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Don't become an English teacher overseas

 
Anonymous Coward
User ID: 75443447
United States
11/19/2017 06:24 PM
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Don't become an English teacher overseas
I did it for a few years after college because I was entitled and didn't want to settle for a desk job. Let me tell you, there is nothing adventurous or lucrative about doing the TEFL thing.

I did my time in Thailand and Japan, and if I could do it over again I would have gotten a steady job and simply gone on vacations to those countries while working a real job.

Spending your days with screaming kids who can't speak your language makes you want to pull your hair out. You also aren't a real teacher as there is no real curriculum or accountability, so you just kind of make it up as you go along.

Then you have to deal with idiotic bosses who care more about selling a White face to the kids' parents more than anything else. You get paid just enough to live at your host country and not save much of anything. Wages are also trending downwards due to the hordes of delusional adventure-seekers flooding these countries.

I'm now back in the States, and I'm working at a warehouse for peanuts because TEFL experience doesn't exactly lend to the perception of professional career development. Most employers just see it as a working vacation or slacking off.

Then there's the issue with not paying in to Social Security and Medicare abroad. I know some guys in their 60s who taught for decades, are being forced out of TEFL due to age and won't be eligible for Social Security or Medicare when they get back home since they haven't paid into it. They'll literally work at Walmart or McDonalds until they drop dead.

Just forget about TEFL and get a real career.
CleanisticGirl

User ID: 75021608
United States
11/19/2017 06:27 PM
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Re: Don't become an English teacher overseas
I did it for a few years after college because I was entitled and didn't want to settle for a desk job. Let me tell you, there is nothing adventurous or lucrative about doing the TEFL thing.

I did my time in Thailand and Japan, and if I could do it over again I would have gotten a steady job and simply gone on vacations to those countries while working a real job.

Spending your days with screaming kids who can't speak your language makes you want to pull your hair out. You also aren't a real teacher as there is no real curriculum or accountability, so you just kind of make it up as you go along.

Then you have to deal with idiotic bosses who care more about selling a White face to the kids' parents more than anything else. You get paid just enough to live at your host country and not save much of anything. Wages are also trending downwards due to the hordes of delusional adventure-seekers flooding these countries.

I'm now back in the States, and I'm working at a warehouse for peanuts because TEFL experience doesn't exactly lend to the perception of professional career development. Most employers just see it as a working vacation or slacking off.

Then there's the issue with not paying in to Social Security and Medicare abroad. I know some guys in their 60s who taught for decades, are being forced out of TEFL due to age and won't be eligible for Social Security or Medicare when they get back home since they haven't paid into it. They'll literally work at Walmart or McDonalds until they drop dead.

Just forget about TEFL and get a real career.
 Quoting: Anonymous Coward 75443447


Thanks for the info. I've thought about teaching in another country before but havent.
Anonymous Coward (OP)
User ID: 75443447
United States
11/19/2017 06:48 PM
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Re: Don't become an English teacher overseas
As far as the adventure aspect goes, it's kind of neat at first but wears off quickly. After a while, you realize that you are surrounded by buildings, cars, and people going about their daily lives just like anywhere else in the world. They just speak a different language than you do and you are always "the foreigner" or "the American." You are also on the other side of the planet from your friends and family.

If you really want to try out TEFL, I'd only recommend doing it at the very end of your career when you are planning to retire anyway, but before you are in your 60s and won't be accepted.

Better yet, just invest well during your working years, plan for an early retirement, and travel the world on your own dime.

"Teaching" classrooms full of screaming kids for peanuts isn't all that great.
Anonymous Coward
User ID: 75820605
Canada
11/19/2017 06:53 PM
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Re: Don't become an English teacher overseas
I have seen ads online to become a teacher in Republic Of Georgia.
Anonymous Coward
User ID: 75632946
United States
11/19/2017 06:57 PM
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Re: Don't become an English teacher overseas
Plus the little vampires want to suck down your soul and then the parents complain when the kid doesnt come home and the principle is pissed about all the blood on the floor but at least you get a few good meals out of them.
beeches

User ID: 74276477
United States
11/19/2017 06:59 PM

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Re: Don't become an English teacher overseas
thanks OP

