Real TEFL lessons

You’re all for the flexibility and depth of an online TEFL course, but what is a real classroom actually like? How can you experience the body language and the individual touches that make a great teacher? The TEFL in Action Course is your chance to find out. It features eight user-friendly videos of experienced TEFL teachers using their skills with real students… there’s no special software to download, just click and play. By the end, you’ll have a much better idea of how to correct your students without affecting their confidence and enthuse them by putting the activities you’ve learnt into practice.

Bring it all together

The course is a great way to make sure you’ve learnt everything needed to step in front of your own class. At the end of each video, you’ll be asked about the different techniques used by the teacher and critically analyze why they were used. This is great because the students in your own classroom will all be different, so this will get you thinking about different learning styles, the skills used and how the activities featured can appeal to different people.

Fire your imagination

Flexibility is an attribute of all great teachers. Not only should you be willing to do the occasional extra lesson to progress your career, but you should also be able to adapt to changing circumstances within the classroom. The questions after the video will help you learn about improving the lessons and adapting them to different levels. Imagination is the key: you never know, you might teach a thing or two to the expert tutor who marks your course!

Preparation is the key

A good teacher is always well prepared and no activity stands on its own; it should be part of an overall plan that gets your students where they want to be. The TEFL in Action Course will get you thinking about preparing for and following up the activities to ensure that your students get the most out of them.

Get ready!

Maybe the best thing about the TEFL in Action Course is that it’ll get you even more excited about the adventure you’re about to embark on. You’ll see how fun teaching can be and how, from the moment you step into that classroom, even the simplest activity can help your students to learn.

Are you ready to put your TEFL skills into action? The TEFL in Action Course is included in the 140 Hour Combined and 120 Hour Online TEFL Courses or you can include it as an add-on.

Are you dreaming of living abroad and seeing what more is out there? Travelling abroad is an amazing experience, but many people are put off moving abroad as they don’t have a feasible work option out there. While it is relatively easy to find work abroad, for example working in a grotty bar or restaurant, would you really want to? Why not do something really worthwhile and rewarding? Like becoming an English teacher!

Teaching English abroad is a fantastic way to do something different and exciting, whilst living in a new culture. It is estimated that there are over 1billion people currently learning English worldwide, so there is a huge demand for English teachers everywhere from Bangkok to Buenos Aires. Teaching English as a Foreign Language (TEFL) provides a great option for anyone who is considering moving abroad.

First things first, you don’t need to have any previous teaching experience to become a TEFL teacher. In fact, you don’t even need to be able to speak the local language to be able to teach English abroad. If you can speak English, you can teach English! All it takes is a TEFL course, which will give you all the skills you need to start getting paid to teach in amazing destinations all over the globe.

With a TEFL qualification the world really is your oyster…. from Thailand to Turkey and China to Chile you could head pretty much anywhere in the world. There is a demand for English teachers wherever the native language of the country isn’t English! There are some amazing destinations where you could teach and earn good money too. In South Korea, for example, you can earn up to £1,340 ($2,100) a month. The cost of living there is really cheap too so you’ll find your wage will go far! The demand for TEFL teachers is really high as well so it’s a great place to start out teaching abroad. If South Korea doesn’t take your fancy there are plenty of other places with decent wages and a low cost of living. Whether you want to live in Europe, Asia, Latin America, the Middle East or Africa it’s easily possible to find work as a TEFL teacher!

Despite what you may think, becoming an English teacher overseas doesn’t just mean you’ll only be teaching to a class full of rowdy kids. Everyone from little kids at kindergartens to university graduates and high-powered businessmen are desperate to learn English, so there are plenty of different opportunities to teach English abroad. English teachers are needed in schools, universities and in businesses. You can also teach as a private tutor or as a volunteer teacher, so if you don’t have the confidence to stand up in front of a class of students then you don’t have to!

To be able to find paid teaching work abroad in countless destinations around the globe, all you need to do is a TEFL course. i-to-i’s TEFL courses are internationally recognized by 1,000’s of language schools worldwide. They can be taken online or as classroom-based training in locations all around the world, so you can study when you want, where you want!

