Teaching English abroad is one of the best ways to travel the world. And once you obtain your TEFL qualifications the world is your oyster. While you’ll find work anywhere with an accredited TEFL course in your portfolio, some teaching destinations are better than others if immersing yourself in the local culture and everyday life is important to you. These are our picks of countries for teaching English overseas if a deeper experience of a place is a priority.
If you’re like many of our readers mulling a move overseas who are contemplating the idea of teaching English abroad, it’s a great idea. But we have advice for you: first, you’ll need qualifications for Teaching English as a Foreign Language (ignore anyone who says being a native English speaker is enough; it’s not), and, secondly, once you complete an accredited TEFL course, you need to carefully consider where you want to live and what kind of life you want.
Ask yourself what’s important: is travel the top priority? Do you want to make and save a lot of money? Do you hope to hang out with other expats? Are you looking for a temporary escape for a year or two? Or are you like us and prefer to settle into a place, meet locals, and immerse yourself in the local life and culture? Not every destination will offer all of those opportunities. Speaking from experience here.
We left Australia to move overseas way back in 1998 so I could take up a job teaching at a women’s university in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Over seven years we travelled to 37 countries, some of those multiple times. We segued into guidebook writing and photography, launched Grantourismo with a yearlong global ‘grand tour’, became digital nomads before it was a thing, and lived out of our suitcases for another seven years, before shifting to Southeast Asia.
It might surprise you that in many ways my teaching job in the UAE was more rewarding and provided more opportunities for cultural immersion and travel than life as a digital nomad, as a globetrotting travel and food writer, which seems to be everyone’s idea of a dream job these days. In fact, while a travel-food writer, like journalists, do get to dig deep when it comes to experiencing places, digital nomads rarely do. But that’s another post…
Teaching overseas — whether you’re teaching kids, teens or adults; teaching in a city, town or village; teaching in a cutting-edge private college or a rustic community school in the countryside; teaching English as a foreign language or teaching other subjects, such as filmmaking, writing and media studies, as I was — might just become one of the most satisfying jobs of your life.
But you do need to give a lot of thought as to where you want to teach based on what’s important to you and how you want to live. If you want a deep experience of a place and want to immerse yourself in the culture and everyday life, then these are our top picks of the best countries for teaching English abroad based on our experience of almost three decades living and working overseas.
Teaching English Abroad — The Best Countries for Cultural Immersion
These are the best countries for teaching English abroad if immersing yourself in the local culture and everyday life is important to you:
United Arab Emirates (UAE)
It might surprise some of you that my top pick of countries for teaching English overseas is the UAE. It’s the country that gave me the deepest experience of a culture — because despite the critics who persist in promoting the myth that Dubai has no culture, that it’s artificial and soulless, Dubai, Abu Dhabi and the other emirates have a rich culture, an ancient history, and, reclaimed islands aside, is no more artificial than any other place with modern, built, urban environments.
Our daily life was far removed from the fake made-for-television lives depicted in the Real Housewives of Dubai — which is not the lived experience of any of my friends still living in the UAE, locals or expats, most of whom wish the gaudy Hollywood types would go away. Trust me when I tell you there’s far more to Dubai and Abu Dhabi than luxury yachts, gilt-edged mansions, shiny shopping malls, and private beach clubs.
Our apartment building was next to a mosque and we woke each day at dawn to the mesmerising call-to-prayer. There was a small Indian supermarket on the ground floor and a Lebanese bakery around the corner, from where enticing aromas wafted every morning from the baklava, pastries and pita bread being pulled from the ovens. Bleating goats tied up to street poles greeted us on Eid mornings and during Ramadan we’d have to take extra care on our evening walks through the backstreets as hungry locals erratically sped home to break their fast with their families.
An English teaching job will quickly ground you in reality. You’ll soon learn that not every Emirati student is a member of the royal family (that’s more likely to be the case in Saudi Arabia!), not every student is wealthy, and most will be middle class. You’ll also learn that most of your Emirati students’ families belong to tribes and are of Bedouin heritage. Those who aren’t will share fascinating ancestral tales from Yemen, Persia and Palestine.
In the classroom, you can expect your students to regale you with legends about pearling, mermaids and ghosts, and stories passed down from their nomadic grandparents and great-grandparents about how they crossed the desert on camel-back depending on the seasons, setting up the goat-hair tents that were their homes in palm-shared oases. You’ll learn about Bedouin traditions of oral storytelling, poetry, and song and dance.
