One Career that Anyone Could Do Anywhere to Bless the Nations
I want to tell you about ONE career that almost anyone could do almost anywhere—that would bless the nations with least access to Jesus.
Billions of people want you do this—so they can get a better job, a better life for themselves, and their whole family.
Billions of people NEED you to do this (or something like it), so they can hear the good news of the Kingdom of God through YOU.
You have everything you need to do this one thing—because you know English!
That’s right. If you simply learned to teach conversational English, you could offer practical HELP to people from other countries moving into your city—and to many on the other side of the world.
Here’s four reasons why learning to teach conversational english is a great idea:
This could be you…on your way to teach English to someone in somewhere like…Jordan!
One: Billions of people want to learn English.
Since people from unreached people groups across the street and around the world want to learn English, you have a natural way to practically improve their everyday life—and offer them hope for the life to come.
When resettled refugees or immigrants enter western countries to live, they need to learn English in order to get jobs, and start their new lives after significant loss.
Also, think about the International Students studying in western countries. They often enter knowing how to read and write. But they eagerly seek out chances to practice speaking, learning slang, and becoming fluent.
English is the language of business around the world. In non-western urban centers, where many unreached people groups live and work, learning English creates economic and educational opportunities some can only dream about.
In countries where people with the least access to Jesus live, you as a foreigner need a valid visa in order to live there. You can’t just move to India or Saudi Arabia on a whim (or on a religious visa).
But these countries welcome business people with a plan to create jobs for locals, or somehow improve the economy in ways that locals could not do.
Offering English does both. For that matter, so does offering Spanish, Mandarin, or some other major world language if you are fluent in that language.
Two: You could get paid.
My intuition says (and this may just be me) the days of raising full support through friends and family in order to work in a non-profit or ministry setting might be shifting.
It’s a smart idea to grow in a skill that’s valuable enough to create a revenue stream for yourself. When we offer something valuable in the workplace, getting paid is perfectly honorable and reasonable.
You could get paid for teaching conversational English in a couple of different ways.
First, online English language schools are hiring teachers who speak fluent English to tutor their students. It’s all online. So students from China or Indonesia log in and meet with English teachers in America or Australia. If you’re not moving overseas anytime soon, this is an easy way to automatically make friends with people in countries with unreached people groups.
Second, English language schools overseas love to hire native English speakers. You’re not going to get rich doing this, but that’s not the point, right? These schools often pay enough for a single person to live in that country reasonably, and often throw in free housing and sometimes a trip every year back to their home country. Most foreigners can live in a country for this purpose on an employment visa. You’re not taking a local person’s job, because you’re likely the only native English speaker around, so you’ll be welcome.
Third, you could open an English language center as a business. Already established kingdom-minded schools will offer you training and the offer to franchise a branch of their school. In this way, you can copy a model that’s already profitable. It eliminates much of the struggle for foreigners opening brand new businesses as entrepreneurs. You would enter the country on a business visa—eagerly welcomed by locals because you’re creating more jobs for locals. Yes, these type of businesses create jobs because you’ll hire and train local teachers to teach English too, and run the business.
Three: There’s room for different skills and gifting.
You might say, but I’m not a teacher and I don’t like grammar!
To this I’ll answer with two things.
First, give it a try if you’ve never tried it. You’re working with other adults, usually not children, so it’s different than teaching a kindergarten class. You may find it’s not what you thought. You might discover that you didn’t need to be a natural “teacher-type” to help others practice conversational English. You just need to speak English, be willing to learn a particular teaching method, and be relational.
I’ve seen facilitators run classes that complement their personality. If they’re structured and organized, their class tends to be structured and organized too. If they’re creative and whimsical—their class ends up creative and whimsical too.
Second, if you elect to open your own business and you don’t particularly desire to teach, you don’t have to be the main teacher.
Yes, you may need to teach a class or two. But you could be the business owner that’s hiring, training employees, and managing operations. Or perhaps you’re more interested in the community aspect of running a center like this. Maybe you hire university students from the United Kingdom to come teach in the summers. You could concentrate on offering marriage, parenting, or wellness classes for the community—or set up community social events around common interests.
FOUR: You’ll have access to lots of people.
The most compelling reason to consider teaching English to the nations, is that it fits well with asking God for a movement of disciples who follow Jesus. One of the main ideas in disciple-making movements is to constantly look through many people to find the people that are ready. The people of peace that could open the door for many to come to faith.
English language classes are cyclical, and many students come through the doors of a class. And yet, a semester of classes is enough time to see someone repeatedly. It’s enough time to sow seeds of the Kingdom of God, to uncover the people who are interested.
When you teach English in the class, you will teach English. Period. And you’ll do it well, so that they learn English.
At the same time, you’ll be hanging out with students after class, visiting their families, and mentoring them in more than just English.
