If you’re like me, you spend your life searching for ways to earn money abroad or travel ‘for free’ and you’ve probably got TEFL or Teaching English Abroad on your to-do list.
I spent 5 months teaching English in Vietnam and it was wonderful & also incredibly challenging. And I say ‘wonderful’ in the same way that people forget the pain of child birth & have a second baby, your brain blocks out the really bad bits.
A friend recently found this picture of me in the brochure for the Teaching English Abroad Internship that I participated in.
All I can do is laugh at how an image says 1000 words, but 997 in this story are missing the bigger picture.
I recommend teaching English abroad, it’s a life changing experience in more ways than one.
But the number of programs available can make finding the right approach overwhelming.
There are a million organisations offering online TEFL certificates and another million offering programs that combine a TEFL certificate with a pre-arranged job/ internship at the end.
A program or internship may feel like the obvious option when you’ve never done this before. But don’t rule out getting certified and setting yourself up. Do your research and work out which works best for you.
If I was to do it again, I would self-organise. However, that’s easy to say now that I’ve been there and seen how it works. I can see the appeal of a program when everything is very unfamiliar.
Here are the main things to consider when deciding between ‘Teaching English Abroad Internships’ and ‘Booking a flight and winging-it’. (pardon the pun)
Teaching English Abroad Internships vs. Doing it Yourself
Job Security
The obvious big-win for signing up to an internship or with a company is that you are guaranteed a job. You don’t know where, or when, or who you’ll be teaching, but you can leave home knowing that at some point you will be standing in front of other humans and trying to impart wisdom.
Heading to a country without a pre-arranged job leaves you at risk of not finding (enough) work. Particularly if you have 0 experience, you may need to start small. Begin by picking up a couple of cover shifts for other teachers and then build on that. If you’re job hunting on arrival, have enough savings to cover a month’s salary at least.
Teaching Schedule
Be aware of how many hours the program expects you to teach, whether this accounts for public holidays and how many days you’ll work a week. My two-hour Saturday afternoon class really destroyed all my hopes of exploring Vietnam on the weekends. Internships and programs usually coordinate with school terms and leaving early means forfeiting a large chunk of your final salary.
While self-arranging may feel scary, it gives you the freedom to build a schedule that suits you. Are you a morning person or night owl? Do you want to work 20 days in a row then take a week off to travel? Like any job, you can’t drop-in/out without warning, but teaching English in language centres (or as a tutor) gives you more flexibility to arrange time off or swap shifts with fellow teachers. This option works particularly well if you don’t know how long you’ll stay, as salary is usually cash-in-hand or paid weekly so you can pick up and move whenever.
Teaching Environment
Teaching English through an internship means that (from my experience) you’ll be in rural public schools with large classes. Think 40 to 50 6 year olds in a room without heating in the winter, or A/C in the summer. (You couldn’t be blamed for questioning whether your job title is ‘teacher’ or ‘ring master’). Do your research to find out where the program is likely to place you and how much input you get on the age that you teach.
Arranging your own work could still mean finding a job in a large public school, but you can also seek work in private language centres. The pressure to deliver quality content and progress the kids through a curriculum is higher, as parents pay good money for their kids to attend. However this money and privilege comes with smaller class sizes, more teaching materials and often A/C, which in Asian summertime is a God-send.
Money
The salary, or ‘living allowance’ is usually set in advance on programs, which means that you can predict what you’ll earn and plan accordingly. The flip side of this is that you’ll earn less than if you taught independently. There is also likely to be a fee to join the program which covers any in-country or visa support and the ‘luxury’ or having your job & accommodation arranged for you.
Self-organising your schedule means that you can seek out better paid work in private schools and tutoring. This is often in the evenings but pays about $20 per hour (in Vietnam). Of course you need the motivation to take on enough classes, but from experience there is never a shortage of work (in Hanoi). Naturally, you need to account for costs like rent & transport as those won’t be provided by your school, but there are no upfront costs other than your flight & visa.
Added Extras
Programs often come with added extras, like accommodation & transport to/from the school. This is great in theory, it relieves the stress of home hunting abroad and keeps you off the crazy roads until you feel more confident. However, it also means that you have no say on where you stay. Even if they put you in a converted hotel room without a kitchen, fridge or table, 45 minutes outside the city with a 90 minute commute on the back of a moped (true story).
Going it alone means that you can find a room with other expats (or your own place) in a central location and close to work. Facebook groups are a great place to start looking before you even go out there, test the waters and see how frequently rooms are sought/offered. You’ll also need to embrace the motorbike life– but chances are you’d do this eventually anyway.
Socialising
If you’re not a super sociable person, joining a program means that you’re instantly introduced to 15-20 other people in a similar situation to you. There is often an induction week, where you can acclimatise and get to know the people you’ll be working and living with before teaching begins.
However, if you’re headed to any city where teaching English abroad is a popular activity, you are bound to find plenty of fellow teachers as soon as you get out and look. Again, Facebook is a wonderful resource. If you work in private language centres you’re likely to bump into other teachers there too.
In summary;
There isn’t an obvious or ‘correct’ answer. Its down to you, your experience and your personality. Even within programs and internships the services offered and experiences of two individuals can vary greatly. Others in the same cohort as me were placed at schools closer to town and lived in a large apartment nearer the city, it’s partly pot-luck.
Do the best research that you can, make a decision that seems best for you, then EMBRACE IT. No matter how well you plan, travel is always unpredictable.
So if you keep an open mind and stay ready for a few curve balls, you’ll survive!
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