Questions to Ask Before Teaching Abroad
For teachers and TEFL graduates weighing an offer to teach in another country, while nothing is signed yet. The questions follow the order the conversation usually takes with a recruiter, a program or the school itself: the school and the timetable, pay, housing, the visa and the contract, then a last group for checking the school, which ends with what to ask a foreign teacher who works there now.
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The questions
Each question, and why to ask it
The school
Who would be my employer: the school itself, a government program or a recruiting agency?
Why ask it
The name on the contract is who owes you the salary and who sponsors the visa, and it is not always the people you have been emailing. If an agency employs you and places you in a school, ask who decides when the two disagree about your hours. A recruiter who only makes the introduction should say so plainly.
Which city and which school would I be placed in, and when is that confirmed?
Why ask it
Some programs hire first and place later, which is fine as long as you know it going in. What matters then is whether the placement is named in the contract and whether you can turn one down. 'Near the capital' can mean two hours away by bus, so get the school's address and look at it on a map.
What ages and levels would I teach, and how many students are in a class?
Why ask it
Kindergarten, teenagers preparing for exams and adults after work are three different jobs, and one offer sometimes holds all of them. For class size you want two figures, the usual and the largest. A recruiter who does not know is normal enough, but then the school has to answer before you sign.
How many teaching hours a week are in the contract, and how many hours must I be in the building?
Why ask it
These are two numbers, and offers often quote only the smaller. A clear answer gives both and says whether a teaching hour is sixty minutes or a shorter class period. Divide the salary by the larger number to see what the job pays for an hour of your time.
What does the weekly timetable look like: which days, what times, any split shifts?
Why ask it
Language centers tend to teach when their students are free, which can mean evenings and weekends, while day schools keep school hours. Either can suit you, but you should know which before you fly. Request a current teacher's real timetable, since a description leaves out the three-hour gap in the afternoon.
Is there a set curriculum with books and lesson plans, or would I write my own lessons?
Why ask it
A new TEFL graduate usually wants materials handed over, and a licensed teacher may want room to plan. The worrying answer is 'you have total freedom' with no books behind it, because that means unpaid evenings building a course from nothing. Find out how much planning time sits inside the paid hours.
Would I teach alone, or alongside a local co-teacher?
Why ask it
With a co-teacher, ask who leads the lesson and who deals with behavior and parents: the arrangement runs from a real partnership to standing at the back reading out vocabulary. If you would be alone with children who share no language with you, ask who is down the hall when a child is ill or upset.
How much of the local language would I need, in the classroom and outside the school?
Why ask it
Some schools want nothing but English in the room and others expect you to explain in the students' language, so learn which rule this one has. Outside is the larger matter: whether anyone on staff helps with a landlord, a pharmacy or a bank form in the first months. Where lessons are offered, find out who pays and when they fit around the timetable.
What training or orientation happens before my first class, and is it paid?
Why ask it
Good answers have a length and a content: a week of watching classes, a day on the books, someone to observe your first lessons. 'You will pick it up' is a reason to ask how the last new teacher got on. If the training must be repaid when you leave early, raise that again with the exit terms.
Apart from lessons, what else is expected: demo classes, placement tests, camps, parent events?
Why ask it
These are the duties that tend to appear after arrival. None is unreasonable in itself, but each should be named in the contract along with whether it counts toward your hours or is paid extra. School vacations need their own answer, since some schools run camps then and others close.
How is my teaching judged here: observations, test results, what parents and students say?
Why ask it
At a private language school the measure may be whether students sign up again, which rewards being liked as much as teaching well. Find out who observes, how often, and what follows a complaint from a parent. The same judgment decides renewal and can sit among the grounds for dismissal, so it is worth pinning down early.
Pay
What is the monthly salary, in which currency, and is the figure before or after tax?
Why ask it
Get one number you can check against a bank statement later. Recruiters sometimes quote the top of a range or a gross figure, and the gap to take-home pay varies widely from country to country. If the answer is a range, ask what decides where you would land in it.
What is taken out of my pay each month: tax, pension, insurance, housing, anything else?
