Look before you leap – Know yourself, and what you want in a job teaching English as a second language, before jumping into a position abroad. Enlist the help of your friends, family, or anyone you trust, who will help you answer the questions below as completely and candidly as possible. There are no right answers here; the only correct answers are honest ones.
1. First, take an inventory of who you are. This is not who you want to be. This is who you are, today.
- How would you describe yourself: physically, emotionally, intellectually, spiritually?
- How would your best friend describe you?
- Your parents? Siblings?
- Your enemies?
2. Next, gauge your knowledge of English. Are you qualified to teach ESL? Begin by listing all the English classes you have ever taken. Specify whether these were literature, grammar, or writing courses. Also list any foreign language classes – these classes are helpful, since they are where most Americans learn English grammar.
- List the classes.
- How well did you do in these classes?
- Did you enjoy these subjects?
- In general, do you enjoy expanding your vocabulary, learning languages, exploring speech and communications concepts, analyzing literature, reading, writing, or any related activities?
- Have you taken at least one grammar or linguistics class? (Very helpful.)
- What English language skill do you enjoy using most? (i.e., listening, speaking, reading, writing, grammar, or vocabulary)
- What English language skill(s) do you think you can teach? Which do you think you can enjoy teaching?
3. Third, analyze your preferences around working with people and teaching ESL:
- Do you like working with people?
- What type of people energizes you the most? Children? Adults? Teenagers? Students? Professionals? Other groups?
- Which ethnicities and socio-economic backgrounds are you drawn to work with? Why? What experience have you had working with people with these backgrounds?
- Do you do well, or are you willing to try, facilitating large groups of people (e.g., 19+)? Mid-sized (10-18) or small groups (3 to 9)?
- Do you prefer working with individuals, one-on-one?
- Have you had experience teaching or tutoring? What did you enjoy about these experiences? What did you dislike?
- Are you an extrovert or an introvert?
- Are you a perfectionist?
- As a teacher, would you view yourself as the imparter of knowledge or a facilitator of learning?
- Have you ever been in a situation where a person was angry? How did you interact with that person?
- How about someone who was depressed?
- Do you have clear boundaries?
- Are you ready to step outside your comfort zone?
4. Now, list your past job titles. Next to each job title, list the skills you employed and those that you learned. It doesn’t matter how easy, or how unrelated the skill may seem to you, write it down. If possible, interview your past supervisors and co-workers and ask them to tell you what they think you brought to the table, and how your work improved over time.
5. Almost done! Enumerate your preferences and needs for cultural surroundings and daily environment.
- Do you need all the comforts of the average American city at all times, are you ready to completely rough it, or ok with something in between?
- What type of living space do you require? An apartment with electricity and running water? Or can you do without appliances, and indoor plumbing? Can you live in a temporary structure such as a tent?
- Have you ever been camping before? If yes, for how long and how did you enjoy the experience?
- Is having roommates ok? Do you want a private space? Need couples housing?
- Do you enjoy exploring cultures different from your own? Are you willing to research, respect, and comply with the cultural norms of another culture? Does your willingness extend to only certain cultures? Which ones?
- How much weight can you carry?
- Are you in good health? Will a doctor approve your travel abroad?
- Are you on a special diet?
- Do you need any medications?
- Are you able to commit to a contract teaching job (usually 10 to 12 months, but occasionally there are shorter assignments)?
- Do you have enough savings, personal contacts, access to resources, and guts to try freelance teaching/tutoring?
At this point, you should have a more complete picture of who you are, a general degree of interest in English and language learning, what some of your personal tendencies are, and whether you need a more Westernized, urban location, are looking for an experience with a very specific group of people, or ok with most any situation. At the very least, you should know by now whether you know enough English, or like English enough to learn what you need to know to teach it; whether you are a natural public speaker, have enough guts to try being one, or want to stick to tutoring; and the extent of your inclination to explore and be a part of another culture.
6. As a final exercise, rewrite the above responses into an essay that more succinctly addresses the following:
- Who are you?
- What do you have to offer in your ESL job?
- What attracts you to teaching English abroad?
- What do you think you will gain from the experience – the pros, the cons, and the degree of unknown? Do I believe the pros outweigh the cons and unknowns?
Whew! You made it to the end. Where you go from here, is up to you. The world holds unlimited possibilities for employment, and teaching ESL abroad is one of myriad niche. I guess the ultimate question is then, is this the best niche for you?
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How much should I charge as an ESL English tutor? (I am a HS student)?Hi~ i posted a similar question before.
I am a high school student who speaks Chinese.
