I want to be an ESL teacher but I have no degree...

Discuss culture, living, traveling, relocating, dating or anything related to the Asian countries - China, The Philippines, Thailand, etc.
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yatterman1
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I want to be an ESL teacher but I have no degree...

Post by yatterman1 »

Can someone hook me up? Anywhere in Asia is fine....but I would be too scared to do it in South Korea because I know they put people in jail for that...same as Thailand. But yeah can someone hook me up?
globetrotter
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Post by globetrotter »

Japan requires a 4 year degree OR 3 years teaching experience.

South Korea you can get a job teaching as a teachers assistant.

Vietnam, China, Laos and Cambodia do not require a degree. If you go to a small out of the way village you will be able to work without a degree as the local school master will have political pull and smooth over rough edges. Once you teach for 2 years then you have experience and can teach elsewhere. You can work on a business/manager visa in the ME and earn $2,500 per month. If you are young (under 35 years of age) you would be wise to spend the time getting a 4 year degree. I you are older (50) then your age will compensate somewhat for your lack of a degree.
Rock
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Re: I want to be an ESL teacher but I have no degree...

Post by Rock »

yatterman1 wrote:Can someone hook me up? Anywhere in Asia is fine....but I would be too scared to do it in South Korea because I know they put people in jail for that...same as Thailand. But yeah can someone hook me up?
You said you had been interested since 2008. Why didn't you cram in a bunch of courses at a community college to get a 2 year degree? You would have had it by now.

If you wanna teach English, there are bad and good ways to go about it:

1. Totally illegal route (not recommended): Get a fake degree in Banglamphoo (Khaosan Rd. vicinity in Bangkok), the Philippines, or online. Use it in a place like China or perhaps second tier cities in Taiwan where they are not so strict about these things. Hope that you don't eventually get caught. If you find out you really like teaching, you could consider going back to get your degree, do some sort of distance / online program, or perhaps even enroll in an Asian based university or the Asian branch of a foreign one.

2. Mildly illegal route: Come to Taiwan on renewable tourist visa. Get an agent who can hook you up with under-the-table work (I have a friend who gets this kind of work) teaching kids and also try to accumulate some private hours with groups of 1-4 (adults or children). You can research the consequences of getting caught but I believe (no promises though) you would just be deported and probably not even black-listed. With privates, the risk of getting caught is very low.

3. Completely legal route (highly recommended): Get your ass into a community college pronto (ESL/teaching related would be great but anything will do), get on an accelerated track which includes summer study, and get your 2 year or preferably 4 year degree ASAP. Once you have that, you can either come over and apply for jobs in person or look to be hired directly from the States. If you are young, I definitely believe you should get a degree first. Also, if you think you might eventually want to pursue any other type of work in Asia (say computer or business related), you could get your degree in a field related to this instead.

4. RSA Certificate programs (1-2 months intense): Have you researched whether or not these can substitute for 2/4 year degrees at some cram schools?

5. Just my opinion: You can make a life plan for yourself in Asia. As a young person, you can probably swing a great social / dating life for your self in rich east Asia - South Korea, Taiwan, Japan, perhaps Shanghai - and put away some coin. As you get older and accumulate some savings, migrate to poorer areas where your age, physical shape, and appearance may be less of a concern and your money goes a lot further - Philippines, esp. outside metro Manila, 2nd/3rd tier cities in China, and even parts of Thailand.

6. Another possibility is to cycle things - work our ass-off for 5-7 months in a place like Taiwan (short term work easier to come by than Korea or Japan) and then fly to a cheap part of Asia to R&R for the rest of the year. However, I don't think this is as good because you don't save for retirement.

Just some off-the-cuff thoughts.
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santosutd
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Post by santosutd »

I think the best option is you have to buy a degree if you want to become an ESL teacher. There are many companies which are providing fake degrees. You should concern them.

fake degrees
manly5000
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Post by manly5000 »

What about an Associate's Degree? I have one but am 35 and will not be able to finish a bachelor's if I want to save up enough to move within the next few years. I do have over a year's experience as a Flight Instructor though, teaching people to fly. I would hope something as intensive as that would count as "teaching experience" ;)

If I went for a cert would I be plenty qualified to get hired as a teacher?

Oh, and as far as Latin/South America goes, if I became fluent (or close to it) in Spanish would I be able to get a good teaching job in those countries with my education/experience?
momopi
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ladislav
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Post by ladislav »

http://www.eslcafe.com- overseas jobs forum- become a member and ask for guidance there. I became a teacher with a BA and an MA and was in debt for years from student loans. But I was still able to go overseas. A good job in the Middle East will help you pay your debts quickly. You may go to China or VN without a BA but finish it online while teaching there. Keep in mind though that many employers in Saudi do not like online degrees, but some might. Also, you can teach in Oman with an online degree.
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Bevan
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Post by Bevan »

There are many online companies from where you can buy degree at very affordable rates. You just need to do some search on internet. These fake degrees are too genius no one can recognized the difference.

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ladislav
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Post by ladislav »

If you teach online ( as in for online schools in Russia and China) with a fake degree and a fake resume, they almost never check. They just want native speakers. You can make some $1300 a month and live in the Philippines.
Whether it is moral or not is your judgement call.
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MarkDY
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Post by MarkDY »

I already have a college degree. I am currently taking some non-credit classes at my local community college do get an ESL teaching certificate. There are five classes, three are on-line. I should be finished by the end of this year. Then I will probably enroll in an overseas ESL school.
http://www.globalexperiences.com/genera ... nglish.php
Here is where I am taking my on-line ESL classes
http://www.ed2go.com/
MarkDY
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Post by MarkDY »

ladislav wrote:If you teach online ( as in for online schools in Russia and China) with a fake degree and a fake resume, they almost never check. They just want native speakers. You can make some $1300 a month and live in the Philippines.
Whether it is moral or not is your judgement call.
To make $1300/mo and live in the Philippines sounds nice.
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