Why ask it
A current teacher's payslip with the name covered answers this better than any explanation, and shows whether deductions are itemized at all. How a foreign teacher is taxed, and whether your home country also expects a return, depends on both countries, so the school can only tell you its half. Your own tax office has the other.
What does that salary cover in that city once rent, food and transport are paid?
Why ask it
Converting the salary into dollars says little about living on it. The useful figures are what a teacher at the school spends in a typical month and what is left at the end of it. If you have loan payments at home, work that sum out in your home currency, since it is the one cost the local prices do not shrink.
When and how am I paid, and how long after arrival is the first payday?
Why ask it
First pay can come a month or more after you land, and a bank account may need a residence document that takes weeks. How much money past teachers brought to cover that gap is the number to get. Pay in cash with no slip is something to raise with a current teacher.
Is the flight covered, and is it booked for me, refunded when I arrive or paid at the end of the contract?
Why ask it
All three count as 'flights included' in a job ad, and they are very different. Payment at the end means you front the fare and only get it back by finishing. The return flight, the cap on the fare and what you repay if you leave early are three more answers to collect.
Is there a completion bonus or severance at the end, and what would make me lose it?
Why ask it
In some countries an end-of-contract payment is set by law, and in others it is the school's own incentive, so ask which this is. Then get the conditions in writing: whether leaving a week early, or being dismissed, cancels all of it. Leave it out of the salary when you compare offers.
How is overtime paid, and can I refuse extra classes?
Why ask it
Listen for a rate and a limit. 'Everyone helps out when we are busy' is not a rate. If covering for absent teachers is expected, ask how often it happened last term and whether it was paid or swapped for time off.
Am I paid during school vacations, public holidays and weeks when classes are cancelled?
Why ask it
This matters most when pay is by the hour or by the class, where a quiet month means a thin paycheck, so ask what the lowest-paid month looked like for a teacher last year. On a fixed salary, you only need to know whether any closure is unpaid.
Do I pay anything to you or to the school: a placement fee, a deposit, training or uniform costs?
Why ask it
Ask the recruiter how they are paid for placing you. A fee charged to the teacher is not automatically a bad sign, since some programs sell placement and support as a package, but you should know what it buys and whether any of it comes back if the visa falls through. A deposit held against you finishing the contract deserves a hard look.
Housing
Is housing provided, is there an allowance, or do I find and pay for my own?
Why ask it
Each answer changes what the salary is worth, so price it before comparing offers. With an allowance, check whether it matches real rents near the school or was set years ago. With provided housing, ask whether declining it gets you the allowance instead.
Would I live alone or share, and with whom?
Why ask it
Sharing with other teachers from the same school is common in provided housing and suits some people well. The details decide it: how many people, whether the bedrooms lock, whether housemates can be of any gender. If a place of your own matters to you, say so now, while it can still be written in.
Can I see photos or a video of the actual apartment, and how far is it from the school?
Why ask it
Pictures of 'a typical teacher apartment' are not the one you will get. Besides the video, you want the neighborhood, the commute in minutes and what it costs each way. If the school cannot show the place because a teacher still lives in it, that teacher can take the video.
Who pays the deposit, utilities and internet, and what furniture is already there?
Why ask it
Upfront rental costs vary enormously between countries, and in some a deposit runs to many months of rent. One figure settles it: the total you would hand over in the first month. 'Furnished' needs defining too, because it can mean a bed and a fridge or bare walls.
If I rent on my own, who helps me find a place and sign the lease?
Why ask it
A lease in a language you cannot read is not something to sign alone. Good answers name a person: a staff member who comes to viewings, or an agent the school has dealt with before. Landlords in some places will not rent to a foreigner without a local guarantor, so find out whether that applies and who would act as one.
Who meets me at the airport, and where do I stay for the first few nights?
Why ask it
How this is handled is a fair preview of how organized the school is about everything else. A name, a phone number and a booked room is the good version. 'Take a taxi and message us' is workable for a seasoned traveler and a poor start for a first trip abroad, so get the address in the local script to show a driver.
If the job ends early, how long can I stay in the housing?
Why ask it
When the employer is also the landlord, losing one can mean losing both in the same week. The contract's wording is one answer, and what happened the last time a teacher left mid-year is the other. Whatever you hear, keep enough aside for a few weeks of rent and a flight.
