Hey All,

I hoping the wisdom and massive resources of this BBS will come to my aid. At the moment I'm working for IBM as a Senior Cisco Specialist and we've been told that they are looking to cut 1000 jobs from my part of the business. I'm thinking of taking the redundancy money and getting out of IT once and for all. I've been looking into teaching english abroad and was wondering if anyone on here has an experience or info on the subject.

Cheers,

Mick G.

-- Anonymous, May 03, 2002

Answers

In what countries to you want to work? Actually I read in some paper here that they looked for english speaking teachers in a school in Stockholm. I have worked as a teacher for a couple of years so Im sure I can help you out here in Stockholm anyway.

-- Anonymous, May 03, 2002

I have a friend who is returning from Dominican Republic where she was teaching at an English school. There are agencies who manage the process from the UK and do the interviews etc. Usually they would expect some teaching experience in this country and qualifications (BA Education, PGCE) before sending you to a school. Vacancies are usually in the Times Ed Supplement.

-- Anonymous, May 03, 2002

It's possible to gain a certified 'Teaching English as a Foreign Language' PG qualification. I've no direct knowledge, but my son did it while going for his PhD in Paris. If you want some info, let me know and I'll see what I can find out from him.

-- Anonymous, May 03, 2002

I used to administer a programme for this at a university. You got a PG certificate after 1 year and went onto a Diploma. It was time- consuming mind, well worth doing full-time if you can get a grant.

-- Anonymous, May 03, 2002

It is possible to do a TEFL course part time at a number of locations - duration a few months. Also possible via distance learning arrangements. Look in the Grauniad any Tuesday. Alternatively speak to a real-life TEFL teacher - my missus - at this address.

-- Anonymous, May 03, 2002

A mate of mine did a TEFL course - the school is in Chinatown on Stowell Street. The course was very hard and she's now working in Spain and not earning a great deal...if that's your sort of thing :)

-- Anonymous, May 03, 2002

You will probably get a job teaching in England Mick, not as far to travel either!

-- Anonymous, May 03, 2002

Aa divven't knaa what ya taaking aboot man Gus. Wi aall speak it heor already man.

-- Anonymous, May 03, 2002

No No Jonno, you misunderstook, he can teach English to Londoners!

-- Anonymous, May 03, 2002

I did the Cambridge TEFL course with International House on Stowell Street in preparation for my move to Spain. It's quite pricey, lasts a month and is BLOODY HARD WORK but enjoyable and 100% necessary if you want to go in for that sort of thing. IH do the course in centers all over the world and it's the only qualification (excluding degrees etc.) of it's kind worth having.

I dropped out of teaching after about 7 months of doing it full time because I managed to get a 'proper' job which led onto me starting my own company. Nevertheless, I enjoyed parts of it. Basically, the pleasure is derived from the attitude of your students. Good students = great job, bad students = badly paid hell on earth.

You'd probably be better off utilising your IT skills overseas and perhaps teaching part-time to see if you like it and can hack the low pay etc.

-- Anonymous, May 03, 2002

Heh - Jonno, that's just the sort of thing we've been talking about at work. Can you imagine, if for example I ended up doing it in somewhere like Japan, you would get all of these Japanese business men coming to england for presentations and commenting at the end.."Eeee thats deed canny that leyk. Hey yer got anymere leyk that?"

-- Anonymous, May 03, 2002

I had wor lass's non english-speaking family convinced that the English for 'que aproveche' ('bon apetit' in, er... well, French...) was 'geddit doonya'. My mam nearly wet herself laughing the first time she visited and heard them all...

-- Anonymous, May 03, 2002

Also, wor lass sounds like Julio Geordio, the character on the Fast Show. She'll be rattling on in Spanish to someone and, if interrupted by her mobile or something, will utter 'Ahh.. Man!'. She also gets confused in her pronunciation classes as she is used to saying, for example, 'It's bliddy caald the day, man' as opposed to the received pronunciation version.

Mind you, she's not as bad as the girlfriend of a Belfast mate of mine who introduced herself to me with 'Whadaboutcha then?'... She has not a TRACE of a Spanish accent and sounds like she's lived in Ireland her whole life. She's only been seeing this lad for a year...

Start simple with 'Aye' and 'Ner' in place of yes and no. And always remember the emphatic 'Whyaye' and 'Whey ner' :)

-- Anonymous, May 03, 2002

Mick, I left the not-so-wonderful world of accountancy a month ago to teach English in Japan. You don`t need any teaching experience or qualifications but you do need a degree. There are loads of companies here that recruit teachers from the UK, the biggest ones are Geos (who I work for), Nova, ALS (I think). They all have various pros and cons, for instance at Geos you teach the same students week after week, whereas at Nova they have a voucher system and anyone with a voucher can turn up to any class. Apparently Nova expect you to teach the lesson exactly in accordance with their lesson plan whereas Geos give you a lesson plan but let you do whatever you think is best. My impression of the job so far is that it`s loads of fun, but the hours are bad - I work noon until 9pm Tuesday to Saturday which limits the social life a bit. I`m thinking that if I`m still enjoying it in 6 months or so then I`ll start working on the qualifications so I`ll be a bit more mobile. Let me know if you want me to dig up the links I used when I applied for the job.

-- Anonymous, May 05, 2002

Important issues include the age of your female students with special consideration to whether or not you're permitted to bone them.

-- Anonymous, May 05, 2002

My brother-in-law went to Japan five years ago on the JET scheme. No qualifications needed, and a very easy job too. I think there is an age limit tgough. He's now married to a Japanese model, who has just had a little boy. I must send him a copy of ADK's diaries for comment!

-- Anonymous, May 06, 2002

Mick,

I taught in Japan for 4 and a half years, I came over to follow my ex and managed to get a job the same day (through her contacts). It does make sense to get a job before you go over. In Japan, Nova is possibly the best company to start with - it is a really crap company, but you get training of sorts and you can change schools if you want or leave - other companies (not sure which) won't let you leave until you finish the contract.

Most of the big comapnies like Nova, Aeon, Berlitz, Geos etc make you teach a 40 hour week - 10-6 or 1:15 - 9, 5 days a week (including Saturday work) but the smaller language schools offer a higher salary, fewer hours and more flexibility. But most of those want experience of some kind.

I hope this helps and let me know if you need any more info, I still have a few contacts and I may be able to get some more info.

-- Anonymous, May 06, 2002