TEFL in Indonesia

by **alphonse** » Wed Oct 31, 2012 12:15 am

Hi,
I have a BS in computer science and I've been doing ESL tutoring to immigrant adults once a week for about 10 months now (through a local church). I was planning to get a CELTA certification. Will this be enough for me to land an ESL job in Indonesia?

I've found my current tutoring/teaching very rewarding and I want to continue to do it further. I want to start off with english teaching, and then later try teaching math and computer science.

The reasons why I'm interested in teaching english aboard is because I've met many who've done it before and found the experience very rewarding. I never had a chance to go aboard as a undergrad, I was just too busy with school work then, so I thought this might be a good time to gain that experience. I want to go to Indonesia specifically because I've always wanted to experience a third world country.

I've heard you need a degree in English or Education now to be a legit teacher there. Is this true? So does having a CS degree disqualify me. I noticed that EF is still advertising jobs on eslcafe that requires just a degree, but not necessarily an English one. I know EF has some pretty mixed reviews, but from reading this forum and others it sounds like some groups are legit, you just have to pay attention to which ones. But what I really want to know is is by just having a degree in a non-english related subject going to bar me from teaching english there?

Thanks if anyone can help. Also any other general advice for me on getting to Indonesian would be appreciated. Thanks again!

by **Alex Case** » Thu Nov 01, 2012 8:02 pm

I can't find any mention of needing specific degrees - and they could never get enough teachers if they did impose that. In fact, the information I have found by googling "teaching visa in Indonesia" suggest a TEFL cert is needed but not necessarily a degree.

by **alphonse** » Fri Nov 02, 2012 3:56 am

Well, if you look up ESL teaching in Indonesian there's a lot of talk about these new laws on all the forums. Here's a good one that discusses it: http://www.livinginindonesiaforum.org/s ... w-Teachers

And here's a blog entry that also discusses it.
http://gjismyp.wordpress.com/2012/02/17 ... reactions/
The law isn't new, and was passed in 2009, but they're only trying to enforce it now. From what I've read, It sounds like the government is trying to take this legislation seriously, but they probably wont. So now my main concern is if I do accept a job there will I be accepting it illegally. If I did, that would be kind of risky.

I've noticed that there are still many job ads on eslcafe that are not obeying these new laws (EnglishFirst specifically), and there are some that are (FirstStreet specifically).

I think I will apply for some of the positions and see what they have to say.. I think that sounds like the smartest course of action.

by **Kalinka** » Wed Feb 13, 2013 5:32 pm

Hi guys

I'm an EFL working in Moscow, Russia.
has anyone of you ever worked for EF Palembang? Again, I've heard lots of critics about EF Indonesia, so please let me know what you think. thx

by **johnRockie** » Sat May 18, 2013 5:52 am

Hi,
My sister and I are hoping to get a teaching post in Thailand this year. She has both a degree and a TEFL certfifcate but I have only a 150 hour TEFL cert.

Is it possible to get a job placement with no degree? Are certain areas or jobs more available than other without a degree?

Any help of advice is greatly appreciated
Thanks
john Rockie