4 Reasons to Consider Living Abroad in 2013
How to Do It Unless you can get a job in your area of expertise, which will depend on the country youre going to and your qualifications, the easiest route is teaching English (or your native language). You might not want to be a teacher all your life, but you can look upon it as an investment (youre effectively getting paid to learn a foreign language and have an exciting new life), and the high turnover in the industry mean that if you do decide to stick with it theres an extremely good upward mobility within the job. To teach youll need to complete a CELTA or equivalent TFL course. I did an intensive course for a month abroad, which I highly recommend because it gives you time to find your feet in another country without having a job there yet, but equally you should be able to take the course wherever youve living presently. Beware the companies which dont offer any teacher-observed lesson practice with students, as that is very much a pre-requisite of any reputable course. Its also possible, if youre confident enough, to get work as a teacher abroad without a TFL qualification (depending on the country) but its extremely useful and well worth the investment, as most foreign language academies will take qualified teachers over experienced ones any day. Once you have your qualification you can email off applications to private language academies anywhere that takes your fancy, and perhaps have a Skype or phone interview. If youre bolder, you can directly go out there and drop your CV off in person, which often makes a much better impression. The ideal time of year to go is early September (or to a lesser extent January). Hostels offer a cheap place to stay as you shouldnt get an apartment while youre looking for work (in case you dont find it), and there are also plenty of websites such as www.couchsurfing.com which can help. The first time is the hardest, but after learning the ropes, going to a new city and finding work and a place to live is extremely easy, and seems the most natural thing in the world. If you have any comments or queries, please let me know below.