Moving abroad for TEFL presents wonderful opportunities to enrich your life, but at the same time it can be highly daunting. A new country, job, home, language, friends – there will definitely be some uncertainties.
The reality is that these uncertainties are why working abroad can bring exciting new experiences that will last you a lifetime. It will also open you up to opportunities in your personal and professional life that you might not have had otherwise.
In this post, we cover some of the common concerns with practical advice to help you have the best chance of success on your move abroad.
Money
The finances of moving abroad are important. When you arrive, you are going to have to survive at least a month or two before your first pay check. You will probably have to pay rent and a deposit (which in some counties is equivalent to two months’ rent). Then, you’ll have to pay for your living expenses whilst keeping some cash in the bank in case of any emergencies, such as needing to pay for a flight back home.
If you don’t have a job organised in advance, make sure you are arriving in the country at the right time of year to get a job. Most TEFL jobs will be advertised in the two or three months before the academic year in that country starts, so factor this into your plan.
In terms of savings, a good guide is to check out the cost of living where you are going and have two months living costs + accommodation deposit + 20% extra saved in the bank. This gives you some leeway and you will feel more secure.
You will likely have to set up a bank account in your new home. To get a bank account, usually you will be required to have an address and proof of work from your employer.
Healthcare
Healthcare varies dramatically by country, but it is most common that once you have a contract and a home address, you will be able to register for public healthcare system. Your employers will always offer advice regarding this topic so be sure to ask them to get all the information you need even if you don’t need it yet.
Language
By and large in the TEFL world, you are not expected to be able to speak the language of the country you’ll be working in when you are starting off. In some European countries with Latin-based languages, it will make you stand out more as a candidate for a job if you can speak the local language, but there will be many other jobs out there for people without these skills.
For personal life, the more you can speak some of the local language, the richer your experience will be, and the easier it will be to expand your social life. Learning languages is time consuming and as an English teacher abroad, you will need to be lesson planning and preparing in some of your spare time. Fortunately, working in a TEFL school, you will be surrounded by other English speakers in the same position as yourself, so you will be able to socialise after work and meet others who are in the same position as yourself.
The general level of English will vary depending on how international your destination is. For day-to-day life, you will be able to get by, but life will improve as you learn how to navigate shops, banks and restaurants through taking on some of the local language.
Before you leave it helps to start learning some useful phrases. The greetings and responses ‘Hello’, ‘How are you?’, ‘What do you do?’, ‘Where are you from?’, ‘I’m from Scotland…’, etc. In day-to-day interactions, people will often ask the same basic questions so it is a good start to get to know how to answer these questions and you can build from there.
Safety
Much of the news we see and hear today is bad news, from independence protests in Barcelona, to pro-democracy rallies in Hong Kong. This can make people nervous to travel abroad. These troubles are often isolated and with a bit of common sense and research, fears over safety should not be an obstacle to you going abroad.
Before you move make sure you do your research. There are resources online, such as the UK government’s foreign office advice on travel safety [link: https://www.gov.uk/foreign-travel-advice] and online blogs are another option. Do some research into the local cultures and regional differences within a country, for example South Korea is known to be exceptionally safe and have very low crime rates. This means that even though it is located on the other side of the world and you can’t speak a word of the language, the chances are that moving there is going to be safer than your hometown on a Saturday night.
Facebook is another source of valuable information. Look for expat or teaching groups in the counties and cities you are planning to move to. Put a post out there saying you’re looking to move, and likelihood is someone will make contact with you, give some advice, and then meet up for a drink when you arrive in the city.
Finally, exercise the same precautions you would anywhere else. Some problems occur when people get drunk and isolated or walk down a street outside a familiar area. So golden rule number one – if it’s late, make sure to get a taxi home. Golden rule number two – the places you are most likely to get into trouble are the places you are surrounded by tourists and inevitably pickpockets.
Making friends
Leaving friends and family can be very difficult. Often expats experience a kind of honeymoon period when there is always a buzz of excitement to being somewhere new. But once that adrenaline wears off and you’re without old friends and family, inevitably there will be times when you feel blue. The hardest times can often be Sundays, holidays, or when it’s mid-Winter and there is less going on in town.
Loneliness is a fact of travel, but you can mitigate it – they key is to build your own community. Join a club, such as music or sport. These can often be more sociable than just doing language classes and are great for practising a new language in real life. Another option is to look up expat groups via Internations.org or Facebook. People in these groups are always looking to be sociable and make new friends to explore the opportunities in your new home be it bars, restaurants, theatres.
Most people who go away to teach for a year to start with end up staying longer, some enjoy it so much they never return!
