I'm teaching English overseas. It's a really tough job but I love it! The kids I teach are awesome and I think that I can make a difference here. The people I have met are very friendly and welcoming, and I love travelling and seeing new cultures. OP, what's your job?
Wow, I've always wanted to learn another language, I keep having a go at Norwegian but I keep going off of it, any tips are keeping a schedule for practice? Also, I'm out of a job right now, was thinking what kind of job I'd get and ended up coming up with this idea for a thread. Also, what's Indonesia like?
It's a lot easier to learn the language if you move to the country and nobody can speak English! I have to practice every day just communicating with people. If you want to learn a new language in your home country, I would suggest practicing every day... maybe setting aside 10-30 minutes for it. If possible set up skype or something similar with a native speaker to see what the language really sounds like. Indonesia is a great place! It's very beautiful here and the people are very friendly. They love foreigners... I feel like a celebrity wherever I go. Also, the culture is very different from the USA and they have some awesome traditions. Unfortunately is is a pretty poor country (which is why I'm a volunteer) but it's definitely worth seeing. There is lots of awesome history here, it's super cool.
Well, their weddings are very different. Lots of music and dance and very intricate costumes. I've been to... 3 weddings so far. For the party afterwards they block off the street and play music very loudly until nighttime. Also their traditional fabric (batik) is very beautiful and commonly worn. One tradition that takes some getting used to though is the lack of toilet paper... they use the left hand instead, which is why it's very impolite to use your left hand when greeting, giving or taking things, and if you eat with it they'll look at you funny.
Me too, although I'm new to it (~1 year in) and I'm in between jobs right now. I taught in Spain and now I'm looking at South Korea. I don't love it every day, but overall I'm pretty happy with it. A huge plus for me was that I could study what I loved in university (linguistics), since there aren't many jobs directly associated with that major.
I'm newer than you! I've only been teaching almost 4 months, although I've been here about 6 months if you include training. I majored in Psychology... I guess what I'm doing is pretty unrelated to my major, but I guess I'm in the same boat as you - not really many jobs for a psych graduate.
As someone who is interested in teaching overseas, what qualifications did you need?
I'm a volunteer, so I needed a degree and 30+ hours of ESL experience, and I was trained when I got here. I also needed a good amount of volunteer experience in other places. I imagine you need more training if you want to actually get paid, but then you'd want to work somewhere like Korea or Japan, not Indonesia (they can't really afford to pay you).
It varies by which country you want to teach in (some countries have higher standards, some have lower standards), but you generally want the following: > Native English speaker. > Citizenship in English-speaking country (US, Canada, UK, Ireland, Aus, NZ, SA). > Bachelor's degree/4-year degree from one of aforementioned countries, any discipline. > Preferably an in-class 100+ hour TEFL certification. E.g. CELTA. You can get one in a month for a few thousand dollars, cheaper if you go get it in Southeast Asia. > EU citizenship if you want to teach in the EU, which is generally rather difficult otherwise. You can find some country specific FAQs here: http://www.reddit.com/r/TEFL/wiki/faqs