How to Make £53k a Year Teaching English Abroad

How to Make £53k a Year Teaching English Abroad *

No one makes money teaching English abroad right? Wrong. If you want to you can make the equivalent of £53K AND save £15k a year. There are plenty of ways to make money, save money and have an amazing life experience teaching English abroad. You just need to be selective, flexible and be focused. Assuming you already have a CELTA or Trinity and at least a year’s teaching experience, here’s how you do it:

1. Choose one of these countries to teach in:

Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar. These countries are either tax free or have a very low tax rate, and you can typically earn £2,000 a month or more teaching English in these locations. As a tax free salary this is the equivalent of earning £31k in the UK. You can also get highly paid jobs in Japan, South Korean and China – just check for the taxes and what you will be taking home at the end of each month. If you can get paid by a UK company in the UK and work abroad even better. This is also tax free as long as you are out of the UK for at least 12 months.

2. Choose a job that includes accommodation close to where you are teaching

Many teaching jobs, particularly in the Middle East will provide accommodation and bills included as part of the package. Often the accommodation is in walking distance to the school or teaching facilities, or even on the same campus. If you were renting the equivalent standard of accommodation in the UK, and include transportation costs this would amount, on average, to £1100 per month, which equates to around £19k before tax.

3. Take up some hobbies

Yoga, weight lifting, pilates, reading, writing, meditation, cooking, scrabble. There are plenty of ways to enjoy your time that don’t involve going to the pub and spending lots of money on alcohol. Not that you generally have much of a choice in these countries however, you will be surprised how much of a good time you can have doing other things. The average persona’s living costs will decrease by A?400 per month due to a change in life style and leisure activities.

4. Cash on the side

Pick up some private one-to-one classes either through people you know or through online platforms, and with just 2 hours of extra work a week you could make the equivalent of £3k before tax. These earnings will also be tax free.

Life Experience

Living abroad, even in a country that places restrictions on your choices such as Saudi Arabia, can be an eye-opening adventure, where you see another way of life, experience a different way of doing things, and have the opportunities to reassess your own beliefs and ideas. This in itself is extremely valuable, both on a personal level and a professional level.

With the right choice of location, securing a good package as part of the deal, some changes to your free time habits and a little bit of extra work on the side, you too could also earn the equivalent of £53k per year as an English language teacher. Not only that, but if you follow the above you could easily take home £15k with you for every year you decide to stay whilst enjoying the many delights of living in a foreign country. For the average single person in the UK to save £15k per year they would need to be earning around £60k before tax and stick to a very tight budget.

If you fancy a Middle Eastern adventure that will line your pockets but haven’t yet got your TEFL qualification then check out our Cactus TEFL courses. And if you definitely fancy a life in the Middle East then get started with our Arabic language courses to make a smooth transition into your new country!

*all figures are approximations and averages. Tax laws may vary, and changes in law not accounted for.

Is TEFL Right for You?

Find out if you have what it takes to become an English language teacher with our TEFL Eligibility Test. A quick way to see if you have the basic requirements for English language teaching abroad.

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