One of the best decisions we ever made was hopping on a plane after college graduation to go teach English in Taiwan. At that time, we didn’t even know where Taiwan was, let alone what life living on a small island in Asia would be like. However, those two years teaching English overseas were in many ways what allowed us to set out on a nomadic lifestyle, work for ourselves, and otherwise design the life of our dreams—far removed from the standard 9-5 in a cubicle.
Thinking about making the jump but still not sure if teaching English is right for you? Then take a look at our five favourite reasons to try it:
5 Reasons To Teach English Overseas
An in-depth look at another culture
We love traveling slowly as it provides more of an immersion experience than flying through a destination without any real understanding of the people or the culture. We taught English for two years, and even that wasn’t enough time to understand all there was to Taiwanese culture. If you want more than the cookie-cutter backpacker experience, then consider teaching English for at least a year. You’ll make great local friends and have countless life changing experiences that otherwise wouldn’t be available.
A sustainable way to fund long-term travel
One of the questions we receive most often is how we fund our lifestyles overseas. While now we run our own business, when we graduated college, we were broke newlyweds. Teaching English overseas was the perfect way for us to fuel our wanderlust while also making a bit of money to fund said wanderlust.
Teaching is a great skill for anyone
We think that everyone should have experience teaching, whether that is in front of a small group of kindergarteners or a large room of adults. (I’ve done both.) Teaching helps you get over fears of public speaking, but more importantly, helps you to more effectively express yourself. This is a crucial skill no matter what industry or career you eventually find yourself in. For example, I know that TESL greatly helped my skills as a new yoga teacher and now makes me more effective on sales calls.
You can save serious money
Apart from being a way to fund your travels, teaching English can also be a great way to save some serious dough for later travel. We worked hard and didn’t spend much money, and as a result, we were able to save quite a bit of money in one year. We later used that money for our nomadic travels and to help us get started on building our business. And even with saving that much money, we lived a very comfortable lifestyle, traveled to nearby countries and truly enjoyed ourselves. If you’re on the hunt for a good international bank account, you could check here for options.
It’s fun!
The best reason of all to teach English overseas. I hardly remember a day where I dreaded going to work. I got to play with awesome kids, meet inspiring people from around the world and know that I was making my own little difference in the lives of my students. In fact, we only planned to teach English for one year, but because it was so fun, we decided to stay for another!
Teaching English might not be for everyone, but it is definitely an awesome job to consider if you’re ready for a change and what to do something outside of your comfort zone. And of course, drop us a line if you’re considering the jump but still have questions!
Trackbacks/Pingbacks