Often, schools will hold optional group discussions to practice talking about deeper things, like purpose, death, or the meaning of life. Since you are a follower of Jesus who is constantly ‘spiritually salting’ your conversations to see who might be interested, and you watch to see how students answer these questions, you’ll have enough time to find people who’s hearts are receptive.
These special people chosen by God, are ready to open the doors of the Kingdom of God to their relational networks. It only takes one person to do this. But it might take searching through hundreds, even thousands, of students, to find these people of peace that God already prepared.
What would I need to do to pursue this idea?
One: Start volunteering Now.
If you live in your home country, you can start practicing conversational
English as a second language right now, without any certifications or training.
Start with your local university.
Search online for faith-based international student organizations, such as International Students Inc (ISI), International Friendship Inc (IFI), or the International Student branches of Navigators, Cru, InterVarsity, or Youth With a Mission (YWAM), to name a few. Contact them and tell them you’re interested in helping students practice their English. Chances are high they have a program that matches volunteers to students, to practice English.
Try to also search online for refugee resettlement agencies in your area.
Non-profits such as World Relief, Lutheran Social Services, Catholic Charities, or International Rescue Committe (IRC) often offer English classes for their newly arrived refugees from countries like Iraq, Somalia, Syria, and Sudan. Your local church might also be welcoming resettled refugees as a ministry. If so, they will certainly offer English conversation classes.
Lastly, if you know any people recently arriving in your home country, or someone who’s been there awhile but cannot find a good job because their English skills are lacking, offer to be their friend. Simply tell them that you’d like to spend time with them talking, to help them gain confidence in English. They will be so grateful and you will offer them an invaluable service, just by talking with them.
Two: Get online training.
Most reputable schools hiring people to teach English as a second language ask for a special certification, which can be taken online for a reasonable cost in a short period of time.
Yes, some countries and schools will also ask you to hold a Bachelors degree in any subject. But not all of them require this, so don’t despair if you don’t have a college degree.
A great start is to search online for how to become certified to teach English to those whose first language is not English. I googled a few phrases and within five minutes stumbled on this great website. I don’t know this organization, but the information was super easy to understand and I wanted to show you how easy it is to search.
Before I moved overseas, I signed up for a certification course at my local public university that required six Saturdays of my time, and about a thousand American dollars. I wanted to be prepared to serve in any way possible, and I knew this could be an option. I’m glad I did it.
I recommend researching all of these certifications to see which one fits your desired situation.
TEFL (Teaching English as a Foreign Language): TEFL is an internationally-recognized qualification to teach English abroad, that can be online or classroom-based, to both children and adults. It’s a 100 to 150 hour professional certification that’s highly regarded in most foreign countries.
TESL (Teaching English as a Second Language): TESL is the qualification you need to teach English to foreign-language speakers living in a native-English speaking country. For example, you’re a Canadian wanting to teach a Chinese student studying English in Canada.
TEOSL (Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages): A TESOL certification is for anyone looking to teach in both non-native and English speaking countries. It’s a higher level degree so is a larger investment of time and resources.
CELTA (Certificate in Language Teaching to Adults): A certification for people to learn how to teach any language to adults in any country. It’s generally the “branded” version of TEOSL, and is connected with Cambridge University.
Research your options, save up some money, and sign up! Even if you’re considering this as a possibility in the far future, getting the certification is a great learning opportunity for you. It might set you up to bless the nations, just by holding this certification.
ThreE: Apply for a job.
Alright. You know how to apply for a job.
So, look for opportunities to teach English to non-English speakers, just like you would research any career you’re considering, starting with a simple online search.
For example, I just searched for “Teach English online to people in India”. I could have spent hours in the first few links I found, immersed in a playground of do-able and fun options!
When you find a great option, find out what they require. Put your best self forward, and apply with a great resume, the certifications they’re asking for, and any experience you have (hopefully you’ve been volunteering!).
Here’s another tip. If you wish to move overseas with kingdom purpose, be strategic in your searching.
Look for jobs near the team you’re already considering joining. Or look for jobs where the people group your heart is drawn to reach, lives. (Then look for kingdom-minded people to join there as you apply for the job).
Also, if you’re not moving overseas, you can still teach English and bless the nations.
I have friends who teach conversational English to students all over the world, right from the comfort of their couch. During this pandemic, this certainly makes sense.
Stay-at-home moms are talking to young adult Muslims in Dhaka every day at 5:00am, while their babies sleep in the room next to them—and making $12 an hour while they do it. Singles and university students are logging in at 9pm after a day’s work to talk to Secular Buddhist business people in China.
How cool is that?!
Okay! You now know FOUR great reasons that teaching conversational English could bless the nations—both across the street and around the world. Billions want to learn English. You could get paid. There’s room for different skills and giftings. And you’ll have access to lots of people.
You also now know THREE steps to start pursuing this idea. Start volunteering. Get online training. And find a job.
What step do YOU need to take next? Just do it!
Who do you know that needs to know this information? Just share this!