Tefl.NET Forums

Hello,
I'm looking to teach English for a bit and see if I really like teaching before I go to college and spend a lot of money on a degree. Can anyone inform me of some countries other than Mexico that will allow you to teach English without having a degree? I have heard rumors that Vietnam doesn't require a degree. Any information would be greatly appreciated.

It depends on the country, but also on the type of visa you get.

Here in Japan, you don't need a degree for the following types of visas:

spouse visa
dependent visa
student visa
cultural visa
working holiday visa (Americans not allowed)

The DV, SV, and CV all need special permission to work, and you can only work PT.

In fact, if you have 3 years of work experience, you don't even need a degree for a regular old work visa.

In Vietnam they require a degree, a police background check and the better schools also prefer a CELTA qualification.

I can tell you with absolute certainty that Taiwan allows people to teach legally without a Bachelor's Degree *IF* you have two qualifications:
(a) An Associate Degree or other two year College Diploma, and
(b) A certified TEFL or TESOL certificate (eg. Oxford certified or similar quality)

I have been teaching here for two years with that level of qualification and had no difficulties. Just this past June I switched schools and was granted a new Alien Residency Card and work permit.

Taiwan is not the best or the worst place to teach in Asia, but overall it's a good choice. If you want more info about the place, write to me privately, or if you can't, post a reply here and I'll say more. (I only registered for this board today, so I don't know if this site is finicky.) I'm a little busy to add more now without knowing if you'll reply.

To teach legally in Vietnam you need some sort of EFL certification, as well as police checks and degree.

Did you particularly want to teach abroad?

Perhaps it might be better to do volunteer supervised teaching practise in the USA. My sister was a teacher via a B.Ed and approached her former school before starting her degree and they allowed her to do some teaching practise. This also made it a lot easier for her to geta place at university.

glenji wrote:To teach legally in Vietnam you need some sort of EFL certification, as well as police checks and degree.

Can this be clarified? Do you need a BA to teach in Vietnam, or are you referring to a TEFL or CELTA? I only have an Associates degree. My wife is from Vietnam and we may move there in a year or two, reasons not be pertinent this discussion. But I would need to find work over there and teaching English is about the only option I might have.

But without a BA... :(

Hi Cincinnati13,
You may wish to read some of the other threads for more information, as this is probably the most hotly discussed topic on this board.

You could always travel and try to pick up private students along the way. Native English speakers are wanted all over the world so that students can work on pronunciation, speaking and accent issues.

Teaching with a school, obviously, would be better for security purposes and whatnot. I taught at a school in Ukraine that didn't require teaching certification, but i do believe they wanted a degree... however, I'm thinking they would overlook that factor if the person was just willing to stick around for a while... so it never hurts to just ask a school.