3 Amazing Places to See the World as an English Teacher

A lot of people are interested in teaching English in the classroom abroad. Although more and more people are turning to language learning online, there are still a bulk of people that are interested in in-class lessons. In this article I’m going to talk to you about some of the best places to teach English in the world, focusing on Asia

This list is not in any order, but it’s just based on my experience. I’m gonna tell you the pros and cons of the different places that I’ve taught English in

1.South Korea

The first place that I’ve ever taught English in was South Korea. To be honest with you, I wanted to go to Japan first, but it was before I ever set foot in Asia, and set foot out of North America for that matter. It was more convenient for me to find a job in South Korea, so there I went.

South Korea is just an amazing place. For those of you who have never traveled, there’s no other place like it. The food, the culture, and the pace of life are just so different.

From the way that in the culture, age is so important and how everybody is really on the go in South Korea. You’ve probably never seen anything like it. I went to South Korea without learning how to speak the Korean language, and that’s something that I don’t recommend anybody to do.

One of the pros about living in South Korea, are that depending on where you live, except for the capital obviously, it’s pretty cheap to live there. I rented a room for about $300 a month, and, if you have a family, then this is going to be a lot more expensive. Also, I love the food there and I think you will too. It leans towards more of a spicy pallet, so if you don’t like that, you might have to choose some other types of food, or maybe cook at home.

Another pro about living in South Korea is that you can move up the ladder in English teaching. I met some people that were managers at some of the places that I used to work at, and they were foreigners, meaning that they were not from South Korea.

One of the cons about living in South Korea is that from what I’ve heard, it’s pretty hard to get citizenship unless you own a business or you are married to a national. This can be a little bit daunting for some people who want to stay there for the long term. Also, as much as you probably want to get out of English teaching, I’ve never heard of anybody who has transitioned from English teaching to something else. There are some cases that I’ve seen online, where some people transitioned over to maybe acting, or something else. But for me, I think that if you want to teach English, then you might always be an English teacher in South Korea

2. Japan

After South Korea, eventually I headed over to Japan, which was a lifelong dream for me. I taught English there too obviously. Japan is amazing. It’s just another place that is so different from anywhere else in the world.

One of the pros about Japan is, it’s Japan. I mean, you can binge on all the anime that you want. You can speak Japanese there if you want. You can just indulge in all of the sights of sounds of Tokyo, if that’s where you live. You can ride the bullet train. Japan has all the incredible amenities. The service quality is amazing. It’s just a great experience overall

One of the cons about Japan is that, Japan is expensive. If you’re not gonna be living in a place that’s provided to you by your English school, you might have to pay an arm and a leg. For example, I’ve heard of people going to rent some places or apartments, and they had to pay a lot. First, you have to pay what’s called key money, and then you need to pay two months' rent and then another month's rent on top. It can get pretty expensive, just to move into an apartment.

Also, Japan is about 90% Japanese. For some people that might not be an issue, but if you’re used to multiculturalism, for example in North America, then this might be a dealbreaker for you.

3. Taiwan

A long time ago I heard that Taiwan was one of the biggest markets for teaching English. While it’s kind of true, the Taiwan market is pretty saturated. Despite that, Taiwan is a great place to visit and work. The cost of living is low comparatively. Also, there are many beautiful places that you can visit all over the island

One of the pros about Taiwan, as I said, Taiwan is pretty cheap to live in. If you’re gonna be living in the middle of the countryside then you probably can spend $200 a month on a small apartment. Of course, that’s probably going to be for a single person. If you’re married, then that’s gonna be a different issue. I would say probably most Taiwanesee people are pretty educated, and chances are if you don’t speak any Chinese Mandarin at all, then you can probably find somebody who speaks English. Except for probably in the countryside

Another one of the biggest pros about Taiwan is that you can stay and live there after you work there for five years. You can also marry a Taiwanese national and get yourself a permanent resident card.

Cons about living in Taiwan. There might be a language barrier, especially if you want to talk about something really deep. For example, when going to do banking, most banks don’t have many people who speak English. You might be lucky and find somebody who does and that's because they’re a really big bank.

Because Taiwan is where I live right now, I would say that I probably have the clearest perspective about it. In Taiwan, people have a very interesting perspective on life. Taiwanese people can be a little bit standoffish if they don’t know you. Although service can be pretty good in Taiwan, it doesn’t compare at all to Japan. But then again Japanese customer service is probably much higher relative to the rest of the world.

This is by no means an exhaustive list of the pros and cons of the three countries where I have taught English. That being said, I think that it gives you a taste of the lifestyle of somebody who wants to teach English in these places. Teaching English is just a foot in the door if you want to live in Asia or many other places in the world. If you’re interested more in my experience with these three places, then you can go ahead and send me a message in the comments.