, which you generally do abroad and TESL is teaching English as a second language, which you generally do in your own country, TESOL covers both of those acronyms). A lot of people, myself and Briona included, have done a shorter course. Mine was a 4 week classroom course, called CertTESOL (this is pretty much the same as CELTA). You can also do an online course. Online is cheaper, but less well recognised, classroom courses are more expensive, but more places in the world recognise them.

okay thanks. ill probably end up going to a university, that would be the best way for me since i prefer to be face to face with a teacher. Im sure I'll have more questions later but I cant think of anymore right now. I just need to start looking into schools!

Hey guys am finished a Tefl 140 hour course and I have bsc in Sport Scince also have loads of experience in dealing with children and have been employed by a number of schools this year for Physical Education and I am looking to go to Dubai to teach any advice for on the best way to go about this

Firstly, you probably want to post in your own topic :)