Let’s be honest: when you are sitting on your couch back home, looking at your first few job posts overseas, deciding where to go, one thing invariably pops out: the salaries are not great (comparatively speaking). The average job in Japan probably pays about $2600 USD a month. The average job in China, I’d guess around $800. Colombia, $500? Of course there are the many, many fringe benefits that come along with that salary. From the tangible – free apartment, free phone, no taxes, etc. To the intangible – mind altering experiences, once-in-a-lifetime travel opportunities, cultural immersion, etc. etc. etc. That being said, sometimes (read: most of the time) you will need to make extra cash to take that extra weekend trip or maybe go home for the summer. 

Here’s a list of your best options to make extra cash while teaching abroad:

Tutoring

This is obviously the most logical side hustle a teacher overseas can pick up, and for good reason. In some cases, one can make just as much from tutoring as they are making at their full-time job. It’s also quite common for tutors to parlay all of their side contracts into a small English school, in which case the side hustle becomes the main hustle! I also want to point out that just because you are teaching English abroad, doesn’t mean that is the only thing people want you to tutor them in. If you are particularly familiar with the SAT or ACT exams, this is also a popular option, but it could be anything. Personal training, yoga, etc. Whatever you are talented in!

Sell your lesson plans online

There are quite a lot of “websites for teachers” out there that have monetized the art of creating lesson plans and/or supplements. In my opinion, this is a bit labor intensive for a relatively small reward, but if you already have created a ton of content, this may be a good route for you. Typically you will upload your material and you will get paid each time something is downloaded.

Model

This is also a good option to make money for a lot of expats living abroad. One doesn’t need to be particularly good looking to make a lot of money at it, either. Particularly in countries like Korea and Japan that tightly restrict immigration numbers, Western actors and models are in short supply. One very notorious example is the “Western priest” jobs that used to exist (not sure if they still do) in Japan. Japanese people wanting a white wedding in a cathedral used to hire out “fatherly” looking Westerners to pose as priests and to “officiate” the wedding. Anyway, you get the gist. Lots of examples like this, but it almost makes me feel racist just talking about them.

Freelance writing / editing

Another popular choice, for teaching and non teaching expats alike. This is a great choice for the digital nomad because one can do it anywhere, and similar to the tutoring, one can write about whatever interests them. And the best part is, there is TONS of work online for content creators. Heck, I’d love to pay someone to write these articles as well, so pretty much anyone with a website feels the same. It might not be the most well paying of gigs, but it is made up for with flexibility. The most popular sites for this kind of work are Upwork and Fiverr. In fact, these two sites are so versatile that I listed them on my list of recommended resources for expats.

Work at a hostel

Highly recommended. Just like the example above, this is a great side gig for the teaching and non teaching expat alike. I really like this example for anyone looking to teach/travel without setting down roots. You could go for years traveling, with intermittent periods of stopping to work at a hostel for a couple months or teaching at a small language school. You wouldn’t come out with much money to your name, but you would have had some amazing experiences along the way. This is a popular method of travel for the gap year-er. Hostels are everywhere, and they often have tons of odds and ends that need done, from cooking teacher to housekeeper, etc. etc. Along those same lines, if you are looking to make money while teaching abroad, you could try and hook up with a hostel to teach language lessons to guests. I had a friend who did this in Peru and she had a blast.

Doing Voice Recordings

I suppose this option falls somewhere between freelance writer and model. A lot of this work can be done online, but there are also local companies that need English speaking voice actors to record content. I once had a short gig reading the English-language version of the news for a Chinese news channel. There are a lot of things that need English language voice actors, think movie dubbing, etc. 

Test Administrator

Anyone familiar with the IELTS knows that they employ examiners in a variety of functions to administer their tests, from interviewer to invigilator, and everything in between. The same is the case with other English language tests. Temporary work can be found both online and locally proctoring exams, or interviewing speaking candidates. You can also get gigs just off the back of having this experience, for example IELTS coach, etc.

This is just a short list of the many, many things the traveling expat can do to help bankroll their expeditions. One of the main reasons that people end up going home is that the salaries abroad are not up to par with what teachers could be making back home. Personally, I think this is a silly reason to call it quits because there are PLENTY of opportunities to make extra cash while working abroad. As we speak, I am teaching at an international school, proctoring exams for a well known English-language test maker, freelancing as an instructional designer and content creator, and of course, working on this website. I also had plans to teach at a summer camp (an option I forgot to add) until the whole pandemic thing happened. Got any ideas you think I should add? Send them to me at matthew@teachfortravel.com!