 Hi guys! Hey, Linda here from ITTT. Back this week with another live session. Thank you so much for joining me today and taking some time out of your day today to be here with me and learn something new hopefully about teaching English. And today we're going to talk about the dos and don'ts of teaching English abroad. Sort of everything you need to know, you should know before you embark on this exciting journey of teaching English abroad. So yeah, let me know if you can hear me, if you can see me, drop a high in the comment section. Oh, perfect. And also let me know where are you watching from today? I already see Kristaline here. Hi Kristaline, how are you doing? Good to see you again. Awesome. Great. Where are you guys watching from today? Where are you right now? What time is it there? Anything else you want to share? Put it in the comments. I'm always curious. As always, I'm in South Korea. I've been living in South Korea for almost eight years. And yeah, I'm going to give you a quick intro about myself if you're watching this for the first time. Also in a couple of minutes, but just wanted to see who is here. We have welcome English from Algeria. Hi. Good to see you. Daniela is here. Hi from Venezuela. How are you doing, Daniela? Awesome. Kristaline is doing great so far. How about you? I'm excited for this because I get to do this for my internship in Japan in August. Oh my gosh. Exciting. Are you going to teach English in Japan in August? How did you get the internship? That's amazing. How long are you going for for just a month? Amazing. Okay. Then we have Rudine. Hi, how are you doing from Laos? 8.30 a.m. Oh, amazing. I love Laos. I really want to go back there. Such an awesome place. Okay. Cool. We have a good group here today. Thank you so much for watching. I hope everybody's doing fine. And yeah, we are going to talk about the do's and don'ts of teaching English abroad, kind of the things you should think about before you go, things you shouldn't forget, all of these kinds of things. And if you're already teaching English abroad, feel free to add your own tips, your own do's and don'ts later on. If there's something that comes to mind that I don't mention, then just let me know. Put it in the comments. We also have Kasara. Hi. Good morning from Thailand. Hi. Awesome. How are you all doing? All right. So this is what we're going to talk about today. Just a quick table of contents here. Maybe this is a bit small, so let me just show you guys. So obviously we're going to the introduction. We're into introduction right now. I'm also going to introduce myself for people who are watching for the first time. And then we're going to talk a little bit about how to prepare to teach English abroad, all the things you should think about. And no, I'm going to let you know, we're going to talk about living and working conditions when teaching English abroad, very important things to consider. And then we're going to cover some do's and don'ts. And then as always, we also have a Q&A session. So that's on the agenda today. Probably might take between 45 minutes and an hour. If you don't have that much time today, no problem. You can always come back and watch the replay all of our live sessions. They do not disappear. That's why I always say, please like and subscribe so you never miss any of our upcoming content. But you also have access to the previous, the past live sessions. Right? So yeah, that's what we're going to do. So you have, you can find playlists on both Facebook and YouTube for our live sessions. And you can watch them whenever you feel like it. And we also always turn our episodes, no, our live sessions into podcast episodes like that. So if you prefer, you know, listening to this as a podcast episode, audio only on the go, wherever you are, then you can also do that. So you can just search for the Teflon and TESOL podcast by ITTT. And it's on Spotify, on iTunes, on all the major platforms where you get your podcasts from. So that is that. And then welcome Englishes. I want to start, I studied TESOL of ITTT. Okay, great. Nice. Awesome. Congratulations. And Christine says, I apply through major internships and I got one in Fukuoka. I get to be there for six months. I'll be, I think an alt. But then they said, since I'm staying there for a while, I get to teach classes. Oh, that's exciting. Oh, nice. I need to look into major internships. I'm going to save that for later. Very cool. Oh yeah, accredited university accredited internships across Asia. Oh, they also have South Korea. Interesting. Okay. Nice. All right. Awesome. That sounds like a great opportunity, especially six months is going to be so great. So and Fukuoka is nice. I've been once, but just very briefly. But I remember it was a really, really nice city kind of near the ocean, right near the sea. So that's really nice. Cool. You actually can take a ferry from Fukuoka over to Korea. Maybe you should do that. And then we can meet up there. How about that? Or you just fly over. Flights are super cheap anyway. Okay. Good. So just a quick introduction. Oh, and also, of course, we have again a 30% off deal today. So if you're not yet, Teflor TESOL certified and you're like today's the day, this year is the year, whatever it is. Yeah, save 30%. You can scan this QR code or you can also apply via a link. So I'm going to share the link with you in the comment section and you get 30% off any Teflor TESOL course from ITTT today. Looks like this. This is the link. So as you can see, it ends with FB Live minus Linda. This is the discount link. So if you click on that, you will see an application page and you also see something like congratulations, you get 30% off or something at the top. And then you know it's the right link and it works. And then you can just fill this out and pick the course of your liking and save 30%. So that's a pretty sweet deal. Do not miss it if you are not yet certified. I highly recommend it. Don't pay full price. Like we say that, don't pay full price. Use this link. It'll help you out, right? That money you can save, you can spend it on travels, on food, once you are abroad. All right, Crystalene says that would be awesome too. Yeah, let's meet up. That would be great, obviously. Awesome. Or I might come to Japan. That would be awesome too. Okay, nice. Yeah, that's that. So if you're watching for the first time and you're wondering, who is this? Who's this girl here? My name is Linda and I'm a travel writer, online marketer and language teacher. I do many different things. If you're interested in the travel side of things, I have my own website at lindegoseast.com and I share travel guides, travel tips specifically for Asia, solo female travel tips. Even though I am married, I still travel a lot alone. I love it. And I think every woman should travel alone, at least once in her life. More if you possibly can. It's just amazing. It's absolutely freeing and you learn a lot about yourself. And so I encourage everybody to do that. And on my website, I share tips how you can do that and how you can do that safely, the best destinations to do so. And obviously also on Instagram, I'm very active over there. I like to create content. So if you're interested in that, check me out on Instagram at lindegoseast. If you have a question that you don't want to ask in front of everybody, send me a DM. Also cool. Last time, many of you guys reached out via DM. So that was really nice. I'm going to get back to you as well. And I'm originally from Germany slash USA. I always also say that my mom is German. My dad is American. But