By Kelly Blackwell

Are you facing a personal financial crisis that seems endless and unsolvable? Find a teaching job abroad and go from the bottom of the financial food chain to the top.

When you are struggling to make ends meet a radical change in your life is called for. It is a fact that teachers are not well paid, but international teachers working in international schools receive good salaries and most positions come with an expatriate benefits package.

An expatriate package for an international teacher can include a yearly flight home, housing, utility contribution, health insurance (with pre-existing conditions covered), retirement contribution, contract completion bonus, and more. All of this adds up to money you do not have to spend from your salary.

Currently I save fifty percent of my salary without breaking a sweat or doing without the things I love. I know I save half because I am paid 50% in the local currency and 50% in US dollars. I do not touch the US dollar portion of my salary except to send it home. Can you save half of your salary right now?

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Living in a developing country while earning an excellent salary for a developed country means that your money goes much further. In many developing countries things like groceries, household help, transportation, utilities, etc. are much more affordable than at home in the USA, UK, Canada, Australia or New Zealand. You can maintain a high standard of living using only a fraction of your salary and have disposable income to save, pay of debt or travel.

If teaching in a developing country does not appeal to you, you can take this opportunity to teach in Europe or the UK where you will be paid in a currency that is holding its value well in the global financial meltdown of 07-08. What European and British schools do not offer in expatriate benefits is compensated with the strength of the Euro and the Pound.

With current technology it is easy to manage your financial life over the internet using secure websites provided by your financial institution. Sending money between countries is as easy as pressing a button or completing a form at your local bank. You can even use Skype to call your bank’s customer service desk at home for next to nothing.

In addition to relieving your financial burden, securing a teaching position overseas will enable you to explore new cultures, teach children who are eager to learn and provide an excellent private education for your children.

I do not teach abroad for the financial benefits, but because of the experiences teaching abroad offers me. I have travelled extensively throughout Asia, most recently spending the summer in China right before the Olympics. I’ve also spent a great deal of time travelling around the UK and Europe. Additionally, I enjoy teaching students who want to learn, who are respectful and who have parents that are supportive.

The only downside I can see is that my friendships span the globe and that makes it difficult to meet up with people as often as I would like. On the other hand, I have many people to visit with when I travel!

There are over 4000 international schools worldwide and if you have a teaching qualification and 2 years experience then you are eligible to teach abroad.

About the Author

Do you want to know how you can land yourself a teaching job abroad so that you can put an end to your financial problems? Land your own lucrative teaching job abroad with Kelly’s proven strategies!

By Kelly Blackwell

Attending an international teaching job fair can be very stressful. Whether it is for your first teaching job overseas or your tenth, international job fairs can play havoc with your nerves. This stress can affect your ability to show your best side to recruiters, so eliminating it is a priority. One sure fire way to reduce or even remove the stress you feel is to have a backup plan.

Your backup plan can take many guises. Here are two that I have used successfully in the past to make attending overseas teaching recruitment events more bearable:

1. Plan to attend more than one overseas recruiting fair

There are more than ten job fairs each year that are dedicated to international school teacher recruitment, and you can apply to attend more than one per year. You can even attend more than one organized by the same recruiting agency.

Not every international school attends each fair. You can meet directors from many different international schools if you go to more than one job fair. One way to ensure that you get maximum exposure to recruiters is to apply to attend more than one fair.

The different job fair organizers; Search Associates, CIS and ISS have different schools recruiting with them, so mixing up your job fair registration and attending more than one job fair can increase your chances of finding the perfect overseas teaching position for you.

Many of the job fair organizers offer job fairs in the same locations back to back, so you can fly into Bangkok or London for example and attend two job fairs organized by two agencies in a single trip. Full details of the dates and locations of the job fairs organized by the three big organizers are available in The Complete Guide to Securing a Job at an International School.

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2. Know what your next move will be if you do not get offered an international teaching contract this academic year.

When I attended my first international teaching job fair I had two backup plans in the unlikely event that none of the school directors offered me a contract. I did not have to implement either of them, which is a shame in some ways, because my backup plans were almost as exciting as teaching abroad in an international school!

Here are some backup plans you may wish to explore…

> taking a year out and travelling around the world – you can find places you would like to live along the way and begin relationships with recruiters by visiting them at their schools.

> volunteering with an organization that teaches refugees or works with local teachers to improve methodology and pedagogy – this is an excellent way to gain international experience which will make you more attractive to international school recruiters.

> signing up with the Teachers on the Move, a company that finds temporary teachers for international schools to cover for maternity or long term sickness positions.

> applying for a teacher exchange program such as the JET program that places teachers in Japanese public schools, or the VIF program which places overseas trained teachers in American public schools.

Once you have made your decision to attend a job fair and received your invitation, you need to prepare for an intense two days in a pressure-cooker environment. Careful planning prior to the event and conscious networking at the event are the keys to landing a great teaching job abroad.

