I just finished reading this interesting thread on teaching English. As I taught for about four years - 3 of which were in Madrid (1977-1980) - I thought I would put down some random thoughts on the teaching profession and expat life in general.
From reading the replies not too much has changed.
Yes, teaching English in most situations is technically illegal. But is usually highly tolerated - particularly if you're a western expatriate. If your conscience bothers you a bit, you may wish to note that you are teaching history's choice - for better of worse - for the medium of communication. People everywhere wish to communicate and need a language that most other people can understand.
I started at one of Madrid's numerous "fly-by-night" schools. They pay an adequate subsistence wage which more than covered life in a pension and my evening drinking sessions with the expat journalists at the Cervecia Alemania. Ah! The Plaza San Tana! I was a fun time. Most of the teachers were young twenty-something's like myself. Each one had a different story on why they were teaching in Madrid.
Most of these schools used to shut down for the summer so they basically laid off everybody and said come back in September. As there was little professional loyalty, many teachers would expand their professional relationship with the school's students - which meant "stealing" the students and teaching directly at their homes. Teachers got paid more, students paid less and the school had been cut out.
So by my second year, I had all private students. By my third, I had small groups that I taught in my apartment (you can only take a Pension for so long!) and I also had clients like Arthur Anderson where I developed language programs on-site. I hired additional teachers to carry this out.
Although my business was starting to take off, its upside was limited as it still wasn't legal. It was good in that I paid no taxes. The bad news was it was really hard to seriously expand the business without proper documentation.
As to teaching qualifications, it's a definite plus to have a college degree in most anything. Mine was actually in English, but I don't think that's much of a plus. If I were to go teach abroad today, I would definitely get a TEFL certificate, particularly given the short time requirements and relative cost. I recently came across a magazine "Transitions Abroad" which had tons of info certification, programs and job adverts. They also cover other international professions and programs.
Their URL is:
http://www.transitionsabroad.com What's teaching English like? Read Christopher Isherwood's excellent account in "The Berlin Stories" about teaching to the Germans during the rise of the Nazis. He has a couple of pages where he describes his first lesson. Great reading that really mirrored my experience. The book was the basis for the movie "Cabaret".
I would close by noting that teaching English can lead to harder stuff! As I mentioned above, most folks doing this are relatively young - and as such it an entry level job. While many American, Brits, or Ozies typically do this for a year or two, some stayed on. And like most things, as you live and work in place, opportunities do come up. I spoke no Spanish when I arrived and was fairly fluent after three years. Looking back, I noticed how my friends were mostly Anglophones at first and how progressively more and more of my friends were Latin Americans and Spaniards.
My dream back then was to crack the journalistic wall - I tried to land a job with Time Magazine but ended up leaving to established a English training program for a petroleum service company in Indonesia. I spent my thirties in Southeast Asia. If you want to hear that story go to
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1566910625/qid=963434145/sr=1-3/002-5427661-1247268 and read the review "A Backpacker Turned Executive"
Sorry for the long post. I hope this helps someone out there contemplating an overseas teaching job.
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