Are any countries open to EFL teachers abroad?

[tenneray]

Are any countries hiring EFL teachers from overseas at this time? Most are still closed, I believe. For example, I know that Saudi Arabia is closed at the present time. I think Vietnam is shut too. How about China?

[naltoli]

China is closed, mostly. One job I am about to interview for said I might be able to start in January, or June. I had a recruiter tell me that you can get me in to some regions/schools, but I don't know how legal that is. Darn recruiters! They'll tell you anything.

[tenneray]

Thanks for replying. Even in the best of times, working with recruiters is problematic. Today, they don't want to tell potential teachers that they have no idea when things might be back to normal.
Naltoli, have you tried online teaching?

[naltoli]

I haven't yet...I'm a brand new teacher and I want to get situated in a teaching position abroad, and deal with everything that goes with that (housing, residency, etc) before throwing a second job into the mix. Have you tried it?

[tenneray]

I see. I applied for some online jobs and either I turned them down or they turned me down. The vast majority of those online jobs are for teachers of very young children, and that is not my forte.

[naltoli]

tenneray for Americans the options are few. Mexico is open, although not all schools are face-to-face. Turkey is available and there are supposedly language schools on every street corner in Istanbul, but most of these employers are, let's just say "dishonest". I got an email from Travel + Leisure saying Panama is open, and I'm looking into that, but the US State DEpartment website says no. So....

[naltoli]

If you have an EU passport I've seen listings for Spain, Italy, Czech Republic, Poland, Slovakia and even Slovenia! I wish I had an EU passport...

[tenneray]

I was just informed that China is closed to Americans. In fact, I think Americans have the fewest choices right now. Teachers from Canada, Britain, Australia, and other nations usually face fewer restrictions.
This is largely Trump's fault! :evil:

[Dalton]

http://news.chinhphu.vn/Home/Govt-gives ... /41582.vgp

"The Government had decided to resume air routes to Guangzhou (China), Taiwan (China), Seoul (the Republic of Korea), and Tokyo (Japan) from September 15, and to Phnom Penh (Cambodia) and Vientiane (Laos) from September 22. "

Vietnam is opening up a little bit.
Most or all the recent Covid cases have been travellers arriving in airplanes as far as I recall.
There is a 14 day quarantine that you must pay for. Accommodation starts at 5 USD per day.
After that you will need to rent a place and other startup costs.

Most of the ads for jobs seem to be low pay, no benefits or schools with high turnover of FTs.

You have to wear a mask anytime you are outside. There are fines if you don't. There is a free app called Bluezone which is for warnings and contact tracing.

You should only go out for essentials and work. Bars, shopping malls, restaurants and Karaoke dens are open with some restrictions but personally I think it's best to stay away from them.

[naltoli]

Good info, Dalton! Thanks!

[tenneray]

Does anyone have any up-to-date information for American teachers? I'm afraid we are last in line for the relatively few jobs because of our unfortunate Covid-19 situation. How about Taiwan? Thank you for your responses.