TEACHING ENGLISH OVERSEAS: Why? How? Where? What?

After this past week of teaching Chinese students interrogative phrases, how could I come up with anything else as a title?
Coolworks recently posted an ad for English teachers wanted in China. This ad is from a school I’m currently working with, and it inspired me to write this general blog about teaching English overseas.
WHY: The reasons to do this kind of work are almost as varied as the people doing it. Personally, I have always been attracted to situations that combine enjoyment, personal growth, and a positive contribution. Teaching in another country allows a person to deeply experience a new culture with an immediate network of students, colleagues and potential friends. You have a place to live, an income, and an ever-deepening sense of the place you are living.
HOW: First, get in contact with a school that is hiring. As mentioned, there’s an ad on coolworks right now. There are also a number of TEFL (teaching English as a foreign language) sites only a google away.
The person you will be communicating with may not be very fluent in English (after an email or two, you can assess that for yourself). So I recommend being clear and simple in your emails.
After establishing an initial contact, I also recommend that you make a list of questions for the school to answer. Examples:
How many teaching hours per week?
How many students per class?
What age are the students?
Is there a textbook, or will I be making my own lessons?
Is housing provided? If yes, please describe. If not, will the school help me find a place to live?
Are there other benefits (airfare, teaching bonus, insurance, holiday pay, etc.)?
When will I receive my first paycheck?
How much money should I bring with me to get started?
Is there a foreign teacher at your school I can email?
WHERE?
The first ‘where’ is geographical. There are a variety of teaching options in Asia, specifically in China, Korea, Thailand and Taiwan. You will also find different opportunities listed in South America and Eastern Europe.
The next ‘where’ is what type of school. There are primary, middle and senior high schools. There are universities, and there are private language schools. Based on my limited experience, here’s a comment about each of the above:
Primary, middle and senior high: Obviously, you should like working with kids. One advantage is that typically you can make one lesson plan for the week and tweak it to fit all your classes.
University: The pay at a university and at a primary school is pretty similar. Often the primary school pays more. So it’s mostly a matter of what age and atmosphere you prefer. At a university you may have less teaching hours, but you’ll probably have a wider variety of classes to prepare for.
Language schools are often your best paying jobs, but the wages come at a price. Expect more hours, evenings and weekends. Languge schools are businesses, and some are markedly less dedicated to education than to increasing profits. Be careful.
The next part of ‘where’ is which specific school should you choose? Finding a match for your personal requirements is almost an art form. To a degree, you’re buying a pig in a poke.
Here is how I chose my current position (teaching 2nd, 3rd and 4th graders in the Xinjiang Province of China):
I had wanted to explore China for awhile, intrigued both by its notewothy past and globally significant future. But I did not want to start in too large a city, or one with a McDonalds and a Starbucks on every corner.
After researching some of the offers online, I decided that Xinjiang was tmy best fit. It also had the added bonus of a variety of minority cultures and relatively close access to Tibet and Mongolia.
I chose to work with children, at least as my first position, because China is an unknown entity to me. Getting to know unguarded kids is a great window to understanding the adults.
I was lucky in that I landed in a friendly and supportive working environment. Everything that had been promised was delivered, and then some.
But there are no guarantees. When deciding where to work, ask questions and weigh the answers. See what sense you get of a place from your email communications. If possible, talk with a foreign teacher who has worked there. Try to see things from the context of where you'll be working. For example, my salary doesn't seem like much, but I can have an all-you-can-eat buffet breakfast for 14 cents. An all-you-can-eat dinner for a dollar.
In the final analysis, it should be a combination of rational assessment and gut-level intuition that determines your choice of where to work.
WHAT?:
'What,' as in, 'what qualifications do you need?'
If you are a native English speaker, have good interpersonal skills and are reasonably intelligent, you can find a job teaching English. If you have a college degree (in any subject), your options widen significantly. If you have a TEFL certificate, those options get wider still.
If logistically you don't have the time to take a TEFL course before starting work, I suggest that you look for something online. While this isn't my first recommendation, at least it gives you a certificate and a theoretical framework to begin with.
But what is probably most important, if not in acquiring the job than certainly in performing it well, is your attitude and heart. But that's another blog for another day.