Teaching English as a foreign language is a career which takes people all over the world. In every corner of the planet there are English schools hiring CELTA graduates to share their expertise. Moving to another country can be a daunting experience, but can be hugely rewarding, exciting and life changing! We’ve spoken to previous CELTA graduates about their ‘living abroad’ experience, to give you a taste of the CELTA adventure as well as some top tips to help you prepare.

 

 

A few days after completing my CELTA I was lucky enough to be offered a teaching job at a summer camp in Barcelona and started right away. Shortly after that I started teaching at an IH school in Spain where I spent a number of very happy years. I absolutely loved the experience of living and working abroad and had so many opportunities to develop both personally and professionally.

I had lots of different experiences at work and became involved with many aspects of school life which helped me to discover my specific career interests. I was subsequently offered a place on a MA course in Spain which helped me to further develop my skills. My advice to anyone considering the CELTA and a move abroad would be to 100% go for it! The experience is truly life changing and you never know what it can lead too. My top tip would be to start learning the local language as this makes a huge difference to the lifestyle you can achieve there.

Laura

 

 

I’m from the UK and I did my CELTA with my girlfriend in Thailand. Fortunately, we had spent a few weeks travelling around first, visiting Cambodia and different regions of Thailand, which really helped to get any travelling and fun stuff out of the way before committing to a one-month, intense course. After four months, we moved to South America and stayed in Argentina for 6 months before heading to Chile. Unfortunately, it wasn’t until we had already arrived in Santiago that we realised that UK citizens had to pay for a working visa (we hadn’t done our research!).

But whether it’s the amazing beaches of Thailand, the fantastic steak in Argentina, or the delicious seafood in Chile, both South-east Asia and South America are fantastic places to visit if you want to gain some experience teaching abroad. The joy of travelling is that you never know where the path will take you. After establishing ourselves in Chile, we ended up living there for 18 months. We got some work with a university and had a flat on the 15th floor with an amazing view of the capital (and an outdoor pool on the roof). If you are considering working abroad, just be sure to get any fun stuff out of the way first, and do some research in advance. Whatever happens, you won’t regret it!

Steve

 

 

After I did my CELTA at IH London I went off to quite a remote part of China as a volunteer teacher.  The college I worked in didn’t have any materials, internet access or equipment at all and I was teaching classes of 50 students at a time. Luckily, I had all the teaching principles I’d learned on the course to fall back on and what could’ve been a terrible failure turned out to be one of the most rewarding experiences of my life.  I loved China so much that I stayed for almost five years and made the best of friends along the way.  

Melissa

 

 

Just 6 weeks after finishing my CELTA course I moved to Marbella in Spain. When I landed and left the airport on my own, not knowing where I was heading or who I would be meeting, I was more than just a little nervous. But within minutes the nerves washed away. Seeing the palm trees, golden sand and crystal sea, I was so unbelievably excited. I lived there for 6 months in total. Due to the cheap cost of living I was able to rent a beautiful flat to myself, right on the sea front! I took frequent walks on the beach, read books in the evening sun, and enjoyed the local cuisine as often as possible.

It was so easy to make friends, as all of my colleagues were in the same position, living away from home. We made an effort to socialise regularly, and those that had been there longer than I had were so welcoming, introducing me to the town. I improved my Spanish, loved my job (especially the daily siesta) and had an incredible experience. Living abroad is something I would recommend to anyone. My biggest piece of advice would be to get involved in everything you can socially, it’s a fantastic opportunity to meet new and exciting people from all walks of life. 

Becky

 

 

Since completing my CELTA online in the UK, I have taken up several 1-1 teaching jobs online for all ability levels. After completing the course, I moved to Taiwan where I spend my time teaching different groups of people from university postgraduates studying for a masters to online 1-1 classes with pupils from all over East Asia. I plan to continue this for another year before moving back to the UK and continuing on with my own studies with the vision of doing a master’s in education.

Oliver

 

 

I lived in Paris, Berlin and Amsterdam and had a fabulous time in each city. In Paris I had a job on arrival, in the other cities I didn’t. So I sent my CV out ahead and then popped by the language schools to follow up and introduce myself and was given a job! So, put yourself out there!  I would also advise being open to all sorts of courses you’re being asked to deliver, whether evenings, weekends, needing to travel further etc., as the experience is really valuable. You can be fussy later once you have the experience!

I suggest joining clubs (sports etc) in order to try and meet people and make a concerted effort to learn the local language. When teaching and speaking English all day, this can be hard,  but is well worth it, both to integrate and for you own professional development!

Clare

 

     

I completed my teaching qualification in 1993 and a month later found myself in a small regional capital in Russia. I was the only English person in the entire area and this made me pretty unusual. I worked with teenagers who were very excited to tell me about themselves and to find out about our life in the UK. Back in those days Russia was newly out from behind the Iron Curtain so we were all very interested in each other.  Music, arts, cars, travel food were all constant topics.

Talking of food, I went hungry for the first day or two  because I didn’t know a word of Russian and of course most non-students didn’t speak English. I’d recommend learning a few basic words before you go.  I loved the country and stayed there 7 years, ending up in Moscow. By the time I left I had been a Director of Studies in a large school was super-qualified and fluent in Russian! 

Jan

 

 

6 months after finishing my CELTA I went off to live in Madrid. I had previously spent a week in the summer handing out my CV to schools and returned to London and had no response from anyone. Nevertheless, I packed my rucksack and headed off anyway. I couldn’t speak the language, I had nowhere to live and no job, but my new life had begun. I revisited the same schools and at the third one was greeted with “Hello, we’ve been waiting for you, here is your contract, can you start next week?”. Amazing, I had a job, somehow found a beautiful apartment in a really cool area and lived the dream of making Spanish friends, learning to speak Spanish, drinking mojitos and dancing the night away.

I stayed for 9 months. The experience gave me the confidence to get on a plane and go to Santiago in Chile and do the same thing and then Mendoza in Argentina. I made friends for life and enjoyed it all. My advice would be to not worry if you can’t get a job before you go somewhere but be aware of the visa process if you need to change to a work visa once you’re there. Also explore the world not just the tourist spots but other smaller places too. 

Katherine

 

If you want to start your own world wide adventure, why not visit our CELTA website for more information on how you can get started.