Talk to almost anyone who has taught English overseas about their motivations for doing so, and one theme comes up again and again: it is an opportunity to get paid to live abroad. As importantly, it is an opportunity that is accessible to many recent graduates—which is undeniably attractive in a tough job market. Although it is not the case that a native English speaker can just hop on a plane and find a job teaching English, the demand for English teachers around the world is high and there are lots of jobs to go around.
There are many ways to teach English abroad—from full-time, lengthy well-paid contracts in Asia, to grassroots volunteering in Central America—and the motivations for teaching, as well as the perceived benefits, obviously differ just as much. (The types of work and countries will be explored later in this section.) Keeping that in mind, consider which of the benefits are most important to you.
Tangential benefits
In contrast to, say, interning or volunteering overseas, many perceived benefits of teaching English are tangential to the job itself. What do we mean by tangential benefits? Benefits that are unrelated to the actual job of teaching English. There is nothing wrong with this, of course, but the reality is that teaching English is a commitment—both a commitment of your time, and a commitment to your students, who will be relying on you. You'll have ongoing responsibilities, and teaching will be your day-to-day reality. Take a good hard look at your motivations, because if teaching is really not something you are interested in doing, the tangential benefits alone may not be enough to sustain you.
Motivators include the perceived opportunities to:
Earn and save
It's undeniable that the chance to earn a decent salary while abroad, save and pay off student loans can be a very attractive option for many graduates. Salaries vary wildly depending on your location (see countries later in this section): if saving money is your objective you will need to choose a destination carefully—and likely still make efforts to be frugal while abroad. But at a minimum, unless you are volunteering, teaching English offers an opportunity to at least subsidize your travel.
Experience meaningful cultural immersion
In addition to the sheer adventure of packing up and heading to a new place, living and teaching in a foreign country is a wonderful way to learn about a culture in a deeper way and go beyond the experience of an average traveller. Many contracts for teaching English are a year or longer, which gives you time to really get to know a place, develop a community of friends and colleagues, and begin to feel at home—while gaining new perspectives.
Move abroad relatively hassle-free
While this is not always the case, many teacher recruitment agencies, as well as larger schools or school boards, will often assist new teachers with accommodation and visas, as well as getting settled in their new country. Because they are hiring for positions of a year or more, and they hope that new hires will complete their contracts, it is in their interests to ensure their teachers are comfortable. Much of the hassle of moving abroad is taken care of for you, with support on the ground once you're there.
Travel
Many people who choose to teach overseas take an opportunity to travel on their weekends and school holidays—whether it is to explore the country they are based in, or take the chance to visit nearby countries. Similarly, at the end of a contract, many will take some time to explore before returning home, or moving on to the next contract.
It's not hard to see why this sector attracts so much interest from young English speakers. But take a moment to consider the act of teaching itself.
Benefits of teaching
Teaching English occupies an uneasy kind of middle ground in the job market: by and large, it attracts individuals who are neither teachers not English experts. Playing the odds, lets assume that neither is your passion. Looking at the job itself, why might you choose to teach English?
Like anything in life, what you get out of something does depend largely on what you put into it. People who have tried and enjoyed teaching abroad—sometimes in spite of themselves—are those who have thrown themselves into the job, doing their best to learn how to teach and making a difference for their students. This may take some investment—possibly a formal course (potential qualifications are discussed later)—but certainly in terms of an investment of time. It requires emotional energy and commitment to learn how to teach and manage everything that goes along with it, from structuring lessons, to group management to administration. If you can invest in that, and commit to doing it as well as you possibly can, you stand to gain immensely, personally as well as professionally.
Develop your professional skill set
Skills that you will develop by teaching English to non-native speakers include: public speaking, listening, creativity, problem solving, and communications skills. Teaching also involves organization, administration and inter-personal skills. You will be working cross-culturally with both your students and your colleagues in the classroom. Needless to say, many of these skills will be transferable to whatever job or career you choose in the future.
