Are You Teaching English Illegally?

Most people assume that just because they've got a visa they're teaching illegally. Actually, that's not true. There are many ways that people could be teaching illegally and not know it. Here are just a few of them.

• Spousal / partner visa. If you're married to / in a relationship with a national, you'll probably get granted a visa. Some countries allow you to work on this visa, others require you to get permission to do so. Check beforehand.
• Dependent visa. If you're married to / in a relationship with someone with a visa, you may be able to work. Such is the case with Japan. Its neighbour, Korea, has different rules though. It's illegal to work or even study on a dependent visa.
• Working for someone else. If you have a visa with ABC school and decide to do part-time work at XYZ school, you're probably breaking visa rules.
• Working on a business visa. Business visas are usually for those who do short-term (i.e., less than 6 months business in that country). If you're there longer, you're working illegally.
• Teaching private lessons. Korea's famous for this. Teaching private lessons is a big no-no. That's not to say that it's not common for teachers to do this. Don't get caught though or you'll get slapped with a heavy fine or even deported.
• Teaching on a tourist visa. In many countries in Latin America or Southeast Asia, teachers may teach on a tourist visa. Be aware that in any country earning money on a tourist visa is illegal, even if you do it for a short time. Often these teachers only stay for a short time, or the visa laws are lax so they can border hop and just come back in a day or two later. Nonetheless, it's still illegal.
• Getting a work visa illegally. Some countries have requirements for teaching experience, such as China. In some provinces you're required to have two years teaching experience in order to get a visa. China being China, it seems to be who you know and who owes who what favour that can get you out of this requirement. It's not unheard of for bosses to fudge teachers' CVs or for the immigration officers to grant your boss a favour if you don't have the required experience.

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Authenticated a Degree

If you're going to teach English abroad, chances are you're going to have to do some paperwork regarding documents, such as your degree and criminal background check. There are a few things you need to do before you go.

Using a Service
If you don't have the time to wait, try using a service that specialises in notarising, apostillisations, and authentications. Here's a list of the ones I know of. 

Apostillisations
Documents are apostillised in order to prove that they are real and true copies of the original documents. They do not, in anyway, prove that the original is legit. (Therefore if someone has a fake degree, they could still get the copy of it apostillised since it only proves the copy is a real copy of the fake degree.) The purpose of getting documents apostillised is so that the originals can be kept in a safe place.

In order to get documents apostillised, you usually have to take the original and the copies to a notary, who then examines both the original and the copies to make sure the copies are true copies. The notary then signs the copies. The original can then be put in a safe place and the copies are sent off to be apostillised. If you're from the US and need something notarised, try Sign Now. It's accepted in all 50 states and much cheaper than going to the embassy.

Authentications
Getting a degree authenticated is a totally different matter. An authentication does prove that the original is legit and can only be done by the issuing institute of the document (your university) or a specific organisation that specialises in authenticating degrees. Your employer will tell you which one they want you to go through. You may want to use both.

If you go through your university, you might want to have sealed letters from my university registrar verifying your attendance and degree conferral. Having sealed transcripts will also help. If your degree is from the US, you might be able to use Degree Verify if your university is registered with them.  

Apostillisations vs Authentications
So a quick summary would be that apostillisations prove that the copy is a legit copy of the original whereas authentications prove that the original is indeed legit. Got all your docs ready? Then take a look at 30 Days to Move Abroad. It makes moving overseas a breeze.

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Beware of TEFL scams

Newbies often ask how they can tell if a job or a TEFL cert is a scam. The simple answer is that if it seems to good to be true, it is. While they are cushy jobs out there, newbies likely won't be able to land these without the required qualifications, experience, and know-how. If you're interested in teaching abroad, you should do a bit of research first. So how do you know if it's a scam?

