Reasons NOT to Teach Abroad
10-21-2011, 05:48 PM
I'm most likely going to be teaching in China once I graduate and save a little bit of money. I definitely don't look at it as a career or anything I want to be doing for a good length of time. It is a godsend though, if you're young, want to "break" into a country, and don't have mad savings chilling in your bank account. How else are you going to financially support yourself while you're in the process of learning the language, building relationships, and trying to make real jobs/business opportunities come your way?
My case is kinda fuked up because I'm not originally from the United States or another Anglo country. I have lived in the states ever since I was 9 years old and had all my education-college included-here, but I'm sure in many eyes I'm still not what one would call a "native speaker." I'm not really rock solid sure I could get a job teaching English, although my target region is Asia and I hear they're fond of people who look stereotypically "white," which with blond hair and blue eyes I definitely do. I got a part time job with the Kaplan Review teaching ACT here in the states just so my chances of being able to get a teaching job in China go up. Hopefully I can get a test prep job in Asia cause I hear you can make mad bank, like $30-50 an hour, if you have experience and high scores, both of which I possess. If I can get a good gig like that going then making this kind of money in China is not quite living like a maharaja (lots of big time ballers in China these days) but it's still quite good to be making while I'm positioning myself for a real financial breakthrough that does not involve teaching.
My case is kinda fuked up because I'm not originally from the United States or another Anglo country. I have lived in the states ever since I was 9 years old and had all my education-college included-here, but I'm sure in many eyes I'm still not what one would call a "native speaker." I'm not really rock solid sure I could get a job teaching English, although my target region is Asia and I hear they're fond of people who look stereotypically "white," which with blond hair and blue eyes I definitely do. I got a part time job with the Kaplan Review teaching ACT here in the states just so my chances of being able to get a teaching job in China go up. Hopefully I can get a test prep job in Asia cause I hear you can make mad bank, like $30-50 an hour, if you have experience and high scores, both of which I possess. If I can get a good gig like that going then making this kind of money in China is not quite living like a maharaja (lots of big time ballers in China these days) but it's still quite good to be making while I'm positioning myself for a real financial breakthrough that does not involve teaching.