I want to live in the Philippines but how do I earn money?

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ladislav
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Post by ladislav »

GenYguy wrote:Do you need a degree to teach ESL online? Not all of us have a degree :D.

Are there any ways that aren't scams, to make enough money online to support yourself (in the Philippines for me), if you don't have a degree?
If I were in that situation, I would get some religious degree online. Let it be a BA from some church in Divinity or something. There are some of those for a couple of hundred dollars.

Remember you will not be teaching Americans and you will not be using this degree to get visas. You will be teaching at private schools in Russia/China online thru Skype. They want native speakers with semi decent resumes of teachers.

Then, I would dig deep in my past where I trained/taught/gave seminars. Put those on my resume.

I would also get some cheap TESL certificate for a couple of hundred dollars. Google those,

I would then get on ( Google) language exchange sites and do those for a couple of months - you teach for free. Also, go on italki.com; buddyschool.com and eslteachersboard.com and advertise your services for 1 dollar an hour or something. Get some experience.

Order a book on amazon.com how to teach online. Read it.

I will send you a free book on how to teach ESL online too.

It's doable. If you start from zero, you should be ready within 6 months to a year.
A brain is a terrible thing to wash!


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Hero
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Jester
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tamdrin12
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Post by tamdrin12 »

Ladislav,
Are you the fellow who said he completed the English teaching course at St. Mikes in Vermont? If so how was that? I am actually from Vermont and my Father was suggesting I go for that. I have a years teaching experience in Taiwan. One thing I heard though was that having a specialized teaching degree doesn't necessarily get you a much higher paying job in the ESL world. What do you think?

THanks,
Been living abroad for 4 years now. India, Nepal, Taiwan, and Thailand. Currently in Thailand teaching English as my bread and butter.

Check out my online store featuring cool jewelry and items at very reasonable prices from Thailand!

http://thailand-treasures.myshopify.com/collections/all
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Mr S
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Post by Mr S »

tamdrin12 wrote:Ladislav,
Are you the fellow who said he completed the English teaching course at St. Mikes in Vermont? If so how was that? I am actually from Vermont and my Father was suggesting I go for that. I have a years teaching experience in Taiwan. One thing I heard though was that having a specialized teaching degree doesn't necessarily get you a much higher paying job in the ESL world. What do you think?

THanks,
I think he did his TEFL MA degree there, so it wasn't his undergraduate degree I believe. You can get teaching jobs overseas fairly easy if you have an undergraduate/Masters degree in English, education, Science or Mathematics related degree and have a certified teaching qualification from the state or country you come from. It enables one to work in higher end private or international schools overseas while making middle class income in whichever country you work in. It's worth the time and effort to get one if you desire living overseas and don't have other options for making money.
"The object of life is not to be on the side of the majority but to escape finding oneself in the ranks of the insane." Marcus Aurelius, Roman Emperor and stoic philosopher, 121-180 A.D.
tamdrin12
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Post by tamdrin12 »

Yes I have a bachelors degree from a decent US University.. I am just wondering what the economic benefits are to having any higher education for ESL. From what I saw in Taiwan it wasn't that much greater for MA's or even PHD's in the ESL field. Frankly for the shit they have you do at most of these schools even with a bachelors you are over qualified. Experience is everything in becoming a better ESL teacher IMHO. As I am currently living in Nepal people are too poor to pay even $10 an hour for English lessons although a lot of people want to learn. That is why I am thinking about going the online teaching route.. I need to find out more about it!
Been living abroad for 4 years now. India, Nepal, Taiwan, and Thailand. Currently in Thailand teaching English as my bread and butter.

Check out my online store featuring cool jewelry and items at very reasonable prices from Thailand!

http://thailand-treasures.myshopify.com/collections/all
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Mr S
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Post by Mr S »

Online pays between 10-15 dollars an hr but it takes some time to build a clientele and you need a reliable internet connection, plus something Paypal or another online money transfer system that is international.

