People become involved in ELT for different reasons. Some want to be able to make some money as they travel or live overseas for short periods (a few months), or slowly make their way around the world working in a city for a few months and then traveling for a few months and landing in another city to work some more. Other people want to go deeper and develop a more (semi)-professional career and field of study. They may want to live permanently overseas and even work their way into an administrative position in an English school. Regardless of your reasons for desiring to enter the ELT industry you will benefit from some preparation and a plan. Usually, when someone begins to teach English they lack information about the job. They often don't have a plan to develop their skills and may feel intimidated by the seemingly complex task of communicating with and teaching foreign language speakers and people of a different culture. They are also usually new to a foreign place and are often experiencing culture shock and trying to adjust to an alien society. Here are provided some resources and suggestions for preparing to teach English overseas.

Determining Your Goal

The first step you need to take when preparing to teach English is to figure out your motive. Are you simply looking for a way to temporarily earn money while you travel? Are you looking to live in another country for a few months or years and make money to survive? Or are you looking to develop a semi-to-permanent career, intending to advance your knowledge through higher education and/or research in the field (ex. Master's or PhD degree in Education or Linguistics, etc.)? Do you have a deeper interest in a field of knowledge related to language (ex. linguistics, psychology, sociology, etc.)? Or an interest in an unrelated field by which you will use English teaching as a stepping stone to make money overseas while you develop your other plan? Finally, do you have a deeper interest in a field related to language AS WELL AS a desire to develop and evolve into a related endeavor overseas (ex. filmmaking, mainstream college teaching, etc.). The plan you will develop and then training you will pursue will be based on the answer to these questions. So, take some time to think about what your ultimate motive for teaching English really is. When you have figured this out (or at least made your motive more specific) move onto the next section which discusses the training options available to you.

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Further Resources : www.eslcafe.com TESL Journal www.global-english.com