From free-spirited Teacher to Academic Management - Stepping up your career in TEFL

With the end of summer (in the northern hemisphere), many TEFL teachers are planning their next career move. Sarah Taylor reflects on the fulfilling journey her TEFL career has taken her - from a volunteer placement in rural Nepal to teaching in Italy and eventually earning a management position at a prestigious school in the UK. 

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Working as a Summer School Director of Studies

I’d already been an English teacher in Poland and China for some time when I decided to try my luck teaching English in the UK at summer camps. I got the job and I spent my first summer in the UK teaching. Having enjoyed it, I applied for a teaching job the following year with a different company. But when I went to a summer English camp the second time I thought that it might actually be my last as an...

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Teaching English: Is it really a long-term career?

If you are still trying to weigh the pros and cons of becoming a teacher of English, doubt no more. When choosing a career we are usually guided either by what we love doing or by the financial benefits of a job. In my opinion teaching English can be the perfect combination of both - it is a fun job (you are guaranteed to never be bored) and there are plenty of opportunities to make good money. Another point in favour of choosing teaching English as a long-term career is that there are a lot of options to transition to from teaching per se to other areas within the TEFL industry: you can become a DOS, open your own language school, move into materials creation and...

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Discrimination and the Non-Native Teacher - An Insider's View

Everybody has heard of or even experienced some form of discrimination in their life be it racial, gender, age, sexual orientation, or any other type of discrimination. The world has been fighting discrimination for centuries, but despite the struggle for equal rights in our day and age, we still come across instances of discrimination. In the TEFL industry, one possible reason for discrimination is the native language and the nationality of a teacher. If you were lucky enough to have been born in an English-speaking country, it seems all doors are wide open to you as an English teacher. You can get any job you like anywhere in the world and sometimes...

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The Interview. Techniques for the ESL Teacher

It is finally over. You have escaped the teacher training program unscathed. Or, perhaps you are a seasoned vet seeking to land a job in a new country or city. Either way, you need to get ready for the next step: the interview process. While this process is more daunting for some than others, there are always techniques to be applied that can significantly boost the chances of you landing the job you...

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CELTA, DELTA, MA? When is the best career moment for extra qualifications?

CELTA, DELTA, Trinity Dip, M.A. in Applied Linguistics… there is an increasing number of courses on offer for the aspiring English language teacher.  Navigating the opportunities and understanding the realities of what each brings is key if you are to make it all worth your while.  Many will start off their career attempting the CELTA or Trinity TESOL (also known as TEFL-I qualifications), the two most popular entry-level courses on offer in TEFL.  Ironically, what most teachers end up doing for their first jobs is nothing like the small groups of adult learners neatly grouped into levels, and so why the expectation and desire to put ourselves through it?  Well, obviously, in order to get a job.  Not to say that it is essential for your first teaching position.  In fact, most countries require a 120-hour teaching qualification, with only the UK, USA and Saudi Arabia actually stipulating that a CELTA/TESOL is required (Deady, 2019).  These shorter courses can be done...

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Are native teachers better? Non-native teachers and self-esteem

Teaching is not always a walk in the park. In fact, it is not only stressful but also draining as teachers give so much of themselves. I would argue that non-native teachers have an added stress: low self-esteem. “Are they good enough? Are they doing their jobs properly? Are the students happy? Are the students judging them based on their accent?” These are common questions that most non-native teachers ask themselves. It is true that native teachers ask themselves these questions too. However, non-native teachers might ask themselves these questions once too often, and they will probably give a negative answer...

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