International Destinations

Travel the world by teaching English

If you speak English and love to travel, the world is waiting for you. Travel can be expensive but there is an easy way to see the world at someone else’s expense – teaching English as a second language.
All over the world people want to learn to speak English. Commercial schools in Asia, Africa, Central and South America and even in Europe are looking for people like you.

The essential requirement to be an English teacher is that you speak English and are familiar with North American culture and every day life. And as a retired person you have a wealth of experience to share and people are ready to learn from you.

The travel bug bit me after I retired and has taken me to many countries.

Two years ago I found a way to pay for my trips. I took a teacher training course from TESOL International (Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages).

I learned how to teach English and was able to complete the course at my own pace. I was given the opportunity to practice teaching. I earned a TESOL Certificate that is recognized worldwide. I was also taught how to look for a teaching job.

In fact, I found my job before I was finished the course. That job took me to China where I had so much fun that I stayed for 17 months.

I was in public schools where the English teache rs were highly respected. Students work very hard to improve their speaking ability and I felt so appreciated. The laughter and hugs and little presents were the biggest rewards.

I also worked in a commercial school in Beijing, where I was given a prepared course to teach. It was easy to plan lessons for each day when the materials were available and I was able to get help from teaching colleagues whenever I needed it.

My trip to China was about teaching English but it was also about discovering a culture that is so different from our own.

The Chinese are gentle, funloving people and they are very curious about foreigners. I always felt safe in China and wherever I went, I met Chinese people who spoke English and were willing to help me.

It was easy to travel in China; the trains are efficient and take you anywhere. Imagine cars filled with people talking, laughing, eating and playing cards and inviting you to join in.

You never knew who you might meet on your adventures. I had a long conversation with an engineer who was working on the Three Gorges Dam project and we discussed the government plan to divert large quantities of water from the south of China to the dry areas in the north. Quite amazing!

The schools I worked for were very helpful too, providing accommodations and medical coverage. I met teachers in their 50s and 60s who had come from Australia, England and the U.S. The oldest teacher was 72.

They all had a desire to see the world and use their talents to help people. These teachers became my friends and travel buddies. China was the fourth country one couple had taught in.

I now have TESOL friends in many countries. Another couple I met in China is currently on a fourmonth teaching contract in Colombia. They write of playing English games with delightful children and of sitting in a beauty parlor beside a woman with a live chicken under her arm. Another good friend is in Taiwan, living in a paradise of palm trees and flowers.

Many people who have not been professional teachers think they can’t teach. But when we have lived and worked until our senior years we have accumulated many talents. We know how to plan and we know how to communicate. If you have taught a grandchild to sing a song or build a birdhouse, you are a teacher.

Remember that teaching English is about being a model, demonstrating how to speak English by speaking English. Taking a TESOL Certification course will tell the world that you are quali?ed to do just that – teach people to speak English. I’ve been back in Canada for a little more than three months and I’m beginning to get that travel bug again.

Maybe I’ll go to Mexico or Peru or Japan or even Spain. I can travel to all of them, now that I have my TESOL ticket to the world. Where in the world would you like to go? For more information call 1-800- 344-6579 or see www.tesol.org.

Aira Windtree is a retired Alberta school teacher.