Anyone get a TESOL/TEFL etc. degree to teach ESL? Please share!

[CzeCze]

So I had been thinking for a while to get a TESOL/TEFL certificate so I can teach English abroad.

Anyone do this? Get the degree? I'd prefer to get the degree and then teach abroad to have better and more opportunities.

Please share!

 

[Thalassa]

I know someone who does this with a B.A. in comparative lit...she's been to Ethiopia, Mexico, and is now in Turkey.

Ask what you want to know and I'll try to answer with what I know.

She said she got more benefits teaching ESL in other countries than teaching in the U.S. plus she got to travel. In Mexico, she had a cook and a maid.

 

[Crescent Fresh]

So I had been thinking for a while to get a TESOL/TEFL certificate so I can teach English abroad.

Anyone do this? Get the degree? I'd prefer to get the degree and then teach abroad to have better and more opportunities.

Please share!

I happened to teach ESL (more specifically, TOEFL) in Korea without any teaching experience. I happened to make 1500 USD per month to 3500 USD within a mere five year periods in teaching a private academy.

I know right now, it's not entirely difficult to get a teaching job especially in Korea, and China. Though the pay is relatively stronger in Korea, the working hours can be quite insane. I worked for nearly 60 hours per week for seven days in a roll, and that's the price I have to pay.

So basically, you don't really need to have any TESOL/TEFL certificate in Korean market. However, it might be difficult for you to ask for more salary during negotiation. Though it surely will offer you more options if you have one.

If you do have TESOL/TEFL certificate, then it might be easier for you to get a job not in private academy, but in public schools in Korea. The benefits is that you get more holidays and workload is MUCH less than academy (between 40 hours - 45 hours per week AND plus the breaks you get if you don't have any classes under your teaching schedule).

Though I would suggest you to teach in private universities if you have a relevant degree upon a year teaching experience in Korea. One of my coworker happened to switch from teaching at an academy to a private university and his income was doubled, with much less working hours even! Lately, there has been a strong trend on teaching courses in English. My coworker had worked as a bank manager for 15 years before teaching at an academy, though since he had a degree (not even a master) in Psychology, he was able to teach in a private university as an assistant after spending a year teaching in ESL.

If you are in a rush to teach overseas, I would strongly suggest you to just give it a try without worrying any TESOL/TEFEL certificate.

Though you have to be selective about the academy as some of them are really rots. Check this site to avoid any bad ones: http://hagwonblacklist.tripod.com/public_html/list.html

In addition, this forum has been extremely helpful for me when I first moved to Korea for seeking infos about teaching ESL: http://forums.eslcafe.com/korea/viewtopic.php?t=139678

I hope this helps! Ask me anything if you have any questions as I think I have enough experience in this field to offer some sound advice to you.

 

[Crescent Fresh]

...Though the pay is relatively stronger in Korea, the working hours can be quite insane. I worked for nearly 60 hours per week for seven days in a roll, and that's the price I have to pay.

I hope I didn't scare you about the above statement, as that's the option I decided to take from school's offer by teaching classes on Saturdays and Sundays. The reward? I get to take 20% from my classes (depending on the number of students) and I ended up taking an additional roughly around 1500 USD per month on top of my base monthly salary of 3500 (I had to support my disabled mother).

So please don't let my above statement scared you away!