I'm based in South Korea. And before I moved to Korea, I actually lived in China as well. So I've been in Asia pretty much since 2012. And it's great. I love it. And that's kind of enough about me. Now about ITTT. ITTT. There we go. International Teflon and TESOL training. And many of you are already ITTT certified. So that's great. But if you're not, and you're thinking about it, just some stats about us. So ITTT actually has been around since 1997. And we offer, we are a leading Teflon TESOL course provider worldwide. We offer a variety of different courses, online courses, in class courses, and also combined courses, and also different hours, right? You're going to see on the website anywhere from 50 hours specialization courses, up to 550 hours of Teflon training. So really a wide range, something for everybody, something for newcomers, newbies to Teflon TESOL, but also something for already established teachers who want to get more training or specializing in a certain field. So we all, we do all that. And you can find us at tefloncourse.net. And also obviously on social media, where you are right now. We are live on Facebook and on YouTube as always. And so, yeah. Oh, I can see Pedro is here as well. Hi, Pedro. Cool. How are you doing? Amit is asking any suggestions on teaching English in Thailand. Thailand has a very good demand. And English teachers often choose Thailand as a destination. So the demand is very high. And you definitely want to get a Teflon certificate for Thailand. It is definitely getting more competitive, especially in the bigger cities. So I recommend definitely getting Teflon certified. And then at ITTT, what's great, everybody who takes a course from ITTT has access to lifetime job support. So we will actually help you then afterwards to get a job in the location of your choice. So you have access to our database, to unadvertised jobs that we only have internally with our partner schools. And actually a lot of ITTT staff have taught English in Thailand. So we have a lot of connections specifically in Thailand. So that's definitely good. Oh, I already have, you already have a TESOL certificate. Good. In that case, you can just, and something I'm going to mention later, but you could just go to tefloncourse.net to our website. And then at the top, you will see a jobs section. And then you can see the advertised jobs on our website. And you can filter for Thailand and you can see the jobs there. Crystalene says, is there more information about teaching in Vietnam or Taiwan? So kind of the same. Taiwan, Vietnam are also very popular destinations for teaching English abroad. And definitely on our website, what you can do, you can look at the jobs as well. So same thing at the top menu, the header menu, and then jobs. And you can filter for Vietnam or Taiwan. We also have a blog where we share information about Vietnam and Taiwan. And yeah, again, yeah, we also have like country pages. So if you go, just put like in the search bar, there's a search bar on our website. And if you put Vietnam, you can see like all the Vietnam content and a lot of FAQs. So for example, you put Vietnam in there and it says, are English teachers in demand in Vietnam? Do you need a tiffle to teach English in Vietnam? How much can I earn teaching English in Vietnam? And so you'll see a lot of those posts there. Just use the search bar and you'll find a lot of information about that. All right, good. So this was the introduction. And now we're going to jump in and we're going to look at preparing to teach English abroad. So the things that you should consider and know when you are preparing to teach English abroad. So first, I want to talk a little bit about the benefits and the challenges of teaching English abroad. And of course, because you should know like both things, right? Usually we are all here because we really want to go abroad and teach and we usually only look at the benefits, right? Travel opportunities, number one for many people, I think, cultural immersion. If you go and teach in a different country, you live like the locals. You can really immerse yourself in this local culture from like an inside perspective. It's not like traveling where you get maybe just a small glimpse. But when you live and work in a different country, you really are immersed in this culture. You get to celebrate like the festivals. And if you work with locals together, you learn a lot about the culture. So these things are usually what a lot of people really love about teaching English abroad. And then we also have career development. Of course, it will really be super beneficial for your resume. A lot of people, they only choose to teach English abroad, maybe for a year or two, and then come back home and pursue a different career. So then having this international work experience on your resume is really, really, really helpful. And you also learn a lot of new skills, obviously. And language acquisition. So if you live in a new country, right, you also automatically will pick up a new language, even if you don't know any of the language beforehand. So we see this, I see this a lot with people coming to Korea, obviously, you just pick up, you know, a little bit of the language just by living here. You know, at some point, you'll be able to order food, you'll be able to take a taxi, have like a small conversation with people. That's just something you pick up naturally. And so these are just some of the really, really great benefits for teaching English abroad. And this is what a lot of people just kind of focus on. But you should also not underestimate the challenges, right? And here, challenge number one is definitely culture shock, right? A lot of people kind of underestimate culture shock, but it can be really, really traumatizing, even or really, really difficult to work through. I've seen this a couple of times where people, you know, from English speaking countries, America or Europe, they came to Korea, and the culture is just really very different. And they couldn't really handle it. And then they quit their job and they went back home, which is very unfortunate. So how can you prevent culture shock? Just do it as much research as you can beforehand. And I think a lot of us here are doing that. If there's a country, a place where you're really, really keen on going, for example, Korea, or Thailand, or Vietnam, Taiwan, just research as much as possible. And I think the great thing about today, we have things like Instagram and TikTok. So you can find a lot of people who are currently living and working there as English teachers, share their stories. So follow them, read blogs like mine, you know, to get that understanding, to kind of understand, oh, these are some of the challenges, this is some of the cultural aspects. So you are prepared. And it's not like a slap in your face once you arrive here. Also, again, language barrier. We talked about a benefit being the language acquisition that you learn a new language. But certainly once you, if you arrive in a new country and you don't know anything of the language, it can also be obviously a language barrier, especially if you are in a country where English is not widely spoken at all. There are many countries where English is not widely spoken at all. So it can be a language barrier as well, right? So I do recommend if you're sure, hey, I want to go to Korea, I want to go to Vietnam, wherever it is, do like a small language course. And even now, you know, we have Duolingo, we have PrePly, all of these like online language learning platforms, just sign