Risks in Teaching English
There is some risk in taking any overseas job.
If you travel somewhere and then look for work, you avoid some of the risks but you incur expenses. Also you may miss out on benefits; free housing and annual airfare home are more-or-less standard when hiring from overseas, but less common for local hires. Finally, you will likely not be able to get a working visa in advance since you don't have a job. Depending on local regulations, this may be a minor detail or a major hassle.
On the other hand, if you are recruited from half a world away, it is hard to know exactly what you are getting into or who you are dealing with. Most teachers end up just fine in their overseas jobs, but problems are common enough that being careful is absolutely necessary.
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Japanese school Nova goes broke
In October 2007, a large (1000 locations) chain of English schools in Japan crashed, leaving several thousand foreign teachers stranded. Most had not been paid in six weeks or more, and most were in company-provided housing. Details
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Some schools are greedy businesses exploiting both teachers and students; the more cynical teachers have been heard to describe some as "McEnglish". Some recruiters are amazingly slimy and interested only in their commission. Many schools and a few recruiters are just fine, but definitely not all. There are plenty of horror stories ? horrible accommodation, outrageously large classes, demands for unpaid overtime, broken contracts, etc. Of course there are lots of happy teachers in other schools, sometimes even in the same school.
The lowest risk jobs are the government-run recruiting programs described below; these can offer a safe way to get your feet wet. Other government-run places, such as universities and public high schools are also relatively safe.
Some factors indicate higher risk:
Private language schools are riskier than government programs.
"Third-world" countries and those with highly corrupt "systems" are also much riskier.
If a recruiter is involved, your risk is significantly higher; either the school or the recruiter can mess you around.
If the culture is wildly different from your own, then you may not understand the negotiation process you are involved in or know what questions you should be asking.
That said, thousands of teachers are having a wonderful time in jobs with one or more of those risk factors. Some are perfectly happy in jobs with all four! Be aware of risks and use a little caution, and you should be fine.
Check Wikitravel and other sources for information on the location. Do a web search on the city name along with terms like "pollution", "corruption" and "gang"; you might expect a few hits for almost any city, but if there's a big problem, this may turn it up. If having modern conveniences and Western food is important to you, check websites for major retailers like Ikea or the European supermarket chains Metro and Carrefour to see if they have stores there. Ask the school to email you photos of the accommodation and classrooms.
Checking on the job and the employer is harder. The most important precaution: Ask to talk to current foreign teachers before agreeing to anything. Be extremely wary of any school that will not let you do this.
You can also check the web for comments on potential employers or on recruiters. ESL teachers are a chatty bunch, and mostly literate, so there is a lot of information available. Most of the job ad sites have forums that include comments on available jobs. There are also many country-specific forums offering school reviews or just a blacklist of problem schools. Take reviews with a grain of salt, though; even quite a good school may have a few angry ex-employees ranting on the web. Look for other web comments and talk to current teachers before drawing any conclusions.
The Most Frequently Asked Travel Questions about Teaching English
