Ever heard of any of the big 3 grads going on to teach English in a foreign country?

[CollegeStudent7]

I'm very interested in teaching English in South America and I have my preference of country. Have any of you heard of big 3 grads going on to do this?

[sokhen]

I'm new here. But I dont see why not. Check the country that your intrested in, see if they use TOEFl, or TESOL Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages. There a big market for this, and plenty of job placement services available. The main thing is to have your Bachelors.

[CollegeStudent7]

I'm new here. But I dont see why not. Check the country that your intrested in, see if they use TOEFl, or TESOL Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages. There a big market for this, and plenty of job placement services available. The main thing is to have your Bachelors.

Do you know what the difference is between TOEFL and TESOL? Also, I don't speak Spanish, so I hope that isn't counted against me!

[OE800_85]

In South America, jobs aren't as good as say, Asia. In general, you just need a degree to teach overseas, and it doesn't really matter what degree you have. In fact, I don't even have a degree yet, but I teach in China, in Shanghai. I work for a pretty good company and make a decent salary that lets me live quite well, travel around, and also save money. In asia this is more possible than in South America, unfortunately.

You can definitely teach English with any bachelor degree, the big three should be no exception. Different companies may be picky about what you have, but some will be interested. Keep in mind though, the money you'd make in South America (since you're not a certified teacher) will not be very much, the demand is simply lower than Korea, China, Thailand, Japan, and so on.

Another thing, TOEFL is a test that non-English speakers take to gain admission to university. TESOL is a certification for teaching english to speakers of other languages, but to be frank it's usually bullshit, kind of a fake degree. If you want a really good one, I recommend you do CELTA, it's run by Cambridge

[OE800_85]

i forgot to mention, a GREAT site for resources on this topic is Dave's ESL Cafe

[Bunbu]

Just out of curiosity what country would you be moving? The quality of life varies drastically between countries in South America. I lived in Colombia for a very long time and although it’s an awesome place to live and its people are formidable you wouldn’t make it with a teacher’s salary over there. I wouldn’t consider going into teaching unless I had some other income.

[BrandeX]

Dave's is considered the scumbag site of the industry.

Also, in most places in South America, you don't need a degree at all. Whereas in most Asian countries it is typically required by law. (Even if not always enforced, such as China.)

[bawhitsett]

I remember that guy that claimed to have murdered JonBenet Ramsey and who was teaching English in Asia when he was extradited back to the US had a degree from Regents (now Excelsior). Don't know if that helps at all.

[burbuja0512]

I'm very interested in teaching English in South America and I have my preference of country. Have any of you heard of big 3 grads going on to do this?

I taught English in Mexico without a degree. That being said, I worked for a private for-profit school which was not a traditional teaching position. The pay was pretty good for where I was living, but when students didn't show, we were supposed to call them and be aggressive about making sure our students stayed in class (and therefore keep paying the school). A few months into it, they asked me to be director, which was totally a sales position and here I am years later still in sales... back in the states though.

Lol.. so at least in Mexico, there are plenty of English jobs without a degree available, however the best jobs do require a degree. Doesn't matter what - you just need to prove that you're able to perform at a college level.

I don't see that a degree from the Big 3 or a Non-Big 3 school would matter. If almost no one in the US knows about testing, then I would imagine that even fewer people abroad would know about it.

Also, the only colleges that anyone out of the country has ever heard of are Harvard and Yale and maybe a few other big ones. So, no they haven't heard of TESC, COSC or EC, but they also haven't heard of most other US colleges either.

[CollegeStudent7]

Wow lots of replies and useful info! Well you guys, I would not be doing this so much for the money. My guy is from S. America and we are looking for him to get something like an Embassy job or the likes. I would mostly be doing this to keep busy. My main reason for wanting to live there is to learn Spanish I'm ok with not being paid too much.