up for a few hours. And, you know, even if you just know, like, thank you and please, like, please and thank you and high and goodbye, those really go a long way. And it will just help you make things better. But naturally, language barrier is going to come. And it is a challenge, even if you go, you know, to things like the post office, you want to ship something, you need to go to the bank, very challenging. So a lot of times, your employer or somebody from the school will actually take you and go with you. But it's obviously a little bit annoying because you feel like you're your child, you're not very independent, right? So keep that in mind. And just try if you can to learn the language. Obviously, if it's a really difficult language, it's not easily done, right? But just be aware that, you know, it might, you might be more dependent on other people because of the language barrier. Then, of course, homesickness. If you're somebody who and even if you're not somebody, I actually was never really a person who was super homesick. I loved being in different countries. But I noticed like the longer that I am abroad, the more I do miss my family, especially during holidays. So just consider that birthdays, Christmases, any other holidays, Thanksgiving, you know, whatever it is, you're probably not going to be with your family. And that can be very hard, right? But luckily, we do have technology, we do have Zoom, we do have Skype, where you can talk with them. Imagine like 100 years ago where you could only write letters. So we definitely came a long way. And it's gotten definitely a lot easier with Zoom and Skype and FaceTime and all that. So but homesickness can be real, you know. So just keep that in mind. And don't bury yourself in a hole, you know, make these connections, make friends, go out, you know, and meet people that's very, very important. And of course, this is another very big, important challenge that you should be aware of the legal and administrative issues, especially legal things. And this, this can really be a big challenge. A lot of schools, private schools do some shady, not a lot of them, but some of them do some shady things to their foreign teachers, because as the foreign teacher, you are unaware of the local laws and legal things, right? So they try to maybe make you do things that legally you shouldn't have to do, you don't have to do. And so kind of just inform yourself. But it's a bit tricky. But I also know that, for example, in Korea, there are Facebook groups, legal, like legal assistance in Korea and stuff. So there are groups like that, and always ask other teachers as well. So if your employer asks you to do something that you think is this legal, is this okay? Ask other teachers online or just friends at other schools that you make, is this okay? And if it's not okay, speak up. So just know that this could be a challenge, right? Or the other way around, sometimes maybe what would be illegal or not okay back home is totally legal and fine here, right? Or in other countries. So keep that in mind. Legal issues, also how people run their businesses and companies, the schools, the work culture can be very different. So these are some important challenges. And we all kind of just focus on the benefits of traveling and the culture and all that fun stuff. And we don't really think about the challenges. That's why I wanted to start with benefits challenges, because they're really important, just to keep that in mind. Not going to say that everything's going to be bad, but just keep these things in mind, right? So that when they do happen, you're not going to be super surprised. But it's part, it's just a natural part of moving abroad, living abroad in a different country. Okay. Excuse me. I don't know, I just have something in my throat now. It's strange. I was fine before the live. Okay. Anyway, I'm going to make it. So benefits and challenges. If anybody has some other challenges or benefits they want to add here, let me know in the comments. Of course, there would be many, many more, but this is like, these are the most important four for each side that I just wanted to mention that are so important. Awesome. Okay. Then let's see what's next. Of course, we need to talk about the requirements for teaching English abroad. And most of you guys will know this because we talk about them a lot, right? But for anybody who's watching here for the first time, I just want to mention them again. And also have to say that these requirements, they vary obviously from country to country and then also school to school. Okay. They're not all the same in every school in every country. These are just some general requirements that we often see. Sometimes it's just a few of those. Sometimes it's all of them. Sometimes it's none of them. Right? So it depends on the country. So let's go over them a little bit. A degree oftentimes is required also not always. You can still find positions even if you don't have a university degree. If a degree is required though, note that it can be in any field. So in some cases, a degree in education or related field may be preferred in education or in English. It's definitely a huge plus if you have that, but it is not a requirement. So for me, I have a university degree in management, business, and that's also fine. So usually when they say a degree is required, it doesn't matter in what field it is, which is great. Then of course, you need to have English skills if you want to be an English teacher. So English language proficiency of course, native or near native level. So as good as possible, obviously as high as possible. If you are a non-native English teacher, definitely get some English proficiency certification like an IELTS or a Cambridge certificate or what is the other one? Tefl, right? The big ones. One of those is a huge plus or if you can get more than one, that's always a really good idea. Then of course, you need to have an understanding and an ability to teach English grammar, vocabulary, pronunciation, reading, writing, listening, speaking skills, all of these things. But the good thing is that you learn all of that when you take a Tefl or a TSOL course. So do not worry about that. That comes with your Tefl and TSOL course, but you should obviously have that. So that's a huge plus. So talking about Tefl and TSOL, this is obviously any kind of teaching certification will be a huge plus. And specifically for teaching English abroad, a Tefl or a TSOL certificate of at least 100 hours. So what does that mean? On our website, you're going to notice that we have a lot of different course options like I mentioned at the beginning. And sometimes the courses vary with study hours. So like I said, it starts with 50 hours all the way to 550 hours. Now the international minimum, the international standard is 100 hours or 120 hours. That's why the 120 hour Tefl course is the standard course that we offer and many other Tefl course providers also offer. So you should get at least that one. Everything under that is not really good enough, high enough for teaching English. Now a lot of people also have, for example, a teaching license from their own country. They're already teachers in their own country. But you will still need in many cases the Tefl or TSOL certificate on top of that. Because Tefl TSOL is just specifically for teaching English as a foreign language. So only a teaching license is not enough. But it's of course a huge plus because you're already a teacher and you taught, you have experience, you have a teaching license. So that's really, really