Moving abroad means working abroad, unless you are retiring or are independently wealthy. One of the best job opportunities for you to consider in your new country may be Teaching English Abroad as a Foreign Language (TEFL), also known as Teaching English as a Second or Other Language (TESOL).
TEFL is an increasingly popular work option for both recent college graduates as well as experienced or retiring teachers who want to live abroad.
Driven by globalization and international business needs, schools in countries throughout the world are hiring hundreds of thousands of English teachers every year. To fill this need, a wide variety of primarily online TEFL programs have sprung up to train aspiring teachers.
But the world of TEFL training requires much due diligence on your part because there is no one single organization that is universally recognized as an official accrediting body for TEFL certifications. The British Council, which claims to be the world’s largest English language teaching organization, does not accredit TEFL schools, but does set standards used by many TEFL programs. British Council standards call for:
- At least 100 hours of coursework and training
- At least six hours of live practice teaching and observation involving ESL students
- External validation by a reputable examination body, such as a university or a recognized examination board, and/or accreditation by a national accrediting body, such as the Ministry of Education in other countries
- Course instructors must hold at least a masterís degree with a background in TESOL, Linguistics, Education with ESL emphasis or an equivalent amount of training; experience with at least eight years of teaching in an international context is also accepted
TEFL programs are offered online and/or off-line and usually take several months to complete for certification. Prices vary, but US$700 to US$2,000 for the program is a typical range.
Recent San Jose State University graduate Tim Winfred is a typical TEFL candidate. The twenty-three-year-old graduated with a degree in advertising in 2012 and got a job in California’s Silicon Valley working in digital marketing. But soon he began craving more meaning in his life and started thinking about moving to South Korea for a number of reasons.
“I have a friend from college who is currently teaching English in Suwon and a friend from high school who is living in Seoul,” Winfred explained. “And very importantly, my brother will be stationed at the U.S. air base in Osan. I also have a martial arts background in Tae Kwon Do, which originated in South Korea. I am excited to further my training in martial arts. South Korea also is very close to China, Japan and other Southeast Asian countries, which I plan to visit.”
Winfred’s reasons for moving to South Korea - known officially as the Republic of Korea - meshed nicely with the Ministry of Education’s push to improve English education in the country. “South Korea is putting a huge amount of money into English education, so there are lots of opportunities there,” he said.
”After I decided to move to South Korea, I did a lot of research into the country’s requirements for ESL teachers, which can be found on most websites that offer TEFL certification programs,” Winfred said. “There are so many different TEFL certification course options that it sometimes is confusing, but I found two schools online that I was impressed with. In the end, I chose the International TEFL Academy (ITA) although it was twice as expensive as the other company I researched. ITA’s customer service and the benefits they offer to their students, such as more training hours, lifetime job placement assistance, a directory of schools, an alumni group and other factors, tilted my decision in ITA’s favor.”