4 Big Questions to Ask Yourself Before Deciding to Teach English Abroad

Like pretty much every undergrad that’s come before me, I’m struggling to figure out what I want to do with my life. As a freshman, choosing my future career path seemed so far-off. But now that I’m a senior, I realize that my time to just ‘figure things out’ will soon be ending.

Even though I had come to peace with the fact that I didn’t have a plan, exactly, I decided that at least a direction might be nice. So I recently spent some time trying to figure out that much, only to discover that I actually do have some idea where I want to go. And that is to pursue teaching English abroad.

Now, coming to this conclusion wasn’t exactly simple, either, and to make it that far, I had to ask myself five very important questions. These are questions I recommend anyone out there asks themselves if they’re feeling a little stuck. And they’re also questions I insist you ask yourself if you think that teaching abroad might be something you can see yourself doing.          

1. What’s NOT right for you?

I always kind of assumed that the instant I graduated college, I’d already have a job lined up. I would launch straight from the academic world into the corporate one and, once I was there, the plan was to get comfortable. I would work as hard as I could to keep climbing that corporate ladder until the day I retired. That’s what I’m supposed to do, right?

Well, that’s all fine and good, until you actually get to the point where you’re about to walk into the cubicle that you’re going to spend the next thirty years working in. I’m sure there’s someone out there who is exhilarated by that mental image, but that person is just not me.

It’s kind of funny to think that there are plenty of other students that go into college with this mindset. They’re resigned to the idea that they’re supposed to get a desk job after graduation, but I don’t think enough of us wonder whether or not this is going to be fulfilling.

Well, we should. This is something that I didn’t realize before; we have options. There are countless other lines of work that don’t revolve around sitting in a swivel chair or hanging out around the water-cooler.

Or, hey, maybe break-room chitchat is your passion in life. And I can respect that. In which case, rule out everything else.

And then, once you know what you don’t want to do in life, move on to the next big question.

2. What do you like to do?

 So the next question I asked myself is; what do I like to do?

This was an easy one. I liked to travel. I had other interests, of course, but travel is one that stood out to me.

The reason for this is that, even though I enjoy writing or painting, no job I get is going to prevent me from doing either of those things.

On the other hand, if I pursue something that sees me tethered to my office, then travel will be more or less out of the question until I rack up enough vacation days. With this in mind, I decided to go looking for a position that wouldn’t just be a means to travel, but would be centered around it.

So look at your interests and your passions, and then narrow it down to the ones that you risk losing if you don’t pursue them as a career. Maybe it won’t be a huge loss; or maybe it will. That decision is up to you.

3. How flexible are you?

Don’t cheat yourself with this one. I think we all like to imagine ourselves as some sort of flexible, go-with-the-flow type personality. But even if you never tell anyone else, it’s important that you know at just what point you can’t take things in stride.

I realized I wanted to do something that took me to far off lands. But that’s still incredibly broad, considering I had to determine what to do when I got there.

Teaching abroad is a flexible line of work, which is something that can be both good and bad.

If you’ve never taken the time to browse for these sorts of positions on the internet, I encourage you to do so. You’ll be shocked at the sheer amount of openings there are. And the beauty of it is that if you aren’t fluent in the language of the host country, you might get more of a grace period.

At the same time, though, there are faults to be found in flexibility. For instance, job security and living conditions may not be at the level that we have come to expect. Not to mention that the idea of going elsewhere and adapting to a new environment is difficult in its own right.

So it’s going to be most useful to us if we are well aware of our limits, as well as our strengths, long before we hop on a plane.

And, really, this applies to anything in life that we can consider outside of our comfort zone. You have to make sure that you’re about to embark on something meaningful; otherwise it could end up being a lot harder than you had hoped for. Which brings me to the next question:

4. Is teaching your thing?

 I don’t feel like I have to spend a lot of time explaining what this question means. So instead, I’ll talk about why it’s important. Because, to be frank, it might be the most important one on this list.

And, if you can say that teaching is not, in fact, something you’re interested in, I’d recommend you don’t try to become an ESL teacher.

This question is so important is because it’s a test to make sure that all the pieces fit. If you love to travel, but hate teaching, this career shouldn’t be one that you consider.  

You should never have to use a career you despise as a vehicle to get some perk out of it. If you do, you’ll still be miserable for at least part of the time, and that’s not what this article is about.

 What it is about is coming to terms with the fact that you should never have to settle for something that doesn’t fit you because you think that’s the only option available.

• career
• decision making
• English teacher
• ESL
• graduation
• teaching