Feature photo by torres21 / Above photo by gwaar

If that isn’t reason enough to look into ESL work, here are eight hidden benefits to teaching English abroad.

1. The training is painless.

A TESL certificate can be attained through a 100 hour course, and most schools offer evening/weekend sessions or online courses. The fees start at about $500 USD, and many schools have services to help with the job hunt.

If you have some extra cash and want to start your travels immediately, larger ESL schools offer four week TESL training in exotic locations around Europe, Southeast Asia, or Central and South America.

2. You can be a student in your own classroom.

Regardless of age, the students you teach will be excited to see a foreigner take an interest in their culture. Most will gladly offer tips about local foods to eat, places to see, and things to try.

Young students can teach you a lot about pop culture or local slang, and simple conversations will give you insight into their family lives and customs. For just one example, check out Matador member Teresita’s blog, I Heart Our Global Pop Culture Icons.

Photo of Iraqi student by Army.mil

3. A year is a long time…

…to experience a whole calendar’s worth of festivals, holidays, cultural events, and seasonal foods. You’ll get much more insight than a single trip. Also, worldwide holidays like Chinese New Year or Christmas are a bit different in every country. You’ll get to experience a unique version of a familiar holiday.

4. It’s a crash course in cultural sensitivity.

Most expats reach the “Their society makes ZERO sense to me!” phase at some point. It’s a normal step in one’s adjustment to a new culture. Getting past this phase of culture shock means opening your mind to new and unfamiliar things. Whether the traffic laws are driving you crazy, or new acquaintances ask questions that seem invasive to you, be patient.

Photo of Korean students by watchsmart

You’ll come to appreciate the ways in which this foreign culture operates. Most often, you’ll note customs that strike you as far more practical than those in your native country.

5. You’ll get an instant network of local acquaintances.

Whether you’re teaching in a language centre or public school, you’ll be amongst colleagues who speak English. Regardless of their level of expertise, they’ll likely be keen to practice their English conversation skills with you. Not only will you have new friends, but your coworkers can help you navigate the area and its customs better than any guidebook.

6. You’ll be tapping into an excellent grapevine.

A lot of good ESL jobs, and general travel tips, are accumulated by word of mouth. By meeting other ESL teachers, you can get advice about new destinations or jobs from people who have been there, lived that.

Whether you wonder which South American country has the fewest work visa hassles, or you’re curious about how rainy Vietnam’s rainy season really is, other teacher-travelers can help.

Photo by dcJohn

7. Travel is simple with a great home base.

If you’re based in Thailand, you can visit Cambodia or Laos for under $50 USD. If you’re teaching in a European country and you’re close to an airport, a weekend in Prague or Berlin is a cheap RyanAir flight away. Once you’re set up in a foreign country, the journey to other exotic locales becomes much, much easier.

8. It’s a resume-booster, even if you don’t want to teach long-term.

You might worry that this job will look like a blip on your resume. Even if your teaching experience consisted of sing-alongs and barnyard animal flashcards, don’t underestimate the skills you developed along the way. Communicating across cultural barriers, using leadership skills to conduct classes, and picking up a new language (even just conversationally) are great assets.

COMMUNITY CONNECTION

Lots of Matador members are either teaching abroad now or have past ESL experience. Whether you want to teach in Istanbul or

According to Chinese legend, Type O blood gave me a need for adventure.

I retired to a Montana cabin in 2004, wondering if I’d find contentment blogging from my deck between travels. China topped my to-tour list.

Then, opportunity e-mailed: A recruiter needed English teachers in historic Xian.

After months of questioning and waiting, I found myself in a city of six million, a few hours from the Terra Cotta Warriors, facing university sophomores.

Adjustment wasn’t always easy. I could have benefited from employment guides like Teach Abroad China.

Hindsight allows me to share these tips with you:

Shed Your Worries

I fretted about mastering the language, but learned the words for thank you, hello, and bye. I couldn’t master tones and visual characters. Free Chinese lessons, offered with every contract, never materialized. I recorded pinyin (phonetic spelling) on a handy cheat sheet.

My fears about not speaking Chinese dissolved; anyone with a college degree was a “foreign language expert.” I moved from adjustment to acceptance, often feeling strange.

Language wasn’t my only worry upon arriving.

I’d practiced yoga squats before arriving, knowing only hotels boasted sit-down toilets and toilet paper. No worries! Tissues were cheap, and W.C. experiences became comfortable.

Some milk of magnesia before meals helped tummy transitions to spicy foods. I avoided street food, bought sealed bottled water, took vitamins and calcium.

I biked, walked China’s graceful parks (lovely, safe), joined sunrise Tai Chi (free, everywhere), and ran for buses (one yuan, anywhere). Fresh produce, fruits, rice, and noodles unexpectedly melted unwanted pounds.

Destinations

Community Connection to China

Drop Your Preconceptions

I learned to accept that set expectations would change.

I learned to look both ways and cross streets. I began taking aimless weekends, and biked on cobblestones around city walls.

I found out about my vacation time the day it began; however, serendipitously, travel tickets usually went on sale a day before departures.

I wore a mask during heavy pollution to follow Xian’s love affair with eleven dynasties. My favorites were the Shaanxi Historical Museum (teacher discounts) and Big Wild Goose Pagoda’s Fountain Show (free).

I accepted a last-minute weekend invitation to a mountain village, with four generations in one concrete room. My gifts (pens, postcards, stamps, stickers) were left quietly, Chinese-style, on a table. Delighted kids discovered them.

Why did the family disappear one at a time all day? The mystery was resolved at bedtime. They walked me to my hotel room, where each one had taken a luxurious shower!