great. But you still want to get a Tefl or a TSOL certificate on top of that. Then again, you want to have teaching skills. And again, this is something that you will learn in your Tefl or TSOL course. So knowledge of teaching methods and materials appropriate for different age groups and levels of English proficiency. And this is something you will learn in your Tefl course. And then other skills mentioned here, cultural sensitivity and adaptability, especially adaptability. And we talked about this before, but just to kind of reiterate a lot of employers, you know, when they hire a foreign teacher from abroad is very expensive. So the last thing that they want to happen is that you come and you, it's too much for you, you have culture shock and you leave. So this is why they want to make sure you are adaptable. So if you have any kind of prior travel experience, living abroad experience, anything that would be hugely beneficial and just show them that you're not going to leave and have culture shock and yeah, lose the money basically. And also you should have strong communication and interpersonal skills. Of course, if you work with colleagues and students, that's always a important skill to have. So these are just the general requirements for teaching English as a foreign language that we see a lot abroad. Again, you're not going to find all of them always all together. There's also teaching positions where you can teach without a degree, for example, without a TEFL, without this, without that, but usually we see these requirements. So, okay, I think that's all about the requirements just so we are on the same page, you know, I want to go over these really basic things because we also have some new viewers today. And then let's also quickly talk about so we understand everything the types of schools that you might work for when you teach English as a foreign language abroad. And here are six different, excuse me, six different scenarios that might happen usually. So we have the private language schools, and they offer English language instruction to children, teenagers and adults. So private language schools, you might be teaching children, you might teach teenagers, and you might teach adults there. And so you usually have regular classes, you might also have intensive courses that do not follow the public school curriculum, or you might also have one to one lessons. So these are private language schools, they also come, they are very common in countries around the world. And then the second one would be public schools, also very common. So usually you would choose between private school or public school, those are the two most common ones. Public schools depends on the country if they hire foreign teachers into public schools. So in some countries, they do that. And the requirements for these positions, they again vary from country to country. So some of them only hire native English speakers, for example, some countries will have special programs where they place teachers into public schools. For example, in Korea, that is the Epic program. Then in Japan, that's the Jet program. In France, it's the Taepiff program. So there are a lot of different programs like that that place teachers into public schools predominantly. And again, private and public schools are the two most common school types. But we also have international school positions a lot. And they typically offer education in English, solely in English. And they follow a curriculum that is similar to schools in Western countries. So you might find an international school that follows a British curriculum or an American curriculum, things like that. And these schools may require teachers to have a teaching certificate and experience. So some of them, they only want people who have an actual teaching license from their country. Some are fine with the Teflor T Soul certificate. Others, they only hire people with experience. So usually international schools, their requirements are a little bit higher than private and public schools. Then we also have universities and colleges. And here you offer English language courses obviously to students and in a academic setting, right? So that can also happen. These positions are not that many compared to private and public schools, but the university positions usually pay better. And you have a lot more vacation. But also, they're a little bit harder to get in. Some universities even want a master's degree for their professor's teachers. So it really depends. But if you are, I know from Korea, if you like want to be a university instructor in Seoul or in like a big city, they want a master degree or like at a very popular university, a well known university. But if it's a smaller city, a smaller university, they will also be okay with a bachelor's degree. But you will need a degree minimum, minimum bachelor's degree for universities and colleges. And then we also have corporate training. So a lot of companies actually, they hire English teachers to provide language instruction to employers. These positions may require a teaching certification and experience in business or corporate training. And this is something we see a lot in Latin American countries. So very, very popular in Mexico, this kind of situation because of the close business relationships to America. So that's why in Mexico and in other Latin American countries, this model is very common that you would actually work for a company. And then obviously you would teach adults. And then the last option listed here is online teaching, obviously. And it's online teaching has become so popular in recent years. And many English English teachers now teach and work remotely. So you can do this from your home, from anywhere in the world. And you can teach students English from anywhere in the world, which is really, really great. And I also started teaching English online during the pandemic. And I have a lot of students from Japan, actually, which is great. Because the platform that I work on, teach on is predominantly Japanese. But you can meet people from so many different countries, it's really, really exciting. And yeah, you can do this from your home. So yeah, I love I really love teaching English online. Before the pandemic, I was not really interested in teaching English online. But then I tried it out because of the pandemic and because some in person classes finished, right, they stopped because of the pandemic. So I was like, okay, I'm just going to try online teaching. Why not? And I still do it. I love it. It's so much fun. So flexible too. So these are the six main types of schools or places that you can work for as an English teacher abroad. There might be more, but these are the six most common. And again, out of these six, the two most common are private language schools and public schools. All right. And of course, online teaching, you can find positions there as well. Okay. Don't forget if you have any questions throughout this live session, just leave a comment. Let me know and I will check in with you guys. Okay. Then really quickly, how to find jobs. So now we went over these types of schools, but how do you actually find a job, a position for teaching English abroad? And these are six really great resources. So we have Dave's ESL Cafe, which is really one of the number one ESL, teaching English abroad sites for jobs. So this one's a really good one. Then also Indeed and LinkedIn. We all know these from other regular jobs, non-teaching jobs as well. So those also, especially LinkedIn, I'm really surprised. I don't use Indeed