Types of TEFL jobs abroad and online

Teaching English isn’t the same everywhere. There is a vast range of different types of TEFL jobs out there. You can teach adults and/or children, you can teach in a university, school, language centre or in a business. You can even teach online. You can teach during the day, in the evenings and/or at the weekend. You can teach the same group of students intensively, or have several different classes in a week.

TESOL Jobs are sometimes different in different countries, but there are also different jobs within the same country. On top of this, over the past few years, online teaching roles have become very popular for people who hadn’t had the opportunity to move abroad, or those who wanted more choice and flexibility in where to live.

In this blog, we try to give a run down of the different types of teaching jobs out there. By no means will it cover every option. I’m sure we will miss some out. But hopefully, it will give you some idea of the options available to you.

Of course, most of these job types are also available if you choose to teach in your home country too.

English teaching jobs in the classroom

TEFL Teaching jobs with Young Learners

The term ‘Young Learners’ includes anyone who can more-or-less talk, up to when they leave school, so as young as 2, to around 18. In some countries over 16s are considered to be adults, in others not.

Government schools

First, let’s start with something most people are familiar with – school. In some countries, particularly in Asian countries such as Thailand, China and Vietnam, English teachers are employed to teach ESL, or to support the English teacher in local schools. Depending on the country, class sizes may be very big – up to 60 in some places. In some countries – Thailand and China included, you are employed by the school and work directly for them. You have to be at school for the whole day, and teach various lessons to various classes throughout the week. In addition, you often have to go to staff meetings, and school events like sports day.

Sound good? Fancy Thailand? Read our post on how to find a TEFL job in Bangkok

In other countries, such as Vietnam and the South Korean EPIK program, you are employed by a company. These companies supply teachers to schools to teach the English lessons. You might be in a different school each day, or even a couple in one day. You turn up, teach the lessons and then go again. You’re not expected to join in any of the other areas of the school’s business.

In Europe, particularly Spain but also in France and Hungary, you can work as a language assistant in a government school classroom, helping the local English teacher with speaking lessons and running English clubs.

Read more about language assistant programs in Spain.

Private schools

A popular alternative to government schools are private schools, where parents pay for their children’s education. In many, most if not all of the subjects are delivered in English. In theses schools, you may have to teach other subjects as well as English. Our first job was in a trilingual primary school where we taught art, PE, health, and guidance as well as English.

Some schools will employ teachers just to teach another subject. So if you have a degree or masters’ in science or IT, for example, or you’re really great at art or football, you could get to teach other subjects, rather than English. Demand for maths and science teachers in particular in private schools is high.

Private school class sizes tend to be smaller and facilities can be better since there is more money coming in.

Advantages of government and private schools

• You are likely to be teaching during the day on weekdays.
• You can get good holidays, since you are usually off when the school is off.

Disadvantages

• Class sizes can be big.
• Other staff may not speak English, which can cause a language barrier. Sometimes you don’t actually know what’s happening and there isn’t anyone to tell you.
• There might not be many other English-speaking teachers there to get to know.
• Some teachers get frustrated by bureaucracy and/or the education system. In government schools you have to deal with the educational policy of the country, which is some places might mean that no one ever fails (even if they do no work), or that rote learning is common.

Read why Becky loves teaching children rather than adults.

International schools

Real international schools run curricula from home and are accredited by international organisations. Jobs here are usually reserved for teachers with credentials and certifications to teach in mainstream schools in their home countries e.g. PGCE or BEd. If you are recruited from abroad, you can expect great packages including a good salary, accommodation allowance and lots of paid holiday. There are, however, some TEFL jobs available for ESL teachers, supporting second language learners.

Advantages

• International school jobs are usually well-paid with excellent conditions and can come with significant holidays.

Disadvantages

• They can be hard to get into without the right certification.
• You are usually expected to work very hard.

If you are a licensed teacher, you might be interested in reading about Kenz’ experience of teaching in rural Alaska.

Language schools

Learning English is big business all over the world. Children are sent to classes either after school, at weekends and in school holidays. In Europe, most of this work is during the week, after school. In Asia, it tends to be at the weekends as well. Some language schools specialise in young learners, and in others you will teach a mixture of them and adults. Class sizes are usually quite small – less than 20, but often around 10. Sometimes you get a local teaching assistant to help you out.

There are lots of language schools in South Korea. Find out more in our guide to teaching in Korea.

Advantages of TESOL jobs in language schools

• You have a big more flexibility with hours. When you are teaching, you need to be on site, but you don’t have to be there all day or for a fixed number of hours.
• In bigger schools, there are usually a lot of other teachers, so a ready group of potential friends.
• There is more opportunity to work part-time, or to do extra hours if you need more money.