Outside class, if you’re a woman, you’ll get invited to henna salons, meals in homes, and even to weddings. Don’t refuse! And make sure to dress up for weddings in your sparkling-best! If you’re a man, you might score invitations to a sheesha cafes with the guys, a day at the camel races, and perhaps a trip to the desert for ‘dune-bashing’ (daring 4WD-ing over sand dunes), camping, and falconry. Again, accept every opportunity. You won’t regret it.
Because one of tourists’ biggest complaints of the UAE is that they rarely get to meet Emirati people and experience the legendary Arab hospitality outside hotels and the customary coffee and dates that greet guests. Whereas as teachers, we experienced it every day. Most mornings I arrived at our Abu Dhabi college to be welcomed by a breakfast box of za’atar croissants, still warm from the bakery, thoughtfully left for the staff by students.
As an English teacher in the UAE, you’ll get to interact with Emiratis in class all day every day at work, and in some cases you’ll find that you’re not only treated as a friend, but, depending on the students’ age, like a sister or brother, or aunty or uncle, and get an insight their rich traditional culture and everyday life that few travellers to Dubai and Abu Dhabi get to experience.
Bonus: Some of the best teaching packages in the world, including return flights, accommodation, a furniture allowance, health insurance, and loads of annual leave. I got almost two months off for summer, two weeks for winter, plus lots of religious holidays (Eids). There’s so much to see in the UAE, but Dubai and Abu Dhabi are excellent launching pads for exploring the other Arabian Peninsula emirates, the Middle East, Europe, and North Africa.
Countries offering similar opportunities: Qatar, Oman and Bahrain.
Cambodia
Cambodia is another of our top picks of countries for teaching English overseas if an immersive cultural experience is important to you, and Siem Reap the best city. Once again, I’m biased: we’ve called Siem Reap home since 2013, after spending a year in Thailand in 2011, briefly testing out the Cambodian capital Phnom Penh at the end of that year, and Hanoi and Hoi An in Vietnam in 2012. We’ve travelled to every Southeast Asian country, but Cambodia stole our hearts.
In Siem Reap, we live in the leafy, riverside Wat Bo neighbourhood, which Time Out named one of the world’s coolest neighbourhoods for its bakeries, cafes, bars, and restaurants. It’s also cool because it’s the student quarter, home to two universities; Siem Reap’s best high schools, public and private, including international schools; and English language schools such as the excellent Australian Centre for Education (which requires those all-important TEFL qualifications).
Cambodia is home to the most ancient of Southeast Asian civilisations, the Khmer Empire, with an incredibly rich history and culture distinguished by the spectacular Angkor temples. Siem Reap is the departure point for excursions to UNESCO World Heritage listed Angkor Wat and Angkor Archaeological Park, just a 15-minute tuk tuk ride away. It’s also the best place to absorb traditional performance arts, such as Apsara dancing and circus arts, dating to the Angkor era.
There are countless cultural festivals, from Pchum Ben, the hungry ghosts ancestor’s festival to the nationwide Water Festival, which marks the end of monsoon. Every neighbourhood is home to temples and pagodas, and Buddhist traditions and rituals imbue our daily lives. I frequently wake in the morning to the melodic chants of monks from the nearby monastery, and in Lunar New Year neighbours set up tables of offerings outside homes.
But what I most adore about Cambodia are Cambodians, the friendliest, most easygoing, warmest, and most hospitable of Southeast Asians. Teachers are revered and foreign English teachers are appreciated, so expect to receive boxes of mangoes in season, moon cakes during the spring festival, and invitations to join your students for post-class coffees or cold beers, or, even better, to visit their families in their villages and hometowns. Once again, don’t refuse a single invite!
Bonus: Expats get a free annual pass to the Angkor temples, so you can visit as often as you like! Cambodia is one of the least-visited countries with so much to discover, from remote little-visited UNESCO-listed archaeological sites to charming cities and towns such as Battambang, Kep and Kampot. Low-cost airline options like VietJet and AirAsia mean it’s a great base for exploring Southeast Asia and easy to enjoy weekends away in places like Hanoi and Luang Prabang.
Countries offering similar opportunities: Thailand, Vietnam and Laos.
