Reach To Teach in the News

Here you can find featured news articles about Reach To Teach in the media. Enjoy!

– Teaching abroad after uni: A guide for grads. Think teaching abroad could be for you, but haven’t a clue where to start? Here’s what you need to know before booking that flight.

Teachers can easily leave South Korea with £5,000-6,000 in savings, depending on how they live throughout the year,” says Carrie Kellenberger, owner of international recruitment agency Reach to Teach. She also recommends China for graduates looking to save money during their first year abroad. “Schools in China typically offer flights and accommodation, among other perks,” she says.

A Reach To Teach teacher was recently featured in an article by the UK based news agency, The Guardian. Graduate careers: Eastern promise – There are more benefits to teaching in Asia than simply learning a new language – you’ll also pick up many skills valuable to potential employers on your return.

Mitch Gordon, was  interviewed about teaching English abroad by KGBI news in Washington.

Reach To Teach featured in a CNN article about the large increase recent graduates planning to teach English abroad.

Reach to Teach…has seen more than a 100 percent increase in applications in the last six months, with 3,784 applicants compared to 1,488 during the same six-month period last year. The application system doesn’t track U.S. applicants separately, but Gordon estimates more than 70 percent are from the United States. Gordon said he believes the recession is the primary reason for the steady increase in applicants, and the increase has made the program more competitive.

A feature article about the Reach To Teach program in Binghamton University magazine: BU Article PDF (Click to Download)

Matt Kepnes, author of Nomadic Matt, has personally endorsed Reach To Teach’s services in his popular book How To Teach English Overseas.

Included in this book is an interview with Carrie Kellenberger from the Reach to Teach, a premier job placement firm. In our exclusive interview, Carrie gives advice on how to present yourself at interviews, what to include on your resume, deal contracts, what schools look for in new teachers, and how to find the best jobs out there. This interview will give you the real low down on the hiring process. Carrie was an English teacher in Taiwan for years and has placed teachers throughout Asia and Europe.

Susan Griffith’s popular book on Teaching English Abroad is now in its 13th edition. In it, Susan writes about the benefits of going with an organization like Reach To Teach Recruiting.

With more and more people considering teaching English as a foreign language, this guide offers extensive and essential information for anyone wishing to teach the English language abroad. It covers every aspect you will need to know, from finding a job before you go, to how to deal with any problems that arise. Up-to-date information includes a directory of more than 380 courses for training as an EFL teacher, 1,150 language school addresses to contact for jobs and a list of recruitment organisations and useful websites. Teaching English Abroad also contains a country-by-country guide, which covers more than 70 countries around the world, and details both long and short-term placements, for trained and untrained teachers.

GOABROAD: Interview with Carrie Kellenberger at Reach To Teach Recruiting

2017

“Carrie was first connected with Reach to Teach through her own teaching placement in 2006. After teaching with Reach to Teach for three years and remaining involved with the organization after, she joined the team full time as Co-President. Her personal experience as a Reach to Teach teacher is invaluable to the team, as well as current and future participants, since she knows exactly what they are going through. With over seven years of experience recruiting ESL teachers, Carrie has worked with hundreds of teachers in a multitude of countries, from China to Singapore to The Republic of Georgia and the UAE.”

Bridge TEFL Universe: Will English Language Teachers Be Traveling Again in 2022? 

October 14, 2021 by Michele DeBella

“Some recruiters fared better in part because of the range of countries they work with.

“Everyone has been impacted by the pandemic, but one of the pros we have going for us is that we have several programs, so we’ve been able to continue placing teachers since the start of the pandemic,” said Carrie Kellenberger, owner and co-president of Reach To Teach Recruiting, an agency that places teachers in Asian countries.

South Korea is a longtime popular destination for teachers due partly to the abundance of jobs and the appealing benefits that come with them, such as a bonus upon contract completion or renewal.

Reach To Teach Recruiting, which is in partnership with the Ministry of Education-affiliated English Program in Korea (EPIK), had to wait for the country to reopen in 2020 but is now actively placing teachers.

“We’ve got hundreds of positions available in South Korea right now,” said Kellenberger.

TEFL hot spots in Southeast Asia are suffering as well, something Reach To Teach has seen the effects of.

“Vietnam has had a lot of ups and downs over the past two years,” said Kellenberger. “We haven’t been able to send many teachers there due to numerous outbreaks.”

Is it currently possible to teach in China?