• A big tip off is if they ask you to send them money. I'm not talking about paying the embassy to get a visa, the hospital for a medical check up, or the airlines for your flights. I'm talking about when the company asks YOU to pay THEM. The only legit reason that you should pay is in the case of international school jobs. Their recruitment fairs often require you to pay. They are well publicised and you should have no trouble finding out if they're legit or not. You can find a list of these at the article, international schools.
• A second way of telling if it's a scam if they offer a fantastic salary. Let's face it, English teachers aren't going to get rich. So if you're offered an astronomical figure from a no-name school, it's probably a scam. As mentioned before, there are those great jobs with huge salaries, few hours, and long vacations, but you're going to need a couple years experience and advanced qualifications, such as a masters degree or TEFL diploma.
• Another tip off is spelling and grammar mistakes. Of course, non-native speakers may make a couple mistakes. Native speakers may leave out words or have typos, but if it's over the top, beware.
• Nigeria, kings, queens, princeses, princesses, wealthy widows, and weathly widowers: these should all be avoided like the plague.
• Generic emails, such as gmail, yahoo, or hotmail. Again, there are legit organisations that use these. But you'll have to be careful.
• Fake contact info, such as fake phone numbers, websites, emails or addresses. Some scammers will use legit language school names, but fake emails. Use google maps, or email the actual language school. Some places, like Wall Street Institute even have a page warning against fake job offers.
• If they want personal details, such as your bank details or social security number, you should be running the other way. Some people get scared off if an institute asks for their passport details. However, if you're going to need a visa, they're going to need your passport info sometime or another.
• If you're sending scans of your degrees, photo, transcripts, references, or anything else, you might want to consider putting a watermark across it that says "Copy" or "For Application Purposes Only".

Think you've found a scam? Report it. You can contact the Federal Trade Commission at uce@ftc.gov or the Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3). In addition, there are international agencies such as ICPEN that handle cross-border/international internet fraud. (Thanks to totalesl.com for this info.) Those are some of the main ways to see if you're dealing with scammers. You can read more tips at warning signs of bad schools.

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Hot Topic: Blacklists

School Blacklists
Teachers often ask about school blacklists and while they certainly exist, they might not be that reliable. They seem to pop up all over the place on the internet. Any teacher that doesn't like something can post, so you don't know about the source. Many times they will be in the local language which will make things harder for you.

The best thing to do is to do a search on forums, such as ESL Cafe, and look for info about schools. You could also PM people and ask questions. You can often tell ahead of time if the school is bad or not. Try reading warning signs of bad schools for more info.

Teacher Blacklists
The same can be said for teacher blacklists. TEFL and international school teaching is a small world, so word gets around fast. Be careful about what you say about your school. And especially be careful about what you post online. Things could easily come back around and bite you in the butt.

Discussions about blacklists

• ISR Blog has info about blacklists on recruiting fairs, canceling a contract, grade fixing, and warning signs that tell you not to take the job. 
• ESL Cafe has some info as well on have I been blacklisted?, could the WSI have blacklisted me?, GCC blacklist, there is a blacklist, blacklist of Japanese universities, and blacklists.

What do you think?
Are blacklists good ideas? Have you ever put a school on a blacklist?

Got an idea for a hot topic?
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Job Site: ESL Employment

With information for employers, job seekers, ESL resources, education corner, and ESL forum, there's lots of information for TEFL and TESL teachers. You can search the web or ESL Employment by keyword, region, state, or country. They also have a free weekly job listing email that they can send you if you sign up.

I'd avoid the "Get Hired!" red tab in the middle as it'll just take you to a site that asks you to buy an ebook to find a TEFL job. Although it's written by the owner of ESL Employment, it's not worth buying. To begin with it hasn't been updated since 2006. He also claims that the majority of ESL and EFL jobs aren't advertised: which is blantly not true as can be seen by his website and hundreds others.

In addition, there's usually no need to pay to find a job (though some websites, such as those that hire international school teachers or host international school job fairs are the exception to this rule). If anything, schools pay recruiters or pay to put up adverts, avoid paying in order to get a job. Chances are the info they give you won't be anything you don't know already. If you're looking for lists of websites that you should look at when looking for a TEFL job, check out  TEFL Tips' list of TEFL job sites.

Got an idea for a job site?
Email me with your job site, name, and website (if you have one) and I'll post it ASAP.

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Quick Tip: Have a Backup Plan

It's easy to think that everything will go according to plan, but things rarely do. Perhaps your visa is taking longer than normal, your boss turns out to be horrible, there's an emergency back home, housing is a nightmare, or you run out of money. No matter the problem: big or small, it's good to have a Plan B and a Plan C, just in case.

Many TEFL teachers get through their contracts with no issues, but some of them have small glitches and others have major problems.  By planning ahead you can think about worse case senarios and have some backup plans in mind. If nothing happens, then all the better. However, if something does, you'll be well prepared.