that much, but LinkedIn, you can definitely find English teaching positions nowadays as well. And even remote. So also online positions. So look at that. And then we have the ESL job feed. And we have Go Overseas, which is also another really great platform. And Go Overseas is also great if you're just looking for internship kind of things. So more short-term kind of things as well. They have that too. And then of course, we have to mention our own job resource, right? We have the ITTT job section. So like I mentioned before, when you go to TeflCourse.net, you see in the header menu where it says home about ITTT courses. And then it says jobs. And so you can click on that. And you can see all the available jobs. And also we have an internal database. So this is only for people who complete a course with us who get access to unadvertised jobs and also to our recruitment partners and other schools, network of schools and recruiters and other employers that we work with. So this is internally, but the ITTT job section on our website is accessible for everybody. Okay. All right. Good. Fun stuff. And then let's have a look at the living and working conditions for teaching English abroad. And after this, after we covered that, we kind of summarise everything with the dos and don'ts. What to do and what not to do when teaching English abroad. But we need to know a little bit about the living and working conditions in different countries when teaching English abroad first. Okay. So here you want to consider kind of four different aspects. So when you do Tefl abroad, teaching English abroad, you want to consider obviously your salary, right? The salary for teaching English abroad is not the same everywhere. So is the cost of living. It's not the same everywhere. There are expensive places to live and there are very low cost of living places to live. Then of course, the cultural differences. Every country has a different culture, has a different yeah, cultural differences from each other. So consider that. And also the work load. So the type of work for the different schools, the different, in the different countries. So let's have a look at the cost of living situation. So what you need to know, what you need to consider here is that the cost of living can vary significantly from country to country, right? So you need to consider housing. You need to consider transportation, food and other expenses to determine how much you need to earn to live comfortably. And this is kind of something we also talked about last week with paying, what was it, saving money and paying off loans. When teaching English abroad, we also talked about this. So just for perspective, some high cost of living would be in Europe, places like Paris, Rome, London, of course, like the big European capital cities, very expensive to live there. But yet so many people really want to go there, but then to teach, right? And then you arrive there and you're like, oh my god, this is too expensive to live and you kind of regret your decision maybe. Maybe North America obviously also very expensive to live. And then we have East Asia and East Asia has a little star. So with East Asia, places like Seoul and Tokyo are expensive to live. However, you actually, when you teach English in Korea, when you teach English in Japan, I think Japan less so, but definitely in Korea, what you get is you actually get usually paid housing so you don't have to pay rent. So that's why yes, the cost of living might be higher, food things, grocery, groceries are more expensive usually in Korea and in Japan, but you're not going to pay rent. So then it's not really a problem with cost of living. Low cost of living places, of course we have Southeast Asia, Latin America, so places like Vietnam, Thailand or Ecuador, Peru, they're very low cost of living there. However, what you need to know for Latin America, salaries are not very good. Southeast Asia, salaries are better, but still not the highest in the world. And we're going to talk about salary I believe next. But I think one more thing, hold on, there's one more thing I wanted to mention about this. Oh no, okay. Oh, I actually, wait, I wanted to put this in there, I forgot to put this in here, but there is, what is it called? Yeah, no video. Yeah, I wanted to show you this. So I'm going to share my screen real quick. And I showed this last week as well, but it's just so, so useful. So I want to share this with you guys. So this is numbo.com. So n-u-m-b-e-o.com. And they have a cost of living calculator. So if you're like interested in teaching English, for example, you are from, let's say we're from San Diego, California. Okay. Yeah. And we want to compare, how do we compare again? So this is the cost of living in San Diego. You see a lot of different things, utilities, you see transportation, groceries, how much is stuff, how much is a meal. And so, yeah, compare. We live in San Diego, but we want to move to Seoul, for example. So we put Seoul, South Korea, and then it compares the two. We're not going to log in. You don't have to log in. And we set the currency back to USD. Here we go. And then it kind of compares the cost of living between Seoul and San Diego. So you can kind of figure out here are the biggest differences. And then again, kind of for comparison. So a meal at an inexpensive restaurant is almost $7 in Seoul, but in San Diego, it's $20. So that's a very big difference. What else? We have a Coke in Seoul is $1.50, but in San Diego, it'd be $2.68, for example. And so you can do this and figure out the differences in cost of living between the place where you live currently and where you want to go to. And you can kind of see, oh, these things are more expensive. These things are less expensive. So it's very interesting to just have a look here. So I really recommend the site. Again, this is numbeo.com, n-u-m-b-e-o. And you can check the cost of living. Okay. Then let's go back. I wanted to put this in here, but I forgot. So this is a very useful thing for cost of living, what you should consider. And then also what we need to consider when figuring out if this is a good place to live, salary ranges. And here I have it organized by three different places. So one has high earning potential, then we have medium earning potential and low earning potential. So high earning potential here you can make anywhere between $2,000 and $5,000 or more US dollars per month. And this is in places like the Middle East, East Asia, so China, Korea, Japan, Taiwan. These are the areas with the highest earning potential, the highest salaries for TEFL teachers. And here also housing, airfare and health insurance is oftentimes included as a bonus. So you don't have to pay for housing. You don't have to pay for flights. You don't have to worry about health insurance. It's all included. So this makes these areas really, really good if you are looking to earn the most money. Medium earning potential here you can make anywhere from $800 to $1,500 US dollars a month. And this includes places like Thailand, Mexico, Spain, for example. And here housing, airfare and health insurance is sometimes included. Sometimes might only be one of those included. So either housing or airfare, but maybe not both. It depends. And then we have the low earning potential places. Here you can make anywhere from $500 to $1,000 US dollars a month. And this is Latin America and certain European countries. And here you will get no benefits. So this is what you need to know before you move. Where can you earn how much money basically? And what is included. All