[lXwVlTgO]

Does anyone has any experience of teaching English as a foreign language abroad, either as a teacher or assistant?

I'm 23 and have been drinking my life away since I graduated from University two years ago. I like my friends and its good to have an active social life, but working an unfulfilling job just to get bladdered at the weekend, wash, rinse and repeat isn't enough. I'm fascinated by the world and want to go out and be part of it.

Thus far, I've applied to government supported schemes such as JET (inevitably) and a British Council position in China, but I've decided I will be out of the UK by my 24th birthday, or with a solid plan to leave. I want to live in SE Asia, but not Japan exclusively - I'm quite open and want to send out as many applications as I can.

Any advice from those more experienced, stories or suggestions for other (reliable) options would be greatly appreciated - I've yet to apply to any private companies such as Interac (formerly Nova) as many have a poor record for screwing ALTs out of pay, taxing you twice over or for contracts disappearing, leaving you stranded abroad without work.

[Pedsshuth]

Hi, I live in Germany and we find there is a big demand for Native English speakers. You can very easily do a short course with Berlitz and then become one of their Native speaking teachers. My wife has a young girl come to our house who then simply speaks and gets the opportunity to hear English. You can earn from 10 to 20 euro per hour helping folk learn to speak the language. One thing though having a very strong accent is a no no. Clear understandable English. Some idea of grammar is good.

[syptopsygieds]

Does anyone has any experience of teaching English as a foreign language abroad, either as a teacher or assistant?

I do not. But...

I'm 23 and have been drinking my life away since I graduated from University two years ago. I like my friends and its good to have an active social life, but working an unfulfilling job just to get bladdered at the weekend, wash, rinse and repeat isn't enough. I'm fascinated by the world and want to go out and be part of it.

Do what you can to make it happen then. I did much the same thing until I was 28 years old. I do not regret how I spent the time all that much, because I did make some excellent friends and I definitely acquired some really unique experiences that will make for some good lifelong memories, but I do have some regret when I think about the time I could have spent tending to my own health. You are right when you say that it is not enough. As far as time tables go, my understanding is that the JET program provides a schedule of the mass interviews which they conduct. So you should be able to figure out at least a vague time table that will work for your plan to leave by your 24th birthday, assuming you are accepted into the program.

Best of luck to you in pursuing your goals, and good job on figuring them out!

[GillTeepbew]

I known enough people who worked in JET, and went on to other things who have stated the following: "If you have any skill at all, other than the fact that you are a native english speaker, use that as the basis for finding a job abroad."

I believe this is more due to higher pay, working conditions, respect, career advancement etc. I've had a number of friends work in asia with varying degrees of language ability, but they worked in the tech sector in IT, engineering or finance. Buddy of mine left NASA to do IT work in japan at basically double the pay, though he returned to NASA last year after he got bored of Japan and not being able to do track events.

If you have translation experience, financial translation pays quite well, patent and pharma pays pretty good too.

[banditorfv]

Does anyone has any experience of teaching English as a foreign language abroad, either as a teacher or assistant?

"Does anyone have." Yes. Yes, I do.

Any advice from those more experienced, stories or suggestions for other (reliable) options would be greatly appreciated - I've yet to apply to any private companies such as Interac (formerly Nova) as many have a poor record for screwing ALTs out of pay, taxing you twice over or for contracts disappearing, leaving you stranded abroad without work. Interac is not formerly NOVA. Interac was a direct competitor of NOVA in the Eikaiwa (English conversation) market, but eventually abandoned Eikaiwa to contract with school boards for providing ALTs. NOVA, upon going bankrupt, was taken over by G. Communications, which later sold the schools to an investment group.

As an Interac teacher, I can say I've been largely happy working for them. No job is perfect, but particularly if all you care about is seeing a bit of the world, Interac is a good place to work for a few years. Long vacations allowing for travel, decent pay (better than most new graduates in Japan can get), help with getting settled (without being stuck in the one-room ratholes that most Eikaiwa will put you in), and the hours that will allow you to train in your chosen budo. I believe Ben Sharples who posts here is also an Interac teacher.

[Fededorbprago]

"Does anyone have."

Drafting oversight. I'll have you know that my English Lit degree pays for itself. ¬_¬

That's good news about Interac, cheers for bringing me up to speed. I'll get an application together now. I met with a friend of a friend over the weekend who also spoke well of them (decent fella, but I drank him so far under the table he was still pissed the next morning). Many thanks to the folks giving practical advice in this thread, or through private message.

The only other skill I have would be a print journalism post-grad, though I'm not sure how much use an English language writer would be in a non-English speaking country. I suppose I'll only be able to find out if I get to one.

[Galinastva]

I am sure there are English language newspapers in Japan, just like there are foreign language newspapers in many other countries.

[Ladbarbastirm]

Oh dear me!

I have been away for only one year!

Okay people lets get a reality check here.

More people learn English in China than the the rest of the planet. This tells you one thing. That English WILL BE the lingua franca of the world. Well, actually it will be probably be 'Panglish' or some such crap people are calling it.

So....please dont worrry about speaking any other language...everyone will be able to comprehend you if you shout loud enough.

Or have an Abrams!

Or have a big eff off humungous Aircraft carrier!

Or know the lyrics to John Denver songs.






Oh by the way! for people who dont know me, this is called errm... well actually I dont know what its called but it sure maketh moi happikins!