Visa
Which visa would I be working on, and does it allow teaching at this particular school?
Why ask it
Get the visa's official name and look it up on the country's own immigration or embassy site. A plan to arrive as a tourist and 'convert later' may or may not be allowed there, and where it is not, you are the one working without permission. Have the school set out the steps in writing.
Who applies for the visa, and who pays each cost, including the ones on my side?
Why ask it
The school's share and yours are separate bills. Yours may include a background check, document legalization, courier fees, a trip to an embassy and a medical. Have them list each item with who pays, and whether anything is refunded after you arrive.
What does the visa require of me: a degree, a TEFL certificate, a teaching license, a certain passport?
Why ask it
Requirements can come from the school, from the program or from the country's immigration rules, and only the school's own can be waived by the school. If you are told a missing degree or certificate 'will not be a problem', ask which visa you would then hold. Read the official rule yourself before you pay for anything.
Which documents do I need, and must any be notarized, apostilled or authenticated?
Why ask it
Paperwork is usually what sets the start date. You need the exact list in writing, how recent a background check must be, and which steps can only be done in your home country. Start the slowest one the day the list arrives.
How long does it take from signing to a visa in my passport, and what start date is realistic?
Why ask it
The best measure is how long it took the last teacher they hired from your country. If the school needs you sooner than the paperwork allows, find out what they propose, and be wary if the answer is to start teaching before the visa is issued. Hold off on a flight you cannot change until the approval is confirmed.
Once I land, what paperwork is left: a residence card, registering an address, a bank account?
Why ask it
In many countries the visa in your passport is only the first step, with more to do in person inside a set number of days. Have the school say who goes with you to each office and whether those trips fall in paid time. Keep the deadlines in your own calendar too.
Is there a medical exam or a criminal record check, and what would rule me out?
Why ask it
What the medical tests for, where it is done and who sees the result are fair things to ask before you agree to one. If a health condition or a prescription might matter, read the country's official visa requirements before deciding what to tell a recruiter. Whether a medication may be brought into the country is a question for its embassy.
Is the visa tied to this employer, and what happens to it if I leave or am let go?
Why ask it
In many places a work visa belongs to one sponsor, which gives that employer a great deal of say over whether you can stay. Two facts to get: how many days you would have to leave or find a new sponsor, and whether the school must sign a release for you to work elsewhere. Then confirm both with the official source.
Who holds my passport and original degree during processing, and when do I get them back?
Why ask it
Immigration offices do sometimes need originals for days or weeks, so the handover itself can be ordinary. What you want is a date for their return. An employer who means to keep your passport or diploma for the whole contract is a reason to stop, and to ask the country's embassy whether that is allowed there.
Can my partner or children come with me, and could they work or go to school there?
Why ask it
Skip this if you are going alone. If not, ask it early, because dependent visas, school fees and whether an unmarried partner is recognized differ by country and can decide the whole move. The school's answer is a starting point, and the embassy's is the one to rely on.
Contract
What are the exact start and end dates, and does the contract cover a full year or the school year only?
Why ask it
A ten-month contract with a twelve-month lease leaves two months of rent and no salary. Check whether the dates include orientation, and whether the visa and the housing run to the same day. Mismatched dates are usually a mistake and easy to fix before signing.
How much notice must I give to leave early, and what would it cost me?
Why ask it
Have them add it up: flight repaid, bonus lost, training fees, any penalty clause, the deposit. People leave early for ordinary reasons, a parent's illness or a job that was not as described, and a contract that makes that ruinous is one to think hard about. Whether a penalty can be enforced depends on local law, so treat the figure as real unless someone qualified there tells you otherwise.
On what grounds can the school end the contract, and with how much notice or pay?
Why ask it
A fair answer lists reasons and a process, such as a written warning before dismissal. 'At the director's discretion' with no notice means the risk sits with you. Low enrollment is the ground to ask about by name, since it has nothing to do with how well you teach.
Is there a probation period, and what is different during it?
Why ask it
Find out whether pay, notice, housing or the flight refund change during probation, and who decides you have passed. A long probation in which you can be dismissed without notice, after moving across the world, calls for a follow-up on how often that has happened.
