Myanmar ranked best place in the world to teach English

Public school students in Hpa An, Kayin State. Photo: Jacob Goldberg
Public school students in Hpa An, Kayin State. Photo: Jacob Goldberg

Myanmar ranked best place in the world to teach English

In an effort to help people in post-Brexit Britain and Trump’s America escape their toxic environments, the TEFL Exchange blog has ranked the 10 best countries for English language teachers in 2017. And guess who came out on top. Can’t believe it? It’s true. It’s Myanmar. Yay!

Myanmar beat out Madagascar, Brazil and others on the basis of its “people”, “culture”, and its “inspiring” character – whatever that means. The list also mentions $1 beer and tea leaf salad as highlights of life in the Golden Land.

TEFL Exchange recommends that aspiring ESL teachers come to Myanmar with a bachelor’s degree and TEFL certification, though there are many language schools in the country that do not have these requirements.

Once they get jobs, ESL teachers in Myanmar can expect a salary of US$1,200 to $2,000 per month, the list says. This range is higher than most of the other countries on the list, but not higher than Vietnam, which came in second place, or the UAE, which came in eighth place.

Nicaragua came third on the list, followed by Nepal, Brazil, Madagascar, Chile, the UAE, the Czech Republic and the Philippines.

The words “education”, “student”, and “curriculum” do not appear on the list.

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