Steps to Teaching Abroad?
 

Hi everyone! I am currently a undergrad student that is pursuing a teaching degree(early childhood to fourth grade levels). I have one more year left in my undergraduate education and am very interested in teaching abraod. I came across this website and am so happy to have found it. Reading the experiences of others already teaching abroad is exactly what I was searching for. Although this site has useful information for those already teaching abroad, I was wondering if someone could direct me towards a path of how to teach abroad. Should I be doing something about it now or after I graduate? What are some good resources or other sites to look at. Any additional tips or info would be greatly appreciated! Hope to hear from someone soon :)

Re: Steps to Teaching Abroad?
 

Hi Terry and welcome to the site!

With a teaching degree in your pocket you will have a wide variety of jobs to choose from. I would start researching countries that you might be interested in teaching in. Also, when you narrow it down to a few countries, see when the normal hiring time is for that country or are they always hiring.

When you are about 4-6 months away from graduation, start looking for jobs that are available. some jobs will post early about their job openings while others will post quite close to the starting date. take your time, the right job will come.

The process is not as hard as it seems. once you are hired, the employer will tell you what they need and what you need to do before you arrive.

Here are some more resources:
Jobs
Looking at Job Offers
How to Find a Good ESL Teaching Job

Re: Steps to Teaching Abroad?
 

Thanks for the help Eric! It really helped me out.

Re: Steps to Teaching Abroad?
 

No problem, Terry. Glad I could help. :)

Re: Steps to Teaching Abroad?
 

I think the first step should be to learn the language of the country where you want to teach.
If you come to Italy for example I could help you.
Ballerino

Re: Steps to Teaching Abroad?
 

Where ever you plan on going always contact the teacher who is currently teaching in the school so that you can get more of an idea about the job and the area in which you will be working.

Re: Steps to Teaching Abroad?
 

One of the steps you can take, just to check out if you'd like to become a teacher is to find a job as a language assistant for example in my country Spain. That's what I did after I graduated, I applied for a position as a language assistant and got a job at secondary school in Ireland. I had to work with the kids and help them improve oral skills. I learned a lot and it was a very enrichening experience. In Spain the Department of Education provides schools with language assistants every year. My school applies every year and sometimes there is a shortage of them. This year we have an undergraduate from Kansas who wants to improve her Spanish.
Good luck!

Re: Steps to Teaching Abroad?
 

[quote=argente]That's what I did after I graduated, I applied for a position as a language assistant and got a job at secondary school in Ireland. QUOTE]

You taught in Ireland? Cool! May I ask what part?

(I'm from Ireland :D )

Re: Steps to Teaching Abroad?
 

[quote=livinginkorea]Yeah, of course. I lived and worked in Cork City. I taught in school called FarranFerris. Unfortunately, the school which was 100something years old has closed its doors recently. What part of Ireland are you from, "livinginkorea"? Do you miss it? I really do sometimes. Slàn:)

Re: Steps to Teaching Abroad?
 

I lived in Munster, in Co. Clare and moved to Korea about 3 years ago. What do you think about teaching in Ireland? Was the money ok? I only ask 'cas eventually I might want to move back there but the tax is so high so it's a difficult choice.

Go raibh maith agat :becky:

Re: Steps to Teaching Abroad?
 

It was good, a good craic, as you say in Eire.I wasn't in charge of the whole lesson, I only had to teach speaking- prepare the lads for their Junior Cert and Leaving Cert. Encourage them to communicate in Spanish, so my lessons were like a bonus, we played a lot of games,so I was very popular, + the fact it was the first time they had a Spanish language assistant and I was female in a all boys' school(most of the teachers were male too).
The pay was not bad, I could survive. I don't remember how much, it was back in 1989-90- but I'm sure it is much better now. Whenever I go back to Eire I find everything pricier- specially if you compare it with Spain. Sorry I can't help you more. How do you like working in Korea? It must be really hard trying to learn the language.
slàn

Re: Steps to Teaching Abroad?
 

Hi there,

I'm of the survivor mentality.

If you like a place and you want to go there - then just go. Throw caution to the wind, be prepared to work hard, and things will probably work out.

One thing though, while England and Ireland are devastatingly green and gorgeous, with good beer, how do you cope with the low skies and much of the year? Go East...less rain I think.

Not to mention the additional cost of hiring a marquee every time you want a BBQ in case it rains.

Re: Steps to Teaching Abroad?
 

I'd go along with Pix to a certain extent.
Sure, try and learn a few words before you go but basically just go. It's rare that there are too many teachers in a town and even if the schools are full there's always private work floating around. In fact the private work generally pays more because they tend to be individual lessons and they pay in cash. (Of course you'd declare any such earnings to the relevant fiscal authority :whistle: )

Re: Steps to Teaching Abroad?
 

Haha I have learnt enough Korean to get by now. The annoying thing is that even when I speak Korean they mostly answer in broken English. If I ask the question in Korean then obviously I know the answer in Korean but this never happens, I get the answer in English. Strange.

Glad that you enjoyed Ireland. I'm sure that you were very popular with the boys. I can remember my native French teacher in my secondary school. It was love at first sight :lol: