John Trollope would like to say he wound up teaching in France because of his love for exotic places and languages -- but actually it had more to do with plain old love.
"To be perfectly honest, I'd met a girl as an exchange student in Angers, France," says Trollope, who hails from New York. "I decided to go back to be with her after I finished my degree in French in America.
"I got my teaching position because I had some experience in teaching as a volunteer teacher of French and because I was a native speaker."
Trollope quickly learned that teaching EFL (English as a foreign language) students was nothing like his impression of what it was like to be a teacher. "I wasn't allowed to give formal exams because if a student failed, he or she might drop out and then the school wouldn't make any money."
The schedule was also unlike anything Trollope expected. "I worked really unsociable hours, because this was a private language school -- Saturdays, evenings, early mornings, lunch hours."
Trollope says he often worked on and off from 6 a.m. until 10 at night.
"The hours are definitely what I liked least," he says. "There were lots of times when I'd wake up at 5:30, curse the darkness and the ungodly hour and think about quitting. Then I'd walk out into the bitter cold morning and drive an hour through the French countryside to get to work."
Despite the grueling schedule, Trollope says he enjoyed meeting French people from all walks of life.
"The best part was that I was able to meet an interesting cross-section of French society -- everything from four-year-olds to factory workers, from corporate presidents to bored housewives."
Trollope gained a lot of satisfaction in watching his students progress from not knowing a single word of English to being able to use it in their jobs.
"It was really rewarding to see a student move [in three years] from an absolute beginner to a rather fluent speaker, although I certainly don't take all the credit," says Trollope.
Like many other EFL teachers, Trollope found students had to be really interested in learning in order to succeed. One student, for instance, "was a very motivated student who needed to learn for her job. I loved having her for a student because she was so interested in everything. You couldn't go wrong with her."
For Trollope, the stresses of the job don't necessarily have much to do with standing in front of a classroom. Parents and paperwork are more troublesome.
"Dealing with parents is a stress," Trollope says. "It's never fun to tell a parent their little Johnny is very disruptive and not making any progress. The paperwork can also be a hassle."
Like many other EFL teachers working in commercial language schools, Trollope is under a lot of pressure to make classes interesting for students. That's because if they drop classes, the school loses money.
He takes this in stride, preferring instead to focus on making sure his students have a good working knowledge of English, whatever they plan to use it for.
"I like to encourage independence in the classroom and encourage my students to participate as much as possible," says Trollope. He often spends time tutoring individual students.
When it came to making a life for himself in France, Trollope says knowing French was a big help. "It really helped to speak the language that my students spoke, because I didn't just work there, I lived there. Although I'm an EFL teacher, I hate going to someone else's country and saying 'Sorry, but do you speak English?' Besides, I like learning languages."
Jennifer Pearson Terell is the senior program coordinator of the TESOL (teaching English to speakers of other languages) programs at a community college. She says some people get a taste of overseas teaching almost directly out of high school.
"A lot of kids take a short course -- 100 or 125 hours -- and they go overseas and they teach," she says.
However, without much experience or a degree, says Pearson Terell, most of these young teachers are only hired to lead conversation classes and the pay is relatively low.
Regardless of the size of your paycheck, teaching English overseas is a good way to dig your heels into a new culture. According to Pearson Terell, many younger teachers simply work in order to fund the next leg of the journey.
"It is a really nice way for young people to travel because it's a different way of meeting people in a country. You're actually involved,...as opposed to traveling with people that are doing the same things that you are doing.
"This way, you would meet people, and they would invite you into their homes, and you'd have a much better understanding of what the country is all about," she says.
All in all, Pearson Terell believes that her students' experiences are positive. "I think most people really enjoy it."
As a final word of wisdom, she advises, "Go to an institution...that is well-documented and well-respected. There are a lot of people...just offering a weekend 'how to teach ESL' course. [They're] quite expensive and often really poorly taught."