How To Volunteer Overseas: Here is a list of resources for finding volunteering opportunities around the world, however I recommend that you read this post about volunteering overseas as it offers lots of information that will be useful. When I volunteered to build a school in Uganda after university, I ended up working on actual building sites before and after to cover my expenses! The hardest part of volunteering is that you don’t make any money, so you will have to have the funds for transport, insurance, and any other expenses that you might incur. I loosely divide volunteering into two categories – charitable volunteering where you are trying to make the world better for people, animals, or the environment, and non-charitable volunteering where you are helping someone (possibly a business) in exchange for food and accommodation. Volunteering is an extremely rewarding way to see new parts of the world and feel like you are part of something. You can apply to teach English in South Korea and China here, using my recruitment contacts, and I put together this general page about teaching English overseas.
You can get a job without the qualification (I don’t have one), but you might have to get experience to find a job – I did unpaid volunteer teaching before getting a full time teaching position. How To Get A Job Teaching English: Requirements vary depending upon where you want to teach, but a good starting point is to get a TEFL qualification which will make you more employable. I also did a little teaching in Turkey, Poland, and Uganda because wherever you go in the world, people are keen to learn English, and I have found teaching English to be a great vehicle to take me new places in the world. I first taught English full time in South Korea where I was given a free apartment, free flights, and over two thousand dollars a month after tax, meaning that I was able to live a very comfortable life. A good thing about TEFL (Teaching English as a Foreign Language) is that you don’t actually need to be a teacher to teach English, making it very accessible. It allows you to fully immerse yourself in a new culture whilst supporting yourself financially. Teaching English is a great way to live in a new part of the world and make money.