Mid 40s, no teaching experience. Don't know where to begin.

You are here

Community General Discussion
gravatar-icon Posted on ยท by Chevy C.

Hi everyone, I'm a civil engineer here in Chicago, and as mentioned in the subject, I'm in my mid 40s. For the past year and a half, I've been playing with the idea of teaching English abroad, but obviously I don't have any teaching experience. I have my Bachelors and Masters, but not specializing in English. Looking at the Teach Away website, it seems that teaching English would probably be my best option, since I don't have a teaching license. I'm working on my TEFL right now, but I don't know. Will my age and lack of experience work against me? Is it even possible for me to get a job? I'm not really picky, I am more than happy to go to anywhere in the Middle East or Asia.

Thank you.

1 Comment

  1. gravatar-icon
    Janice L.
    August 10, 2015 at 2.46 pm

    Hi Chevy, great question. If you are not a certified teacher, then you will be a bit more limited to ESL jobs. Teaching experience is definitely a plus, and if you can get any relevant experience while you are working on your TEFL, that would be a great combination. There are also some positions that require less experience. I recommend checking out our jobs board by clicking the green "find teaching jobs" button on the top right and filtering by ESL jobs. You can then go into individual job postings to see if you're interested and what qualifications are desired.