I know someone considering this.
Liberalism is totalitarianism with a human face – Thomas Sowell
Anonymous Coward
User ID: 73162439
United States
11/19/2017 07:19 PM
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Re: Don't become an English teacher overseas
Cool opinion, ill do the opposite
Anonymous Coward
User ID: 73138183
United States
11/19/2017 07:31 PM
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Re: Don't become an English teacher overseas
a-fuckin-men, been there, done that and it sucked, and don't forget to mention your competing with every other asshole foreigner for the same piece of pussy, when it comes to the one foreign girl who likes to hang out and thinks it's cool to speak English, and she sucks at it, especially in an Asian country.
Your Crazy Mom

User ID: 39845140
United States
11/19/2017 07:31 PM

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Re: Don't become an English teacher overseas
thanks OP

I know someone considering this.
 Quoting: beeches


+1
Undestroyer
Truth

User ID: 74982393
United States
11/19/2017 07:35 PM

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Re: Don't become an English teacher overseas
That is interesting.

upon graduation BA in hand. I had a few options. TEFL was one of them but doing the math at the time I decided I would not be able to afford it.

One person from my highschool class did it. He is in Korea. He seems to be doing ok doing some art stuff on the side. Not enough for me though.
You cannot destroy my vision when you see my vision undestroyed because I am just an undestroyer.

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Anonymous Coward
User ID: 75869995
Belgium
11/19/2017 07:39 PM
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Re: Don't become an English teacher overseas
Teach adults, much better experience...
Anonymous Coward
User ID: 75845250
United States
11/19/2017 07:41 PM
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Re: Don't become an English teacher overseas
Teach adults, much better experience...
 Quoting: Anonymous Coward 75869995


Or get a real job abroad.
Anonymous Coward
User ID: 75861346
Canada
11/19/2017 07:49 PM
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Re: Don't become an English teacher overseas
likely not as good as it used to be...

I know a guy that went to Moscow years ago after the communist collapse.

He taught English in a high school and slept on the classroom floor at night because the flat they game him was horrible.

He did this for several years and returned home and had enough teaching experience to make it through teachers college.

Today he is the principal of a High School in one of the richest neighbourhoods in the country.

Mind you his father used to be a CEO of a company...
Anonymous Coward
User ID: 70124356
Ireland
11/19/2017 07:58 PM
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Re: Don't become an English teacher overseas
Anything that involves "Screaming Kids" is a No-No!

drevil
Anonymous Coward
User ID: 75872404
Mexico
11/19/2017 07:59 PM
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Re: Don't become an English teacher overseas
i gave 5tars

i have my masters in english

worked for 2 months with harmon hall

besides i was long hair teaching suits

i realized they all want to move to usa or canada

i realized i facilitate that by teaching them

i got my degree online and was set for yet my 5th carreer

then dropped out

i donr want them ruining my culture

they run over pesdestrians

drive eat and live without respect

like white trash hillbi;llies

i dont want them around me
Anonymous Coward
User ID: 73748682
Singapore
11/19/2017 08:07 PM
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Re: Don't become an English teacher overseas
Don't forget that you get a Foreign Earned Income if $102,200, so you wouldn't be paying any Federal or State tax.

Also, you can voluntarily pay into Social Security through the self-employment tax if you want to stay in.
Anonymous Coward
User ID: 75845250
United States
11/19/2017 08:09 PM
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Re: Don't become an English teacher overseas
i gave 5tars

i have my masters in english

worked for 2 months with harmon hall

besides i was long hair teaching suits

i realized they all want to move to usa or canada

i realized i facilitate that by teaching them

i got my degree online and was set for yet my 5th carreer

then dropped out

i donr want them ruining my culture

they run over pesdestrians

drive eat and live without respect

like white trash hillbi;llies

i dont want them around me
 Quoting: Anonymous Coward 75872404


Yeah, you are a shining example of English skills and Western culture.
Anonymous Coward
User ID: 19876247
United States
11/19/2017 08:13 PM
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Re: Don't become an English teacher overseas
Thanks for posting OP

Many countries that advertise for retirement havens for those still needing to work tell couples adapting to their future to recommend middle-aged couple have one of the two teach TEFL for a base in the country while they get used to it and learn the language.

