Teaching overseas can be the ticket to a new adventure

My dear reader, I can’t tell you how often people ask me how I managed to make travel a permanent part of my life. I don’t have oodles of money, I’m a normal person just like you. I also had an office cubicle job, smartphone contract and lived for the weekend.

I would stare out of the office window at the world outside. More than anything I wanted to be part of that outside world. I wanted to do things differently. I’ve always had a tendency to do things differently. So when it came time to take my career to the next level I did the unthinkable. I quit my job to go and teach.

Teach you think in horror? There is actually a very lucrative market for English teachers out in the world. We don’t realise that we have the one thing that most people around the globe so desperately want, the ability to speak English. Colonisation was an awful thing but if there is one thing we can thank our storied history for it’s the ability to speak English and that it dominates business and education.

After much research I secured a job in South Korea. What did I know about South Korea? Nothing much. Little did I know this would be the start of a lifestyle that has come to dominate my adult life.

Getting to teach in South Korea is not very complicated. As long as you have a degree of some kind, it can be in anything, you can go to South Korea and teach.

Want the deal to be even sweeter? How about having your flight covered, fully-furnished accommodation provided and earning an amazing salary tax-free? Sounds too good to be true doesn’t it? It really isn’t. You will make a really good income for very little work.

While I was expected to actually teach my students, some of my acquaintances spent 10 minutes each day reading out of a book and that was the total of the “work” they had to do.

You will be treated with the utmost admiration as long as you do your “work” and are presentable and respectful. Teachers are revered in this part of the world. My Korean co-teacher had a great life, wore expensive clothing and drove a motorbike in summer and a car in winter just because he could.

When I was in the process of applying for my work visa, a woman who worked at the South Korean Embassy in Pretoria urged me to tell everyone about this opportunity. She said she wanted to see more of our people venturing to share our Mzansi magic with the world.

When I got there I understood why. The rest of the English-speaking world formed a strong contingent of the foreign-teaching force. That’s how good a deal it is. If even the so-called first-world people from the US, the UK and Australia are there, you know there is something good going on.

So if you are looking for a change of pace or something new and are tired of the status quo then give it a shot. Most people I know have loved their experience. What’s the worst that could happen? You’ll have an adventure!

Dustin Jordan | Image: Supplied

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