Japan
The first country we ever visited was Japan, on a 24-hour stopover in Tokyo on the way to Mexico. I know… Vancouver airport security were suspicious of our giant u-turn from Australia via Asia and Canada to Mexico. The flights were a bargain — for obvious reasons! — but they were so suspicious they pulled Terence and I out of the transit lounge, separated us, and interrogated us as to why we took such a circuitous route. The flights were cheap!!!
Tokyo blew us away that first whirlwind stay: we salivated at the impeccable gourmet food displays at Tokyo’s sleek department stores, watched teams of diligent volunteers meticulously rake autumn leaves in the Imperial Palace gardens, gawked at the black frilly petticoats and lacy parasols of the cosplay Gothic Lolita girls in Harajuku, and raced around pointing at plastic replica noodle bowls in ramen shop windows to place our soup orders.
The Japanese capital dazzled us again on our last trip on the yearlong global grand tour that launched Grantourismo, when we settled into a compact apartment for two weeks in a local neighbourhood with a school across the road, a convenience store on every corner, a temple with tranquil gardens up the hill, and not a tourist attraction in sight — nor a single sign that was understandable! Bliss!
Despite decades of travelling the world as both travellers and as a pro travel writer-photographer team, our time in Tokyo made us simultaneously feel like aliens in an other-worldly place where the culture was so vastly different to our own and everything was fresh and new, and feel right at home, because everyone was so warm and welcoming, and so keen to help us experience everyday life.
There’s no argument: Japan is one of the best countries for teaching English abroad if immersing yourself in the culture is important. Because firstly, unless you’re Japanese, the culture will be so foreign to anything you’ve experienced before (even if you’ve been eating Japanese food you’re whole life) that every day will be an adventure. And secondly, Japanese students are so respectful of teachers, you’ll get opportunities to experience the culture that tourists wouldn’t.
Bonus: If you’re based in Tokyo, you’ll never run out of things to do on weekends. But Japan is one of the most popular destinations in the world right now and while there has been overtourism in cities such as Kyoto and Osaka, there are so many other lesser-visited places in Japan that welcome visitors. An excellent rail system with some of the world’s fastest trains makes day trips and weekend getaways a breeze.
Countries offering similar opportunities: South Korea, Taiwan and China.
Morocco
Morocco is a captivating country, home to walled cities and towns with labyrinthine medinas with atmospheric laneways and alleys, bustling souks selling everything from olives and argan oil to ottomans and carpets, splendid riads with courtyards with tinkling fountains and sunny rooftops, and tiled mosques with slender minarets.
Travellers who become as smitten with Morocco as we did on our first visit back in 1999, tend to find themselves researching how to buy a riad in Marrakech or Essaouira or looking online for work in Morocco when they get back home. These days it’s easier to get a job teaching English in Morocco than finding a riad that’s affordable.
While it comes as a surprise to many looking for jobs teaching English abroad that there are opportunities to teach English in Morocco, multilingual educations have long been provided at public schools, however, traditionally instruction was in Arabic, Berber and French, with English taught as a foreign language — and increasingly so.
As English skills are essential for careers in tourism, hospitality and trade, and desirable in science and technology, English has recently been introduced in public schools, with plenty of English teaching opportunities in private schools and language centres, especially in the cities of Casablanca, Rabat, Fez and Agadir, but also in the tourism mecca of Marrakech.
I’d happily live in anywhere in Morocco — Terence and I have travelled the length and breadth of Morocco, by bus, train, plane, and car, including driving from Marrakech to the edge of the Sahara on a Moroccan road trip with my mother — although Essaouira and Marrakech are the places that have most touched my soul on our Morocco trips.
But my pick of Moroccan destinations for teaching English if you’re looking for a chance to immerse yourself in local culture is Marrakech. Mainly because, despite being Morocco’s most popular tourist destination, it’s so easy to soak up Morocco’s rich culture and everyday life in Marrakech, especially in the medina, where you’ll find communal bakeries, steaming hammams and bustling local souks selling vegetables, cheeses, bread and pastries to the local community not tourists, as we found on Rue Bab Doukkala.
Bonus: While there’s so much to see and do in Marrakech and surrounds — you can spend weekends by the sea in Essaouira or Safi or head up to the Atlas Mountains — Morocco a big country with so many places to explore. From Marrakech, it’s just a 3-3.5 hour train ride to Casablanca and Rabat. But if you were to work in either of those cities, it’s just a 2-hour train ride from Casablanca to Tangier, and from Rabat it’s a 2-hour car or bus ride to Meknes.