Disadvantages

• Since kids come to language schools after their normal school, you’re likely to be working slightly antisocial hours, like evenings and weekends.
• For the above reason, you also get less holiday with many language school jobs, because when the kids are off school, they come for extra classes.

Related post: Teaching English in Vietnam: the Ultimate Guide

English villages and camps

English villages seem to be exclusively a South Korean thing, but when I Googled it, it seems they exist in other countries too, but we’ve never met anyone who’s worked in one (have you? get in touch if you have!). Students come for a set length of time – from one day to a month, and live onsite. They are completely immersed in English, and do a variety of activities, including cooking, music, science and sport, all in English. The site is designed to look like a village, complete with houses, school, shops and restaurants. Teachers live onsite and jobs there are less TEFL teaching jobs and more like working with the students on the activities.

English camps are more widespread. As you would guess from the name, they are usually residential programs with English lessons are lots of other activities like project work, sport, and music. Unlike English villages, English camps are usually short-term jobs, as they happen when kids are off school. You can do it during breaks from your TEFL job, or as a short term way to make money while travelling.

Summer school

If you teach English for any length of time, especially in Europe where there is no work in the summer, chances are you will do a summer school at some point. Many of them happen in English speaking countries like the UK, the USA and Australia, but there are also summer TESOL jobs in Malta. During summer holidays, students flood to cities around these countries to study English. In the UK, summer schools take over boarding schools and university buildings. Often they are residential, although some students stay with host families. Working on a summer school usually combines teaching English with social and pastoral care – such as taking students on trips, organising sports games and performances, and supervising mealtimes and night times.

Advantages of English Villages, Camps and Summer Schools

• You work with groups intensively so you can get to know the students well.

• You can get involved with other activities like sports and arts as well as teaching.

• You often live onsite so you don’t have to worry about accommodation.
• A group of teachers will live and work with you, so it’s very sociable.

Disadvantages of English Villages, Camps and Summer Schools.

• It can be long hours as students are there all the time.

• Living and working in one place can be quite intense.

• English camps and summer schools are usually short term jobs (but many teachers go back to the same one every year)

Find out more about short term TEFL jobs and summer camps

TESOL jobs with Adults

Language schools

Just like for young learners, English language centres for adults are big business all over. English is an international language – the most widespread, so students want to learn English for work and travel, to emigrate or study abroad, for love or friendship, or just for a hobby. Most language school work happens when the students are not at work or university – so in the evenings and at weekends. Some classes can end quite late – 10 at night or later. There can also be classes before work – so as early as 6am. Split shifts, where you have an early class and then a late one, are not uncommon.

Advantages

• Just like language schools for young learners, adult language school TESOL jobs can be quite flexible. You don’t usually have to be at the school if you are not teaching.

Disadvantages

• You might have to work split shifts – early mornings and then late nights.
• You may have to work at weekends.

Teaching English in Universities

University TEFL jobs abroad vary tremendously depending on the country. As a new teacher, you are more likely to get a university job in a country like China, where they employ English teachers at every university to improve the English level of their students. You can get these jobs without experience, perhaps due to the sheer number of universities there. Some jobs are just communicative English, while others need you to teach academic skills such as writing as well.

Most university TEFL jobs abroad require at least experience, many of them a Masters degree or even a Ph.D. in TESOL or linguistics, as you would need in your own country. In countries like South Korea, Japan, and many countries in the Middle East, these jobs have excellent pay and long holidays.

Universities in English speaking countries also have pre-sessional work. Foreign students who want to study there do an intensive English course before they start, to prepare them for academic study. This is not usually just language work, but academic reading and writing, and dealing with lectures and seminars. These jobs are usually seasonal. You are expected to have quite a lot of experience, particularly of academic English, to get a pre-sessional teaching job.

Teaching Business English

The status of English as the language of business worldwide means there is a lot of demand for TEFL teachers to improve business peoples’ English. In some cases, they just need general English, while in others they need specific language for their jobs – be it marketing, negotiation, presentation skills, tourism, I.T, law or whatever.

Some students come to language centres to improve their business English. You can also get jobs going out to companies to teach groups there. In some situations, companies employ an in-house English teacher to run classes in their office. If you have experience in an area of business, you can apply that.

Advantages 

• Students are usually interested and motivated because they know how important English is to them.
• You can use skills and knowledge from previous jobs.
• Work is likely to be Monday to Friday, with weekends off.

Disadvantages

• Sometimes students are forced to attend class by their boss or organisation, and so don’t actually want to be there.
• Lessons can be before and after work, and so quite antisocial hours.
• If you are sent out to different companies to teach there, it can involve a lot of travelling each day.
• Travelling around different companies can be quite isolating, as you don’t see other teachers.
• Some of the language can be new if you haven’t actually done the job yourself.

