Teaching in foreign countries

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  • colin_s

    Anyone ever done this? I feel the need to shake my life up and am thinking of going for a TEFL certification and then moving to Japan to teach English for a spell.

    Experiences? Stories? Recommendations?

  • robotron3k-2

    I met many teachers in my travels earlier this year in South East Asia.

    The "ex-pat" teachers I met came from Canada and USA mostly. They were kind of outliers, so to speak, cast aways and sort of odd Westerners.

    What I learned was some stayed in Japan for no more than a year, in Thailand about the same, and currently the best paying is Vietnam, around $25 per hour. Also, Madrid most popular, people stayed around 2-3 years.

    The idea IMO is you want to go someplace where English is very popular and people want to learn and you don't want to be assigned to some school very very far away with a very hard rigid curriculum. the rigid curriculums are things that are difficult keeping English teachers. I understand years ago English was a big deal in the in Japan but things have changed. So I think you want to go someplace where you're kind of a big deal.

    I did find some other services very interesting where families would pay for your room and board if you came in and taught English to a set of kids maybe five-six or seven they're very interested in that in Southeast Asia and Vietnam.

    Google, staydu, worldpackers, and workaway.

    Good luck, hope you have a badass journey.

    • Also, learn about "visa runs". That means you have to leave a country every few months to renew your Visa. See if you need to do this too...robotron3k
    • That wouldn’t apply here, a “visa run” is sort of a loophole for someone who wants to continue staying in a country on a tourist visa.yuekit
    • An English teacher would have a work visa and would just renew through the normal process.yuekit
    • Yes, I believe the loop hole was def being used to the max...robotron3k
    • Also would be very surprised if Japan pays less than Vietnam.yuekit
    • work those immigration loopholes robo ;)fadein11
  • mugwart0

    From my ex-wife (Japanese) it is hell to do this in Japan.
    Not fun and very hard to live. If you can get a job at a western company in Japan your probably living the highest quality of life.