About the Author

There Are Over 4000 International Schools Worldwide, Get The Insider Secrets To Landing A Teaching Job Abroad Today! Get your free copy of Kelly’s free report, “Escape the RatRace – TeachOverseas” available exclusively from TeachOverseas.info

By Kelly Blackwell

You may be holding back form seriously seeking an overseas teaching contract because you are afraid of getting trapped abroad. This rarely happens. When teaching abroad you will be expected to sign an employment contract covering 1-2 years and in return you will receive a plethora of benefits and the unique experiences the come with working abroad. But this does not mean you are powerless to end the contract early if some unexpected catastrophe should occur.

Breaking your contract (leaving the school before the contractual period runs out) should only be done as a last resort because it can seriously hinder your efforts to land another teaching job abroad. The community of international teachers is a very small one and word will spread if you break your contract without a good reason.

Most international school directors are reasonable people who are experienced international teachers and recognise that there are occasionally circumstances that force you to break contract.

Such circumstances may include:

* A critical change in the political situation in the host country which changes the level of safety for foreign workers.

* The health status of a close relative at home or one of your dependents changes and you need to go home.

In these circumstances your best course of action is to approach the school’s director and discuss your options. By approaching the director and negotiating a timeline for your departure you will preserve your reputation as a good employee and receive a good reference. Most likely you will be expected to work out a period of notice in line with the country’s employment laws and you are likely to lose your bonus and repatriation benefits.

Here’s how to make the right choices to protect yourself when signing an employment contract for a teaching job abroad.

* Make sure that you receive a contract which states in writing all the employment conditions and benefits you and the recruiter agreed upon during the interview. Do not accept a verbal assurance because there is no come-back if the recruiter does not deliver. If the contract you receive misses out some part of the conditions and benefits you thought you had agreed upon, send it back to have them added.

* Make sure that you have a copy of your overseas teaching contract that it is signed by both yourself and the school’s representative.

* Keep a copy of your contract handy so that you can refer to the conditions written down whenever you have a question about your rights.

* Talk to people at the international teaching job fair (if you are attending one), to establish the school’s reputation as an employer. While you are checking out the school’s reputation, check out the administration staff’s reputation too. Sometimes a great school can be destroyed by a bad administrator.

* Find out about employment laws in the school’s host country and how they affect your employment contract. When you sign an overseas teaching contract you are not signing away your rights for the duration of the contract and it is important to remember this. You do not become an indentured servant. Most countries have employment laws covering how many days notice you must give your employer in order to leave legally.

The important thing to always remember when you are seeking employment abroad is to get everything in writing and believe that the people you are working for are reasonable people. If you have doubts, then do not sign a contract with them!

About the Author

For detailed information on what contract conditions you should and should not accept in your overseas teaching contract get Kelly’s Complete Guide to Securing a Job at an International School – now completely revised for 2008! “Escape the Rat Race – Teach Overseas” available FREE!

By Kelly Blackwell

There are many opportunities for teaching English abroad that are open to anybody who is able to speak English fluently. Whether you have a teaching degree or a certificate in English language teaching you can find work almost anywhere in the world.

This article looks at two options for people who want to teach English abroad including private language schools and teaching English abroad in International Schools.

International Schools

International schools are elementary, middle and high schools for expatriate children whose families live abroad. There are international schools that offer an American curriculum, those that offer a British curriculum and many more. The language of instruction in most international schools is English but many of the students have English as a second or third language, and so most international schools have teachers who support these students by teaching them English language.

Teaching English abroad in international schools can be done with the same qualifications that are required for teaching in a private language school however you will be competing with people who have teaching diplomas. With over 4000 international schools worldwide, there are many positions vacant every year.

Teaching in an international school often offers better pay and more benefits than teaching in a private language school. Some benefits you are likely to receive teaching in an international school are annual flights, accommodation allowance, medical insurance and, free tuition for your children in the school.

International schools follow the regular school year, so you will only be teaching for around 200 days, and you will be paid for your vacation time, unlike private language school where you will receive 3-4 weeks holiday in a 12 month contract.

Private Language Schools

Teaching positions in private language schools are easy to secure. English language tuition is a growth business in many areas of the world, in particular in Eastern Europe and throughout Asia.

In order to teach English in a private language school you need to be able to speak English fluently and have a certificate from either Trinity or RSA CELTA. These courses are around 4 weeks long and can even be completed online. Some language schools will hire native English speakers who do not have any ESL qualification, but usually these schools are not as reputable as those that insist their teachers have the appropriate qualifications.

For some countries you will need to have a Bachelor’s degree in order to be eligible for a work permit. You need to check this out if you do not have one because you could end up working abroad illegally. Usually your degree can be in any subject, it does not need to be in education.

Working at a private language school can be rewarding as you learn about the local culture from your students and see the progress they make. You are likely to have a combination of classes with 12-20 students and private lessons where you teach only one or two students.

In Asia you can land an English teaching contract at any time, but in Europe most contracts are from the beginning of autumn in September through to the beginning of summer in June or July.

Having taught English in both private language schools and worked in international schools, I recommend you try and focus on landing a position teaching English abroad in an international school because the pay and benefits are better and you get longer holidays too.

About the Author

Your guide to Teaching English Abroad in International Schools available here!

Get your copy of Kelly’s “Escape the RatRace – TeachOverseas” today.