3 Tips for First Time Overseas English Teaching

Being a native English speaker, it is easy to take that knowledge and participate in overseas English teaching to fund travels. After having my first round at overseas English teaching while living in Ukraine, I decided to make the following post as a you-should-know-this-before-doing-it type of thing for newbies in the overseas English teaching biz.

Touch it, see it, read it before you go. Contracts for overseas English teaching are meant to bring the employer and employee together in the way that it protects both interests. Make sure your wages, hours, time off, etc. are all mentioned and agreed upon before signing. And for Pete’s sake, if you are ever told things are changing, make sure you are given something NEW to sign. I actually had my previous employer tell us in a meeting that the old contacts were out, give us something new to read but never sign… therefore causing tons of noise when I decided to leave.

It’s one thing to be talking to an overseas English teaching job recruiter. They want you to come to this strange and foreign country, so they will obviously try and sell you a bit on a few tough issues. If you can, ask to email or speak with an overseas English teacher already there. Find out first-hand what is actually going down in the city, with the school, and with whatever else you might be concerned about.

If talking to other overseas English teachers does not work out, take your research to the internet.  Browse overseas English teaching forums to see if you can find someone that has been where you want to go.  Run a search for the language school and see what pops up.  If another teacher had a bad experience, more than likely they vented about it on the internet.

If something with the overseas English teaching job sounds funny, off, or too good to be true - ask questions! Find out about the economy, and how any up or down turns will affect your pay. If you are talking to a recruiter, maybe it is a good idea to question why the overseas language school has to have a recruiter in the first place. Don’t be afraid to get your hands dirty because the more you know beforehand, the less surprised you will be once there!

When it comes to finding overseas English teachers, the recruiters and schools themselves are generally looking for people willing to stick around for longer than 2 months.  Therefore, by being inquisitive, an interviewer will respect you since you are less likely to be surprised and want to quit working.  The constant search for new teachers can take a lot of time, energy and money away from the school, and it results in lower teaching skills overall.

Don’t let this article scare you away from overseas English teaching. Overseas English teaching can be a wonderful experience. Your students will love you and make it something memorable, not to mention the fact it gives you a firsthand look at a culture other than your own. I will always cherish my time spent teaching English in Ukraine, but will now always be more cautious about the school I choose to work for.