ESL doesn't really pay well in the long run it's more about chasing the shrinking lucrative jobs that are available if you have a lot of experience and higher education. I think it's better to be an international middle/high school native English speaking Math or science teacher, it pays better and more secure in the long run.
"The object of life is not to be on the side of the majority but to escape finding oneself in the ranks of the insane." Marcus Aurelius, Roman Emperor and stoic philosopher, 121-180 A.D.
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Cornfed
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Post by Cornfed »

People should probably just give up on English teaching.
tamdrin12
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Post by tamdrin12 »

True.. ESL pretty much f***ing sucks .. but then there are not many options for making money where I'm at right now so what to do..
Been living abroad for 4 years now. India, Nepal, Taiwan, and Thailand. Currently in Thailand teaching English as my bread and butter.

Check out my online store featuring cool jewelry and items at very reasonable prices from Thailand!

http://thailand-treasures.myshopify.com/collections/all
hammanta
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Post by hammanta »

tamdrin12 wrote:True.. ESL pretty much f***ing sucks .. but then there are not many options for making money where I'm at right now so what to do..
Agreed! I'd have no desire to do it. I think best bet, if possible, is to save up enough to take several months to possibly a year off to live over there. 15-20 grand will be plenty and I'm sure most could live on even less. That'll give yah enough time to find a wife, and, in theory, would probably make living back in the west a little more enjoyable. Or give you enough time to try and set up an online gig or make connections.
tamdrin12
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Post by tamdrin12 »

Well I've been out of the USA for 2.5 years now. Lived in India, Nepal, and Taiwan. I just don't have any other options besides finding another ESL gig now. I'm thinking to pack up my bags and call it quits (for now) and starting from scratch back in the USA.
Been living abroad for 4 years now. India, Nepal, Taiwan, and Thailand. Currently in Thailand teaching English as my bread and butter.

Check out my online store featuring cool jewelry and items at very reasonable prices from Thailand!

http://thailand-treasures.myshopify.com/collections/all
ladislav
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Post by ladislav »

Yes, I did go to St. Mike. Your father's advice is excellent. Do get that MA but at the same time, try to get solid verifiable experience while studying there. Teach/tutor on weekends or at night.
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tamdrin12
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Post by tamdrin12 »

Ladislav.. There is something disturbing about your story. You got a masters degree in teaching ESL and then the work you get is online teaching paying 6 or 10 dollars an hour?? My God! That is terrible.. That is why I am wondering what are the economic benefits of having a masters degree in teaching English. In Taiwan for example if someone has a bachelors one might be paid 60,000NT a month but with a masters it might only be 65,000-70,000 a month which is only a few hundred dollars more. Where is the benefit??
Been living abroad for 4 years now. India, Nepal, Taiwan, and Thailand. Currently in Thailand teaching English as my bread and butter.

Check out my online store featuring cool jewelry and items at very reasonable prices from Thailand!

http://thailand-treasures.myshopify.com/collections/all
hammanta
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Post by hammanta »

tamdrin12 wrote:Ladislav.. There is something disturbing about your story. You got a masters degree in teaching ESL and then the work you get is online teaching paying 6 or 10 dollars an hour?? My God! That is terrible.. That is why I am wondering what are the economic benefits of having a masters degree in teaching English. In Taiwan for example if someone has a bachelors one might be paid 60,000NT a month but with a masters it might only be 65,000-70,000 a month which is only a few hundred dollars more. Where is the benefit??
I maybe wrong but I believe a Masters degree opens up the opportunity for University jobs as well as international schools. Not sure how much the pay difference is though.
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Re: I want to live in the Philippines but how do I earn mone

Post by Sophia »

What the Customer Asked For:

1) You want to earn your living sitting there at your own computer,
2) You want that computer to move from the freezing wilds of Canada to the warmth of the Philippines,
3) AND you want it to all be easy? Wow. That’s a bit of a tall order.

Which Two Do You Want?

Now I’m not saying you can’t get all three of the things you are asking for. Perhaps you can … maybe all the planets will align at exactly the right time some day.

