TEFL jobs. Can you give me a piece of advice? =)?

Question

Hi, My name is Gabriela. I'm from Argentina. I'm a qualified English teacher and I've been thinking of travelling abroad so that i could teach english in other countries. However, I have certain doubts concerning the schools or the way of getting a job. I have been checking several ESL websites and i have seen one named "jobs4teachers.org". The idea is that you pay to them a certain amount of money and they find you a school. It sounds quite good but i was wondering if any of you know this company and have a clue if it is to trust or not. I know the question it may sound silly, but since i have no idea about how to get a job abroad, or how to search for a school or the process to be done, i asked myself if it was easier to trust this company or if any of you have got a job by their help.

Well, thanks for your help. Any response will be very helpful.

Gaby

Answer 1

Hello Gabriela,

I have been living and teaching abroad for the past three years and from my experience...it's best to just go to the country you'd like to live or work in and search for the job on your own once you are there. There is no reason you have to pay an agency. There are plenty of jobs available. Of course, native english speakers are given priority over those who learned it as a second language.

You can also conduct searches yourself on google. International schools are always looking for English teachers and the salaries are quite higher than giving lessons at an English Teaching program. Usually they will put together a compensation package that is quite comfortable.  Use key words like :international school, english teacher, country or city name, english. You can do this from your home country and possibly find a position that will even refund your airfare expense. A one- three year contract is standard in such cases.

If you wanted to go for a shorter term position, then possibly the english language schools would be more ideal for you. But usually you will have many classes with many students and will have odd working hours.

Hope this Helps!

Cheers.

Answer 2

I agree with Whitney and Nick. There's no need to PAY someone to get a job. Surf the net and find some job ads, then apply. If you're brave enough, you can just go to the country where you want to teach and begin your job search there. Here are a few websites that can help you on your job search:

Answer 3

There are lots and lots of agencies if you trawl the internet.  Many of them are free for you - the schools pay and/or they receive sponsorship from advertising.

Personally, I wouldn't pay for the service - I expect it to be paid for me.

I am currently teaching in Korea, although you need to have UK, ROI, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, US or South African citizenship to get a visa here.

Good luck - you'll have a great time!

Nick

:)

Answer 4

If they have to charge you then I would say they are to be avoided.

If you haven't already done so put a site together with some of your CV details, showing a little of what you would take to a job.  Show some of the cultural background you come from and photos from any school in which you have done practical work.  How you would enrich the experience of those you teach.

Let them email you to request your full CV but really you are not looking for casual visitors.  You will be inviting them to look at your site when you advertise directly to the sort of places you would love to work.

You just might get someone interested, but agencies and their contacts are almost certainly the way you will be contacted.