Sounds horrible

They say the pay is good and affords a VERY nice apartment.
Anonymous Coward (OP)
User ID: 75443447
United States
11/19/2017 08:16 PM
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Re: Don't become an English teacher overseas
i gave 5tars

i have my masters in english

worked for 2 months with harmon hall

besides i was long hair teaching suits

i realized they all want to move to usa or canada

i realized i facilitate that by teaching them

i got my degree online and was set for yet my 5th carreer

then dropped out

i donr want them ruining my culture

they run over pesdestrians

drive eat and live without respect

like white trash hillbi;llies

i dont want them around me
 Quoting: Anonymous Coward 75872404


I think you wasted your money on your English degree. No offense, but you didn't learn much.
Anonymous Coward
User ID: 75872404
Mexico
11/19/2017 08:18 PM
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Re: Don't become an English teacher overseas
i gave 5tars

i have my masters in english

worked for 2 months with harmon hall

besides i was long hair teaching suits

i realized they all want to move to usa or canada

i realized i facilitate that by teaching them

i got my degree online and was set for yet my 5th carreer

then dropped out

i donr want them ruining my culture

they run over pesdestrians

drive eat and live without respect

like white trash hillbi;llies

i dont want them around me
 Quoting: Anonymous Coward 75872404


Yeah, you are a shining example of English skills and Western culture.
 Quoting: Anonymous Coward 75845250


i guess in serbia you dont get ppl of all colors flooding in driving like drunk monkeys slaMMING doors in old ladies faces making lots of noise and ruining order for those who enjoyed it

ive seen lots of esl teachers overseas sppent most my life abroad

they often intermarry bring a piece of 3rd world home
ive asked many to their face '''''' couldnt you find a mate within your own species'''''?

yeah it all contributes to globalization overpopulation and cultural amnesia for everyone
Anonymous Coward
User ID: 75093940
United States
11/19/2017 08:30 PM
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Re: Don't become an English teacher overseas
I heard they are hiring in the Republic of Texas, not sure I want to travel abroad.
Relativity

User ID: 67754016
United States
11/19/2017 08:41 PM
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Re: Don't become an English teacher overseas
I did it for a few years after college because I was entitled and didn't want to settle for a desk job. Let me tell you, there is nothing adventurous or lucrative about doing the TEFL thing.

I did my time in Thailand and Japan, and if I could do it over again I would have gotten a steady job and simply gone on vacations to those countries while working a real job.

Spending your days with screaming kids who can't speak your language makes you want to pull your hair out. You also aren't a real teacher as there is no real curriculum or accountability, so you just kind of make it up as you go along.

Then you have to deal with idiotic bosses who care more about selling a White face to the kids' parents more than anything else. You get paid just enough to live at your host country and not save much of anything. Wages are also trending downwards due to the hordes of delusional adventure-seekers flooding these countries.

I'm now back in the States, and I'm working at a warehouse for peanuts because TEFL experience doesn't exactly lend to the perception of professional career development. Most employers just see it as a working vacation or slacking off.

Then there's the issue with not paying in to Social Security and Medicare abroad. I know some guys in their 60s who taught for decades, are being forced out of TEFL due to age and won't be eligible for Social Security or Medicare when they get back home since they haven't paid into it. They'll literally work at Walmart or McDonalds until they drop dead.

Just forget about TEFL and get a real career.
 Quoting: Anonymous Coward 75443447


bump
“In finding balance between lies and trust
there will never be a better source
than to speak your truth
or make your peace some other way.”
~Sully Erna

Many that live deserve death. And some that die deserve life. Can you give it to them? Then do not be too eager to deal out death in judgment. For even the very wise cannot see all ends.
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"A fool thinks himself to be wise, but a wise man knows himself to be a fool." - William Shakespeare
Anonymous Coward
User ID: 75856658
United States
11/19/2017 08:49 PM
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Re: Don't become an English teacher overseas
Kids in Thailand and Japan do not behave that way at all!

Spending your days with screaming kids who can't speak your language makes you want to pull your hair out. You also aren't a real teacher as there is no real curriculum or accountability, so you just kind of make it up as you go along.


I've done the same and it's simply not in their nature to be disrespectful.

Sorry OP. But I can hardly believe from my many experiences overseas.

Where exactly did you find such a situation/students?
Anonymous Coward
User ID: 75775126
China
11/19/2017 08:57 PM
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Re: Don't become an English teacher overseas
I did it for a few years after college because I was entitled and didn't want to settle for a desk job. Let me tell you, there is nothing adventurous or lucrative about doing the TEFL thing.

I did my time in Thailand and Japan, and if I could do it over again I would have gotten a steady job and simply gone on vacations to those countries while working a real job.

