Hello,
I just graduated from University with a degree in English studies. I am interested in working abroad. I took some education courses and have volunteered in high schools. I have a pretty good idea of what teaching will look like generally in the United States but not a foreign language. That being said, I do not have an official degree or certifications in education or teaching English as a foreign language. Teaching abroad has always been in the back of my mind. I fear that I am too inexperienced to realize if this is a good decision to jump into right after graduation. I would appreciate some advice.
Additional information: I also wanted to try a career outside of education like editing, writing, or researching. I’ve been looking at working for nonprofit organizations since I may want to attend law school in the future. I am taking a gap year, and I thought trying teaching abroad would give me a better idea if I wanted to pursue the law degree.
2 comments
You’re the only one who can make that decision for yourself. If you want to do it, do it. You don’t need any special qualifications other than just wanting to do it.
Try applying for the JET program, you won’t need any experience and the conditions are relatively good.
If you have the time and money, you could consider doing a short language school program as well instead.
Other than that I’d suggest just going straight into law school now. Other ALT programs don’t pay well and are not great to their employees and it would be unlikely for you to get hired teaching at any K-12 schools without certifications or experience.
You can always apply as an expat lawyer to move here in the future and make all the money compared to teaching.
As a side note, if you’re interested in other countries as well, you can check out the peace corps volunteer teaching program. Also consider the EPIK program in Korea.
I’ve taught university and k-12 in Japan for years. Feel free to DM or ask any more questions.