A Job for Now: Teaching at an English School Abroad

The current economic climate is far from hospitable to both recent graduates and long-term workers. A good way to make enough money to pay off some loans and to also do a little traveling is to work at an English school abroad. There are many parts of the world where people will pay a lot of money just to learn the English language. Asian countries are the ones with the biggest demand for teachers right now, though jobs can still be found in Eastern Europe.

The best thing about an English school in Asia is that you don't need a lot of experience; actually, sometimes you don't need any. All that you need to get a job in South Korea is a college degree. Schools in South Korea will pay you around two thousand dollars a month, in addition to your airfare and helping you find a place to live. China also mostly just requires you to have a college degree, but they only pay about half as much. Other Asian countries, such as Thailand, Vietnam and even Japan require you to be certified as an ESL instructor. Most ESL courses cost anywhere from five hundred to two thousand dollars.

It is also possible to teach at an English school in Europe, but those jobs are not as plentiful and also not as lucrative. European schools used to only want to employ people who had European Union residency, but the restrictions have become far more relaxed. Also, these schools have more rigid standards for teachers, though smaller and less well off countries will only require a degree, sometimes even less; schools in Georgia only require two years of college credits. Although heading in this route will not make a person rich, it is still a great way to get some experience and to do some traveling.