What health cover do I get, from which day, and what does it leave out?
Why ask it
It could be the national system, a private plan or travel insurance, and it could start when you land or only when a residence card arrives. The gap between those two dates is where teachers get caught, so arrange your own cover for it. Two practical follow-ups: what a doctor's visit costs out of pocket, and whether someone from the school can come along to interpret.
How many vacation and sick days do I get, and who decides when I take the vacation?
Why ask it
Twenty days you choose and twenty days fixed to the school's closures are different things if you hoped to travel or fly home for a wedding. Sick days have their own small print, such as a doctor's note or a limit on how many are paid. If a date matters, get it agreed in writing before you sign.
Is the contract in English, and if there are two versions, which one counts?
Why ask it
Where a contract exists in two languages, the two can differ, and it may be the local-language version that binds. If the one that governs is the one you cannot read, pay for an independent translation of at least the pay, hours and termination clauses.
Am I allowed to tutor privately or take a second job?
Why ask it
Two things can forbid it, the contract and the visa, and they are not always in step. A school that shrugs and says everyone does it is not the authority on your visa. Learn how the rule works there before you count side income in your budget.
Can I have the full contract, with every appendix, for a few days before I sign?
Why ask it
The answer should be yes without a pause. Pressure to sign today because 'the position is filling fast' is a sales tactic, and a school that wants you can usually wait a few days. Use the time to check that everything you were told by phone or message appears on the page.
What happens when the contract ends: renewal terms, a reference, and any release papers I would need?
Why ask it
Ask when renewal is discussed and whether pay changes in a second year. If you might move to another school in the same country, find out what document this employer must give you and whether they have ever refused one. It is far easier to ask now than in the final month.
Checking
Can you put me in touch with a foreign teacher who works there now, and one who has left?
Why ask it
This is the most useful request on the page. A school with nothing to hide passes on an email address within a day or two. Reluctance, or only ever offering the head teacher, tells you something, and a teacher who has left has the least reason to be polite.
How many foreign teachers work at the school, and how long do they usually stay?
Why ask it
Teachers renewing for a second and third year is about the best sign a school can give. Being the only foreigner is not a warning in itself, but ask who you would turn to and what the last one did when they needed help. Several teachers leaving mid-year in a row is a pattern, and the current teacher will often give you the number if the school will not.
How long has the school been open, and is it licensed to hire teachers from abroad?
Why ask it
Get the registered name and search it, in the local language if you can, on teacher forums and review sites. Treat one angry post with care and a run of similar ones seriously. Whether a school needs a particular license to sponsor foreigners depends on the country, so ask how it works there and where you can check.
Am I replacing someone, and did they finish their contract?
Why ask it
A teacher who completed the year and went home is the ordinary story. One who left in the second month is not damning, but the reason is worth hearing from the school and then, if you can, from the teacher. A brand-new post has its own catch: nobody has yet tested whether the hours and the housing work as written.
Have you visited this school yourself, and how many teachers have you placed there?
Why ask it
This one is for a recruiter, who may know the school only by email. That is not dishonest, but it limits what a reassurance from them is worth. One who has sent several teachers there can say how those placements went and may connect you with one. If you would be the first, lean harder on the contract and the call with a teacher.
Has the school always paid you in full and on the day it was due?
Why ask it
Put this to the teacher first, by a call or message that does not run through the school's own accounts. Late pay tends to be the complaint that comes before the others. If it happened once and was fixed with an apology, fine. If they hesitate, ask how late and how often.
How does your real week at the school compare with the hours in your contract?
Why ask it
Have your own offer open and read the teacher the numbers. You are listening for unpaid extras: meetings, weekend events, covering classes. A teacher who says the school sticks to the page has told you something worth more than any clause.
What were you told before you came that turned out to be different?
Why ask it
Nearly every teacher has an answer, and its size is what counts. A smaller apartment than the photos is a shrug. A different city, a different age group or a salary that changed after arrival is a gap to take back to the recruiter and ask about by name.
When you or another teacher raised a problem, what did management do?
Why ask it
You want the last real case: a broken heater, a pay error, a class that grew too large. How fast it was fixed, and whether the teacher paid for speaking up, shows how the year would feel. The story also tells you who at the school gets things done.
