ESL in Europe: Americans Need Not Apply

"Europe! OMG let's teach English in Paris/Barcelona/Rome/Munich/London."

Are you American? You are? Well forget teaching anywhere in (Western) Europe, at least anywhere worthwhile.

It is essentially impossible to teach in the EU and that's why I said Western Europe.  If you are lucky enough to be approved by the EU and a school, it will still take about 1/2 a year, as well as the addition of various/expensive documents payments + flights & housing. 

Just except it. If you are American, but not an ESL superstar with a PhD and/or Delta + 5 years experience, its not gonna happen. Unless you marry-in, which is still a hard process.

"Whatever, this guy doesn't know what he's talking about".

Maybe I don't, but when I originally became interested in ESL, I wanted to teach in Western Europe. I quickly realized that wasn't going to happen. Its pretty much a economic thing. Most of Western Europe is part of the EU, and therefore hire only citizens of any industry from other EU states to protect their shared economies. The EU member states are listed below. 

Belgium, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Denmark, Germany, Estonia, Greece, Spain, France, Ireland, Italy, Cyprus, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Hungary, Malta, The Netherlands, Austria, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovenia, Slovakia, Finland, Sweden and the United Kingdom.

EU Member States in Blue 

My suggestions are as followed if you still want to teach in Western Europe:

1. Russia. Not geographically "western" but still a good option for a European experience, especially because you could easily travel to more western countries. Its the biggest hub in Europe that still has a good market for American teachers. However, beware, Russia is infamous for sketchy pay and swindling schools. 

2. Just apply to a school in the EU anyway (refer to the above list of EU states). Tell them upfront you will afford all extra cost accrued from the special visa processing. You'll also most likely be hit with extra taxes and stipulations. This also depends on the EU member state and school. In countries that allow it, the International House will hire Americans if you are willing to pay the cost. Errr, I believe International House Poland allow this...

3. Try (Western) European countries not in the EU. Some of which you probably never even heard of. But even these countries are hard to break into, for two reasons. One is that they still prefer UK/Irish teachers over American because it is easier to culturally identify with their European kin. Secondly, most inhabitants already speak English so well that they only want uber-qualified teachers (PhDs/DELTA +Teaching License). I believe this is the case for Iceland, Norway, Switzerland, ect. The EU non-member states are listed below. 

Non-EU States in Not Green

Iceland, Norway, Switzerland, Serbia, Montenegro, Croatia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Macedonia (Former Yugoslav Republic of), Albania, Andorra, Belarus, Moldova, Monaco, San Marino, Liechtenstein, Vatican City, Russia, Ukraine. 

4. Asia/SA/Africa. Forget Europe and set your sights on somewhere different. This is what happened to me. I asked myself (googled), "What's the highest paying country, that is well-developed where I can teach English?" I found S.Korea. If you follow my blog, you'd know I work for EPIK and you can read all about that in my other posts. But I have plenty of friends who decided their best option was SA. As for Africa, I don't personally know anyone that decided to teach there, but I am sure there is a market. 

How I Fell into ESL

When I decided to get into ESL, I was a college senior at Rutgers, The State University of NJ. I was 21 years old, and about to graduate with a BA in Economics. Originally, I was a Biology major, and was sent to Finland for two months to do ecology research for the University of Helsinki. Living abroad was awesome, and I didn't mind being away from my family/friends, or exploring a new culture. 

During my last semester, my job prospects were par. The jobs relevant to my Economics degree were of mediocre salary, and none were a particular good launching pad for a career. So I thought why not look abroad for a Economics job since I loved living in Finland so much. There were some, but then I stumbled upon the ESL industry and started reading Dave's ESL Cafe. 

"Wait, I can make money, with my innate ability to speak English?"

I decided this would be a funner, less stressful job than crunching numbers for some firm. Now I am beginning to think it may not be, more on that later though. 

My parents were pissed that I was showing so much interest in moving abroad to teach, saying it was just a whim. So to prove them I was serious, I gave up the awesome Spring Break trip I had been saving up for, and put it all towards paying for the necessary paperwork to begin applying to ESL jobs and getting the correct certifications.

I am originally from New Jersey, but made my way to Austin, Texas, to complete my CELTA and ESL Teacher Training Program from the University of Texas with my Spring Break money. 

A program that's still running and that I highly recommend. It can be found here.

With my entry level qualifications, I decided to apply to the EPIK program in Korea and landed a job in Daegu, Korea. 

So basically, I am a 22 year old guy who kinda just fell into ESL. 

Cheers