TESL, HOUSING, VISA'S & MORE IN S.E. ASIA: ALL REPLIES WELCOME :)

Pity you aren't getting any responses, but you're on the right track. This is how you MEET people... by participating in the forums not with copy and paste. The more you post and reply the better the chances will be of meeting folks here.

BTW, you should think about teaching ESL here in Brazil. Pay's not great, but it's a tropical country that's really exciting. World Cup coming on in 2014, Olympics in 2016 so it's getting pretty pumped up. Loads of language schools here, hire anybody qualified or not. You'd probably get a teaching job in the very first place you apply. Oh yeah! and another thing... have you seen some pix of just how beautiful Brazilian womena are?

Cheers,
William James Woodward - Brazil Animator, Expat-blog Team

I have never considered Brasil but I will look into it. So far Japan has been my favorite but I could really do without the prices. Currently I'm in Chiang Mai, everything is so cheap and the weather is much better than in Bangkok.

Well the weather here in Brazil is terrific, perpetual summer in almost any location except the extreme south. Lifestyle is great, lots of culture, the regional dishes are exotic and varied too. There are terrific beaches, beautiful women (most of whom just love gringos) and the cost of living outside the largest cities is quite reasonable. On top of that is the fact that the US Greenback is worth almost R$2,00 so you get more bang for your buck if you're also accessing funds you still have in the bank at home. The country has it's share of problems like any developing nation, but it's nowhere near as bad it the media loves to portray it. I sure wouldn't want to live anywhere else.

If you seriously want to think it over, come over to the Brazil Forum and check out my numerous postings with 'sticky' on the first forum page and other postings as well, you'll find out everything you'll ever need to know about Brazil and teaching here.

Cheers,
William James Woodward - Brazil Animator, Expat-blog Team

To start with I don't think anywhere is perfect. It's really what's best for the individual. I am in Korea teaching english, have been here a couple of years now and have been considering other places. I think Korea is probably a good place to start an ESL career, cost of living is low, pay is good and opporunties are endless. I guess the downside is that Korea can be a little bland at times so then the idea of places like Thailand, Brasil etc start to look good. If you're in the ESL trade purely for financial reasons then it's probably not the best choice of careers, however it's a damn good racket if you want to do some traveling.

I'm not an English teacher anywhere, but from what I've heard Chinese countries - China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Singapore - are played out.  So many English speaking foreigners have flooded in that schools are turning away people with degrees in English education.

I have a friend who used to teach in Japan and he said they are very strict when it comes to degrees and qualifications.  I guess they want real teachers teaching their children.