Teaching English Overseas – Dream or Nightmare?
Both. In the 1980s, EFL ‘Eh-full’, (English as a Foreign Language) was a dream job for savvy college graduates. Being a native speaker became a passport to a job, legal visa, often with paid housing and paid airfare to and from foreign lands. After the 1990s, it became too popular. After 2000, its attractiveness tarnished and its wages stagnated. Colleges, language schools and various English language employers demanded proof of a Bachelor’s or preferably, a Master’s and attestation (a complicated, time-consuming and expensive process.) Eventually, employers began demanding teacher credentials. Adios to the ‘backpacker’ English teacher. In the early 1990s, … Continue reading Teaching English Overseas – Dream or Nightmare?