You can really broaden your horizons with a TEFL qualification and start living your dream life abroad! If teaching overseas and living a life less ordinary appeals to you, i-to-i TEFL can make that happen for you. It’s actually pretty simple; you can get all the information you’ll need here:

http://www.onlinetefl.com

1- Too expensive
It’s natural to think that if you want to go travelling you’ll have to rob a bank to fund it, this is not the case all you really need is a TEFL course and you could be on your way to exploring the world. Once you’re certified you can be getting paid to teach English as foreign language wherever you want so you’ll find that the money you spend on your course and flight will soon make its way back to you.

2- Fear of going alone
The idea of going travelling is very exciting to most but understandably some find the idea of being in a new country alone a very daunting experience. Being given the chance to teach English as a foreign language in a new country and to make a difference in your students life will probably be an experience of a life time. If you’d still prefer not to go it alone then why not try one of a supported programmes such as i-to-i’s internships in China and Thailand.

3- Work commitments
Be honest, do you actually enjoy your job? Are you really passionate about it or does it just pay the bills? Thought so! If that’s the case then why stay in a job you hate when you could be seeing the world. After all you don’t want to have any regrets in life do you?

4- Not the right time
Then make it the right time! If you convince yourself it’s not the right time for you then in all likeliness you’ll never end up going. When else in your life are you going to have as little commitments as you do now?!

5- Too much effort
Effort?! What effort?! Do you really want to have regrets in life that you didn’t go traveling because you thought it was too much hassle to organise it? Thought not! Plus it doesn’t need to be an effort anyway, especially if you decide to teach abroad. i-to-i can make things easier for you with a teaching internship and you can always get help and advice from others on Chalkboard.

6- Worried about living in another country
It’s only natural to have some anxieties about traveling and moving abroad, such as being lonely, not being able to communicate with people or hating the food. Face your fears! Lonely? You’ll meet so many new people and will make loads of wonderful friends. Can’t communicate? Learn just a few phrases before you go and things will be so much easier. Oh and get a phrasebook! Not a fan of the food? There will be something out there that you like and if not there is always some Western food to fall back on!

7- Your friends and family
Of course you’ll miss your friends and family – that’s only normal. But with the wonders of the internet, no matter where you go, they’re only a Skype call away. Plus, it’s really easy to make lots of new friends when you’re traveling, especially if you’re teaching abroad.

8- Too young / old
Age is just a number, it really shouldn’t stop you following your dreams. If you think you’re too young to travel… you’re not. If you work while you travel, you’ll be gaining great work experience which will be invaluable to you in later life! Conversely, if you think you’re too old… again you’re not! We know people in their 70s who have taught abroad so if the travel bug’s bitten you late in life, don’t let your age hold you back!

So are you ready to stop making lame excuses and get out there and go see the world?!

“I came to Spain to retire 7 yrs. ago. I was asked to teach English to Spanish children for a few hours a week. I now have a full-time teaching position in a Private Bi-lingual school near my home. I am head of the English dept. & teach children from 3yrs. to 12/13 yrs. Life is busy , but I enjoy the challenge and now speak the Spanish language .. which is helpful in my job.”
Penelope Pugh

“I was made redundant without expecting it and I have always worked in the tourism industry. Nearly 50 years old, bilingual and unemployed and didn’t know what to do for a living. Stopped to think what job I could find at my age with the recession in Spain and I realised that being bilingual I had no qualifications at all to teach English as a foreign language. I knew I wouldn’t have any difficulties finding a job in Spain the minute I was qualified. I looked up for information on TEFL courses online and found that i-to-i offered me what I wanted. I could do it online and in my own free time. In less than two months after completing my course, I was employed in an English school near home and teach privately one-to-one in the afternoons. I have recommended this course to some friends here in Spain and they have also completed the course and are now employed teaching English as a second language. I learned a great deal with this course and would strongly recommend it to anyone who wants to teach English as a foreign language. The tutors are great and were always there when I needed them. I don’t think I will be made redundant again after having my qualifications.”
Maruzzella

