How to Travel While Still Making Money

This post is for those people who love to travel but is a little concerned about money. If you're like me, then you probably only work part-time jobs that give no benefits. What this also means is that you don't get paid time off (PTO). So, whenever you want to take a vacation longer than two days, you're pretty much screwed that month. When Nick asked me to come to Japan with him one of the conditions was that I needed to help out with groceries. I was getting a free place to stay and he's paying for well over half of our activities. The least I could do is help with groceries. But, how in the world am I supposed to get a job in Japan?!

I, however, found a wonderful solution to my problem. Teaching English online. Not only is this a great solution for my Japan living situation, but it is also going to allow me to travel to other places while still being able to make money. Now, a little disclaimer: This will only work if you plan on traveling to semi-luxury places. What I mean by this is that you'll need to have a quiet space and high-speed internet available. So, this probably isn't for the backpacker staying in hostels or camping outside.

There, however, are also other requirements than just good internet. In order to teach English online, you must acquire a teaching English as a foreign language certificate. Don't worry, this was probably one of the easiest classes I have ever taken, and the course isn't all that expensive. They also require you to either be working on your bachelor's degree or already have it. So, unfortunately, this isn't for those who decided to go straight into the workforce after high school. But if you're someone who is in college or have already graduated, and love to travel, but long vacations are financially hard for you, then this is the thing for you.

This has definitely been one of the best decisions I have made. I get to either sit at home or sit in my hotel rooms hundreds of miles from my home, teaching children how to speak English. The company that I work for specifically works with Chinese students. With this company, you are more so a tutor than an actual teacher, which honestly I find even better. Since we are just tutors, this means they are already being taught the curriculum in their actual schools. What this also means is that you don't need to know a lick of their language. In fact, they prefer you and the students to only speak English during their sessions.

Now I'm not saying you shouldn't try to at least learn some Chinese. In fact, in your tutor portal, they provide resources, one being a lesson plan for yourself to learn basic Chinese. This definitely comes in handy when you get a student that knows very little English and is having a hard time understanding your directions.

One of the many things I love about this company is that there is very little preparation time for classes. This means more time planning trips! The schools provide everything you need. You just click a button to open the courseware and there it all is. The only thing you really need to prepare is warm-up games. I usually like playing games like: "what is this?", the alphabet game, word association, and Simon says. "What is this?" and Simon says are definitely the two favorites.

Not only is teaching online a great way to earn money while getting to travel, but it's also honestly very rewarding. You get to make a difference in these children's lives. Seeing the same kids every week you really start to get to know them. You can tell when they're having a great day and you can tell when they've had a not so good day. And hopefully, you can make their day a little better. For some of these students coming to these tutoring sessions is the highlight of their week. It's a win-win situation for you and the students.

If you're someone who loves to travel but can't afford to take time off work, or even if you don't want to travel and just want to earn a little extra money working from home see down below. There are many TEFL programs as well as other English teaching companies out there. Feel free to browse around for the one that works best for you, but these are the ones I used:

http://www.teflen.com/

http://tutor.alo7.com/ALO7_recruitment?invitor=2887