Teach English Abroad: TEFL, Salaries, and What the Job Actually Pays
A 120-hour TEFL certificate costs about as much as three weeks of travel and opens a year-long contract, a local salary, and an actual lease. Here is what each rung of the certification ladder buys, and what four teaching markets pay once rent is out of the way.
See the certification ladderAt a glance
- Teaching is the only option in the working-abroad set that pays a real wage on a set schedule and supports a full year in one place, not a working holiday’s six to twelve months or a volunteer placement’s room-and-board trade.
- The certificate you hold decides the job: no certificate limits you to informal online tutoring, a 120-hour TEFL with practicum opens language-school and public-school contracts across most of Asia, and a CELTA opens international schools and higher-paying private academies.
- Teaching pays best relative to local cost of living in Vietnam and Czechia right now, not in the countries with the highest headline salary.
A first contract in Hanoi pays roughly four times the local minimum wage for twenty hours a week in front of a classroom, and that gap between salary and cost of living is the entire reason teaching sits at the top of the working-abroad set. It is the one option that funds a real apartment, a real routine, and a full year on one visa instead of stitching together savings between shorter stints. The certificate decides which door opens. A weekend online course gets a foot into informal tutoring. A 120-hour course with supervised teaching practice gets a real language-school contract. A CELTA gets into international schools and the academies that pay the most per hour.
None of that requires a teaching degree or classroom experience going in. What it requires is picking the right rung of the certification ladder before spending money on a course, then picking a market where the salary actually clears the cost of living rather than just matching it. Bangkok pays more on paper than Prague; Prague keeps more of it after rent.
The certification ladder
Four rungs, four different jobs
Each certificate opens a different tier of work. Course prices below are in order of magnitude, not a quote: the same course type varies by provider, country, and whether it includes in-person teaching practice.
No certificate
Informal tutoring, conversation-practice apps, and cash-in-hand private lessons. No visa sponsorship attached, no contract, and pay set by the platform or the student rather than by a school.
Online TEFL, self-paced, no practicum
A weekend-length online course with no supervised teaching hours. Enough to satisfy the minimum paperwork requirement for some language schools and most online-tutoring platforms, but not enough for stronger school-hiring markets that ask for in-person practice.
120-hour TEFL with in-person teaching practice
The certificate most Southeast and East Asian language schools and government placement programs actually ask for, because it includes graded classroom practice, not just video lessons. This is the rung most first-time teachers land on, and it is the one worth budgeting real money for.
CELTA or an equivalent university-affiliated certificate
A month-long, intensive, examined course, usually taken in person, that carries far more weight with international schools, university language centers, and the highest-paying private academies. It costs more than a standard TEFL and takes a bigger block of time up front, and it is the certificate that raises the ceiling rather than just clearing the floor.
Salary against cost of living, four markets
The headline salary is the wrong number to compare across countries. What matters is what is left after rent, food, and transport, and that gap moves the ranking around. Treat these as typical ranges reported by teachers and recruiters in each market, not fixed figures: a specific school, city, and qualification level shifts them in either direction.
A typical language-school salary runs several times the local cost of a one-bedroom apartment outside the city center, which is why Vietnam shows up repeatedly as the market where a first-year teacher saves the most.
Salaries sit below the Asian and Gulf markets in absolute terms, but Prague’s cost of living outside the historic center is low enough that a language-school wage still covers a genuine European lifestyle with room to save.
Public-school and government-program salaries cover a comfortable single-person budget in Bangkok, including a private room and regular meals out, but rarely leave much beyond that once a normal social life is factored in.
Language-assistant and academy pay in Madrid is modest by Western European standards and Madrid rent has climbed faster than teaching wages, so most teachers here stack part-time private lessons on top of a base contract to make the numbers work.
Institute pay is lower than the Asian markets in absolute dollars, but Bogota’s cost of living is low enough that a full-time language-institute schedule still covers rent, food, and transport with a modest margin left over.
Four markets, closer up
Every market below asks for a different baseline certificate and a different level of paperwork. Vietnam, the hero market for this page, pays the best relative to cost of living of any of them: Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City run almost entirely on private language-center contracts, most asking for a 120-hour TEFL and a bachelor’s degree, with visa sponsorship handled by the school once the contract is signed.
Bangkok, Thailand
A mix of private language centers, international chain schools, and the government-run teaching program that places graduates in public schools across the country. A 120-hour TEFL and a bachelor’s degree cover most postings; the government program adds background checks and a longer application window.
A degree is required almost everywhere; a teaching license is not, though it strengthens an application at the better-paying international schools.
Madrid, Spain
Language academies, private lessons, and the official language-assistant program that places native or fluent speakers in public schools for a school year. The assistant program does not require a TEFL certificate; academy work usually does, and pays more per hour than the assistant stipend.
EU citizens skip most of the visa paperwork; everyone else needs the assistant program’s own visa option or a sponsoring academy, which is harder to find than in Asia.
Prague, Czechia
Private language schools and corporate in-house English programs, both of which tend to prefer a TEFL over no certificate but rarely demand the full CELTA. Corporate contracts pay more per hour and cluster around business English rather than general conversation.
A bachelor’s degree is standard practice rather than a strict legal requirement, and non-EU citizens generally need a sponsoring school before applying for the visa.
Bogota, Colombia
Private language institutes and corporate English programs aimed at Bogota’s business sector, plus a smaller pool of bilingual-school positions. A TEFL certificate is usually enough; a degree is often preferred but not universally required at the institute level.