“I live in a Spanish village and there aren’t many English families here. As I speak Spanish aswell many people were asking me to help them learn English, from children to pensioners. I felt that the TEFL course would give me the grounding and understanding of where to begin and how progress with the different abilities. It has been a great help and I am building my confidence up as a teacher.”
Adele Mackay

“I lived and worked as a TEFL teacher in Madrid over 30 years ago but was never ‘offically qualified’. My husband and I decided to return to live in Spain and I decided I needed to refresh my knowledge and bring myself up-to-date with any new teaching methods. I have recently been offered a job teaching English in a language school in Cartagena.”
Sharon Sanz

“I studied abroad in Spain and wanted to find a way to move back to Europe after finishing my degree in journalism. I chose i-to-i because of their combined courses, as I had no idea how to teach. Three years later, I work as a full-time teacher in a private school in Spain.”
Cat Gaa

“Last summer, while traveling around the U.S., I was bitten by the infamous travel bug. Shortly thereafter, I met a girl from Spain and felt a calling to try teaching as well. Now, 8 months later, the girl from Spain is my girlfriend and I´m in Spain teaching English! Needless to say, I´m very thankful for the opportunity TEFL has provided me!”
Adam Smith

When Andrina Nixon moved to Spain she found herself in a dull office job that was going nowhere. But, after taking i-to-i’s 60 Hour Online TEFL Course she found a whole new direction full of new challenges:

“My husband and I moved to a new life in Spain in 1996. It had always been my intention to get a TEFL qualification, but I didn’t get round to it until I found myself in an office job with a boss who drove me crackers! So, I stayed crackers in the mornings and in the afternoons I went online with i-to-i to get TEFL qualified. Once I had the qualification, I left the office job and immediately got a teaching job in an academy. I taught English to Spanish children for two years and now I’m taking adult classes. I love it!”

Anthony Woollett was also stuck in a job that was going nowhere… until he did his 120 Hour Online TEFL Course, moved to Spain and started his own business!

“I had a boring, dead-end admin job in London and wasn’t really very happy. I moved to Galicia in Spain, built a website and started teaching from home. In 6 months I have built up enough students to make a living. I am now looking for an office and will (hopefully) be looking for another native to help share my workload in the next 6 months.”

It’s not a holiday

No matter which way you look at it, teaching English overseas is not a holiday – you’re there to live and work abroad, not to lounge around on the beach. So, don’t expect every single day to be sunshine and fun!

The upside: On holiday, you’re just a tourist taking snapshots, but when you’re working and living abroad, you’re actually in the picture yourself. This is your chance to really experience another culture, not just from the fringes, but right from the centre of the action.

You’ll always be a foreigner

OK, this might be stating the obvious, but being a foreigner does have implications. No matter how much you try to integrate yourself, you may still find yourself feeling isolated, stared at and well, foreign.

The upside: You may be seen as different, but you’ll also be seen as special. So you can expect to be taken out for lots of meals and drinks, and allowed to get away with behaviour that no local ever would! Plus, your English skills will probably see you becoming very popular indeed.

Things won’t run like they do at home

Whatever niggles you have with the way things run in your home country, you’ll probably find yourself longing for them when you move abroad. Any TEFL teacher will tell you that things can be slow, bureaucratic and liable to change at the last minute. Mix in the fact that you probably don’t speak the language fluently and you have a recipe for frustration.

The upside: You’re there to experience another culture, not to have everything run like it does back home – embrace the differences and go with the flow

Everything will be an epic mission, to start with at least

Even the most simple of expeditions, like going shopping or taking a bus, can turn into a mammoth task, complicated by language barriers, misunderstandings and general faff.

The upside: If everything becomes a little more inconvenient, it also becomes a little more exciting too – even the most mundane outing can turn into an adventure, peppered with serendipities and comedy moments. Plus, after a little while you’ll soon get the hang of life in your new home.