But based on years of experience at trying to get all three things you are asking for there, I strongly advise you to ratchet your requirements back just a little, and pick TWO of the three things to focus on.

Let’s Start With “Easy”

See the “easy” part I have all figured out. Some of you may be better qualified than I am to sit in a chair and wait for something to happen, but I’ll give anyone a good run for their money in that department.

There’s only one big glaring issues with “Easy”. It doesn’t pay worth a shit!

Easy Is Easy, It’s Living in the Philippines and the little detail of Making Money that will get in your way.

One reason I love comments here at the PhilFAQS blog, where I try to answer the questions people have about living in the Philippines, is that so many comments are just plain good enough to make a whole blog article out of. Thanks to this reader and thanks to all the rest of you who contribute to making this place a success. I appreciate it.

Otherwise Realistic?

Now $2400 to $3000 a month is actually quite a bit of variation, compared to most people’s monthly income. For simplicity, let’s take the average, $2700 a month and kind of analyze .

How To Get Paid One Third of What You’re Worth

In the majority of cases these “work at home job” schemes are nothing more than ways to part fools of their money.

Stuffing envelopes, “data entry”, making up thousands of scummy ads for Google and then having them rejected, and even out-and-out cold calling or “cold emailing” is what many of these offers are.

Don’t buy into things which are scams or distinctly resemble scams.

This is a fact to remember that I have mentioned here before but seems to “breeze past’ a lot of people.

Even If A “Work at Home Job” is completely above board and honest, it a swindle, pure and simple.

Why Is An Honest Job a Swindle?

As a general rule of thumb as taught in some business schools, to be ‘worth” has/her salary a person should generate about 3 times their salary for the business’s bottom line.

Less that triple and it’s cheaper to pay overtime and/or hire part-time temps or “off shore” the work.

Be you own boss and make the $8000 a month for yourself.

Or work half as many hours and make $4,000 for yourself, or …. You get the drift.

Since many people’s eyes glaze over when you mention “on line” jobs, let me make an illustration which should be more “grounded” (literally, in most people’s minds.

Let’s suppose you decide you want a job as a long-haul truck driver.

There are literally thousands of job available, right now, today, in both the US and Canada. Although there are a lot of technicalities and different ways to compare the pay schemes, they all pretty much boil down to this ..

You get paid a specified rate per loaded mile travelled for you employee. And in a broad but industry-wide sense, there are two basic ways to get paid:

Company Driver

(That is, you are an employee of the company). The trucking company provides the truck and all the major expenses of operating it, and you, as an employee, drive their truck where and when they tell you to. A J*O*B in every sense of the word.

Starting pay for these jobs is right around $0.25 USD per mile, with the top range after years of experience and such going up to $0.50 USD per mile, in general.

New drivers make in the range of McDonald or Burger King “crew persons”, $20 or 25,000 USD per year,

The more more experienced and successful (and long-hours) working drivers top out at around $50 to $60,000 USD.

Owner/Operators

(also known as independent contractors). These fellows and gals do essentially exactly the same work as the “employee” drivers, but the own and drive their own trucks. They can not be scheduled regarding days off, hours of work and such as employees can, and they are responsible for their own expenses. They just get assigned to pick up loads by a certain time and deliver those lads at a certain time and date.

How they travel, when they travel, where they get their trucks serviced and all the other things employees can be “told” … well they can’t really be “told” that at all.

The big difference? Owner Operators generally start at $1.++ per mile and can easily be up to the high dollar, even two-dollar or more per mile rate if they get into the best contracts.

It’s not uncommon, after paying all the expenses, fees, insurance and so forth, for owner operators to clear (net) $150,000 USD per year.

$50,000 per year versus $150,00 USD per year. Gosh, I’m not good at math, but doesn’t that mean that the independent business men/women are on the broad average, doing 3 times the income that the “do want and when and where” we tell you J*O*B “wage slaves” are doing?

Thanks,
http://stunited.org/page/job-search
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