teach english abroad?

[QuickMick]

the hull diving thread got me thinking. anyone ever teach english overseas? might be a legitimate way to live somewhere/get paid for 6 months, then cruise to the next classroom somewhere else for six months? seems like it may be an end around to the international labor laws?

or any other suggestions on viable work abroad solutions would be appreciated.

[denverd0n]

Plenty of people make money by teaching English overseas. It is not an "end around" the labor laws. Just like with any other sort of work, in most countries you will be required to have a work visa in order to teach English, whether for cash or for barter.

If the idea is to set up your own "school" of sorts, on your boat, from whence you teach your lessons, then the laws will be exactly the same as for starting any other business. It is sometimes easier to get permission to start a business in a foreign country than it is to get a work visa, but that is going to vary greatly from country to country.

[MarkCK]

I like this train of thought while I am bogged down in corporate drudgery. When I was in college I used to see flyer's for this all the time. Where does one even start when it comes to looking for such a job?

[killarney_sailor]

Interesting that this topic came up, we are thinking about this for our journey. We have been investigating cruising to China (oh, the bureaucracy in that!) and were wondering if we could combine teaching English and finding a secure (typhoons) dock in an interesting part of the country. It would be easier because I am a retired teacher with experience teaching ESL. My wife was born in China and has a doctorate in physics - we were wondering if she could get a job teaching science in a school or even in a nursery school (not science) since she loves young children.

Not sure how it would work overall since most of the places that have lots of ESL jobs are off the beaten cruising track - China, South Korea, and Japan come to mind, Singapore or Malaysia might be a possibility. I think in Europe there is no shortage of English teachers and in most tropical countries there is not the money available to pay for ESL, at least by our standards.

We will be leaving our boat in New Zealand in Nov/11 and would go to China either late 2011 or early 2012 - we will have to see what we can do about this.

[svHyLyte]

I would thing that one requirement for teaching english is a measure of fluency in the native language of the students one will be teaching, no?

[killarney_sailor]

Actually not - many new university grads head off to East Asia to teach English in places like Korea and Japan not knowing a word of the local. The English learning for students improves when everything happens in the class in English. Increasingly you need to have some sort of certification. May not be full teacher cert but a short-term ESL program will do.

[QuickMick]

it appears that there are a bunch of places to get said cert, but i dont know who is reputable/offers the best placement assistence...

Teach Abroad: International Teaching Positions - Teach Abroad Programs at GoAbroad.com

Teach English Abroad, Teaching English Abroad - LanguageCorps

from what I could gather, european countries pay approx 1000 EU/MO, about 1350 USD.

[MarkCK]

You definetely wont get rich on $1350. Does anyone know anyone that has done this before?

[edguy3]

I have a friend who currently teaches "Mickey Mouse English" (really) in Japan, China and other nearby countries. Liked it so much he settled there.

My wife's cousin taught for Nova in Japan for a year right out of grad school - loved it ( moved to Rwanda afterwards)

And another cousin supports teachers at the English Language Institute in China (English Language Institute China - Home)

If you're serious, I'm sure they'd love to talk about their experiences and perhaps opportunities. PM me.

[SailingWebGuy]

Three of my buddies are teaching in Asia. Two in South Korea and one in China. One of the guys went over 4 years ago. After learning the language he stopped teaching and now does some kind of consulting and is making pretty good money.