So how does one go about teaching English in a foreign country? Well, like any job one would do in a foreign country, I will have to fill out some paperwork, get a visa etc. My German is not, and likely will not be good enough to easily figure that out on my own, but luckily I’ll have Enterprise to help me out.

English Teaching Specifics

There’s a certification to get called TEFL – Teaching English as a Foreign Language. Not every position strictly requires a TEFL. The one job I’ve looked closest at so far does not require the certification for example, though I’m sure my application would be a bit stronger if I do go through the official motions. The downside? Well first of all, there’s no one official recognized accreditation for those who teach TEFL certification classes, so I have to make sure I pick the right one. Other downside? The cost. A quick google search shows me many courses I could take if I had a thousand dollars or more to spend, which I don’t right this second.

Honestly I’m kind of tempted to skip the TEFL for now. I did study language pedagogy in college after all, and if I can get a job teaching English online here and now then I can brush up my skills and strengthen my CV without spending a bunch of money upfront that I might not necessarily even have to be spending.

I’ve  sent an email to the professor I studied applied linguistics with back in college, and I hope to sit down and talk through these plans with him. He was my advisor for all my language teaching internships back in college, so I trust his advice, plus I’m hoping he’ll be a reference for me. Bonus: he’s a German professor in addition to applied linguistics, so if a German company does contact him, he’ll be the one and only one of my references who can communicate with them in the German language.