Are you staying another year, and would you tell a friend to take this job?
Why ask it
Keep this for last, once the teacher has relaxed. A plain yes is rare and valuable. 'It depends what you want' is honest too, so ask what kind of person the job suits and see whether that is you.
How to question a teaching job abroad before you sign
Practical guidance for the conversation itself
Before you ask
Know who you are talking to
A recruiter is paid to fill the post and may never have seen the school. A program coordinator knows the rules and the visa but not your classroom. The school's director or head teacher knows the timetable and the apartment. Push the questions under The school and Housing as close to the school as you can, send the Visa questions to whoever files the paperwork, and take the second half of Checking to the teachers themselves.
Read the country's own visa page first
Before the first call, find the official immigration or embassy page for the visa that foreign teachers work on there. You do not need to master it. Knowing the visa's name and its basic requirements lets you hear when an answer does not fit, and saves the call for what is not published.
Work out your own numbers
Write down what the job has to do for you: payments you owe at home, what you hope to save, and the money you can bring to cover the weeks before the first payday. A salary is good or bad only against that list, and it stops a free flight from distracting you from a thin monthly figure.
Decide what would end it
Pick the three or four answers that would rule a job out for you, such as teaching before the visa is issued, shared housing or weekend classes, and ask those first. There is little point discussing the apartment for a post you would not take.
During the conversation
Spread the questions across the process
The whole list in one email reads as an interrogation and gets a short reply. The school and Pay fit a first conversation. Housing and Visa belong once an offer looks likely, Contract when the draft arrives, and Checking in the days before you sign, once the school has passed on a teacher's contact.
Follow every call with a message
A call is good for tone and poor as a record. Afterwards, send a short message listing what you understood: salary, hours, housing, flights, dates. Ask them to confirm or correct it. That message is what you later hold the contract against, line by line.
Ask for the document, not the description
A real timetable, a payslip with the name covered, a video of the apartment and the contract with its appendices each answer several questions at once. A recruiter who says 'I will check' deserves a few days. If nothing comes, ask again, and notice which documents never arrive.
Talk to teachers away from the school
Ask for a personal email or messaging contact. A call set up on the school's account with a manager nearby gets polite answers. Open by saying you will not repeat anything with their name on it, keep it to twenty minutes, and thank them: they are doing a stranger a favor.
Reading the answers
Checkable beats warm
A friendly recruiter with no figures has told you less than a brisk one who gives hours, dates and an address. Sort what you hear into things you could verify and things you could not, and count only the first pile.
'It depends' can be the right answer
On visas, tax, insurance and what a contract clause is worth in court, the true answer depends on the country and sometimes on your passport. A recruiter who says so and points you to the official source is doing the job well. One who answers every legal question instantly and reassuringly is the one to double-check.
Compare three accounts
By the end you have the recruiter's version, the contract's and a teacher's. Where they differ, the contract is what you can hold the school to and the teacher's account is what you would live with. Take each difference back to the school and ask for the contract to be changed, not for a reassurance.
One flaw or three
One slow reply or an apartment smaller than you hoped is not a reason to walk away. Vague answers about the visa, pressure to sign quickly and no teacher to speak to, all in the same offer, are. Schools abroad differ as much as schools at home, and turning one down does not end the search.
Mistakes to avoid
Trusting a promise that is not in the contract
The person who promised you a private apartment by video call may not be there when you land. If it matters, ask for it to be added to the contract or an appendix. A school that agrees in a message but will not write it down has answered the question.
Comparing salaries and nothing else
A higher salary with no housing, a flight paid only at the end and ten more hours a week can be the worse offer. Put each job on one line: take-home pay, rent, flights, hours on site, vacation. Then compare the lines.
Skipping the exit terms
Most people read the pay clause closely and skim the part about leaving, because nobody plans to leave. Read notice, penalties and what happens to the visa and the housing as carefully as the salary. They are the terms you will need on the worst day of the year.
Arriving with no reserve
However good the answers were, bring enough to cover the weeks before the first payday and a ticket home. It turns a bad surprise into an inconvenience, and it means you can say no to something after you arrive.