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I've applied to tons of jobs lately, from things like Bank Teller and Customer Service, to McDonalds and Burger King, but even the most basic sorts of places are not calling back. I'm pretty desperate. I don't want to be one of the college grads who spend years looking for jobs. I don't ask for much, it's just crazy that absolutely no one is hiring. I have a clear history, good academic record, a Bachelor's Degree soon, extracurriculars, f*** me, how much do they ****ing want to flip a burger? That said, for whatever reason the English-teaching companies abroad always call back and accept me into their programs (I have to wait until I graduate to work for them). Programs in Japan and South Korea seem too good to be true, with like $2000+ monthly salaries. I've heard good experiences from friends about teaching in South Korea, so that's where I'm leaning towards. My question is, what is the catch to being an English teacher abroad? $2000 a month for teaching sounds too good to be true
Each country is different, and schools within the same country can be different too. Somewhat a roll of the dice, at least on your first stint. Go to Dave's ESL Cafe (eslcafe.com), lots of good info there.
Before you get excited about $2000 a month learn about the cost of living in each place.
Given where you are in your career, it does sound appealing, but in reality it’s only around $11.50 an hour - less than minimum wage in some west coast cities nowadays.
Well, for many people, being away from home and in a foreign country is the downside. I'd imagine teaching English abroad is pretty good for your resume, and it does seem like it'd be right up your alley.
What will you do when you return to the US? You can watch YouTube videos from people currently teaching abroad.
? Most people I know who did this have great careers now. I am certainly glad I taught in Japan, and I think most other people I know who did it are also very happy with their choice and have good careers now. (I was there in the middle part of the 2000s). It’s a great option to do something interesting in your 20s and get out and see the world. Some of my friends from working in Japan went on to teach in S. Korea (one twice) and they really loved it there too. A family member has a friend from college who has intermittently been teaching in Japan but is otherwise in big tech in Seattle/SV. I believe she is fluent, so that is probably an asset.
On the other hand, I had one friend who really wanted to do it and was rejected from JET twice and then went into one of the other schools in Japan only to have some sort of breakdown after a few months and go home. You definitely need to have the right personality because depending on where you apply, you might end up in a more rural area without much of a support network. FWIW, the friends I had who were in rural areas loved it, so it really depends on your personality. I was in a medium sized city and I think the downside was that it was a little more expensive than most areas due to the topography, but otherwise I liked it a lot.
I agree with the prior poster that it’s best to check out eslcafe.com because there is a kind of hierarchy of companies in each country. That was the case when I was there and I am sure that is still the case now. Some companies are much better than others in terms of benefits, pay, working conditions, available locations, living conditions, etc.
$2000 a month for teaching sounds too good to be true
That's only about $500 a week, or $24,000 a year. Since you'll have a degree, im not sure if I would consider that type of paycheck "too good to be true." Its great for the experience, but I wouldn't do it just for the money.
That's only about $500 a week, or $24,000 a year. Since you'll have a degree, im not sure if I would consider that type of paycheck "too good to be true." Its great for the experience, but I wouldn't do it just for the money.
I got I 26k a year job without a degree, but I hate the job and I'm looking for something better now that I have a general studies degree. If I don't do the MSW, I'm tempted to do the alt-cert into teaching, since cost of living is low here and teachers start out making 49k here. Do you have an alt-cert program where you live? If you become a high school teacher then get nationally certified, you could take advantage of the high pay and low cost of living in shreveport.
South Korea and Japan really are some of the best places to teach. There are tons of vloggers who do it on YouTube who you can learn from. I used to want to do that as a career, but after taking the classes for it, I realized it was not for me. The only real catch I would say is that it's very competitive, it can be hard to adjust to living if you don't speak the language of the country, and in South Korea, last I heard from professors, it's a legal requirement that foreign English teachers there get some sort of certification for teaching such as TESOL (Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages). But in other countries like Japan, just need any bachelor degree and a certification helps for sure, especially when there are so many others that have them that you'll be competing with; but isn't a real requirement in a lot of cases.
I think you should try to teach English overseas. Some of the suggestions here are helpful. It's relatively easy to research online and find other people who have worked doing this job. Find out what the pay would cover in each of the countries and go for it.
Personally, I would do it in a heartbeat. I was interested in doing this right out of college, however, I had to pay back student loans so it limited my ability to teach English overseas.
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