Spendthrift's Guide to Teaching ESL Abroad. Benjamin Jelen
write up a resume, and cover letter. It also will prepare you mentally for potential interviews after you get started applying!
Goals
Thinking about your personal and professional goals is probably one of the most important steps in deciding who to teach, and where to teach. There is an amazing diversity of assignments available to you based on your tastes and preferences. At this stage, it’s important to be realistic about your goals and priorities at this stage in your life. Also consider the basic accommodations that you need to be comfortable. It’s a great idea to be as realistic and honest with yourself as possible; don’t delude yourself in thinking you can “make it” in a situation which your gut or mind revolts at. For example, don’t even consider working in the Middle East if you really hate the heat and are uncomfortable about Muslims. It’s good to challenge yourself to expand your horizons- but start small and take small steps!
The basic things that you should consider are-
1. Lifestyle
2. Personal Taste
3. Financial Needs
4. Professional Goals
5. Personality and Psychology
6. Opportunity
In this section, we will look at each of these in turn.
Lifestyle
This is perhaps one of the more complicated questions to answer on the list. The question of “lifestyle” is complicated because it deals with “ideals” which are often quite different from reality. However, having a set of ideals as a baseline will greatly improve your chances of finding a job you really like. Start by asking yourself these questions, and recording the answers.
1. How many hours am I willing to work in a week?
2. Do I prefer working mornings, days, or evenings? Am I OK with split shifts?
3. What days of the week am I comfortable working?
4. What sorts of locations are unacceptable to me?
5. What is my ideal work location?
6. Who do I want to teach?
7. Do I need to live around other foreigners?
8. Do I need to live in the city, or am I comfortable in a rural location?
Don’t expect to set out and find an ideal job which matches all of these criteria. Think of these as your values; some compromise should be expected, but too much compromise probably means that you will end up severely disliking a job once it has started. Also, keep these questions in mind as you move through your career, the answers may change. That’s okay!
Changing Priorities
When I first got into teaching, I didn’t have a whole lot of priorities. I wanted weekends, and about 8 hour work days. My idea of a good job was shaped more around what I thought a good job was- which was mostly the standard idea of “a weekend, vacations, decent pay.” During my first two years, I realized that these were not the only things I cared about. I cared about having a “weekend” and having one of my friends abroad became increasingly important. I thought it was very important to live in a city where I had access to at least some ‘Western’ food (You would be surprised at the amount of McDonalds, Starbucks and Costcos in some parts of the world where you would not expect them.)
A year and a half later, after completing graduate school, my priorities had totally changed again. I wanted to work only 40 hours a week. Money was less important to me as I had made some savings. I absolutely detested teaching in the evening (at this time I was teaching from mid-morning to 11 o’clock or later some nights.) My passion for teaching children had changed and I wanted to teach adults, or at least University students. Luckily, a great position opened up on the beach in Mexico. A comfortable, 40 hours a week complete with ‘siestas’ and ocean views. Sometimes, changing values motivate you to change your situation.
Personal Preferences and Idiosyncrasies
The next thing to consider after the basic questions we discussed above are things I like to term “personal idiosyncrasies”. Some people call them “pet peeves” or “affectations”, but I find these terms only address the negative. I find it helps to separate these into “wants” and “repulsions”. Everyone has them (if you don’t, you just haven’t found them yet!) Think about the things that really bother you.
Here is my list, compiled through years of experience.
Wants
Repulsions
Fresh Food
Noodle slurping
Fast Internet
Coughing and sneezing without covering mouth and nose
High Water Pressure
Wet Bathrooms and Bathroom Stalls
“Clean” Electricity that doesn’t damage electronics
Excessive Staring
Friendly People
Excessive Fried Food
Toilet Paper
Dried Fish and Squid Products
You can probably tell that this list has evolved over the past years through all the locations I have lived. There are some curious items on that list. Nothing on the list you make should deter you from accepting a contract, or following an opportunity. It’s more of an exercise to prepare yourself for the little challenges that tend to sneak up on you, and be aware of your own emotional triggers. These triggers tend to be “the last straw” when culture shock starts to set in.
In my third year, I literally quit one country “because of poor water pressure” (In reality there were a mounting list of “real” concerns about my lifestyle that had been mounting up, but at the time, the water pressure was all that I could think of.)
Financial Needs
For many new teachers, or those just getting into the industry, this is the biggest determining factor in choosing the best location to look for work. This is a little more complicated than “how much money do I need to make?” You should consider…
1. Startup Cost (airfare, living costs until first paycheck, visa costs, etc.)
2. How much you need to bring in to pay any financial obligations.
3. Your desired rate of monthly savings.
4. The cost of living in a given location.
5. The relative strength of the local currency.
Again, there is no job that will satisfy all of your wants and needs, but identifying your own situation is a good start. If you are always strapped for cash and unable to pay your bills, then you are not going to be happy, and probably not meet your contract’s expectation or goals. Be as realistic as possible, and look at your checkbook or balance sheet if you have one (if you don’t this it’s a good time to start!)
In terms of initial startup costs, some can be quite demanding, while others less so. Some countries (notably South Korea, Japan, and some locations in The Middle East), will pay for costs such as airfare and furniture stipends up front. Countries with standard arrangements such as these are usually the most convenient for the cash strapped beginning teacher.
The second thing to deeply consider is the balance between your desired rate of savings, the relative cost of living, your salary, and the historical strength of the currency. It’s rare for a country to be positive in all of these factors. Usually, if a country has all of these it quickly experiences a “bubble” of English teachers. It works like this- Native speaking teachers suddenly become cheap to hire because of a positive exchange rate for that countries’