Re: OT: Waa-a-a-ay OT: Teaching English abroad.

Steven Williams wrote:
> And, being at that stage in every university student's
> life where he _finally_ commits to a career path, I've
> decided to become a teacher of English as a second
> language.
>
> These two desires - the desire to travel and the
> desire to get somewhere in my future career - means
> that my best option would be to teach English abroad,
> which sounds exciting ("you mean they'll _pay_ me to
> do that? There's gotta be a catch!").
>
> I've been exploring options, weighing my choices, but
> can't find very many people in my social circle who've
> done such a thing; most people I know have only been
> abroad on vacation.
>
Do you have, or plan to get, an MA in ESL? That's the official way to do it
:-)) To my knowledge, the English Lang. Institute at the Univ. of Michigan
is one of the best; course work in the Ling. Dept., some "pedagogical"
courses (ridiculous stuff!), plus actual practice teaching. It's not
immediately "abroad", but it does get you credentials.

Are there any organizations that promote such things?? Like the Peace Corps,
but privately sponsored?? It could also be that some of the mega-corps need
people to teach Engl. to the locals. The downside there is that many of them
(the oils, e.g.) are in places one wouldn't want to be).

Otherwise, get on a plane/boat to the country of your choice and put an ad
in the local paper or hunt up the local version of Berlitz. Maybe?? That
used to work... Nowadays, hang around an internet café??  You might have to
investigate rules and regulations regarding work permits etc., or else just
do it on the sly. I have no idea what one would charge.  The places with the
most lax laws might not be the most desirable spots...And you might discover
you're teaching English to the local mafia Don. Oh well, their money is
green/red/yellow whatever, too.

Just off the top of my head (and from some previous acquaintance) I might
look seriously at Vietnam (esp. Ho Chi Minh City ex-Saigon, probably still
the Paris of the Orient) or Cambodia. In the other direction, the 3 Baltic
countries; maybe even Russia, Romania, Bulgaria...Armenia, Georgia???
Personally too, I'd investigate Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay, Chile-- good
climates :-) though I'm not sure they're in desperate need of ESL teachers.

Once upon a time colleges in Saudi Arabia hired lots of ESL teachers, at
very attractive salaries, but in today's world that seems less than
tempting.