Reach to Teach Recruiting felt it was safer to halt their program in China early in 2020.

“In hindsight, we’re glad we did that, because it looks like the ESL industry in China is in trouble, especially with recent news of online teaching companies being shut down,” said Kellenberger.

She is referring to a July announcement that the government has banned foreign tutors based outside of China from teaching via online platforms such as VIPKid.

Reach To Teach Recruiting has seen a similar upward pattern in South Korea, as well as in Taiwan.

“Since Korea and Taiwan are seen as relatively safe countries, we’ve actually seen a jump in the number of applicants that are applying,” Kellenberger said. “We have been able to place several hundred teachers in both countries over the last two years.”

However, in order to get a May 2021 outbreak under control, Taiwan closed its borders and some teachers who were supposed to arrive over the summer have not, as of yet, been able to enter the country.

“Taiwan is an extremely safe teaching destination, but the government is concerned about the Delta variant running rampant in other countries around the world, and thus has decided to keep borders closed until we reach our vaccination percentage,” Kellenberger said. “We’re closing in on that percentage quickly.”

What role do recruiters play in whether ELTs will teach abroad?

Prior to arrival, they help teachers find quarantine hotels and spend time with them on video calls answering questions. They’ve also written guides and informational pamphlets to keep teachers up to date on the latest COVID-19 related requirements.

English teacher recruitment companies generally highlight the level of support they provide to their teachers. That is a major role they play and a reason why people utilize their services instead of trying to find jobs on their own.

Perhaps recruiters are more important now than ever, as they help teachers navigate testing and vaccination requirements and quarantine protocols, in addition to the mountains of paperwork that have always existed for those who want to teach abroad.

The level of support that recruiters provide comes in many forms.

Consistent communication is also vital for Reach To Teach Recruiting. Prior to arrival, they help teachers find quarantine hotels and spend time on video calls with them answering questions. They’ve also written guides and informational pamphlets to keep teachers up to date on the latest COVID-19 related requirements.

“The feedback we’ve received from our teachers who came to Taiwan or South Korea in 2020 and 2021 is that they’re happy and pleased to be here,” said Kellenberger. “They are enjoying life in Asia. There’s plenty to see and do in both countries.”

Bridge TEFL Universe: Pipe Dream or Possibility? Moving Abroad to Teach English During the Pandemic

November 6, 2020 by Catarina Chase Aleixo

“Things haven’t changed much for us. We’re connected with hundreds of university career centers in seven countries and have continued working with them as usual,” says Carrie Kellenberger, Co-President of Reach to Teach, an ESL teacher placement service with offices in Taiwan, South Korea, and the US, that mainly helps teachers find positions in Asia. “Right now, we are full steam ahead for Taiwan and South Korea. I’d say we have more teachers than ever because we’ve been able to work with them throughout the placement process and they’ve all arrived safe and sound,” Kellenberger adds.

Since the start of the pandemic in March, Kellenberger’s company has hired teachers for jobs in South Korea, Taiwan, and Thailand, and recruiting continues. “We are always looking for more schools and we’re ready to assist schools as needed. […] we still have over 30 positions available in Taiwan [for qualified teachers] between now and December,” she says, adding that Reach to Teach is still looking to fill those roles.

Despite both Taiwan and South Korea being open to teachers, there are factors that still need to be taken into consideration, and flexibility is key. “Prepping teachers for quarantine has been the most challenging aspect,” Kellenberger says. “We’re also extremely grateful to our teachers for rolling with all the changes. Governments change the rules frequently as they receive new information about the pandemic. We ask that teachers be flexible and adaptable […]. It’s stressful for them, especially with last-minute changes, but they all get through it and we’re with them every step of the way.”

Carrie Kellenberger interviewed with the Wall Street Journal’s FINS section.

The WSJ FINS section has recently closed, so we have reposted we  a copy of the article here.

China’s Insatiable Demand for English Teachers

2011-10-20 16:05:39

A surging demand for learning the English language in China has turned the export-intensive country into an importer of American teachers, creating thousands of potential jobs for recent graduates.

As many as 300 million Chinese people are learning English, said Katie Wagnon, the recruitment manager at English First, a division of the Lucerne, Switerland-based EF Education First, which has offices and schools in more than 50 countries. The need for educators in the world’s most populous country has left schools scrambling to fill positions, and recruiters eager to capitalize on the market.

