Thinking about travelling after you graduate? Do you love teaching? Then a possibly wonderful option for your post-undergrad life would be for you to teach English abroad. Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL) is a fascinating and fulfilling profession for individuals interested in learning about other cultures, languages, and travel. Here and around the world, qualified ESOL instructors are in high demand.
First off, there are many acronyms thrown around that deal with teaching English abroad, so I’d like to clarify:
TEFL (Teaching English as a Foreign Language) involves teaching people, usually in their own countries, who want to use English for business, leisure, travel, etc. So this will mainly involve you teaching adult classes in non-English speaking countries. But it could also entail you teaching children as well.
TESL (Teaching English as a Second Language) involves teaching immigrants in English-speaking countries.
TESOL (Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages) and ELT (English Language Teaching) are terms, which cover both TEFL and TESL. Confusingly, the acronym TESOL also refers to the American professional association: Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages.
There are many more TEFL jobs worldwide than there are native-speaking EFL teachers to fill them. This means that there are jobs out there for you Cal graduates! TEFL teaching positions serve as a great stepping-stone if you do not know exactly what you want to do straight out of college. Many of the highest paying teaching jobs are in Asia, especially Korea, Japan, and Taiwan.
Below are some common questions that you might have about TEFL!
Q: Is it required that I know the foreign language in the country I am teaching in?
As almost all TEFL jobs require you to teach English purely in English, knowledge of a foreign language is not essential. However, having some experience of foreign language learning will give you many useful insights into what language is and how we learn it; and studying a foreign language will help you to learn more about English, particularly English grammar. Some knowledge of the language of the country where you teach will make your out-of-school life easier and more rewarding.
So what exactly do you need to teach English abroad?
Employers require that you obtain a TEFL certificate. However this is a fairly generic term since there are many TEFL certificate programs available. There is no regulation of the programs out there and many of them vary in terms of quality and of recognition by employers. So when looking into specific programs, be sure to do your research and consult the Berkeley Learning Teaching Consultant(http://www.berkeleyltc.com/teach_english) for guidance or seek out a career counselor at our wonderful career center!
Upon research, an example program where TEFL certificates are provided is the CELTA program, which enjoys worldwide recognition. CELTA courses are offered by over 200 centers in 40+ countries and several of the centers are located in the US. These courses are rigorously monitored by Cambridge University. The benefits include: supervised practice teaching with classes of foreign students, fast completion (one month), and provide credits for MA TESOL programs (master’s degrees) upon graduation of the program. However, these courses are more expensive than other programs.
Besides trying to find a teaching position abroad on your own, there are other options where you can enter into a program like JET (Japan Exchange Teaching Program) where The Japanese government pays university graduates to teach in Japan for a year, either team-teaching in Japanese public schools as Assistant Language Teachers (ALTs) or assisting local governments as Coordinators for International Relations (CIRs). If you go onto our career center website there are many other links to different programs that link you up to positions where you can teach abroad. https://career.berkeley.edu/ICareers/ICareers.stm - teaching
So, if you do have an interest in traveling abroad after you graduate and have an interest in teaching, TEFL just might be a wonderful option for you! It may be a daunting challenge, but if it is something that interests you, it may be a very rewarding and memorable experience! So do your research and find the right place and position for you! Good luck!
Post by Chika Kondo, 2nd Year Political Science and Society and the Environment Double Major.
Teaching abroad is definitely a unique experience. Helping someone else conquer a new language is really rewarding and I liked how you listed out each possible type of teaching english. Great post!
Posted by: AIDC | August 09, 2013 at 08:53 AM
Sounds great. Our teachers report similar experiences, teaching abroad is one of the most rewarding things anyone can do.
Posted by: AIDC | July 20, 2013 at 12:06 PM
It seems that you are enjoying your career as an educator. Teaching english abroad is really exciting, it paves way to a bridge the language barrier among nations.
Posted by: Rajiv Omar | November 18, 2010 at 05:19 AM