Culture shock is a fact of life

No matter how much you prepare yourself for living in another country, you WILL get culture shock, and it could leave you feeling lonely, unhappy and generally discombobulate

The upside: Culture shock is one fact, but another fact is that you WILL get over it. There’s a great article here that can help if you are suffering from culture shock: http://www.tefl-chalkboard.com/travel-guides/181-How-to-Cope-With-Culture-Shock-While-Teaching-English-Abroad

Your students probably won’t be that well behaved

There’s something of a myth floating around in TEFL circles that kids in foreign countries are immaculately behaved angels, ready to sit and learn quietly and happily at all times. Funnily enough this is not the case – kids are kids, and by that we mean they can be boisterous, noisy and sometimes just plain unwilling to cooperate.

The upside: Do you really want to teach automatons? Your kids might not be well behaved, but they will be enthusiastic, energetic and generally a lot of fun. It might be tiring, but it will certainly be rewarding.

What do you think? What’s do you think the truth about teaching abroad is?

I would love to tell the world about my amazing adventure. I have Muscular dystrophy, so I needed help at all times, but I am a very strong determined happy person, and I had lots of enthusiastic help. I had the most wonderful, inspiring, humbling, learning, sharing experiences of my life. I can never thank you “TEFL” enough, thank you.

ENGLISH CLASSES IN NEPAL
I have just returned from an amazing trip to Nepal. So armed with lots of good text books, plans for classes and lots of enthusiasm, I went to Kathmandu to help some displaced youths learn English, I was told 15-20 students between 18-25 years old, my teacher had said as long as you speak English it is easy.

So I began one of the most rewarding 6 weeks of my life. They arrived about 10 students, mainly women, all very intrepid, wide eyed and all at very different stages of reading, writing and understanding of English, most could read a bit. Most did not have a clue what they were reading. I was prepared for general classes but these people needed individual attention, so all my well prepared classes were filed away. Luckily I had thought this might happen, so before I left Australia I had found 2 uni students in Nepal to help me, and Nagarik Aawaz, when I arrived in Nepal N.A. I had 4 wonderful uni students to help me, we set off on a memorable adventure, 5 weeks, 4 days a week, 3-4 hours a day.

We had 10 students nearly every day so they had private one on one classes every day. At first I was disappointed that more students hadn’t come to the classes but on recollection it was perfect, we all learnt so much from each other, and my uni students, (fellow teachers) were so enthusiastic and always ready, willing and able to help. We had lots of text books which were invaluable, we were able to take the work we needed from each book, we loaned them to the students which we were advised not to do, (they probably won’t return them), we were asked to just teach just basic English, but I decided to teach my way which was to treat each one individually, depending on their capabilities and needs, and to have fun, we laughed so much and enjoyed every minute of every class, words cannot express the pleasure, respect and appreciation we all had, students and teachers for each other. Not just an English class, they learnt so much more including basic manners, hygiene, etc

I really wanted to tell you about my amazing students, their courage, and some of their stories. My assistants, my fellow teachers, my friends. Aman, Roji, Pragya and Asmita, I could never have managed without their enthusiasm and help.

My students were from different villages mostly from lower economic families all displaced by the maoists, all wonderful people. Here are some words from the students about their English classes:

“Before the English class started I was boring, very lazy to learn English, everyone suggested me to learn English, all boring before this English class, I used to think how to study?, I wasn’t any practice to read, what can I do, I haven’t any easy idea, I don’t try to study, some people like the English books, I used to hate them, but nowadays I love to read and write English. I wasn’t able to write, read and understand English, now after English class started I came to study English regularly. I am now studying very hard with the support of Kay and the other teachers, I am a young and energetic woman, my English class has helped me to make sentences. English is the backbone of humanity, my internal and external knowledge is developing. I feel very proud that I got a chance to study English by the support of Kay, everyone in my class support me to read, write and speak English, I am very happy.

We also asked them to write about a person they like, this is a heart warming story from one of my students. She is 28 has 2 children, was wounded by a crossfire when Moaists and Army came to her village, they now live in Kathmandu.

