Wednesday, November 14, 2012

Teaching English abroad: where to start?

One of the most frequent type of question I received when we were offering advising was about prospects for teaching English abroad. Many folks had friends teaching abroad or, even more basically, had "heard" about teaching English overseas and understood it to be an "easier" way to get abroad and to get abroad without a specific skill set (other than a native facility with the language).

Well, over the years I pulled together a fairly solid set of introductory resources that I would recommend to folks starting out exploring the field. So what follows isn't exhaustive but it will, I trust, offer folks an entryway to learn more about the ins & outs of teaching English abroad as well as possibly offering those already familiar with the basics with some additional "hidden gems".

But let's start with a couple important reminders:

You don't need to be "passionate" about teaching to be a success teaching English abroad but you do need to be at least interested in it. It's a good idea to try to get some experience locally before diving too deeply into an international search. Try tutoring with local literacy organizations or in K-12 schools. Many US colleges & universities offer English tutoring programs for international students -- sign up, get some training, and get some experience. You won't necessarily get classroom experience but it can give you at least some sense of whether working with struggling (or non-native) English speakers is something you have a taste and/or talent for.

If you tutor one hour a week and within a couple weeks you feel it's a chore or you dread it... then teaching English abroad is most definitely NOT for you and that's important to know before shipping yourself, potentially, halfway around the world...

If you enjoy the work then you might want to start looking at options.

The best searches are those that are focused. The resources below are meant to help narrow the scope of any search but it pays to have a sense of specific interests going in.

If you can, narrow your search to particular countries (and even cities) of interest. You'll also want/need to get focused on the sort of students you're interested in working with (kids, business people, high schoolers, etc) and how your background/experience/training matches with those more specific interests. Once you've educated yourself about the general field & possibilities, a series of narrow, focused searches will be far more useful than a single generic search (try Googling "teach English abroad" – oy!).

Certification is not a requirement to teach abroad. There are all sorts of reasons to get certified as well as reasons not to, but in general you can find opportunities teaching English abroad without being certified.

Teaching abroad is one way to get abroad and to get paid while being abroad. That said, it's important to realize that if you are graduating with student loans the mere fact of being out of the country does not exempt you from making the required loan payments!! Depending on your circumstances and how large the outstanding loans are there are workarounds (for instance, banking a few months worth of payments and then having loan payments automatically deducted from a parked bank account). Remitting money from overseas can be ridiculously expensive.

There are a LOT of different options. You can go with placement firms, certification organizations (some will guarantee placement, some just assist), direct contact with schools... It's a maze out there.

And with those pearls of wisdom out of the way, let's get to the resources:

Two good basic introductory sites I like pointing folks to who are exploring teaching English opportunities are:

http://www.transitionsabroad.com/listings/work/esl/index.shtml
http://www.daveseslcafe.com/

Dave's ESL Cafe also has region & country-specific discussion boards that are well worth browsing (though they are tucked away  in the navigation). You can find them at:

http://forums.eslcafe.com/job/index.php

Neither of the above sites is tied to any particular commercial provider or school (though you can get lots of information on providers through the stories, resources, and links on the Transitions Abroad page in particular, as well as exploring questions such as whether to get certified and the like).

If you're looking to explore connecting with English-language schools directly you can explore:

http://www.eslteachersboard.com/cgi-bin/latam-schools/index.pl
http://www.eslbase.com/schools/

There are links to other regions/countries in the header of the first link above.

I always suggest holding off on direct contact with schools until you've educated yourself about the field a bit (and perhaps have a better sense of the sort of work you're looking for and where you'd like to go).