right. Nice. And now good to know also about the workload and the cultural differences. So in terms of workload, English teachers may have different workloads depending on the country and institution. So some schools may require more classroom hours or less than planning time than others. So that's why it's very important during your job interview stage that you ask your employer, your potential employer, if they provide you with the curriculum with all the materials or if there is a lot of lesson planning involved. And then you can kind of gauge, okay, for this amount of work, this salary is appropriate or not appropriate. So it just depends on the school. So sometimes the schools, they really want their English teachers to plan out everything. The whole year, you need to plan everything. But some other schools, they will actually have their own curriculum and all of the materials already done and provide them just to you and you don't have to do any lesson planning. So it depends. Then cultural differences. Of course, the culture in the country you are considering may differ significantly from your own country. So prepare to adapt to new customs, social norms and communication styles. So this is definitely also true. But again, this is something if you follow already people like on TikTok, on Instagram, on YouTube, you watch videos of teachers who are teaching in the country where you want to go to, you really learn a lot about that. What are some cultural differences and then you can already, you can already know what to expect. And you don't have that much culture shock, ideally, but it's still going to happen. And just good to know and something to keep in mind. I hope that makes sense. And I think now we are really jumping into the complete do's and don'ts. And I picked out some of the most important ones from kind of what we talked about today. All right. And what I want you to do is keep that in mind, take it with kind of a grain of salt. Also, this is from my experience and people that I've talked to. Of course, your teaching abroad experience can be different than my teaching abroad experience, right? So it can be different for everybody. However, also, if you want to add something from your own experience, a do or a don't, let me know in the comments, okay? And we have somebody new joining. So Amitabha, hi, I'm doing well. How are you doing Amitabha? And we have Parkash. Hi Parkash. Good to see you. Okay. So let's start with the do's. And I think if you, if you remember anything from what I said today, it is do your research, right? Do your research, research the culture, the customs and laws of the country you are considering before you go, okay? Very important. Might be very different from where you're from. So do as much research as you can. Like I said, jump on YouTube, on TikTok, on Instagram, find people who are currently teaching where you want to go and listen to their stories. How is their experience? What are some things that they found interesting or had a culture shock about or what they found really awesome and they share about it? So just do your research as much as possible. Then second one also do learn the language if you can. Learn the language, familiarize yourself with the local language as much as possible to help you communicate and navigate daily life. So even you can even start before you go, if you know, oh, I'm going to go to Korea next year, sign up for an online class. They're not expensive. You can do this online, pre-ply for example, or even do a lingo for free. You know, learn a little bit, learn how to say hello. Goodbye. Please. Thank you. That really goes a long way. How to take a taxi, all of these things. It's just going to make your life a lot easier and connect you to the local people even better. You can make a really good impression, first impression, also with your potential boss maybe. I remember from my boss, the private language school owner where I worked here in Korea in my first year, he didn't even speak English. So he was just the owner, but he had basically a manager who spoke English and Korean and he would communicate between the owner and the teachers, but the owner did not speak any English. So if you want to make a good impression, you know, you can use their own language and speak with the owner or the other foreign, the other local teachers. So it's really going to help you and it's obviously going to help you in your daily life as well. So that's a big do. Do. Like we said just now, consider the cost of living. And so you can jump onto NumBio, that website that I showed you guys and kind of compare the cost of living where you live right now and where you want to go to, to kind of get an idea. So consider the cost of living in the country you are considering, in the country you're considering and how it compares to your salary as an English teacher. So also that, right? So you can already figure out, okay, my salary is this. And then you jump on, you do your research about the cost of living. Okay. So I have about this and this much maybe left every month, then I can save or then I can pay off debt or then I can travel. So you can already know this. Do your research and just consider that cost of living. Or if you're like, oh my God, the cost of living is so high, maybe I shouldn't go to this place before you make a wrong decision. And then last point here, do embrace the experience. That's very important. Most important thing. So embrace the opportunity to learn about new cultures and ways of life while teaching English abroad and enjoy the experience to the fullest. Okay. I have seen many people, well not that many people luckily, but I've seen some people come here to Korea specifically because I live here. And they just didn't accept the experience. So there was this one person and they would just always be in their room after work, always go to their room, to their apartment, stay, watch Netflix on the weekend, not go out, Skype with family back home or order food, make their own food. They just wouldn't leave the room. They wouldn't do anything. They would just stay back there, watch Netflix. They wouldn't really travel. They wouldn't really go to any festivals. They wouldn't really go any place else than work at their apartment and watch Netflix and order pizza basically. So you can do the same thing back home. Why are you moving abroad when you're going to do that? I do not understand. Okay. Then I feel like that's a waste of everybody's time. Then you're taking the opportunity from somebody who really wants to be here and who really wants to embrace local culture. You're taking that away from somebody else. You could have done that at home, my personal opinion, but I do not get it. So, and it's just a waste of her time and everybody's time, right? So embrace it. You might really like it. You might learn something new. You might see something different. So just embrace the experience. Do not just hang out in your apartment. Of course, we all have days where we don't want to go out and do anything, of course, but don't make this a habit and do it every single day and every weekend. All right. Rent over. Now we're going to look at don'ts. So don't, and this ties in perfectly, don't expect the same, right? So assume, don't assume that all countries offer the same standards of living and working conditions. So be sure to do your research beforehand. Also concerning laws and things like that. So, but this also, this is what makes this experience fun, right? Because we're not all the same. Not all the countries are the same. But