Teaching English abroad

so what, teachers do their jobs for their love of teaching children, not for the pay cheque?? come on mate get real. People obviously see teaching a language as a transferable skill/job, so why not do it in another country for a new experience?

Plus, I was intending on completing a 100 hour course before embarking on my journey. So even if I may fall into your highly generalised and negative "wannabe" category, I would at least be making a concerted effort to be a decent teacher. Maybe peruse through response #1 and you may be confronted with a success story. I think if you base all the ways of the world solely on what is written on here you may be getting a slightly skewed perspective on what is really happening.

Well hopefully most teachers get into teaching because they have an interest in doing so. Not just for a pay cheque. Can that be said of MOST of those who see TEFL as a way to fund travel?

You may consider a 100 hour TEFL course as 'making a concerted effort to be a decent teacher'. I wonder how teachers who have first got a degree and then done an additional 2 years teaching course before being certified to teach (as is required in my country) would feel about your 'concerted effort'?

As for #1, it isn't a success story unless you want to perceive it that way. " I did a one-month TEFL as well, it was a big help, but it doesn't suddenly make you into a great teacher."

It all reminds me of the old saying, "A weok ago I cudn't spill Injurneer but now I are one."

I am a teacher with said four-year degree and then two-year teacher training course, and I really, truly think the CELTA is an EXTREMELY valuable tool. Throughout my B.Ed program (after my B.A.) I would share knowledge and skills that I had gained during the CELTA, and my professors and partner teachers were always very impressed. The vast majority of the skills you develop during the CELTA will transfer to teaching in the K-12 or university system, in ANY subject (not just foreign/second languages). As well, the kind of feedback that I got during the CELTA was, in many ways, superior to the feedback I got during my B.Ed program because of the whole peer observation and feedback element, which can't really occur in B.Ed programs for a variety of reasons (mainly, scheduling and FOIP). I think that someone who takes the CELTA IS making "a concerted effort to be a decent teacher", particularly in relation to the expected payoff.

Six years of university allows me to teach in the public school system, and gets me $51,500 annually (in my first year, capping at $78,000 after about twelve years in my district), medical care, dental care, life insurance, a good pension plan, job security, very regular professional development, a mentoring program, my own classroom in one building, four and a half contact hours per day, a budget for materials and resources, etc.

Four years of university and my CELTA allowed me to go to Italy and work in a private language school where I was paid EUR 11.11 for my first ninety contact hours per month (22.5 per week) and EUR 10.85 for every additional hour of mandatory overtime that I worked, twelve hours per week of unpaid travel time to and from in-company classes, split shifts resulting in some thirteen-hour days, no benefits, no job security, minimal resources and minimal support. The payoff at private language schools simply isn't worth more of an investment than the CELTA.

I bow to superior experience Jetgirly. However I still believe that the majority of TEFL wannabes have very little if any interest in the students at all.

Even if that's true, I think it's hard to get in a classroom, see how much your students want to learn, and not be motivated to do your very best to help them. It's human nature, or at least it has been the nature of probably 90% of the teachers I have worked with.

Hi - I'm a couple of years behind Jetgirly, in EFL with a plan to move into mainstream (state) ed. I got into it for the holidays and quickly realised that I don't want a job that's not in a classroom. I work in an accredited school that has a very good reputation. I guess a couple of years ago I would have been told off here too...

Just one thing - make sure your course is accredited by a well-respected body. If you're UK-based that means the CELTA or RSA and no-one else. Maybe every three or four months someone tells me about this great course they did and I haven't got the heart to tell them that nobody'll be interested in their certificate.

Check requirements for your country - most need something like 100 hours instruction and 6 hours teaching on your course to recognise it. Of course, there's normally work around at min. wage (below if you count the unpaid prep time) if you speak English, but I guess you'll want something a bit better.

Hope this helps,

Rob