Teaching English outside of the US
 

So I just graduated college with a BA in History and have been doing a lot of research into teaching English in other countries. I know that you have to be TESL certified. I'm just wondering if anyone has any experience in this area that they could share with me?

I have lived outside the US for about the last 18 years (none of them as a teacher of English). I would say it is a completely rewqrding experience and would encourage uyou to think about living overseas for a period of time. There are several websites run by or for people teaching English and other subjects in foreign schools around the world. Take a look at Overseas Digest (overseasdigest.com) which has a section on teaching overseas. www.overseasdigest.com/odsamples/ambrose.html The site has lots of information, links and contacts about teaching and living overseas.

You could also consider volunteer work in various countries. Places to start would be:
United Nations Volunteer Program at http://www.unv.org/
Oxfam International at http://www.oxfam.org/
Habitat for Humanity http://www.habitat.org/
Red Cross at http://www.ifrc.org/

Lonely Planet has written an entire book about volunteering (some of which can actually be paid work or result in paid work at a later date), you might want to get it, it is called <i>Volunteer: A Traveller's Guide</i>. Also gry the Lonelyplanet.com website and their chat board called “Thorn Tree Posts”.

Some other sites to try for general information on being an &quot;expat&quot; are:
http://members.tripod.com
www.expatexchange.com
www.expat-essentials.com
www.expatforum.com
www.expatnetwork.com
www.escapeartist.com/expatriate1/expatriate1.htm
www.outpostexpat.nl

I understand it is (or was before the current recession) fairly easy to get jobs and work permits to teach English in Seoul and Tokyo. Note that some English teaching jobs in places like China can be scams, see information on this put together by the US Embassy in China at http://beijing.usembassy-china.org.cn/acs_teach.html. This site provides a lot of information on teaching in the PRC. You might try the US Embassy websites for other countries, for links go to travel.state/gov and then click on “international travel” and then choose the county you are interested in, generally on that page you will see the link to the US Embassy or consulate.

If you speak any other languages, that is a useful skill as well, and may help you get a job as well.

Sorry, I left out one volunteer org: the Peace Corps, see http://www.peacecorps.gov/

Go for a country that you would like to be in anyhow.

A friend of our's son just came back from Senegal, Africa doing an English teaching stint. It was the food that wore him down - too much of just fish and rice and they had to sleep with mosquito nets.

He also spoke French which was very helpful because the English of some of his students required he explain things in French in order for them to understand what he was doing in English.

Addendum: Check references!

He was able to reach other people in the US who had taught at the same program in Senegal to verify its legitimacy, safety for teachers, etc.