I was asked to tutor 3 high school ESL students of my age, they are Chinese who does not speak English at all.
They want me to come every weekend for 3 or 4 hours…
I really want to know how much I should charge them per hour. Is $15 sounds OK? I have no experience and have no confidence in myself at all!
Please help me!
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Do you have what it takes to pack your bags and leave home for ESL jobs abroad in Korea, Japan, Taiwan or another foreign country? Learn about TESL careers at home and overseas from Lisa Jenkins on JobMonkey.
Excellent advertising speech;=) But anyway THANKS… I will check out our page on edufire.
I'm not in Boston, but I'm an ESL teacher. You might check out this program: http://www.lvm.org/whoAreWe.aspx . You can be a volunteer ESL tutor with them. You also might ask at your local schools. I would love to have volunteers come in and work with my ESL students, but we don't have any. You'd probably have to be fingerprinted and have a background check before volunteering at a school, but it could be some really good experience for you.
I think so. You should also get a form from your councilor's office and let the person that you tutored or the responsible teacher to sign it and write how many hours you served.
There are a couple websites. Here is the one I like… You can search tutors locally and if you cant find one, just place a special request…
http://www.tutorgator.com
Very unusual case I have ever seen. Of course there are numerous Koreans learning English. However, I don't think there are many families that can afford 24hours working worth of salary which would be like $20,000 a month. Even if you dont count sleeping hours still too expensive for most families. Those rich Koreans they tend to do things more formal than that. Teaching with no proper visa is ok. No one really checks it and during your stay no harm would be intended as long as you would be nice to them. But don't get into money that much I can't guarantee you then. The average salary I think is $25~40 per hour depeding on how good connection you have. No student would study with you all day because it is too expensive. They would rather leave Korea to English speaking country with same budget. I am pretty sure you can get a room for free since English learners are everywhere hoping to share their house with you.
Look up information on the SIOP method if you're going to be working on anything related to otehr school subjects with them. This is what I'm working on in my methods class, and it is really effective. If you speak their native language, try to see how well they speak/read in that language. First language proficiency directly effects someone's ability to acquire a second language. Find out how their language is the same or different from English; this will help you to recognize the kinds of mistakes they will make and what you should focus on. For example, in Chinese speakers do not have to use articles (a, the) in most instances so you can expect a student whose native language is Chinese to leave out articles in the English writing and speaking and try to teach this specific skill. Lastly, try to find out what the kids are doing in their classes in school and build on the vocabulary and concepts they are getting there. "Everyday" proficiency–meaning the ability to hold a conversation, order food, navigate the grocery store, and the like comes in one to two years of being immersed or nearly immersed in a second language. Academic proficiency, the ability to discuss complex subjects like the location of Chile in relation to Washington state or long division, can take up to ten years to develop, so this is where those kids will be needing the most help. Use books at a reading level the kids can manage, and always stop to explain grammar or words they ask about. You may want to write these things down so the kids can review them later. Also, if you're trying to teach sounds, try to think about what your jaw, lips, tongue, and throat are doing and explain this in as much detail as you can. I have a Chinese friend who cannot hear the difference between short "e" and short "a," and the way I am helping her to say and hear the difference is by having her physically manipulate her mouth and jaw so she can FEEL the difference between the two sounds. There is A LOT that goes into ESL instruction, and if you wanted to essage me telling me more specifically what your goals are in tutoring the kids, I may be able to narrow down my advice for you. Good luck and enjoy the experience!
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I've been working as a tutor for over 10 years and always tried to market myself independently. Recently, I started using Wyzant which is an online tutor data base that students can search for tutors. They heavily market and I've gotten great business from them. I tutor mainly math and had over 14 clients this past semester. You can set your own rates and they take care of all of the money which is great. They take a commission and as you increase the ours you have tutored, your take home pay goes up. They offer many subjects which they test you on to make sure you are qualified. I know they offer ESL. Students search for you based on your zipcode and you can also limit how far you want to travel. You can create your own profile and picture as well which I've found really helpful. When a student comes to the site, they can search tutors or post a "tutor wanted" ad. If a wanted ad comes up in your subject, it will get forwarded to your e-mail. Using them has let me go from tutoring part time to tutoring as a full time job and I highly recommend it. I wasn't sure at first if it would be worth it, since they take a commission, but in the end the money is a whole lot better than working at a tutoring place. They suggest that new tutors set their starting rate at $40/hour, but I set mine a little lower at $35/hour and I think that really helped pull in business. See the link in the sources for more info. I really hopes this helps! good luck!