Countries offering similar opportunities: Tunisia and Egypt.
Mexico
Mexico was our ultimate destination on our first trip abroad that took us via Tokyo, and we spent six weeks backpacking all over the country. We’ve since returned multiple times, on a stopover to Cuba, on my year of Master’s research in Latin America, and on that global grand tour that launched Grantourismo, and it remains one of our favourite countries.
So trust us when we say that Mexico is easily another of the best countries for teaching English abroad if you’re looking for an opportunity to immerse yourself in the culture — which, again, like our pick of the UAE, might surprise you, as Mexico has long been one of the world’s top travel hotspots and a popular place to retire for North Americans.
But Mexico has an extraordinarily rich heritage and its hybrid culture is a blend of indigenous culture — that of Mayans, Olmecs, Mixtecs, Aztecs (Mexica) and other peoples — Spanish colonial traditions and the Catholic religion with its many rituals and holy days, and even Asian influence, from the Philippines, China and Southeast Asia due to a long history of trade and immigration.
In the capital, Mexico City, these influences are felt everywhere. Stand in the centre of the Zócalo, the main square of the Centro Historico (historical centre) and you’re surrounded by history and culture: from the colossal Metropolitan Cathedral, dating to 1573, to the ruins of a sacred Aztec temple that the church is built upon, now partly excavated and on display at the Templo Mayor Museum.
That long history and richness of Mexico’s culture means that even in towns like San Miguel de Allende, a favourite retirement destination for Americans and Canadians, it’s still possible to experience Mexican culture, you just have to look a bit harder — or be in the right place at the right time, as we were when we stumbled across a Mexican wedding party.
Another way to immerse yourself in Mexican culture while you’re working in the country is to enrol in a course. For instance, San Miguel de Allende has a renowned art school, Terence did a Mexican cooking class and I had silver jewellery-making lessons. A Mexican-Spanish language course is obviously going to open a lot of doors.
But of course, taking a deep dive into Mexican culture is easier in Mexico City, especially if you settle into local barrios and avoid the expat neighbourhoods. And Mexico City, which has the highest concentration of international schools and language institutes, is where the best English teaching jobs are.
You’ll also find plenty of English teaching work in the modern cities of Guadalajara and Monterrey, although smaller cities and towns which are more traditional will provide more opportunities for deeper cultural immersion. Try Guanajuato, Puebla, Veracruz, Merida, and Oaxaca, which all have expat communities, but still remain essentially Mexican.
Bonus: You’ll never run out of destinations to discover in Mexico, and if you do find a job teaching English in Mexico City, you’ll never get bored in the capital. But there are plenty of places to visit a short distance from Mexico City for weekends away. On holidays you could venture further afield to Cuba, Belize, Guatemala, or Costa Rica, or start exploring South America.
Countries offering similar opportunities: Belize, Guatemala and Costa Rica.
Getting the Best Jobs Teaching English Abroad + More Tips
- Accredited TEFL qualifications are essential for getting a job teaching English abroad; don’t listen to anyone who tells you it’s enough that English is your native language;
- Other qualifications, such as a specialist degree will help set you apart and get you jobs at the top institutions;
- Overseas experience will get you a top job, especially study abroad; nobody wants to employ a person who might suffer culture shock and do a runner after a few weeks;
- Volunteer experience, at home or abroad, will also help get you a better teaching job;
- Apply for English teaching jobs online from your home country, as the top institutions provide return flights;
- Don’t leave home without having seen and signed a contract and obtained information about teaching hours, working conditions and benefits;
- Get the correct visa before travelling; good institutions will help with this process, providing the right documents and even staff to assist;
- Don’t go to countries on a tourist visa looking for work, which is illegal in most countries and could get you banned;
- Don’t work without a work permit, and again, good institutions will assist with this;
- Get travel insurance before leaving home, even if your employer is providing health insurance;
- Learn a little of the local language before you leave home and you’ll find yourself even more warmly welcomed;
- While deep cultural immersion might be your goal, take a few small mementoes, such as family photos you can get framed to make your accommodation feel like home.
If you’ve taught overseas we’d love to hear your top picks for the best countries for teaching English abroad for a more culturally immersive experience. Feel free to leave your recommendations and tips in the comments below.
