Teaching English Abroad while studying

Studying in Hanoi.......maybe

I have been living abroad and teaching English for close to two years. While teaching English and travelling to some really cool places I have been studying my not so cool commerce degree.

Favourite Beach in Thailand; Ton Sai Beach Krabi

With the global financial crisis in full swing and an aching desire to travel and experience different cultures it took a few months of research for my wife and I to realize that teaching English was the best option. While in Sydney we completed an online TEFL (Teaching English as a Foreign Language) course with i-to-i. It was a piece of cake, really, and pretty good value for money. After that we had to decide where to go. We wanted to travel to Asia but there was the issue of me not having completed my degree. Many countries want a degree as a minimum requirement when applying for a job. Some, however, are not as strict as others and it was for this reason that we chose Hanoi in Vietnam. Work wasn’t guaranteed but we thought that if we arrived and presented ourselves there would be opportunities. There was!

Hanoi's West Lake

Both Celine and I had jobs in Vietnam within days of arriving. This was without any teaching experience and only a TEFL certificate and a happy smile to offer. We had continuous offers for work for the year and a half we were there and were earning really good money by the time we left (saving more than we were in Sydney). For more details see Teaching English in Hanoi.

Vietnamese market

What’s better, I could study my university degree, which I never had real time to properly do in Sydney, while living in Hanoi. I study at Deakin University in Melbourne via distance education. There are other universities that offer distance education degrees in Australia and I assume other western countries as well. I send my assignments online, watch lectures online and sat my exams in Hanoi. This has been a win-win situation for me; writing assignments while exploring any number of cool Hanoi cafes. In our year and a half in Hanoi we had a great quality of life and we were able to visit many other Asian countries.

Now, we have moved to Thailand where I have often read of a requirement for a degree in order to get a teaching job. I have not finished my degree yet; however have found a good job teaching English. My degree allows me to sit exams in Thailand as well as many other countries around the world.

So, after nearly two years my wife and I have seen and learnt so many great things, giving us a wonderful authentic experience of living in Vietnam and now Thailand. If you bring a good attitude to teaching and can sell yourself as a friendly, reliable person I think everything is else is easy. Getting a job has never been a problem (despite not having a degree); living off teaching wages is no issue (even possibilities for saving) and the experiences are just awesome.

So, if you want a career break, can’t find a job at home, want to study abroad but don’t want to work in bars then consider teaching English. It allows you to travel the world.