Teach to Travel H


ere’s a common dilemma: itchy feet and an empty wallet. Sound familiar? If you’re


finding yourself in this situation, you have a few travel options. You could:


• Forget about it and go back to bed.


• Turn on the Discovery Channel, watch a few travel programmes and buy a lottery ticket.


• Look for a way to help fund your travels.


Teaching English abroad can offer


some incredible opportunities if you want to help finance your travels and immerse yourself in another culture. English has become the international language of business, science, politics, technology - and your ability to speak it can be much sought after. In many ways, teaching English is the portable career.


Pocket Money or Career Plan? A good starting point is to decide


why you want to teach overseas. Are you simply looking for a way to pick up some temporary work while you are backpacking? Or is it the prospect of


vergemagazine.com Many people start out in former


situation and soon realize that teaching is something they wish to continue and turn into a career.


Colette Neville began teaching in


Japan with the intent of staying in the country for a year. “I enjoyed teaching, living in Japan and being able to travel there so much, that I ended up staying on for two more years.” She adds, “The income was a good incentive too – there’s the potential to make a pretty good living teaching English in Japan.”


What do you need – the paper or the practice – or both?


Being able to speak English does


not necessarily mean that you can teach it. In some places, being a native English-speaker may be enough to land you a job but increasingly, reputable schools in most countries will require prospective teachers to have some type of certification to teach English as a second language. If you’re serious about teaching English, it’s a good idea to gain


Working as an English teacher abroad requires commitment, but the rewards can be well worth it.


teaching itself and the depth of cultural experience it can bring that interests you?


some training and experience before heading off into a new country and standing up in front of a group of people who speak another language. Not only will it improve your job prospects and options, it will also to improve your confidence, your abilities and the learning success of your students.


All certification courses are not the


same and standards are not necessarily— well—standardized. A TEFL (Teach English as a Foreign Language) programme could be taught on-line in as few as 40 hours, or it could involve over one hundred hours of class time plus a practicum of 20 or more hours.


Which one do you choose? That depends. Clearly, the longer, more involved


courses tend to be more expensive. If you are planning on teaching English overseas for at least a year or two, and you would like to have the option of teaching English as a second language (ESL) here in Canada as well, then opt for the longer, more involved course.


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