Examine Your Attitudes

I further relaxed in 2007, teaching laid back Forestry College students in “Spring City,” Kunming City.

Foreigners had their own street, coffee, pizza,and English newspapers. I lapsed into speaking English, taking cabs, and eating Western food.

My students, annoyingly, arrived halfway through class. At break, they apologized for missing English for a “boring Party meeting, but it is necessary.”

I learned patience and dropped movie-based notions about political fervor.

I’d expected different standards of cleanliness, noise, quality, and promptness, but not the extremes I found.

The Chinese, meticulous about clothing, seldom noticed dirt elsewhere. They shouted into cellphones, bought another when something broke, and showed up hours early/late for appointments.

Understanding this lessened my judgments.

Watching my Chinese neighbors, I learned how attitudes were cultural two-sided coins.

Stepping over the ubiquitous trash, I realized that litter provided street sweepers with daily jobs. I set aside recyclables for rubbish collectors to sell. Tired of photographing bare-bottomed babies in split pants, I researched potty training. Toddlers left to play naturally took care of business by watering a bush, requiring no help.

I found out that grandparents, continually holding kids, whistled when babies urinate. Chinese doctors asked why Westerners don’t whistle to obtain samples during medical check ups. I considered America’s disposable diapers and psychology books.

Balancing yin and yang became more fun than one-sided superior attitudes.

Expand Your Boundaries

Occasionally, I retreated to my apartment to enjoy music, books traded among English readers, and my Western link. Mostly, I ate hot pot, learned mah jong, visited temples, and answered the same questions repeatedly at English Corners: “Where you from? You like China? The food?”

In 2008, I deepened a lifelong interest in children, trading college phrases for kindergarten enthusiasm.

I moved to Hainan Island’s “End of the Earth,” South China Sea. Chinese teachers biked with me to Sanya Beach, cooked vegetables from our school garden, and learned American songs and games.

In spite of wearing a moneybelt and my backpack in front on crowded buses, I was robbed in paradise. A bag was grabbed from my bike basket while I snapped pictures nearby. I found that some Chinese, while honest to the point of returning tips, simply helped themselves to anything left unattended.

Vigilance about valuables, creaky knees, and frayed nerves restored with noontime naps. My senses came alive. Hearing my name yelled across playground became my music.

Each stint in China imprinted rich memories: sunrises on mountaintops, open exchange among lasting friendships, the sparkling taste of hotpot. Well past China’s employable age, I was asked back to each job.

I’ve already forgotten any regrets, wondering about 2010’s horizon.

Community Connection

Interested in visiting the Middle Kingdom? Check out Matador’s 8 Places to Experience Unspoiled China. And if you think teaching English could be for you, take a browse through our Teaching Abroad archive.

All photos courtesy of author.

Feature photo by Quinn Mattingly. Photo above by blmurch.

So you’ve moved to a new country for work/study/self-growth, and culture shock has hit. It’s all too easy to hide from the world in that expat pub, speaking English and bonding with others over your cultural hurdles. Instead, follow our tips for immersing yourself in this new country, through food, friends, and language:

Find a native roommate.

If you’ve gone overseas to work, ask your employer for help. Otherwise, check housing websites like Craigslist. A native roommate will keep you connected to the country through language, food, and mannerisms.

Even if you don’t become the best of friends, a roommate is a great asset for all those little questions. (”Where can I buy lightbulbs?” “How late do the subways run?”)

Practice a new word every day.

Language immersion is crucial. Learn a new word or phrase every day, starting with basics like “Excuse me” and “That was delicious.” Practice on as many people as you can. It takes time, but it will stick.

Photo by blmurch.

Eat like a local.

Instead of familiar chain restaurants, hit the local eateries. You’ll eat the most authentic local dishes when they’re not catered to a tourist palate. And when ordering, forget the phrasebook. Listen carefully to the way locals order their food and imitate them as best you can, even if you’re not 100% sure what they’re saying.

The same goes when shopping at local markets. Imitating the way locals make their transactions is the gateway to language acquisition–you’re not translating, but already “speaking” their language.

Set up a language exchange.

A language exchange is an opportunity to make friends and to learn local slang and idioms. Post a flyer or online advertisement for find a partner. If you’re living in a city with a university, contact the English department, as they may have information.

Steer clear of gloomy expat bars.

When your new culture gets overwhelming, it’s all too easy to hit the expat bars for some American music and familiar comfort food. But when culture clashes strike, the best course of action is to sit back and learn from them. Griping with fellow foreigners about the things you dislike in your adopted country will only alienate you from it.

Photo by philyook.

Find an ally or two.

Still, there’s no need to avoid other expats altogether. A good expat friend will want you both to navigate this new culture together, not join you in shying away from it. Seek people with the same interests as you and the same curiosity for the country you’re in.

Close the guidebook.

Keeping your nose in a guidebook means you’ll be meeting other travelers at guidebook-recommended places, but not many locals. Instead, ask a local for his or her recommendation on restaurants, sights, or maybe his / her favorite place to go and relax.

Nine times out of ten, their insider tips (for example, your coworker’s cousin’s art show) will take you places that a guidebook never could.

Accept all invitations.

At least as many as you can tolerate. Go to dinner with your zealous boss. Take that flyer for a student battle of the bands. Have tea with the eccentric housewife next door.

These interactions can give you insight to different viewpoints of the culture. It might not be an offer you’d take back home, but now is as good a time as any to break routines.

Community Connection:

Looking to meet some locals on your travels? Check out 6 Essential Items to Pack if you Want to Meet the Locals or 6 Strategies to Connect with Locals Through Sports.