I want to teach english worldwide. Anyone have any experiences?

Question

A client where I work recently told me about her experience teaching english worldwide, this way she could travel and do something she enjoyed. Unfortunately I didnt get to speak to her about it in depth but I'm a student right now and it sounds like something I want to do at least for a couple months whilst at or after university. However I dont know where to start, any help would be highly appreciated.

Thank you

Answer 1

I used to teach English as a foreign language, and I did it in my home city (Lincoln, England) so whilst you may want to travel, my point is that you don't have to.

I did it during the summers of university; I got in touch with TEFL and off I went!

I had great experiences; my first student was a newlywed from Libya who had no knowledge of English (and I knew no Arabic - it was tricky to start with!!) and I then went on to do conversational lessons with students from Spain and the Faroe Islands.

Answer 2

Get yourself a police clearance certificate from your country of origin...this is essential if you want to teach in certain countries. Minimum requirement is some countries/establishments is that you are a native English speaker. Other places insist on a TEFL certificate at least, while many places will not even consider you without a degree.

Answer 3

Teach English in Japan!  You will love it!  A very good experience.

Answer 4

If you want to teach in China then all you really need is to get on a plane and go.  They hire about anyone who's foreign-looking (meaning white. There have been many cases of Asian-American native English speakers having trouble finding jobs in China because they aren't what the Chinese are looking for) to teach English.  

Things that would help you:

A university degree in any subject.  This will nearly guarantee you finding a school to teach in.  There are numerous jobs listed on the internet with this being the sole requirement.

A TEFL/CELTA/etc. certificate saying you've taken a course to learn English teaching specifically - If you have this sometimes you don't need the uni. degree. Depends on the city in China.

If you have both of the above then you should have no trouble finding a job in China. And it's probably enough for most (of the interesting) places in the world.

I've also heard that it's easy to get a job in Thailand with or w/o a degree.