I’m currently travelling through Europe for my own project of work, stopping off in Berlin, Halle (Saale) and Leipzig, Germany and then onto Wroclaw, Poland. However, it has made me think about the subject matter of this esl blog and how it’s important to choose the right country to live in and teach English as a foreign language.

TEFL jobs are advertised all over the world! So it’s no surprise that regions like the EU, Middle East and Asia/ the Far East come out on top with the number of vacancies available. To date my teaching experience consists of region: Europe and East/ Central Europe. The next country on my list for the new academic term year 2018/19 is going to be Italy. I’m excited to fly out to the South of Italy and I will be working for a small professional language school. However, I had to weigh up the pros and cons of choosing Italy in comparison to other countries such as Spain, China and Russia where I’ve also been offered good teaching jobs. At this moment in my career Italy ticks all the boxes and I’ve always wanted to experience life in Italy due to the language, people, food, architecture and culture. Overall, moving to a new country is a big step and not many people have the bottle to do this, so my advice for choosing a country should be based on what you want and trust your gut feeling. I have laid out some simple options to help choose between TEFL job offers.

You can rank each bullet point out of 10 and then compare each language school/ country.

• TEFL job summary – this is what I usually look at first and it determines whether or not to find out more about the language school.
• Details of the position – usually this is a basic contract and outlines what is required of the teaching position, later on it’s advised to request a full detailed contract.
• Qualifications – is a Degree required, TEFL/ TESOL/ CELTA or similar qualifications. Keep in mind that the TEFL Institute of Ireland offers top rated TEFL courses.
• Salary and benefits – a NET or GROSS payment, fixed number of hours, consider if the school provides accommodation, medical insurance, holiday pay, company car and more.
• School details – establishment type: state school, private school, university and its location, a capital city, a smaller city or even a town… personally I felt more comfortable in a smaller city.
• Review – you should check out reviews on websites such as Glassdoor or esl teachers board to read what employees say it’s like to work at the language school you are considering. Personally I dodged a bullet by doing this prior to taking a job in Krakow early on in my TEFL career.

That’s all for today. Meanwhile, here is a blog of the Top 3 European countries to teach in. The next blog will discuss my experience of moving to Italy at the end of September to teach English as a foreign language and it will document 24 hours of what it’s like to make the next step in an exciting teaching career. Ciao