ESL teaching jobs are a dime a dozen but there are 3 very important questions you should be asking yourself before and while you are performing your search for the perfect ESL job. There are also 7 crucial questions to ask the institution that is considering you (or that YOU are considering) before or after you have made contact with them. What you will learn here are those exact questions. Let us read on and explore these questions and the reasons why I recommend that you ask them.

1. Is the position in the country you would like to visit?

If you are interested in China, be sure to just check out the ESL teaching jobs in China. Checking out other positions in other countries will only confuse you.

2. Do you want to teach in the country or the city?

As I said before, there are millions of positions out there. Are you considering an ESL teaching job for the money or for the chance to immerse yourself in a different culture and have it funded by a teaching job?

If you are looking at an ESL job for the money, then I recommend you hit the bigger cities. For instance if you are considering China, then I would only look at positions in the bigger cities of GuangZhou or Beijing. Shanghai's cost of living makes it impossible to save anything. The reason I say this is because cities tend to pay double, sometimes triple that of their country counterpart because the cost of living is so much higher than in the country.

If you are looking to immerse yourself in the culture and your income should be just enough to support you, then I would recommend trying to find a position in the country. The money won't be anywhere near what it would be in the cities but you will be FULLY IMMERSED into the culture of the country. You might even be fortunate enough to land a room with a family of nationals. Then you will TOTALLY experience the culture first hand!

3. What qualifications do you need and do you have them? (IE: TESOL, TEFL, CELTA, etc...)

Each country has their own requirements and regulations and they are quite different from each other. Some countries are VERY strict about you having your Bachelors Degree in any major (such as Thailand, South Korea, Japan and Taiwan) and some like China just look at your ability to teach and the fact that you would be a "Native Born English Speaker" as they put it. Also, many countries will choose you over others if you have some ESL training such as TESOL, TEFL, CELTA, etc.. These courses can be had at home easily and very inexpensively. I have seen signs that advertise that you could have your TESOL certification over the course of a weekend. Those ones I would be leery of. But generally speaking, you can have your TESOL certification over the course of a couple weeks and the cost varies from school to school. It usually is below one thousand dollars at the time of this printing. I highly recommend you start with this as soon as you have made your mind up about teaching esl.

4. Does the institution cover your flight or reimburse your flight costs before or after your contract is finished?

Some institutions will pay for your flight to get to the position. Most Korean jobs are like this. Others will cover the cost of your flight (to a certain dollar value) AFTER you have finished the contract. But beware of this one. Sometimes they will try to find reasons to keep the money, similar to your landlord trying to find reasons to not reimburse your damage deposit. But don't let that deter you from your dream of teaching overseas. Most institutions are honorable.

5. How many hours per week will you be expected to teach?

Be very, VERY clear on this one. Make sure you KNOW exactly how many hours you are required to work each week. I know of MANY teachers that have been USED by the administration where their contract said 25 hour work week and they ended up working 50. Your time is YOUR TIME! If it is not something that YOU decided to do, then that time just became THEIR time and your pay won't go up any higher than what the contract said. Make sure you know HOW MANY HOURS and What the hours are.

6. Are you living on or off campus?

Living on campus can be convenience or a nightmare for you and/or the school. By living on campus you usually have a 5 or 10 minute walk to or from class BUT this could also make it too convenient for your students to come knocking on your door. You will get no privacy and are totally bound by their rules. On the other hand living on campus usually will consist of covering the cost of the accommodations, electricity, water and food. That could be a big savings in itself.

7. Are your accommodations shared or private?

As you can probably guess, living with a strange person could turn ugly or you could become best of friends. But if you prefer to live alone, then do not even consider the postings for ESL teaching jobs that only house you with someone else. They are now OFF your short list.

8. What is your compensation for overtime?

Make sure that your overtime rate of pay is WRITTEN DOWN! Don't just go on what the ad says or what the administrator you talked to said.

9. Does the institution cover the cost of your housing/food/transportation?

This one is self explanitory. If they cover it, you save money.

10. MOST OF ALL...What is your pay?

With ALL these things, make sure they are on the contract you get sent to you from the school. Then when you get there, make sure that the contract on their end is the same as the one YOU have. There have been stories that after something has gone wrong and they check the contracts, it turns out that they are different. Something has been changed without the teacher noticing it.

All in all, its just a case of common sense and using your head. Most teachers, after finishing one contract, end up going on and signing another contract. If not with their existing boss, then with another one.

If you are REALLY interested in teaching ESL overseas then you owe it to yourself to check out ESL Resource World. There is VERY IMPORTANT information there to help make your decision one you won't regret. Check out ESL Resource http://eslresourceworld.com/ World today!