Teaching abroad can be great….or horrible. Make sure you do your research before signing on the dotted line.
So you’ve decided to go teach overseas, you’ve read up on different countries, and maybe you’ve even taken a TESL course.
Foreign TESL jobs can open the door to travel and adventure, but no matter how lovely the country may be, it’s the job that will make or break your experience. And arranging a job from halfway around the globe makes it tough to tell whether it’s quality or not.
Some teachers walk unknowingly into poorly-run schools and have to spend months struggling with few resources, crowded classrooms, and dodgy pay schedules. Others make the mistake of assuming workplace practices are similar to those in their home countries, and are then hit with cultural barriers when issues like overtime and sick days come up.
Below are five tips to help you ensure that the job you’re about to take is credible and (hopefully) hassle-free.
1. Go over the details.
Most contracts will cover the policies for vacation time, overtime pay, and grounds for dismissal; all good rules to know, especially in a foreign culture whose work ethic may differ from yours.
If you’re signing up with a larger chain of language schools, your contract might simply say that these important details are administered “as per the policies of [Language School X].” Before you sign, find out what those policies are, and get them in writing. This can mean the difference between two days and two weeks of vacation time in a 12-month contract.
2. Ask about resources.
There are nightmarish ESL stories floating around involving untrained teachers being chucked into a classroom with no book, no materials, and forty pairs of expectant eyes starting at them.
Photo: bionicteaching
Before you sign anything, ask about the materials used in your school. Public schools might have a set-in-stone curriculum, whereas private schools sometimes ask teachers to prepare all of their own lessons. A simple inquiry might save you the trouble of spending each day designing whole lesson plans from scratch.
3. Discuss the visa
Some schools will help you arrange a work visa in advance, while others will ask you to enter the country on a tourist visa and process the paperwork on their side. In the latter case, this can involve long unpaid days in bureaucratic waiting rooms, or “border runs” where you travel to a neighboring country and back in order to legitimize the new visa.
In any case, your employer should tell you what to expect in the visa process, whether the school will pay the fees, and how much work you might have to miss while this processing occurs.
4. Contact your predecessor.
Ask your potential employer if you can have the email address of the teacher whose job you’ll be filling. Write this teacher a simple inquiry about their experience, and why they’re leaving the position.
Photo: rivard
You’ll get a fellow foreigner’s perspective, and he/she can give you more general tips about living overseas, like what to pack or which Western items are rare/expensive in the place you’re interested in. Know that if you’re being hired by a new language school or through a recruitment agency, they might not have contacts to give you. If that’s the case…
5. Google
Try searching the name of the school online, and read the results with a grain of salt. There are discussion boards and forums aplenty in the ESL world, from Dave’s ESL Cafe to employer blacklist sites such as tefl blacklist.
Bear in mind a few things while you’re searching. First, people usually take to the message boards when they’re angry. For every teacher writing slanderous posts, there might be dozens of employees at the same school who are thrilled with their jobs, but keeping those thoughts off the Internet.
Second, try to get a sense of the person behind the complaints.
Photo: desheffer
A lot of people enter the ESL field with more interest in travel than in education. Of course they’ll have trouble with the jobs, as they would with any teaching position, because it’s not the job for them. Private message or email people and ask them what they search for in a position, and why they did or didn’t like their previous job.
An overseas teaching position is one of the best ways to get inside of another culture, but like any experience of cultural exchange, it can be tricky, complicated, and frustrating as well as exhilarating. Do your research beforehand to ensure you’ll be off to a smooth start in the classroom.
Community Connection
Hey, all you teachers out there! Help those who’re thinking of making the plunge into teaching navigate the labyrinth of possibilities! Sound off about your experiences with different schools, contracts, and countries.
Thinking about teaching in Asia? Check out Matador’s guide to teaching in China, Korea or Japan.
If you’re just beginning to explore the thought of heading abroad to teach, look over these 8 hidden benefits of teaching English abroad to motivate yourself.
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10 Comments... join the discussion!
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You raise a good point John; the distinction between ESL and EFL is an important one, and an oversight on my part. Thanks for pointing it out – I’m sure it’ll save the readers some confusion!
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VERY good information to know. I plan on teaching English in a another country at some point, and I’ll be keeping this article on hand so I’ll know what to look for when I do.
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Definitely good tips, and I liked what you said about taking rants on sites like Dave’s with a grain of salt. I hit up the forums on that site a lot when I lived in Korea (for general living info in addition to employment), and the ratio of pissed off people was MUCH higher there than in the general expat population.
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Could not agree more about Dave’s ESL! I found a position in Japan and went on Dave’s ESL to check it out. Everything on there was extremely negative ranting, but when I asked none of the bitchy comments came from anyone who’d actually ever worked with the company! I ended up leaving a post asking if anyone who was saying all of these condescending, negative things had ever had any personal experience with the company or could offer the testimony of someone who did, and no one responded. Hmmm.
Then I got one private message from a person who had actually worked with the company and recommended it, and when I took the position and came, three out of the six teachers had already done several contracts with the company and really enjoyed it!
So yes, oftentimes the people on those forums literally live and thrive there being negative and complaining about everything, and most have never actually had experiences with the places they’re bitching about. I’ve met plenty of other teachers who say they’d never actually consult Dave’s ESL for a balanced opinino about a job or a place, but you can find some people on there (like the guy who sent me a private message) who are willing to give decent information.
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exactly. the more research the better, but one informed, reasonable contact is worth 12 ranting fools on a message board.
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Trying to set up an ESL job from half way around the world is challenging enough as it is, but if you’re trying to work in Argentina then you should know that 99% of the schools will not hire someone who is not currently residing in the country. This is in part an effort to not have to a) pay for the teacher’s flight, b) sort out the teacher’s work visa, but it’s mainly just the culture. People are very warm and friendly here, but they need that face-to-face contact to decide if they want to hire you.
Most people come here on a tourist visa and find work with schools or companies that offer business English courses and don’t have a problem. Although the government does require a work visa for foreigners, most language schools don’t (unofficially).
It’s a little intimidating, the thought of moving somewhere before you know whether you’ll have a job or not, but in Buenos Aires people do it all the time and there’s always work to be found somewhere.↵ -
I’m so glad I found this website!
My partner and I have signed up to do a TEFL course in Thailand in August and like anything on the internet we were careful about organising it. I did some research about the company and found all these websites posting negative feedback. Its really hard to know who to believe!
I guess its just the risk you take.
Thanks for the great advise!
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Great advice! Definitely take the blogs with a grain of salt. Some complaints are valid and the majority come from people who should choose a job better suited to them. My advice would be to do some interviewing of your own. Interviews that consisted solely of “Are you American?” “Do you have an accent?” and “How soon can you be here?”, made me a bit nervous. Ask, ask, ask. Ask about accomodation; the furnishings; the location; transportation; hours; and age of students you will be teaching. While taking a job in a foreign country is a bit of a risk, remember the school is taking a risk too. I knew teachers in Korea who did “midnight runs” and would leave the school without any notice leaving them in a bit of a bind. I taught abroad for 5 years and loved it! I would say don’t let the horror stories discourage you. Go for it!
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Great advice, Anne, and obviously written from a wealth of experience.
Another thing that’s important to remember is keeping an open mind. All too often, new teachers arrive in a foreign country and expect either a) the same standards as at home or b) to be treated like a king because they are foreign. Teaching abroad is a lot more difficult than anyone ever tells you, but it’s really worth the effort you put in, in the long run.
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