I’m going to teach English in the Far East – any advice/experience to share?

[the_kaz]

Greetings, all! After finally graduating with a degree in English Language and Linguistics, and then recently following it up with an intensive TESOL course, I am now looking for jobs teaching English in the Far East. This is something I’ve wanted to do for many years, and one of the major factors in my decision to study the degree I did. As it seems to be quite a popular career/gap-year decision these days, I was wondering if anyone around here has had any experience doing this, or knows of anyone who has. If so, what was it like? Do you have any advice for me regarding how best to hunt for a job (which is proving to be more difficult than I had anticipated), precautions to take, or anything else? Or, perhaps you have your own stories to share that may inspire me?

I’m considering Taiwan and Japan, because I’ve been to both countries, loved them to pieces, and I have friends in them. But I’m also deliberating on maybe going to somewhere totally new, such as China (though I’m slightly hesitant about that), Korea or Mongolia. Anyone got any suggestions?

I did actually have my heart set on some of the Scandinavian countries, especially Iceland and Sweden. However, much to my dismay, there isn’t much of a demand for English teachers out there. I guess it’s because people there (especially those of my generation) tend to speak English better than English people do.

 

[Karl Pilkington]

Greetings, all! After finally graduating with a degree in English Language and Linguistics, and then recently following it up with an intensive TESOL course, I am now looking for jobs teaching English in the Far East. This is something I’ve wanted to do for many years, and one of the major factors in my decision to study the degree I did. As it seems to be quite a popular career/gap-year decision these days, I was wondering if anyone around here has had any experience doing this, or knows of anyone who has. If so, what was it like? Do you have any advice for me regarding how best to hunt for a job (which is proving to be more difficult than I had anticipated), precautions to take, or anything else? Or, perhaps you have your own stories to share that may inspire me?

I’m considering Taiwan and Japan, because I’ve been to both countries, loved them to pieces, and I have friends in them. But I’m also deliberating on maybe going to somewhere totally new, such as China (though I’m slightly hesitant about that), Korea or Mongolia. Anyone got any suggestions?

I did actually have my heart set on some of the Scandinavian countries, especially Iceland and Sweden. However, much to my dismay, there isn’t much of a demand for English teachers out there. I guess it’s because people there (especially those of my generation) tend to speak English better than English people do.

Forget about the UK, embrace the people/culture and rake the money in.

 

[Uncleskinny]

This is exactly what my daughter wants to do. She's been studying Japanese and is clear that after University she's off to Japan to teach English. She's found that the information given through JET is very useful.

P.

 

[Raphael Lambach]

Greetings, all! After finally graduating with a degree in English Language and Linguistics, and then recently following it up with an intensive TESOL course, I am now looking for jobs teaching English in the Far East. This is something I’ve wanted to do for many years, and one of the major factors in my decision to study the degree I did. As it seems to be quite a popular career/gap-year decision these days, I was wondering if anyone around here has had any experience doing this, or knows of anyone who has. If so, what was it like? Do you have any advice for me regarding how best to hunt for a job (which is proving to be more difficult than I had anticipated), precautions to take, or anything else? Or, perhaps you have your own stories to share that may inspire me?

I’m considering Taiwan and Japan, because I’ve been to both countries, loved them to pieces, and I have friends in them. But I’m also deliberating on maybe going to somewhere totally new, such as China (though I’m slightly hesitant about that), Korea or Mongolia. Anyone got any suggestions?

I did actually have my heart set on some of the Scandinavian countries, especially Iceland and Sweden. However, much to my dismay, there isn’t much of a demand for English teachers out there. I guess it’s because people there (especially those of my generation) tend to speak English better than English people do.

Please don't try to go to Japan...

My heart goes out with Japaneses.

 

[the_kaz]

I haven't looked into Jet, but I keep hearing about it. I should really get onto that. But, as the above poster mentioned, I'm not sure Japan is the place to go to right now after all. At the time of starting this thread, I didn't fully understand just how bad the situation over there really was. Anyway, I should have a job interview for a position in Taiwan within the next couple of weeks. Hopefully that'll go well.