Institutes typically handle the work-visa sponsorship for full-time contracts, which is worth confirming before accepting an offer that only mentions a tourist-visa start.
Beyond English
Teaching German, French, Spanish, or your own native language
English carries the biggest job market by a wide margin, but it is not the only language worth teaching abroad. German, French, and Spanish all have their own certification tracks and demand pockets: German through institutes tied to Germany’s own language-certification system, French through the network of state-affiliated language centers abroad, and Spanish through the equivalent Spanish-government-linked institutes that operate across several continents. Each pays through the same structure as English teaching: a certificate opens a school contract, and native or near-native fluency plus a recognized qualification matters more than a general teaching background.
Teaching your own native language, outside the big four, usually runs through a different channel entirely: private tutoring platforms, community language schools in cities with a large diaspora, or informal lessons arranged directly with expats and locals who want a specific language rather than English. A Dutch speaker teaching Dutch to relocating expats, or a Polish speaker tutoring Polish to a partner’s family, rarely needs a certificate at all, since the market is small enough that a demonstrated ability to teach clearly matters more than a piece of paper. Pay tends to be lower and less structured than an English-teaching contract, and it works best as a side income alongside another working-abroad option rather than the main plan.
Teaching online instead of moving
Online teaching solves a different problem than the country-based jobs above: it keeps the income moving with you rather than tying it to one city, which matters if the plan is several countries in a year rather than one long stay. Most online platforms pay per lesson or per hour rather than a fixed contract salary, and a 120-hour TEFL with practicum, not the cheapest weekend course, tends to unlock the better-paying platforms and the students willing to pay more per session.
What it does not solve is timezone alignment. A platform serving mostly one country’s students means teaching hours anchored to that country’s evenings, which can mean very early mornings or very late nights depending on where the trip actually is. Rates have also come under pressure as more teachers compete for the same platform slots, so online income tends to run lower and less predictable than a school contract’s fixed monthly pay. It pairs well with the flexibility of remote work and digital nomad life, and the same connectivity and time-zone planning applies to both.
What you need to arrange before the first class
A work visa, not a tourist stamp
Teaching on a tourist visa is a violation in most countries, even when a school is willing to hire that way to save on paperwork. A legitimate school sponsors the correct work-authorised category once a contract is signed; a school that asks a new hire to “sort out the visa later” is usually the one worth turning down.
A legalized diploma, where it is asked for
Several of the strongest teaching markets require a bachelor’s degree to be authenticated, sometimes through an apostille and sometimes through the destination country’s embassy, before a work visa gets approved. That process can take weeks and needs the original document, so it is worth starting before booking a flight, not after landing.
A contract that spells out hours and holiday
Teaching contracts vary widely in how many hours count as “full-time,” whether prep time and grading are paid, and how much paid holiday comes with a full-year placement. Ask for the exact weekly teaching-hour count and the holiday allowance in writing before accepting, since a vague verbal promise rarely survives the first term.
Insurance that covers a working stay
Standard travel insurance is built for a two-week holiday and often excludes paid work outright. A year-long teaching contract needs a policy that names employment as covered, and many schools include local health coverage as part of the package, which is worth confirming rather than assuming. The travel insurance guide breaks down which policy types actually cover a working stay.
Partner program
Global Work & Travel
There are two ways to arrange a TEFL placement: research schools and visas independently, or pay a program to place the course, the job, and the paperwork together. Doing it yourself is cheaper. A guided program like Global Work & Travel mostly buys back the time spent comparing schools and visa options from a different country, and removes the uncertainty of arranging a course, a job, and housing before the flight is booked.
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Keep planning
The rest of the working-abroad set
Common questions
01How do I start teaching English abroad?
Pick a certificate level first, then a market. A 120-hour TEFL with in-person teaching practice covers most language-school and public-school hiring across Asia, and takes a few weeks to complete either online or in-country. From there, schools generally handle the work-visa sponsorship once a contract is signed, so the certificate and a legalized degree are the two things worth arranging before applying, not after an offer arrives.
02Is TEFL or TESOL better?
The two names are used almost interchangeably in most job listings, and what actually matters to a school is the course’s hour count and whether it included supervised teaching practice, not which acronym sits on the certificate. A 120-hour course with a practicum component under either name clears the bar most language schools set; a short, practice-free course under either name does not.
03Is a TEFL certificate worth it?
For anyone planning to teach in a school rather than tutor informally, yes: it is the document that unlocks visa-sponsored contracts in the strongest teaching markets, and the salary difference between a certified and uncertified teaching job usually covers the course cost within the first month or two on the ground. For someone only interested in casual online tutoring, a full course is less essential, though it still tends to open higher-paying platforms.
04How do I become an English teacher abroad without a teaching degree?
Most language-school jobs do not require a teaching degree, only a bachelor’s degree in any subject plus a TEFL or equivalent certificate. Public-school placement programs and international schools are the exception, since several of those do prefer or require an education-specific background. Checking the specific requirement per program before applying saves time, since it varies more by country and school type than by any general rule.
05Can I teach English online instead of moving abroad?
Yes, and it is the version of this option that travels with you rather than anchoring you to one city, which matters for a multi-country trip. It trades a fixed monthly salary for per-lesson pay that has come under downward pressure as more teachers compete for the same platform slots, and it ties working hours to whichever timezone the students are in, which can mean early mornings or late nights depending on the route.
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