also I get a lot of people coming, for example, again, to Korea or to China where I lived before and they're like, oh my God, why are you doing it like this? Oh, back home, we're doing it like this. It's like, yeah, good, but this is not back home. This is China or this is Korea. So yeah, you don't maybe need to make a comment about all the things that they're doing wrong in your opinion. They're just doing it different. Doesn't mean that that's bad. It works for them. And you are a guest in this country. So appreciate it. Appreciate being here. So don't expect it to be the same as back home. All right. Then next point here, don't underestimate networking. This is really, really good, especially for first time teachers. So your first year, for many, actually the first year abroad is not the perfect year because you're totally new. You don't know the location. You don't know the schools. So maybe you end up working for a school that you don't really like because you didn't know better. You end up being in a place you don't really like because you didn't know better. So networking and building relationships with locals and with other expats can really be super important and lead to other new opportunities. So again, don't just sit in your apartment, go out, make new friends, talk with other people. And a lot of times you will find that, for example, somebody else is leaving and they work at this really amazing school and they would tell their friends first. So maybe they're leaving and then they're like, Hey, do you want to take over my position at that school or at this amazing university? And you can really move up that way. So yeah, a lot of times, really through word of mouth and networking, I found a lot of positions even like one on one tutoring gigs. Somebody's like, Oh, somebody asked me if I wanted to teach their kid, but I don't have time. Do you want to do it? So a lot of times it works like this. So don't underestimate networking. You can really find a lot of cool opportunities when you go out and engage with people. Then also don't make assumptions. So never make assumptions about your student's background, knowledge or abilities. Every student is unique. And it's important to approach each one with an open mind and a willingness to adapt your teaching style to meet their needs. This is also very important, especially as a new teacher. So you quickly learn, you know, now that every student is the same, they're all different. They all have different needs. And don't just assume they're all the same, especially new teachers. I think we're just going to assume, oh, they all, oh, Korean students are like this, Chinese students are like this. Don't make assumptions. They're all different. They're not all the same. They all have different needs and different strengths and weaknesses. And you're going to figure it out. And then the last point here, very, very important, don't forget your health. And this is physical health and mental health, everything. Take care of your physical and mental health while you are abroad and always seek support if you need it. A lot of times because of culture shock, because of language barriers and all of these things. A lot of people kind of isolate. And this was especially the case during COVID when somebody came. We all said a lot of international students come to Korea and they only had online classes that so they didn't really go out. They didn't really socialize and they were just kind of in their own bubble and isolated. So don't forget your health and take part in activities. There are gyms everywhere. You can just go for a walk. Just make sure you don't forget your own health. Travel, talk to people. Also for your mental health, there would be a lot of support groups. You can find people on Facebook, also English speaking, English language groups that offer support. Figure out things like support hotlines, support institutions in the country where you want to go to. So you know who to call. Maybe also what I do always register with your embassy in that country that they know you are here. And in an emergency, they will contact you. So sometimes when there is like natural, like we get typhoons sometimes in Korea, if they're really strong, we get emails from the American embassy, from the German embassy, when there's some things going on, so that you know kind of where to turn to if there is an emergency. So yeah, I think these are the most important do's and don'ts for teaching English abroad. I hope there's something that you kind of took away from that today. Something for yourself, something you learned and you are you yeah. I thought I hope that was helpful to you guys today. If there's a do or a don't that you want to add, let me know in the comments. If there's something, oh, Linda, you forgot this important point or that important point, let me know. So yeah, because we again, we all have different experiences. And so I make these do's and don'ts kind of from my experience and from the people that I spoke to, what they tell me, but maybe your experience is different and you're like, oh, actually, you should really keep that in mind. That one point, that's so important. That was really important to me. So if that's the case, let me know in the comments if there's something you would like to add. And if not, we are in the Q&A session right now, which means you can ask me your questions. Also, again, if you want to add something to what we just talked about or if there was something that was not clear from today's session, let me know. And again, we have this 30% off so you can scan this QR code or I'm going to share the link with you again. You can save 30% from your TEFL course with ITTT. So TEFL or TESOL course, 30% off. If you're not get certified and you really want to get certified, this is a great opportunity. You can save a lot of money. All right. And then I'm going to make myself bigger again. So you can see me here. Hi. Hi. So, yeah, I think I really hope that was helpful if you are trying to teach English abroad this year. So yeah. All right. Amit has a question. Thank you, Amit. I know Spanish a little bit. So is it a good idea to move to Latin America for teaching English? Sure. Why not? And I mean, you're lucky because Spanish is spoken in so many different countries around the world. So that will definitely help, right? But don't just move there because, oh, because I know Spanish. I actually want to move to China, but I don't know Chinese, so I want to move to, so I'm going to move to Latin America. Don't do that, right? Move somewhere where you're interested in moving to, right? Of course, if you already know Spanish and you are interested in Latin America, then that's really, really great. That's really going to help you. So go for it. I think that's great. Jacqueline says, Hi, Linda. I know many schools, countries have an age limit for teachers. Do you know if this applies to business teaching also? Yeah. So sometimes with the age limit, what that means is it usually has to do with the local retirement age, okay? So we have some countries where in China, the local retirement age is 60 years old for men and 55 for women, as far as I'm aware of. And Korea is, I believe 65, if I'm not mistaken, I would need to check that out. But so this is why they have age limits, not because they hate older people, but because of the retirement age, right? So you would have to research what is the retirement age in that specific country. But what I will tell you, there is a bit of prejudice towards older people when it comes to teaching, especially