Develop meaningful relationships
You will be interacting with people from another culture on a daily basis; immersion in another culture for a long period of time is a unique opportunity develop meaningful relationships. You will learn from your students, colleagues and friends—and become adept at navigating their culture, traditions, way of interacting, doing business, and different cultural expectations. To teach effectively, you will need to learn how to communicate effectively, and relate to individuals within the culture that you are in.
You can make a difference in peoples lives
Everyone remembers a good teacher. Your work is helping people to acquire a skill that will make a difference in their lives, and may even influence how they view English speakers (or people of your nationality) in general. You have a chance to make a difference every time you step into the classroom, or engage in extra-curricular activities with your students.
Personal development
Venturing outside of your comfort zone—personally or professionally—will help you learn about yourself and grow and develop as a person. Your experience may even inspire you to reassess your priorities in life and come home with new interests, passions and directions.
It's fun
Wherever you teach and whatever your audience, you will eventually figure out ways to engage them in your lessons. It can be fun and rewarding, and it's satisfying work.
Other benefits
Of course, living abroad for a length of time can allow you to explore other opportunities to grow personally and develop professionally, should you opt to do so.
Acquire a language
Being immersed in a foreign culture with non-native English speakers is one of the quickest ways to learn a new language if you commit yourself to it. While you will almost certainly pick up some basic language skills living abroad, this is an unparalleled opportunity to develop fluency, or near fluency, that could serve you in any number of future positions. It will also help you to demonstrate to future employers that you are adaptable and able to integrate into unfamiliar environments.
Become involved in the community
Of course, living abroad will afford you any number of opportunities to engage with and learn about the country and community you are in. Becoming involved in community projects, pastimes or extra-curricular activities will deepen your integration and understanding of your community—and potentially allow you to develop new skills. Take the time to immerse yourself, learn about the culture, history and politics, and you'll find yourself somewhat of an expert when you return home.
Network
If you have your eye on the bigger picture (and, let's face it, you always should!), you can use your time abroad to develop your network in ways that may help you take the next steps along your career path. Your network of teachers may help you obtain another contract if you wish to stay abroad, or help you reintegrate or find employment when you return home. If you wish to make a lateral move after your teaching contract is up, look for ways to connect with people in other sectors, or develop complementary skills. For example, teaching business English privately on your own time (most schools will allow this) will enable you to cultivate business contacts in your host country; you could volunteer to edit or develop the English language portion of your school's website, or for a local organization that interests you—earning you contacts and editing/IT experience.
Is teaching abroad right for me?
Take time to consider your motivations for teaching English abroad, to start to determine if it is the right choice for you. Carefully consider and list the motivations that are driving your desire to teach English in a foreign country. You might consider the following:
- • Why am I doing this?
- • What do I have to offer?
- • What am I looking to gain?
- • Do I have teaching or tutoring experience in my own country?
- • What experience do I have interacting with other cultures?
- • How will this experience impact my future career prospects? Would I be better off gaining experience in my own field?
Motivations to teach abroad are diverse. To set yourself up for success it is critical to do some personal reflection before you make the decision to go, in order to ensure that this is right for you. For some help with this, including important questions to ask yourself, check out our Teaching English: Examine your motivations quiz as well as the self-assessment tool: Is teaching English abroad right for you?
Make no mistake about it: teaching English can be demanding professionally, as well as personally.
“I thought someone would be there to hold my hand while I went through all the stages of culture shock, learned how to teach, and began a new life—that certainly wasn't the case. It was quite overwhelming for the first month and I thought about leaving many times, but I was forced to grow up and take care of myself.”
—Christina Thakur, teacher in South Korea
The decision to teach abroad should not be taken lightly. Most contracts are for a year minimum, often with penalties if you want to leave early—not to mention the fact that by breaking a contract you would be letting down your employer and your students. Taking the time to seriously consider your motivations, and doing your research, will help you to make a considered decision and commitment.
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