Anna from Ukraine is an in-house business English teacher. You can read her story in our New Teacher Tales.

Exam preparation

This should really be under the language schools banner. There are many different international exams to measure students’ English level, for employment, study or just personal development. This being ESL, these all have acronyms like IELTS, TOEFL, TOEIC, FCE etc. In Europe, the Cambridge main suite (FCE, CAE and CPE) are very popular. In countries where a lot of students want to study abroad, there are a lot of IELTS and TOEFL preparation classes. Students in some countries also take tests such as SATS and GMAT. There are many TEFL jobs abroad preparing students for such tests.

English camps and summer schools

Like young learners, there are English camps and summer schools for adults too. Companies send their employees to camps for a few days to improve their English. Students from all over the world head to English speaking countries all year round, but especially during holiday. At this time, language schools increase their staff and employ extra temporary workers. You can find TEFL teaching jobs for a couple of months teaching intensively.

Teaching English 1:1

All the TEFL jobs I’ve mentioned above have been teaching group classes. Some students want more personalised lessons, and want to study 1:1. This can be organised through language schools, but teachers also have their own private students as well. In some countries this is legal, in others, your visa/work permit is connected to the school you work for and private classes have to be under the table. Check it out before you advertise for private students.

Teaching English Online

Over the past few years, teaching English online has increased in both positions available and interest from teachers. For a couple of years, companies like VIP Kid and DadaABC ran massive recruitment campaigns for roles teaching English online to children in China. It seemed pretty easy to get into this area. However, changes to the Chinese laws on providing after school classes meant that this market collapsed almost overnight, leaving many teachers out of work.

The Covid19 pandemic put more English teaching companies online and there are opportunities to teach adults and young learners from all over the world online.

Read our expert guide on how to become an online English teacher.

Teaching online for a company

There are still many companies recruiting teachers to provide 1:1 and sometimes group English lessons online. Rates for this range massively from a couple of dollars an hour to over $20, depending on the company and your qualifications and experience.

Advantages to teaching English online for a company

• The company provide the students for you. There is no requirement for you to do any marketing
• The company often provides some curriculum and/or materials to use

Disadvantages to teaching English online for a company

• Pay rates have gone down a lot lately and there are schools offering ridiculously low hourly rates to teachers
• There can be penalties for cancelling or missing classes, internet connection problems etc.
• You have to teach the students that you are provided with

Teaching online on a platform

Platforms like iTalki, Prely and Amazing Talker give teachers a space to promote themselves to students. You can choose the rate to charge and what you teach

Advantages for teaching for a platform

• They provide the software to teach with
• They market you to the students to a certain extent, although there are hundreds of other teachers also being marketed
• You don’t have to teach English. You can teach other languages and also other subjects

Disadvantages

• The platform takes a cut of your fees, and this can be high at the start
• There is a lot of competition from other teachers and this can lower the hourly rate you can ask for
• You need to provide the materials for your students

To find out more about teaching for different companies read our interviews with English teachers working online for different companies

Setting up your own online teaching business

Another option for teaching English online is to set up your own business. Many teachers have private students, and this can be expanded into an online business either as a side-job or as a full-time job. You choose what to teach, market yourself and find your own students.

Advantages of setting up your own business

• You have more control over your time, what and who you teach. If you don’t want to work with a student, you don’t have to
• You set the prices, meaning if you have something specific and in-demand to teach, you can charge high prices for it
• You can set up systems so you are still earning money when you are not actively with a student, like self-guided courses and programs

Disadvantages

• You have to not only teach but do admin, finance, marketing and the legal side, which means you need to learn a new set of skills (this could be seen as an advantage too!)

Read our Top Tips for online teaching. to give you the best skills to attract students

As I said at the top, this isn’t going to be an exhaustive list of options. There are no doubt more. The range of jobs you can do as an English teacher is wide. That’s one of the great things about the job. It can be very diverse. The work you do in one city or for one company can be completely different to that in another.

Our advice if you are starting out would be to think about what kind of TEFL job you want to do. Do you want to teach adults, children or both? Do you want to be online or in a classroom? Do you want to work in a school, university, language centre or business? Do you want to work Monday to Friday or at weekends? Do you want to work in one place, or travel around a city teaching in different places? Do you want to be full time or part time?

To get a more specific idea of what kind of jobs are available in different countries, check out our New Teacher Tales blogs, where we interview people teaching around the world. Maybe one of the jobs they mention will tickle your fancy. Or look at our blog about how to find teaching jobs, follow some links and see what is available.

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