The Truth about TEFL: Debunking the misconceptions

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.

It's All About the Money, Money, Money

Photo by 401k via Flickr

The best thing about my job is getting paid. I enjoy my work and I like my colleagues but at the end of the day I'm in it for the money, not the job satisfaction. Getting paid after years of pocket money and student loans is an amazing feeling- for the first time you are truly financially independent, your money is under your sole control.

The downside to all this is that you are financially independent and in sole control of your money. All those bits of paper you used to pass over to your dad? Your's now. All the cash sympathetic relatives would send your way? Gone now- people assume you have plenty of money.

So what to do with your money once you've got it? Obviously for many people a reasonable (or unreasonable depending on your job and point of view) chunk of it goes on rent, transport to and from work and basic necessities (by which I mean food- not beer or shoes!)

Whatever is left over is yours to do as what you want with- save it, spend it, roll around in it, just remember it's got to last you a month. This week we're looking at what to do with your cash and the pitfalls to avoid falling into. 

So, save or spend? Despite the carefree, reckless life young twenty-somethings are purported to lead, not all of us take an ostrich- like head in the sand approach to the future. However, interest rates are at an all time low which can make it difficult to know whether a savings account is worth having. Generally speaking you are always better off with the bulk of your money out of your current account and many banks provide e-savings accounts that allow you to instantly move money back to your current account so you can always access it if you need it.

The main alternative to using a savings account is to put your money into an ISA. This is a longer term option and better for larger sums as it meas you don't pay tax on it. However, your money is less accessible because you can only keep contributing to an ISA up to £5000 and if you withdraw money before you reach this limit, you cannot continue adding money beyond the value you had before withdrawal. This means that before you put money in an ISA you should consider the likelihood that you're going to want it back in the near future.

One option that I adopted is to run both: once I've 'banked' a certain amount in my e-savings, I transfer half to my ISA. That way I have money available but not sitting around unnecessarily accruing tax.

If you decide not to save, you need to make sure you are happy and secure in your current position. Savings are a buffer for when you are in-between jobs so you need to be sure that won't be a situation you find yourself in. When spending, also keep in mind that you need to budget for four weeks: I plan my shopping trips so that I indulge myself as soon as I get paid and then keep my money for socialising and necessities. Then at the end of the month I know I can safely spend whatever is left over without going overdrawn.

Off the back of this is the issue of credit cards: contrary to media scandal-mongering, they can actually be a good idea- within certain limits. For young earners, especially those living at home, a credit card is the easiest way to develop a good credit score- something that is essential further on in life for securing mortgages and loans. Making online purchases and booking flights on your credit card means that your goods and tickets are insured so that if your order doesn't arrive or your flight is cancelled you can get your money back. Credit cards can also be useful if you need to make a large purchase that you can't afford until next payday as you don't have to pay it off immediately. 

However, you DO need to be careful: if you don't pay it off on time your credit rating can go down just as easily as up and worst case scenario you could end up getting phone calls from the bailiffs (this happened to me once when my paypal was hacked and it was really scary). To avoid getting into too much trouble I advise you to set your own credit limit: the bank will offer you far more than you actually need, so choose a limit that will allow you to make the purchases you need but that your paycheck or savings could conceivably cover in a worst case scenario.

At the end of the day, enjoying your money while you're young is the most important thing but don't overdo it: its worth buying sensibly and planning in advance for big or extravagant purchases. You might like spending but you WON'T like debt.

Fun with Funding: AHRC

If you are an arts or humanities student and planning on applying for PhDs and funding in the UK, then the AHRC is one of your first ports of call. The AHRC (Arts and Humanities Research Council) are a government body that provide support for advancing research in the Arts and Humanities. The main method of application is through block grant schemes, where participating universities and their departments are given a certain number of awards to cover postgraduate research fees, maintenance, or both for any arts/humanities subject. Other routes involve applying to a programme that has already secured AHRC funding, and these are usually advertised as funded PhD programmes. Block grants are the most common route for funding in the Arts and Humanities.

To apply to the block grant, you apply through your prospective department, usually at the same time as or after you apply for a PhD place at the university. A word of warning: getting offer of a place is not a guarantee you will get funding! The two processes are completely separate. The main section of the application form is a research proposal, no longer than 500 words, on your prospective research. The advantage of applying to this scheme is that you have the possibility of researching your specific interests-- if they like your idea, the council will fund you. But it's not this easy.

Departments usually have a very high number of applications, usually double the places they have on offer, often more. Therefore your proposal must really stand out in order to get noticed. Get your current supervisor to read your draft and work on it until it as brilliant as possible. The proposal is like a sales pitch, you have to make your idea as attractive as possible, so the department you are applying to will want to fund that area of research. It is, as with university applications more generally, helpful to have your interests fit nicely with those of the department you are applying to.

One thing must be stressed before I continue: competition is fierce. Due to the high number of people continuing in postgraduate research, there are many outstanding people fighting for a small number of places. Departments can get 2-6 fully funded positions, it depends what subject you do and which department you are applying to.

I'm sorry to say, your chances are considerably increased if you have a top-notch academic record. This means first class results throughout your undergraduate degree, or a distinction for your masters, preferably both. I know it's tough, but there are so many good people applying for the same position as you with these requirements that if you have even the highest of 2i's, you are at a disadvantage. Trust me, this is from personal experience! Don't let this put you off, however. Some people with 2i's do get funding, it's just less common.

The application process is long-winded, and deadlines for submission of proposals start from February. Once your form is in, you may then be invited for interview. Departments rank candidate applications in order of suitability, and then interview the top ten applications, say. After interviews they then rank these candidates again, and suggest the people who are most suitable for an award to the AHRC. This process takes months, and you may fall at any hurdle. It's not a failure if you don't get even to the interview stage. You're application was probably very good, but as I said, competition is intense.

This post is based on my personal experience of the block grant scheme. I hope it helps those of you who are thinking about AHRC funding, so you know what to expect. Any comments or other experiences are certainly welcome!

Until next time,
Kate