Having just returned from a year
in Spain teaching English as a foreign language I've decided to let the rest of
you benefit from my experience in order that you make the most informed
decision possible about this major career choice. Don't get me wrong, there
were many things I loved about my year abroad and I will cover the positives as
well as the negatives over the coming months, however to start with I want to dispel
some misconceptions that people might have about the industry.
First of all, You can’t go
wherever you want – certainly not if this is your first job in the field. You will
be at the mercy of the market in terms of location and you may find that there
is a small market for EFL in the area you have your heart set on. I wanted to
find a position in Germany, but ended up in Spain because that’s where all the jobs
were.
As a result of this, It’s not a
good way to fund your travelling – unless your idea of travelling is to stay in
one place for nine months at a time. A TEFL contract is the same as any other contract
and schools are looking to recruit staff for classes that take place throughout
the school year. This means you will likely work five days a week, 6 or 7 hours
a day. It is very difficult to fit travelling around this, even at the weekends
and due to the long summer holidays, you receive very little time off during
the year.
That’s because It’s not a paid holiday – in any way. Contrary to
popular belief, TEFL teachers actually work pretty hard and usually in
residential areas. Forget beaches and big cities, you’re far more likely to be
living in a small town with minimal entertainment and transportation. The fun
and excitement of living in another country wears off after about three months
and then it becomes just another job, only one in a country where you don’t
speak the language.
Speaking of language, You don’t
automatically become fluent in a language just because you live abroad. This
misconception is a biggie but in actuality, it takes very little knowledge of a
language to get by day-to-day. If you want to become fluent, you need to make
friends, take classes and talk for extended periods of time as often as possible.
You won’t learn a language by magic osmosis unless you have an audiographic memory.
However it’s not all bad because
many of these things lead to my last point which is that You can save money as
a TEFL teacher – even though the salary is often very low. I saved about a third
of my money overall simply because I lived in a very small town with low rent
and nothing to do.
I hope that this has helped dispel
any misconceptions for those of you thinking about going into TEFL. Stay tuned
for the second part of my TEFL series, on job applications, next month. Let me know in the comments if you have any further questions or suggestions to add.
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