Spending your days with screaming kids who can't speak your language makes you want to pull your hair out. You also aren't a real teacher as there is no real curriculum or accountability, so you just kind of make it up as you go along.

Then you have to deal with idiotic bosses who care more about selling a White face to the kids' parents more than anything else. You get paid just enough to live at your host country and not save much of anything. Wages are also trending downwards due to the hordes of delusional adventure-seekers flooding these countries.

I'm now back in the States, and I'm working at a warehouse for peanuts because TEFL experience doesn't exactly lend to the perception of professional career development. Most employers just see it as a working vacation or slacking off.

Then there's the issue with not paying in to Social Security and Medicare abroad. I know some guys in their 60s who taught for decades, are being forced out of TEFL due to age and won't be eligible for Social Security or Medicare when they get back home since they haven't paid into it. They'll literally work at Walmart or McDonalds until they drop dead.

Just forget about TEFL and get a real career.
 Quoting: Anonymous Coward 75443447


Good post.
I have been in China since 2008.
Nearly everything OP said is true,
unless you make it on your own. I bought a
a nice car for cash 3 years ago,
I bought a small property 1 year ago,
now saving up to buy a property abroad
Only trouble is, it's difficult which country
to choose. The US, Canada and Europe
all have serious issues. Australia not that great
either. The point is, you can make it on your
own.
hosfordjaredqc at yahoo.
Its not rocket science, but you'll
need a thick skin, thicker than a rhinos
KIT
User ID: 74626281
United States
11/19/2017 08:57 PM
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Re: Don't become an English teacher overseas
So you invested your time, youth, and labor to service foreigners in a foreign land. And shocker the forefingers don't give a a fuck about you and your not going to get a pension.

And you come back "home" whine about it to us. Well grasshopper hope you had your fun.
Anonymous Coward
User ID: 73760317
United States
11/19/2017 09:01 PM
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Re: Don't become an English teacher overseas
Did you really think you where going to get paid more then a bowl of rice?
beeches

User ID: 74276477
United States
11/19/2017 09:09 PM

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Re: Don't become an English teacher overseas
I lived abroad for a decade.
so I know a little about this.

OP is a lot more up to date on it than I am.

the world was far safer then. that alone would make me change my plans, if I were young today.

Last Edited by beeches on 11/19/2017 09:09 PM
Liberalism is totalitarianism with a human face – Thomas Sowell
Anonymous Coward
User ID: 75562738
United States
11/19/2017 09:13 PM
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Re: Don't become an English teacher overseas
i gave 5tars

i have my masters in english

worked for 2 months with harmon hall

besides i was long hair teaching suits

i realized they all want to move to usa or canada

i realized i facilitate that by teaching them

i got my degree online and was set for yet my 5th carreer

then dropped out

i donr want them ruining my culture

they run over pesdestrians

drive eat and live without respect

like white trash hillbi;llies

i dont want them around me
 Quoting: Anonymous Coward 75872404


You have a Masters in English yet seem incapable of using punctuation, capitalization, or "the sHiFt kEy". Okay, you bet, sparky. You are a master of the language of princes and paupers.
I'm From TEXAS y'all

User ID: 73938027
United States
11/19/2017 09:21 PM
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Re: Don't become an English teacher overseas
I heard they are hiring in the Republic of Texas, not sure I want to travel abroad.
 Quoting: Anonymous Coward 75093940


Keep Out
Abolish ICE! They took our slaves once, don't let it happen again -- Vote Democrat

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Anonymous Coward
User ID: 75445468
United States
11/19/2017 09:37 PM
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Re: Don't become an English teacher overseas
There are negroes in America who need to be taught English.
Rev Woo-Woo

User ID: 74524491
United States
11/19/2017 09:45 PM

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Re: Don't become an English teacher overseas
Several of my cousins have done it and have nothing but great things to say about their experiences. Some have even taken off across the world with young children. South Africa, Ukraine, Thailand and Mongolia.
“If we are peaceful, if we are happy, we can smile and blossom like a flower, and everyone in our family, our entire society, will benefit from our peace.”
Thich Nhat Hanh, Being Peace

"But ask the animals, and they will teach you,
or the birds in the sky, and they will tell you;
or speak to the earth, and it will teach you,
or let the fish in the sea inform you." - Job 12:7,8

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