very young children. So kindergarten or elementary school, because a lot of teachers or like, like private school people, they think older teachers don't have that much energy and they need to keep up with the little kids and that will be hard. So sometimes we see that, that those types of schools want to hire younger teachers more. But because you are talking about business teaching, so actually, for teaching adults and teaching business English, they prefer hiring older teachers. So I think, I don't know how old you are, but if you're under 60, you're okay most of the time. So definitely for teaching business English, older is sometimes better. Yeah, for business, because your students are going to be usually older too. So yeah, that's great. Then we have Parkush, how to deal with undisciplined or rude students in the class. What about your experience in this regard? Very, very interesting. So a lot of times, depending on where you are teaching, if you are teaching in Asia, actually a lot of times you will have a local teacher with you in the classroom. So there would be an English teacher, you, and then a local Korean teacher, Chinese teacher also. So a lot of times they will actually take care of disciplining the students. So they would take them out and talk to them and yell at them in the local language. But also how to deal with undisciplined or rude students, you will actually also learn this in your TEFL course, little techniques you can do. So what I really like to do, I usually like to use a, what is it called? Like a reward system. There we go. A reward system, right? So I really like using stickers. So my students can have like sticker boards and whenever they do something good, you give them a sticker. Now at the same time, if they do something bad, you can remove stickers. You can take stickers away from them and they don't want their stickers taken away. So that usually works really well with a reward system. Okay, but you're going to learn little techniques and stuff in your TEFL TESOL course. And Amit says, I'm in love with Latin American countries and the language as well. But there you go. That sounds like you have found your destination then for teaching English. And you also say I have a master's degree in chemistry and the TESOL certificate. I have been teaching English online for two years now. I taught a lot of students from Thailand, Vietnam, Philippines, China, Indonesia and India. Sounds like you are good to go. Definitely. You have experience, you have a TESOL, you have a master's degree, you have teaching experience. So I think apply, apply, apply, apply. However, for Latin America, a lot of people actually want to interview in person. They want to interview in person. So you might have to go down there. And we actually spoke about peak hiring seasons, maybe a few lives ago. That was not that long ago. And so watch that live session about peak hiring seasons. And then you can go down to Latin America during those peak hiring seasons and interview in person. I would recommend that. Okay, Jacqueline says under 60 yet. Okay. Yeah. You know, just same for a meet, apply, apply, apply, apply and interview and apply and interview some more. For business English, I think you will be good. But for, like I said, teaching children, a lot of schools prefer hiring younger teachers. But again, this is just prejudice. And if you are super energetic and you show them, you know, how much energy you have, I guess, you will be fine. Don't get discouraged. I met a lot of older teachers in my time in Korea and in China as well. So don't worry. All right. Good stuff. All right. Anybody else has more questions? Let me know. Oh, Kasara, I can't see your comments. It's empty. So maybe, maybe try again. Sorry about that. Okay. All right. I'm going to take maybe one or two more questions. So send me your questions and then I'll try my best to get back to you and answer it. Okay. Amit says, how about teaching English in Columbia? Great. Well, I have never taught English in Columbia. So I can't speak from my own experience. However, Columbia is from what I've heard a really emerging teaching market. So they apparently are putting a lot of money into English education. There are a lot of, there's a lot of demand for English teachers in Columbia from what I've heard. So I think this would be a really, really good destination. Go for it. From what I've heard here in our EFL industry. Yeah. Columbia is a really good place with high demand for English language teachers at the moment. So good choice. Kasara says, how can I apply? How can I apply for a TEFL course or a job or what exactly do you want to apply for? Amit says, thanks a lot. Yeah, you're welcome. All right. Jacqueline says, thank you again, Linda. Very informative. Good night from Wisconsin, USA. Good night. Thanks so much for staying up that late. I don't know how late it is, but I think it's quite late. So thank you so much, Jacqueline. Have a good night. See you next time. Bye. Oh, great. Amit says, I already applied for teaching positions in Bogota, Columbia. Nice. Good. Well, I keep my fingers crossed for you. I hope you hear back and you have a good interview time. Okay. Parker says, are there any opportunities to teach in the USA? Yeah, there are always opportunities to teach English in America. However, it is a little bit difficult because of visa things. So they like to hire people who already have paperwork, who have a work permit, who have, yeah, who can live and work there. So a little bit tricky. If you're not from America, if you don't have a green card, a work permit, a passport, but I have a friend who she is American and she is teaching basically English to kids whose first language is not English in America. So there are positions like that as well. Yep. Nice. Thank you guys so much for your questions. Let's take one more and then I have to say goodbye. But I really appreciate all of you guys' questions. I hope I can answer them. Of course, I don't know everything, but I'm trying my best. And also let me share this. So if you have any questions for more details, always email us also courses at tesall-teflul.com. And my colleagues there can also answer a lot of questions. So that's always a great way to get information as well. Okay. Last question. Who will be the last question today? Last final question. Who's going to take it? Or maybe everybody's happy and we just say goodbye now. Just don't forget to use this discount code if you are really thinking about getting TEFL certified this year. Use our 30% off link. Do not pay full price. Use this link. 30% off. It's going to save you a lot of money. I will be back again next week. So don't worry about that. I will be here and we are doing a Q&A the whole session because it will be the first live session of the new month. So that time we always do a full hour or 45 minutes of only Q&A. So you can ask me your questions then as well. And so, yeah, I think we're done then. No more questions today. I think everybody's happy. I'm happy. And I hope everybody has a wonderful weekend. Have a good night. Have a wonderful day wherever you are and just have a great weekend. And I hope to see you all again next week with a Q&A live session. So note down your questions, what you want to know, what you're curious about, and I'll try my best to answer them. And then, yeah, I'm going to say goodbye. And thank you so much for joining me today. I hope you learned something. I hope it was informative. And then I hope to see you all again next time. Thank you guys so much. Have a great weekend. Bye.