[alawton]

Hello,

I am not sure what the pay is like in other countries, but in the US you can survive comfortably. I live in Austin, TX and I taught ESL for 8 years at a public middle school. You get paid the same salary that any other teacher in Texas gets paid. I believe most schools in Texas, at least in the Austin area, start first year teachers at $45,000. The other metropolitan areas are the same or more. You get summers off where you can tutor and make more money if need be. You won't get rich, but you won't be too poor

If you get a Master’s you can make a little more. I currently work as an adjunct professor teaching Spanish and ESL for a few different colleges in Austin and online. Full time I believe the community colleges start at $55,000. If you teach adjunct, like I do, you make $900 a credit hour. I have a family of 6 and we live on my salary. It can be done. You won't get rich, but if you do some tutoring in the summer you can make it happen. It is a very rewarding job. I hope this helps.

[Bagga]

OK, I am supposed to be lesson planning for a private class in 2 hours so I will be quick.

My situation: I am an ESL teacher, and my Chinese wife has just got an admin job in a big multinational. She gets 1500 RMB a month, about 200 dollars. My last four jobs in China have netted me: 1400 dollars a month with a free flat, 1300 dollars including accommodation allowance, 1250 dollars, and 900 dollars for an 18 hour working week that allowed me to do a lot of private classes at 14 - 20 dollars an hour. At the moment I do 3 classes a week, and make about 400 dollars a month for only 16 hours extra work. (1 dollar = about 7 RMB)

Rental of a flat in a smaller city like Zhengzhou or Chengdu can be as low as 700 RMB a month, although 1500 RMB is a fair average. It is possible to live on 200 dollars a month, for 2 adults, if you cook for yourself.

Many Chinese families survive on 1500 - 2000 RMB per month AND they save up to buy a flat.

China is a good place to live and save up, if you can accept the culture shock and the bureaucracy, and it is still a seller's market from the point of view of the EFL teacher. BUT, the culture shock is extreme - I came here after 15 years experience as an EFL teacher in 5 other countries and I still haven't fully settled in even though I have been here over 2 years.

I recommend China, it's a blast!

[Dave-B]

I think it depends what type of ESL job you are looking at.

In North America, you want to get into the public schools, and you can be making great money just like other teachers. However, working in a private language centre is going to start you at $15/hour and not go up too fast.

I think it is the same in international places like China, Japan, Korea, etc. If you work in the schools, you can get paid well, but private language centres probably pay less.

I would think about where you want to live and then decide if it is a good job. You don't want to be one of the many ESL teachers coming back from Asia after 7 years to no ESL jobs in North America. Trust me, I see them walk into my school every day looking for work.

I'm in Toronto, and the previous academic director left our school because it wasn't enough for his wife and two kids.

[mesmark]

Quote Dave-B

... You don't want to be one of the many ESL teachers coming back from Asia after 7 years to no ESL jobs in North America. Trust me, I see them walk into my school every day looking for work...

Well that's depressing

[Pix]

Hi there,

The other thing that I don't thing has been mentioned on this post yet is that there is good money to be had in the business English sector, and also private tuition.

In England I found it hard to live on a language school's pay in London, where rent alone is astronomical and just stepping out of the door costs 50 quid. However in the country towns on the same pay it was much better.

What I did for a top up was private lessons for a reasonable hourly rate, and also group private lessons, even better financially!

Here's a post on starting a teaching business.

And here's a second post on how to get more students.


All the best
Shelley