Thread by @MissRinAelia, So, YOU want to teach English overseas, do you? Thinking about getting [...]

So, YOU want to teach English overseas, do you? Thinking about getting out of your home country for a while, seeing the world...

HA.

Don’t.

...just kidding! but now that I have your attention it’s time for some advice from someone who’s been teaching English for 10 years

First of all, let’s talk countries. I have experience teaching English in Japan, China, USA, and Poland. I’ll talk about each of these as well as what is REALLY needed to be a GOOD ESL teacher, plus discrimination any POC may face trying to enter the field

I started teaching in 2007 during a study abroad and I didn’t even have my undergrad degree yet. I was in China and it was easy for me to get hired back then because I was a native speaker from America and I look white af.

But here’s the truth: I was a shitty teacher

I was shitty because BEING A NATIVE SPEAKER ALONE IS NOT ENOUGH. And my experience in China did NOT hold up when I arrived in Poland, where I was actually asked questions like “how do I use zero conditional” and I had no fucking clue how to answer

In China before CELTA, teaching English to kids was easy. Everything was based on TPR (Total Physical Response) and English grammar was taught by the Chinese assistants separately. All I did was play games with flash cards. This did NOT make me a good teacher

For adults, I just followed the textbook. I offered no explanation for grammar, barely understood it myself, and did not provide anything other than a smiling, friendly face. While that was enough for China before 2017, it was Not Good Enough in Poland

I want to stress that if this is the kind of teacher you’re going to be? Please reconsider. I should have myself. I was too busy thinking about the money and not enough about the quality of education I was providing students. Doing CELTA forced me to really become professional

Now obviously, I can’t stop you. Japan in particular is very lax; companies like NOVA will hire you without job experience and without any TEFL certification whatsoever, and imo that’s why a great deal of eikaiwa “teachers” are so poor at it. But these big companies know this

These big companies know that you’re probably just using them to come to Japan anyway and that if you can’t handle it (and their terrible work conditions) there’s always somebody else who wants to come to Japan VERY badly so you’re expendable, sorry

However, once you are in Japan and a Certificate of Eligibility has been issued to you via Gaba, NOVA, etc and you have your residence permit, you are not bound to that company. You CAN find another job (and a lot of ESL jobs in Japan want you to have that residence permit first)

The hardest part in teaching English here is getting a job that will sponsor your Certificate of Eligibility. Once you have that? Many people end up ditching their first companies and getting a job at other eikaiwa that have better working conditions and pay better

But if I’m to be honest? Eikaiwa work is some of the worst. I have a masters degree and CELTA, so I was able to get a university job. I am paid MUCH more than at an eikaiwa, but again this is because I have the certifications and skill sets necessary to be qualified for the job

Now, let’s talk China.

The Chinese version of eikaiwa pay MUCH better than Japan. But China takes ESL a bit more seriously and demands TEFL certification to even get the job, unlike most jobs in Japan. You CANNOT get a work visa for teaching English in China without it

If you have a degree in education, especially a masters degree in education or EFL, you will not need a TEFL certification to get the work visa. However, the other issue is that you must be a native speaker of English to get a work visa for ESL to begin with

China only recognizes the following counties as native English speaking: USA, Canada, UK, Ireland, New Zealand, Australia, and South Africa. However, a LOT of Chinese companies are blatantly anti-Black and they will sometimes “forget” to list South Africa

If you’re white or have lighter skin and you come from South Africa then yes, they will sponsor your work visa. But because these companies can be racist af, they will conveniently not list South Africa, and they almost always ask for a video or photo with your CV

This breaks my heart because I have former colleagues from countries like Nigeria who had ALL of their formal education in English and were EXCELLENT teachers suddenly lose the ability to renew their work visas because Nigeria is not on the list as “native English speaking”

Finally, as an aside yes there are people who teach English on business visas or tourist visas. People do try to go around this. But you do this at your own risk; I’ve seen people intentionally lie to teachers saying sure yeah you can teach on a business visa only to get arrested

Sometimes these companies will turn in people working on the wrong visa for CASH from local police and they specifically target POC teachers for this in Tier 2 or Tier 3 cities in China. So PLEASE be careful and don’t trust people who can’t give you a proper work visa

Finally, Poland.

Poland is a place where if you cannot genuinely teach English, if you don’t know how to explain grammar, if you are unable to provide a genuine education for your students you will NOT make it. Period.

I’m under the impression that NNES European schools for English do NOT take shit and they will NOT hire you if you’re not good. You better have a great background and genuinely know your ish before even trying it. Being a native speaker doesn’t mean a thing if you can’t deliver

HOWEVER. While teaching in Poland was the best thing for my career as an ESL teacher? It was awful financially. You don’t make that much money and THERE ARE CONSTANTLY HOLIDAYS. WWII memorials, religious holidays... there is Always a Holiday and my students were unreliable

My students would always leave to go skiing or something and be gone so my income was inconsistent. Summer was TERRIBLE; I had students sign up, decide meh they want time off after all, then disappear lol only to come back in September

I think teaching in Poland is only feasible if you have income from other non-Polish sources (teaching online to Chinese students in the afternoon then teaching Polish students in the evening), but that’s only if you have a good internet connection (I didn’t)

Okay, I have to get ready for Kimono school, so that’s all for now. If there are any questions, please let me know! Also if you have similar or different experiences, lmk those as well.

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