A Little Experience Goes a Long Way
It’s an unfortunate fact that without previous teaching experience you’re looking at lower paid jobs at lesser known language institutes.
What is most frustrating about this is the fact that to gain experience you must first find a job, but in order to find a good TEFL job you must have experience. Thousands of TEFL teachers face this maddening problem every year but very few realize that there is a relatively simply way around it…
For many travelers a TEFL course is simply a way to avoid the financial worries commonly associated with long-term travel. It allows you to earn as you go, to immerse yourself in a foreign culture and to explore the world on your own terms. For this reason alone volunteering can seem like a step down, you might even think that it defies the point of taking a TEFL course in the first place, but after serious consideration these doubts are likely to fade away.
The first, and in some way most important, advantage of enrolling on a volunteer teaching project is the opportunity to dip your toe in the TEFL waters without committing to a long term position. This is your chance to find out if a career in TEFL, be it long term or temporary, is really for you. Basically you’ll be stepping into the life that you could have if you decide to pursue a career in TEFL and, if nothing else, it promises to be an eye-opening experience.
Next on the list comes the actual experience and the effect that it will have on you. As you test your skills in a real TEFL classroom you’ll begin a new stage of your TEFL education. It is during your first few weeks of teaching that you will learn how to adapt your skills to suit the needs of a unique class of students. After this “settling in” period the standard of your teaching will increase significantly and your confidence will grow with it.
And what effect will this have on your TEFL career? Well for starters, you’ll be able to walk into your new classroom (the one that you’re actually being paid to teach in) with the utmost confidence. You’ll have that “been there, done that” self-assurance of a veteran teacher and you’ll be better able to perform in your newly acquired position. Your students will benefit from a higher level of teaching and you’ll be better able to fulfill their educational needs. Consequently, your first weeks of paid teaching work will be all the more rewarding and fun.
What is perhaps more important, however, is the effect that this experience will have on your ability to secure a well-paid teaching position in a respected language institute. Experienced teachers exude confidence and this will make you all the more attractive to potential employers. If you look like you know what you’re doing then you’re more likely to secure a teaching position and a little experience can be just what you need to do it.
Adding some volunteer teaching experience to your resume will show that you are committed to teaching, that you know what to expect and that this is what you want. Teacher dropout rates (the number of TEFL teachers who secure a teaching position but drop out at the last minute) are at an all time high, so commitment is an important consideration for many language institutes. Proving your commitment is therefore vitally important to securing a good TEFL position.
Finally, your volunteer teaching will prove to language institutes around the world that you can do the job and that you can do it well. In most cases (including all volunteer teaching project booked through i-to-i) you will be able to request a reference. This is usually provided by the company itself as opposed to the individuals that you worked with at the project (because of language barriers) and will certainly add weight to your application.
So what does all this mean? In a nutshell – it means that a little experience can go a long, long way. Not only will it help you to secure a teaching position but it will give you the experience you need to compete for higher paid teaching positions in well-respected language institutes, making your first year as a TEFL teacher all the more lucrative.
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