This is the first in a five part series about teaching English overseas

It’s not that hard to become an English teacher overseas. When I began looking for ESL jobs, I thought that without a TEFL degree, I wouldn’t find any openings but before I knew it I was getting lots of jobs. While teaching, I met people who didn’t even have college degrees that were teaching English.

Your ability to get a job teaching English varies tremendously around the world. Europe is an extremely hard place to find a job and, even when you do, the pay isn’t great. Jobs in Central and South America can be abundant at times but again, the pay is mediocre. The real panacea of ESL teaching is Asia. Nowhere else pays better or has a wider availability of work. Some of these countries pay such a substantial rate that, when compared to their cost of living, it is like earning $60,000 USD a year.

Jobs, both in quality and quantity, vary from country to country. There are typically 5 big categories:

Government schools- No matter where you are, these schools typically pay the worst. However, they are reliable. You know the place isn’t going to close, you will get your pay check each week, you’ll have some sort of support, and they aren’t going to unexpectedly terminate you. Depending on the country and the school, kids will either pay a lot of attention or pay none at all. Moreover, many of the government school locations are assigned (e.g. Japan’s Jet program, Korea’s EPIK) so you may not end up where you want.
Language schools- The next step up are the language schools, such as Berlitz or InLingua. (Of course, each country has plenty of locally owned language schools too). The pay here is better and you’ll have more flexibility with your schedule and curriculum. However, your job is not as secure as in a government school and guarantees by these companies don’t always appear. Many parents also use these schools as a form of baby sitting so the kids have little real motivation to learn and,because the schools are motivated by money, they rarely discipline the students for fear they will stop coming. So while the pay is better, the work environment can sometimes be more difficult than teaching in other schools.

Private schools – Private schools are the rich version of government schools. They offer better pay and a slightly better student body. They’re better than government schools but lack the flexibility of language schools.

International Schools – International schools are the daddy of all schools. The kids here are children of international expats, diplomats, or very rich locals. The curriculum is the same as your country of origin and each country usually has their own “school” in each country (American, British, Canadian, Japanese, Australian, etc). It’s just like teaching at home. All the kids speak English and are usually very motivated and very involved. As an added bonus, you make a lot of money. The downside is that competition for these jobs is very, very stiff and typically applicants have a lot of experience. Teachers are usually required to sign long contracts and many don’t like leaving so few openings occur, especially at the better international schools.

Corporate Training – Another option is to do corporate training. Corporate training jobs are typically very high-paying, the schedules are flexible, the students are adults who want to learn, and the work can last a few months. These jobs are usually before or after business hours so they can be very early or late in the day. Moreover, these jobs, like the language school jobs, are typically hard to get and require experience, at least at the more reputable companies.

Learn more including specific country information with my in depth guide: