Both Duff and myself have taught English across countries such as Korea, Thailand, Taiwan etc and have nothing but good things to say about it. Teaching English gave me the insight into how to make money from travel blogging and online businesses to the point now that I travel indefinitely, it’s allowed Duff (an Englishman) to move to Australia and work in marketing in Sydney.
If you’ve been wondering how to teach English overseas (LINK) but are still a little daunted by it, let me reassure you guys that it’s the right thing to do. Below are 5 awesome benefits of teaching English overseas:
1) Resume:
While some people teach English as a full-blooded career, the vast majority of English teachers only do it for a couple of years. When it comes to the end of your English teaching stint, you’ll be applying to other jobs potentially unrelated to education.
Never leave your English teaching experience off your resume/CV. It demonstrates your flexibility, your spontaneity, you zest for life, your people skills and every interviewer will be intrigued by your experiences. Both Duff and I can vouch for that.
2) Language Learning:
Knowing your own language properly allows us to pick up second, third and fourth languages so much more easily. Once you understand your adverbs from your adjectives, your pronouns from proverbs in your own language, learning a new language is so, so much clearer.
3) Travel:
Teaching English overseas goes hand-in-hand with international travel. Imagine living in Bangkok, Thailand teaching English then just heading off to Cambodia for your week holidays. Pretty cool huh? That’s the reality behind a life of teaching English. Also, with the money you save after one year, you can hit the road for as long as you can make it stretch, and with English teachers in South Korea saving on average $12,000 per year, that’s a long stretch!
4) Confidence:
Teaching can be scary business, especially for people with no experience (like duff and I when we both started), but after 3 or 4 months in the classroom your self confidence will rocket. Presentations, public speaking, meeting new people – it’s all a breeze after teaching English in a foreign country.
5) Fun:
The sum of your life is determined by the lifestyle you led. This is a fun lifestyle, the work is fun, the other teachers are fun, the parties are fun, living in foreign countries is fun, the freedom is fun and traveling is fun. Certainly beats a shit salary in a grey office in a boring city in your home country!
Hopefully I’m starting to convey how awesome teaching English can be guys, it really opens more doors than you can imagine. You just have to take the plunge. Happy travels!