In 2024, Lexi Smith, 24, was working as a teacher in Atlanta, Georgia, when she decided she was ready for a change of scenery.
Smith began exploring the possibility of teaching English abroad and worked with Xplore Asia, an organization that assists individuals in obtaining their TEFL (Teaching English as a Foreign Language) certification to work and study abroad.
“I wasn’t quite loving the school system from having an overbearing administration that didn’t appreciate me to having a hard time living on my salary,” Smith tells CNBC Make It. “When I found out that I could teach abroad for a much easier life and the ability to see more culture, I had to jump on it.”
Smith got her TEFL certification and taught English as a foreign language in the U.S. for a bit while Xplore Asia worked to find her an employer abroad.
Eventually, Smith landed a teaching position at an eikaiwa, a private language school focused on conversational English, in the Chiba Prefecture of Japan and moved in March of this year.