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Job Site: ESL Base

You can find more than TEFL jobs at ESL Base. They're also got basic TEFL info, teacher training, resources, a forum, language schools, country info, and grammar. Their TEFL job section is great because it's well organised and easy to find what you're looking for.

At the top they have the total number of jobs and then they have a list where you can select the country. Next to each country is the number of jobs available. You can also get free job alerts, read their guide to finding a job, and find out about scams.

Got an idea for a job site?
Email me with your job site, name, and website (if you have one) and I'll post it ASAP.

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Cool Link: Total ESL

While they're mainly focused on ESL and EFL jobs, Total ESL also has lots of other things that might interest you.

They've got teacher resumes (so you can get ideas on what to put on your CV), lists of language schools through Asia, the Middle East, and Europe, private tutors (so if you're looking for private students, you can add your info), ESL debates, blogs, country specific information, warnings about scams, useful links, and lots more.


Got an idea for a cool link?
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Warning Signs of Bad Schools

Updated 15 November 2012

Here are some warning signs I've heard of over the years. You might also want to look at ISR's article called Warning Signs that Tell You Not to Take the Job.

Boss

• Everyone's afraid of the boss. Respect is one thing; fear is another.
• Threats or sexual harassment. Threatening to fire you for no reason is bad enough. If you're on a tourist visa and you want to quit and they threaten to go to immigrations. Don't put up with sexual harassment either.
• Same advert week after week. If you see them advertising again and again it’s probably because they can’t get or keep teachers.
• Living with your boss. Don’t live in the same apartment as your boss.

Classes

• Classes in your house. The employer needs to provide space for lessons.
• Mixed level classes. Most classes are mixed levels, but if it's taken to the extreme you need to be careful. If you have people with basic English thrown in with very advanced students that's not good.
• Mandatory events. Every once in a while is ok but when it becomes a habit that means they’re trying to get you to teach for free.
• No material. They want you to create everything and don't follow have any structure whatsoever.
• Lots of changes. Tons of cancelled classes, changed times, salary differences, and so on.
• Lots of unpaid training and meetings. Some are ok but be aware of those that have excessive unpaid training and meetings.

Contract

• Visa promises they can't keep. If they promise you a visa make sure you get one.
• Contract penalties. Don’t sign a contract that has lots of penalties when you quit or one that only has info about how they can let you go but nothing about how you can quit.

Money: Warning Signs

• Bank accounts. They want to use your bank account or have you open a new one and give them the info.
• Pressure. Some places try to convince you that you’ll never find another job anywhere else.
• Late pay. Talk to the teachers and ask if they get paid on time.
• No receipts. Even if you're working on a tourist visa you should sign something.
• Salary’s vague. You should be told exactly how much you’ll make.
• Paying for copies. They should make them for you.

School

• There's no sign out front. A school should prominently display their name outside.
• Bad first impressions. Peeling paint, dilapidated furniture, or a bad neighbourhood aren't good signs.
• Learn English in 6 months. While some people can learn English that quickly the majority of people can't.
• Dangerous places. The institute is located in a bad neighbourhood or they want to you to teach classes in a bad neighbourhood.

Teachers

• Lots of new teachers. If most of the teachers have been there for less than three months, that's not very good.
• Disgruntle teachers. If everyone's complaining it says something about the school.
• No foreign teachers. Not always a warning sign, but I'd rather work at a school that has (had) a foreign teacher.

Signs That You're Being Scammed

• Pay up. If you're asked to pay money, it's probably a scam.You might also want to look at Scam.com and Scam Warners.
• Get rich quick. If it sounds too good to be true it probably is. End of story.
• Rich African. Another warning sign.
• Dead spouse. If the person is a recent widow / widower who needs you to take care of their children. Be very careful.
• Western Union, Moneygram, etc. If they require you to accept or send money this way it's usually a scam. Visa fees are paid to the embassy, immigration fees are paid directly to immigration, and travel fees are paid to the travel agent or airlines.
• Cheques. The schools asks you to write, mail, or cash a cheque on their behalf.
• Parcels and packages. They want you to accept or send parcels or packages. NEVER do this. You never know what could be in the package and you could end up in a local jail.
• Dealing with individuals. When dealing directly with a person, rather than a school you have to be extra careful. While it's true that people often hire tutors or au pairs, about 99.99% of the time they go through agencies. Go through an agency. You might have to pay a fee but it will be worth the peace of mind.

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