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Choosing your route to teach English abroad

It's a boom industry that shows no sign of going bust. It's teaching English abroad, and for many Canadian graduates -- and increasing numbers of career changers -- a chance to experience new cultures and earn a living at the same time is proving irresistible.

DAVID CHILTON

[ 2007-06-28 ]

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Whether students choose to study in private or public schools, the markets for their skills will be essentially the same.

PRIVATE VS. PUBLIC

The school a student chooses to learn to teach English depends on a good many factors -- cost and location top the list. Generally, private colleges have a shorter instruction period that is reflected in lower tuition fees; public institutions take longer to train their students and, consequently, charge more. U of T's Woodsworth College charges $4,351, which includes ancillary fees. Humber College's tuition-only fees are $3,351.

Private schools generally have less stringent admission requirements: a high school diploma versus a degree for public colleges and universities, although it should be pointed out graduates of public programs, such as U of T's and Humber College's, are qualified to teach English to adult learners.

Yvette Ali, director of the TESOL program at Woodsworth College, says to be considered for enrollment students need, as well as a degree, an acceptable average, a letter of intent and an up to date resume.

Ali says students could start the program in September and finish in April if they studied full time, although 87% of enrollees study part-time and have up to six years to complete the entire course. Woodsworth takes 70 to 80 students a year, more of them women than men.

Like the Woodsworth program, Humber College's program also takes eight months to complete studying full time, although here there is no part-time option.

Vera Beletzan, programs manager at Humber's English Language Centre, says the college prefers its applicants to have a degree in a related discipline, holds interviews and requires a short essay. Humber takes between 25 and 30 students every September, Beletzan says, with the majority being women, many of them recent graduates. However, career changers are a significant presence.

"We have people in their 40s, 50s and even 60s," Beletzan says.

The private Global TESOL College is headquartered in Edmonton although it has eight locations across the country, including Toronto. Business manager Jenny Jurgeit says the basic program requires 120 hours to complete: 40 hours in class and the rest online or by correspondence. In the big cities, Global TESOL runs courses about once a month, Jurgeit says, noting that the cost of the basic program is $1,095.

BASIC 60-HOUR COURSE

That's about the same money -- $1,054 -- that Oxford Seminars charges for its basic 60-hour course. David Roberts, a teacher placement advisor, says the program runs over three consecutive weekends. He puts the male-female ratio at the private institution at 50-50, and says the age of enrollees varies greatly.

"We've had retired teachers up to 60 years old and everyone in between," says Roberts, who's taught English in seven countries himself.

Whether students choose to go private or public is entirely up to them, although the markets for their skills will be essentially the same.

The best money can usually be earned in the Middle East, and jobs in Japan tend to pay well, reflecting the astronomical cost of living there. Korea is also a burgeoning market and China is also becoming more and more lucrative. There are opportunities in South America, Western and Eastern Europe, and Vietnam and Laos are opening up.

However, everyone has heard a horror story or two, so new graduates should take care to investigate employers and contracts. As Woodworth College's Ali says, "Outside of Canada the whole field is so unregulated."