‘Basically if you speak English and have a degree, you can get a job over here because English teachers are in such high demand,’ said Lindsey Henrikson, a 22-year-old graduate of Northwestern University who teaches at the Pass College of Chongqing Technology and Business University. The downside is ‘there’s pretty much a 50-50 chance that you’re either going to have a horrible recruiter or a horrible school, and a lot of people end up breaking contracts early because of that.’

Schools in smaller towns will take a chance on teachers like Henrikson, who has no formal teaching experience and plans to work for a year before returning to the U.S. for law school. Her college-level students already know English grammar and how to read and write, so she is responsible for stimulating conversation through games and activities.

In major cities like Beijing and Shanghai, however, the Chinese government is upping its standards, said Carrie Kellenberger, the global director of recruiting for Reach To Teach Recruiting who previously taught in China from 2003 to 2006. Teachers must be at least 24 years old, have one or two years of formal teaching experience after graduation and obtain a certificate to teach English as a foreign language, or TEFL.

‘In the past, you could be a college graduate and have no teaching experience and have no problem getting a position in China,’ Kellenberger said. ‘The demand for English teachers is rising every day in China, but the Chinese government has made the whole job application process a lot more difficult.’

English teachers make between 4,000 and 16,000 yuan a month, or between $625 and $2,500, with the highest salaries going to those with prior teaching experience who work in major cities, Kellenberger said.

Local teachers in China earn about 1,000 yuan a month, said Lea Walker, who worked as a professor at Wuhan University in the 1980s. That means recent college graduates teaching English earn the equivalent of a tenured Chinese professor.

Walker emigrated to the U.S. in 1992 and is now president of the Chinese Culture Center, a nonprofit she founded in 2002. She said the Columbia, S.C.-based center placed about 500 teachers last year out of more than 5,000 applicants, and interest has continued to rise since the Beijing Olympics.

‘Before 2008, China was considered a third-world country and not many young people had intentions to go there,’ Walker said. ‘It seems like more and more young people realize that China is a big market and also a place to go for jobs.’

Still, the new teachers struggle with China’s lack of English speakers, making ordering food, taking public transportation and other day-to-day tasks a challenge. Familiarity with Mandarin is not necessary to get a position anywhere in the country, which often leaves teachers unable to communicate.

‘The first couple of days after we arrived at the university, I thought ‘Oh my God, what the hell did I do to myself?” said Leslie Eberdt, a 24-year-old from Brussels, Belgium who teaches graduate students at Nanchang University. ‘I’ve lived a lot of places, but it’s really difficult here. It was like being dropped onto Mars.’

Eberdt said she grew frustrated with needing to take a Chinese speaker wherever she went, and would have considering leaving if not for support from fellow teachers. To combat the language barrier, Henrikson goes out with her undergraduate sophomores several times a week, both to improve their English and so they can translate for her. A group of them helped her purchase a new cell phone.

Both Henrikson and Eberdt used the Council on International Educational Exchange, or CIEE, to match them with a Chinese school. The written application took Eberdt a few days to complete. CIEE first chooses to accept or reject the applicant, and then a partnering school must accept the person.

CIEE places the majority of teachers at locations directly without an interview, though in certain situations the applicant will speak with the school based on CIEE’s past relationship with the institution, said Steve Amendo, the strategic marketing manager at CIEE. English First also puts teachers in contact with schools only after they assign placements.

‘My school has not been super helpful in getting me adjusted,’ Henrikson said. ‘There’s not much communication, and that’s something that, from talking to other people, happens in a lot of Chinese universities between foreign teachers and the rest of the staff,’ since few other educators speak English.

Reach to Teach requires an interview between the school and teacher, ranging from five minutes to two hours depending on the institution. If the student feels uncomfortable with the school, the recruiting directors, including Kellenberger, work on another placement.

For young job seekers, it’s hard to argue with the numbers. A population roughly the size of the entire U.S. is eager to master the English language in China, while 14.8% of Americans between ages 20 and 24 remain unemployed, according data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics in August. English First expects placements to jump by as much as 45% next year, Wagnon said.

Even as the Chinese government sets the bar higher, the number of people applying may grow as they seek to flee the stagnant Western job market. No one knows exactly how many foreign English teachers are in China, yet everyone agrees the demand is skyrocketing. Walker said her center could place every qualified applicant, even if there are thousands.

‘No matter how many teachers we recruit, there will always be more positions available,’ Walker said.