Foreigner's Finances

Paid to Travel the World and Other Reasons Teaching English Abroad Has Taken Off

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An old friend from high school recently contacted me and asked for advice and information on teaching English abroad, or ESL (English as a Second Language). One sentence in her message caused me to take a second and think:

“for some reason teaching abroad seems to be very popular lately”

I had never thought about the increased popularity of native English speakers going abroad to teach English, but my friend brought up a good point. Teaching English abroad has become a popular career choice for many people fresh out of college. One could blame a dismal job market or the apprehension of graduates to constrict themselves to a career, but I believe the majority of people who choose to teach English abroad were persuaded by other reasons. Let’s take a look at three factors that have led to an increase in native English speakers choosing ESL jobs.

The Internet

My generation is the first to grow up with the internet and this has affected the way we view the international community. Being able to quickly connect to people across the globe has created a desire for travel and exploration in many twenty-somethings. The internet has allowed anyone to learn about any country with a quick Wikipedia search and this ease of information has led many people to seek out the countries they so often learn about.

The internet has also allowed ESL companies around the globe to easily advertise their programs. The idea of the job fair is obsolete in regards to finding teaching jobs abroad, as a quick Google search introduces you to thousands of possibilities for employment. As the technology of internet search progresses, the worthy programs will be easier to locate and the number of people who choose to partake in these programs will continue to grow.

Airplane Technology

My grandpa worked in international sales and racked up over a million frequent flyer miles in his 50+ years of employment. He once told me that in the ’70s it took him three planes and eight hours to get from Nebraska to Tennessee.

The advancements in fuel efficiency and plane technology have allowed travel times to be cut significantly. As flying long distances becomes easier, many people that would have never traveled across an ocean twenty years ago, are now getting on non-stop flights from New York City to London with no problem. The 10+ hour flights are not easy for the average traveler, but are strides ahead of where international travel was fifteen years ago. As traveling abroad becomes more convenient, more and more people will be willing to make the jump to move their lives abroad as well.

The World is Flat

Thomas Friedman’s best-selling book, The World is Flat, showed us that a company cannot stick to themselves in small town U.S.A. and survive. The same goes for the 21st century employee. Major corporations, ma and pa shops, and English-speaking employees are being forced to open themselves up to the international market or suffer the consequences of closing themselves off to companies and customers in places like India and China.

As internationalism continues to reform the way Americans and other English-speaking countries react to international business, an employee with international experience becomes that much more valuable. Although teaching English abroad isn’t necessarily a gateway to a career in international business, it does reveal certain positive characteristics of an employee. The ability to throw one’s self into a new culture, adapt to new surroundings, work with people of another language, and accept the international community are all great characteristics of a future employee. More and more people are realizing that teaching English abroad is a chance to test out the international job market, and any market that increases the size network and number of contacts is a smart career move.

The popularity of ESL jobs will continue to rise because the three factors listed above will continue to progress everyday. The internet will get faster, planes will become more fuel efficient, and the world will find a way to get smaller. Opening up to the ESL job market is becoming a way to experience the world, advance one’s career, and have a once-in-a-lifetime experience. How many jobs do you know that can advertise themselves in this way?

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