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I'm Spanish but currently doing my degree in the UK. Once it's over I want to travel a bit, my main interest being either Hong Kong or Shanghai. I'd like to live and work there for a year at least, and since languages are my strong point, as I'm doing my degree on English, I was wandering if anyone has any experience in teaching English in Asia. Would I definately need a TSFL?!ESS? (whatever it's called) to teach it or would the degree be enough? Are schools better than private academies? How much money would you earn? Will they cover living expenses? Is it best to find a place through an agency at home? What if you don't like what they've found for you? What if you can't speak a word of Chinese.

Answers to any of these or similar topics would be appreciated. Thank you.
BP

Check out our TEFL section for some more info. Unfortunately, I've never done it myself so I don't have a lot of personal advice, but many Bloggers have.

My sister is teaching English in Korea at an academy. You do not need the TEFL in Korea but if you have it you'll make more money. She really likes the academies because there are several foreigners working at the same place, as oppose to the school systems were sometimes you may be the only English teacher. Her flights were paid for as well as her efficiency apartment. Costs were very low so she has been able to save a fair amount of money. So much so that she is going to Egypt next to take her TEFL. A catch though is that some places want native speakers. In fact lots of the Australian and British teachers would complain that they were instructed to sound more American, which struck me as kinda funny. I don’t know if all this applies to china but I imagine it may not be too different.

If you don't have an TESL certificate you can still find jobs although in the big cities such as Hong Kong and Shanghai it really does help. Not sure if it'll be a problem once you have a degree and graduate, or if it'd be a problem if you didn't, but you might already have one strike against you because english is not your native language. (I'm assuming this because you said you were Spanish). Try taking a look on the boards at Dave's ESL Cafe for job listings just to get an idea of the current market and for incite into the whole deal.

In Korea, all you need is a university diploma, but I'm under the impression certification leads to better pay.

You will also want to thoroughly check out the school before signing anything - ask to speak to their current foreign teacher on the phone, but realize that the foreign teacher may be unable to speak freely (I've heard of cases where the directors are in the same room as the person on the phone, to ensure that they only say good things). Being wary and thoroughly researching will really pay off.

Definitely go to Dave's ESL Cafefirst for jobs, advice etc.

Most TEFL courses have you teaching during the class and help you get a job afterward. I got my TEFL in Barcelona but there are lots in China. You might check out The Boland School which has courses in China.
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Cheers, Amanda

I haven't taught English overseas but I've worked in HK before and my impression is that it might be much easier to find teaching jobs in Shanghai than HK. ALOT of ppl in HK can speak English (being a former British colony & having a large middle class population) and although there are some English schools, I'm pretty sure you need solid teaching qualifications to teach there.

It's a different story for Shanghai as China is just opening up now and there's a huge demand for English language skills there. I know undergrad uni students who have taught English there without formal qualifications. Shanghai has much lower living expenses as well so you might be better off there although HK is by far the more liveable city esp is you don't speak Chinese.

Hope that helps!