What do you do as soon as you graduate from college? You have several options; you could jump straight back into another classroom for your graduate school or get a job in an office behind a computer screen. Or, you could choose to do something challenging, different and extraordinary. You could choose to travel the world, making a difference and building an experience that will prove invaluable in your future career prospects.
You can choose to teach English abroad. If the potential experience you could get from immersing yourself in a different culture is not reason enough to consider this option, the following reasons should convince you.
You Get Paid to Live Abroad
Regardless of the nature of your degree, you can get a paying job teaching English in more than 80 countries worldwide. With the money you make, you can live in the country as a local and get to experience much more of the country that you would if you were a visiting tourist. You will get to know the culture and cuisine of the country in a more immersive way which could shape your world outlook.
You Gain International Work Experience
Success in the global job market will depend on your ability to move and sell goods and information across borders. International experience can only be gained from living and working in foreign countries and may be invaluable for future career prospects. With this international experience you stand head and shoulders above other job seekers.
You’ll Have a Better Chance of Getting into Grad School
Most graduate school programs including law, medicine and business schools often encourage students to have real-world experience before applying for grad school. You can gain this experience by spending time abroad teaching English. Plus, you will have something interesting to talk about in interviews and for both graduate programs and jobs.
You’ll Be More Comfortable Stepping Outside your Comfort Zone
Your ability to easily adapt to your environment can be a very useful skill in the 21st Century job market. Successfully teaching English in a foreign country demonstrates your ability to effectively step out of your comfort zone and thrive in a country with a different cultural, linguistic and national background from what you are used to.
You Get the Unique Ability to Develop Organizational and Communication Skills
Teaching often involves speaking to a wide range of audiences and the skills you can develop from this kind of activity is vital to your professional success even if you don’t plan on being a teacher in the future. When you get used to speaking in front of a considerable group of people who don’t speak English, you gain the necessary communication skills to command a room which could make you a very desirable candidate for any position.
Make Money
One of the most attractive benefits of teaching English abroad is getting paid. In most countries foreign English teachers make enough money to break even, meaning that they are able to pay their bills and support themselves, but they may not be able to save a lot. If you plan to make enough to save up to $500-$1000 after expenses, consider taking teaching jobs in Asia and Middle Eastern Countries. In South Korea, English teachers can expect to save between $10,000 and $15,000 a year after expenses. With these savings you can pay off your student loans.
There are Plenty of Jobs Available
With approximately 1.7 billion people in the world leaning English, there are plenty of job opportunities to choose from. This number is expected to rise to 2 billion by 2020 which means there will always be work for interested English teachers. There are tens of thousands of schools that seek to employ qualified English teachers.
You Don’t Need a Specialized Degree or Teaching Experience
The job is also relatively easy to get since you font need a degree or previous teaching experience. You may however need to take a TEFL certification course which can be done online. This course will give you the skills you need to teach English abroad. Employers are also more likely to hire teachers with TEFL certification.
You Could Change Someone’s Life
People all over the world learn English to increase their competiveness in the global job market. Therefore by teaching English to non-native English speakers you have the chance to change the person’s life and their family’s livelihood. It is not unheard off for someone to gain a better paying job just by learning to speak English. The ripple effect is that you impact the lives of an entire community just by choosing to teach English abroad.
Find out more at https://www.theteflacademy.com.
These are all good reasons for a person to teach English abroad. I did not realize that the salary is much better in Asia and Middle Eastern countries.