Upon returning from one of the most exciting adventures of your life, are you wondering how you can recreate the experience of traveling and teaching abroad closer to home?
You are not alone if you are feeling the anxiety of what to do after teaching English abroad.
You might have gone overseas for a short amount of time to take a break or “find yourself.”
Maybe you have responsibilities back home to return to and teaching English abroad was just a way to make some quick money and travel.
Whatever the case is, the excitement for life overseas and teaching English doesn’t have to end here.
Consider the following 7 options:
- Become a teacher in your home country
- Teach English online and fund your travels
- Teach English online to adults
- Become an English tutor in your local area
- Teach at an international school abroad
- Advise and help others teach English abroad
- Work online as a digital nomad
1. Become a teacher in your home country
Let’s be real, anyone who speaks English at a native or nearly native level can apply to become an English teacher overseas.
Who wouldn’t want to take a year off and travel to places like Japan, Korea or South America and get paid to do it?
Some discover their love for teaching!
Who knows, you might fall in love with your students and find great joy in teaching English, making you realize this is the career path for you.
If this is you, you can also become a teacher in your home country.
Of course, this requires some further training and education but if this is your dream career, it’s always a worthwhile investment of your time and money.
There are also some great programs out there that are not too expensive and don’t require a lot of further education. Teach Away’s Teacher Certification Program will help you get your credentials to teach in the US!
2. Teach English online and fund your travels
Doesn’t this sound like the most amazing job in the world?
You get to wake up in your house, wear your pajama bottoms (maintaining professional attire at the top), and get paid between $15 – $20 / hour to teach English online to children around the world.
Teaching English online has become one of the fastest-growing online jobs in the world.
In China alone, there were over 15 million users in 2019 learning English with companies like VIPKid, and many others.
Teaching English online affords hundreds of thousands of teachers the flexibility to work from home, offering you the possibility to create a schedule that works for you.
Plus, many teach English online in order to fund their travels while on the road.
Check out these 8 companies hiring online English teachers and see if you fit their requirements.
Most online ESL companies, especially those based in China, have the following requirements:
- English is your first language
- Bachelor’s degree (in any field)
- ESL certification such as TEFL
- Min. 1 year of teaching-related experience (this can include volunteering, teaching abroad, etc.)
- Citizenship from US/Canada (while this is not the case for all companies, many do require this)
If you are not from the US/Canada, or English is not your first language, you might be interested in these companies.
3. Teach English online to adults
Maybe you love the idea of teaching English online but teaching kids is not your jam.
Guess what? Kids are not the only ones looking to learn English.
Adults also want to learn English!
There are a lot of opportunities to teach English online to adults with companies like Cambly, iTalki and many other platforms.
Typically, these companies and platforms operate much differently than those that have a set curriculum for children and structured expectations in the classroom.
When teaching English online to adults you might just enjoy a freestyle talking lesson to help someone improve their conversational skills.
Many adults also want very specific and focused lessons for their professional life or business.
Tip: if you want to stand out in the market when teaching English online to adults, consider selecting a niche or specific subject area for teaching English.
Once you find your niche, make sure you really highlight that on your profile so that you become known as an expert.
Check out these other great tips for teaching English online to adults.
4. Become an English tutor in your local area
Another excellent way to take those great skills you learned teaching English abroad is by reaching out to your local community to teach English to immigrants and those learning a second language.
Learning English is a challenge for many but a necessity for survival in an English-speaking country.
You could be someone that helps those who are struggling to gain their confidence, helping them build the language skills they need.
Here are some suggested ways to get started tutoring English in your local area:
- Reach out to your local library to see if they have access to families looking for English tutoring.
- Post in your local Facebook groups that you are offering tutoring sessions.
- Check with your local schools and let them know you are offering tutoring lessons in English.
- Create a website and create content to attract students from around the world to take your classes.
Start small and invest the time and effort that will help your tutoring business grow.
Starting local is also one of the best ways to start a tutoring business and word of mouth can be your best avenue for attracting more students.
5. Teach at an international school abroad
What better way to combine the skills you gained teaching overseas and your love for traveling than by teaching at an international school!
This is different from teaching English abroad in a language school.
Teaching at an international school means that you are living in a foreign country and working at a school that is usually set up to provide education to ex-pat families and locals that choose that type of school system.
Typically, these schools are very expensive and cost up to $15,000 – $20,000/year for children. They use curriculum like the International Baccalaureate or state and country-specific curriculum like Common Core and others.
Many of these schools are established and founded by embassies or private companies.
In some cases, you will find non-profit international schools but most of them are for-profit gain.
Teachers at these schools are typically native English speakers with a teaching background of some kind.
In fact, some schools will require you to have a teaching license from your home country.
Some of the fun benefits of being a teacher in an international school are the holidays and travel opportunities.
Imagine teaching in Malaysia and traveling to Thailand for your long weekend or Christmas holiday.
Life doesn’t get much better than that!
Teachers enjoy benefits such as paid housing, return tickets home, gratuities for completing a certain amount of years, and a very comfortable work environment with lots of resources and state-of-the-art facilities and technology.
Find your ideal position at an international school on Teach Away’s job board.
6. Advise and help others to teach English abroad
Now that you have done it yourself, you can be a resident expert.
You don’t even need to be an expert, you just need to know a little more than someone who is wanting to do the same thing you did.
Think back to when you started learning about teaching English abroad.
Were you overwhelmed?
Did you need a guide?
Would you have paid for support?
The answer is probably yes. In fact, you might have paid someone or a company like Teach Away to help you begin your journey.
You can take your skills, know-how, and expertise and work in schools and universities as an advisor to students who want to take time off after graduating from college.
Alternatively, you can set up your own business and be the “go-to” person to help others build the life of their dreams.
7. Learn how to work online and become a digital nomad
Have you seen those ads of people sitting on the beach with their laptop and calling themselves a “digital nomad”?
Yeah… they’re faking it.
It’s not real and if anyone tells you that becoming a digital nomad or making money online can happen overnight, they are simply wrong.
But the great news is that there are tons of options to help you get started.
Consider starting your online work as a digital nomad by:
- Affiliate marketing
- A teaching blog or youtube channel
- Advertising your services or expertise on Fiverr
- Teaching English online with these companies
- Learning about dropshipping and Amazon FBA
- Setting up an ecommerce store
- Creating a digital course
- Working remotely with a company
- Offer coaching in a particular area
The list goes on and on.
So, how do you get started with working online? One of the best ways to get started is to learn.
In other words, don’t quit your day job just yet!
Keep progressing by building something on the side with your knowledge and expertise.
It all falls into place eventually as you discover what you are good at, what you enjoy doing and what you can offer people to help them solve a problem.
Is your brain swirling with ideas for your next step?
You have tons of career options for your post-teaching English abroad experience.
We suggest you examine what you love about teaching or traveling and turn that into a long-term and financially sustainable venture.
Hopefully, all of the suggestions mentioned help get your wheels turning and moving in the right direction.
And don’t forget that, here at Teach Away, we have a Teacher Certification Program where you can take the very first step towards your journey of becoming a teacher.