“There are millions of human beings in the world, most of them wants their own development, name and Fame, but there are also the the humans who are engaged to help feed others, among them is my friend Mr Lal, one man with a real heart, I am really pleased of him and like him very much because he helped me with no hopes of benefits from me. I was a simple woman of remote village in Nepal. During the armed revolution I was caught in a crossfire between the army and the Maoists, I woke up in a pool of blood. I had become senseless for three years. Mr Lal helped me, he bought me to get my mental treatment, I got my new life after the treatment, but if I had to care for myself it wouldn’t happen, poverty would be my obstacle, I got my family and child again thanks to Mr Lal.

This is part of my story, Sincerely Kay Walls. Melbourne, Australia

Why did you decide to start teaching English?

After nearly 20 years as a civil servant, I realised that I was entirely unfulfilled and was looking for a challenge. I’d always enjoyed training and teaching, and I love languages. It seemed like the obvious combination of my passions.

Did you do a TEFL course before you started teaching?

I took the weekend TEFL initially, with the intention of doing the full one, once I had the time though, as yet, I haven’t actually done so! What I learned on my weekend course has been invaluable, though.

Where are you originally from?

Brighton, UK.

What attracted you to Spain?

I’d been here several times in the last few years in order to be a volunteer on English language immersion programs, and had fallen in love with the country, the people and the lifestyle.

What age kids/adults are you teaching?

Currently all my students are between 18 and 50.

What were they like?

My first ever student was very tricky and after only a few weeks, we came to a mutual agreement to part ways. However, since then, they’ve all been a delight. They’re all very enthusiastic and ready to learn, but being a mixture of levels makes lesson planning interesting and challenging.

How are you finding the experience of teaching in Spain?

I honestly don’t have a bad thing to say about it. Madrid is a fantastic city, easy to live in, friendly, reasonably cheap and teaching here has been great fun.

How would you rate the experience out of 10?

8

Why?

The only thing that stops it being a 10 is the irritation of students who cancel classes, sometimes at very short notice. Because I’ve chosen to teach a majority of private students with ony a few hours a week through an academy, when they cancel, I lose out. Consistency would be good, but with the demands of work and families, sometimes they just can’t find time to do everything, and sadly their English class is the first thing to go!

What would be your advice for someone thinking of teaching in Spain?

Do it! Come here with no pre-conceived ideas, and throw yourself into it wholeheartedly. You won’t be disappointed. Getting in with a school or an academy is probably the best way to do it, though private students have their advantages too, so don’t discount anything. You will find the Spanish to be welcoming, friendly and enthusiastic and, with English fast becoming the “must-have” ability for their jobs, you’ll find that being a native speaker makes you very, very popular!!!!

Just check out how Chalkboard member, Miss Brown, found it:

“I was so happy to touch down in Madrid; being greeted by the heat was exactly what I was wishing for and the little Spanish I did know managed to secure quite a handy taxi driver.

“The programme starts on the Sunday but it is definitely worthwhile attending the tapas party that is always held the night before. This will give you a chance to meet fellow anglos (this is what you will be referred to), both from your programme and from those before yours – well I did! This definitely helped me get in the mood knowing that people from previous programmes were up for doing it again! My night really began after meeting people at the tapas reception, we then decided to go on as a group exploring central Madrid, which led us to a nice spot with Sangria and Paella!

“It was absolutely lovely, quality bonding in a rich and exciting way – bet you can just imagine the coach atmosphere the next morning.

The Programme

“The day does start bright and early and you are expected to mingle and engage in English speaking conversations. You may find the Spaniards a bit reluctant at first but before you know it everyone is talking and you almost feel like one big family (seriously)!

“You will be involved in one-to-ones, group activities, telephone conversations and entertainment – I recommend you get involved, it’s more fun that way.

“Anyone considering this program please jump at it. I’m still in-touch with a lot of the people I met there and I will be meeting with a few Spaniards, who are coming to London. It’s definitely something I will do again and who knows, maybe I will meet some you guys there!”