I was so lucky! I fell right into a great job: minimal class hours, no lesson plans to file, no curriculum to follow - I teach only oral English. The overall arrangement offers too many perks to mention: housing, medical, utilities and travel bonuses, among others. This school takes great care of foreign teachers. I am proud to be a member of this institution.
Sadly, many foreign teachers end up disillusioned. Many of us come here – to China - with grandiose schemes to bathe in the culture, drink in the sights and return home with an incomparable experience. What they get instead... after being here for 4 years, believe me: I've heard some horror stories.
I hope to help future job seekers avoid some pitfalls of overseas work so they can enjoy this experience.
You should have at least a bachelor's degree and some experience as an educator. Be prepared to provide letters of reference.
Once you decide where in the world you want to go:
1. Register with a headhunter. Such an organization can take care of a lot of the legwork and minutiae of starting life and work overseas. Quality organizations make use of these screeners to facilitate their hiring process. There are plenty of websites who specialize in job placement.
2. You should never have to pay for placement. If any site or organization charges any kind of fee, run! This is an easy way to scam hopefuls.
3. Wait for a job offer and contract before initiating any paperwork. You will need a placement letter to present to the visa office.
4. You will have to pay for initial paperwork: visa, health certification, and of course, your plane ticket. Quality institutions will reimburse you for most, if not all of these fees. They should also cover the cost of any administrative paperwork once you're in country.
5. Never surrender your passport! I've heard nightmare stories from teachers who were required to surrender their passport 'for safe keeping' to their institution's administrator. Thus they were essentially prisoners: couldn't travel around and certainly couldn't leave their post or the country. You should never be asked to do so and if you are, report it immediately!
My next point is really just common sense, but I'm going to talk about it all anyway.
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