There are a number of government run/sponsored programs out there:

Cultural Ambassadors: North American Language and Culture Assistants in Spain
http://www.educacion.gob.es/eeuu/convocatorias-programas/convocatorias-eeuu/auxiliares-conversacion-eeuu.html

English Opens Doors Program (Chile)
http://www.centrodevoluntarios.cl/

Japan Exchange and Teaching Program
http://www.us.emb-japan.go.jp/JET/

Teach and Learn with Georgia
http://www.tlg.gov.ge/

Teach for China
http://www.tfchina.org/

Teaching Assistant Program in France
http://www.frenchculture.org/spip.php?rubrique424

Sandy Arfa here at the UW-Madison coordinates the Teachers to Gyeonggi-do program. Unfortunately, the website is rather badly out of date – http://www.english.wisc.edu/esl/ttg-home.html – but those in the upper Midwest should contact Ms Arfa directly if interested in this program.

There is also GoinGlobal, a commercial resource providing country guides for living & working abroad – including information on opportunities teaching English (where appropriate):

http://www.goinglobal.com/

That's the commercial front door. UW-Madison (and I am sure many other schools) career centers have purchased site licenses allowing students to access the full resource for free. Check with the  career services office at your school for information.

UW-Madison students & alumni should be able to get free access to GoinGlobal through BuckyNet:

http://www.lssaa.wisc.edu/careers/buckynet/index.html
http://www.uwalumni.com/home/buckynet.aspx

I am also a big proponent of not trying to do everything online. There are two books I usually suggest to those of a similar bent (and who are interested in going into slightly greater depth as to the issues involved in teaching English abroad beyond just tracking down teaching jobs):

Teaching English Overseas by Jeff Mohamed
http://www.amazon.com/dp/0967706203

Teaching English Abroad by Susan Griffith
http://www.amazon.com/dp/1854585967

For those in the Madison area we have copies of both books available for browsing in our library in 301 Ingraham Hall.

And... if you develop a specific country interest contact your alumni association and see if they have a directory of alumni abroad or even overseas chapters that you can contact. For example, the Wisconsin Alumni Association maintains a list of chapters & contacts around the world:

http://www.uwalumni.com/home/chaptersandaffiliates/intlchapterslist/intlchapterslist.aspx

Finally, be sure to keep an eye on http://twitter.com/Go_Global where we post announcements of the latest opportunities to work, teach, intern, and volunteer worldwide.

Want to share your reaction to the above?
Email Go Global! with your thoughts or comment below.

Wednesday, October 31, 2012

Working while studying abroad: what are the options?

The following list, and a marvelous one it is, was originally compiled by Lisa Brown (Center for International Affairs, Case Western Reserve University) and distributed through the SECUSS-L listserv for education abroad professionals on 21 August 2012.

Included is information on countries that allow students to work on visas appropriate for study abroad. In addition, Ms Brown noted that she had been told that it was possible (read: legal) for students to work in both Spain & Thailand but had not been able to find any verification/confirmation for either. I haven't had any luck confirming either -- only discussion threads indicating the equivalent of "oh, don't worry, everybody does it!!" Maybe, but...

Here are the details Ms Brown so usefully pulled together:

In Australia, students are able to work up to 40 hours per fortnight on a student visa if they apply for permission. Someone reported that there is an extra fee for this permission, but I was unable to verify this. Source.

In Denmark, students are able to work up to 15 hours per week as long as they apply for a work permit. Source.

In France, student visa holders are permitted to work 964 hours over a 12-month period. This is 60% of the 35-hour per week legal limit, which amounts to 1,607 hours per year. Source.

In Ireland, US students can work up to 20 hours a week when their academic programme is in session or up to 40 hours a week when their program is on an official school holiday. However, this only applies to programs of an academic year's duration or more. Source.

In Italy, those with visas and permesso di soggiorno can work up to 20 hours per week. However, note that processing times often make this impractical for study abroad students. Source.

In the Netherlands, students can work 10 hours per week with the appropriate permit. Source.

In New Zealand, most students can work up to 20 hours per week. Source.

In the United Kingdom, students who enter the UK on an actual student visa (not as a student visitor) can also work part-time (up to 10 hours or 20 hours depending on the program). Source.

Are there other possibilities that are missing from the above? What was your experience working -- outside of the program opportunity -- while studying abroad? Let us know!!

Want to share your reaction to the above?
Email Go Global! with your thoughts or comment below.