Various TEFL questions?
Posted: 17 Jul 2019, 09:46
Long post - sorry. I've given background which'll help answer my Q's at the bottom.
I'm a 25 year old guy living in the uk working in marketing. I graduated university with a sports based degree in 2016 and for the last 3 years I've been living with my parents.
I was saving up to buy my own place in a new city (currently in the south of England but wanted to buy in the north). This would mean a new job. I started making changes to my CV/Resume which is when I realised I'm not sure if I want to do marketing.
Financially if I moved out to up north it'll also mean I won't be able to save as much. I currently earn £26k a year (£1.6k-1.7k a month) and save £1k a month. If I moved out I'll probably earn £25k (the north pays worse despite me progressing a little in my career) and I reckon I'd save about £500 a month but obviously will be paying a mortgage which is good.
TEFL should allow me to save approx £1k a month depending where I teach.
I've done quite a bit of travelling.
Trip 1...... 4 and a half months in Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam and a weekend in Kuala Lumpur. This trip included just over 3 months voluntarily teaching English and PE (sport) at a Thai primary school in a rural village (a behind the times school with old equipment and a few students from fairly poor backgrounds). This was unpaid and about 7 years ago (did it when I was 18 and now 25).
Trip 2...... 2 months in northern Thailand and Laos.
Trip 3..... 3 weeks in the Philippines
Trip 4...... 3 weeks in Croatia, Montenegro, Macedonia, Albania and Bosnia.
Overall I love travelling. My ideal TEFL job is below. I realise there may not be this perfect job so I may need to compromise on a few things:
I'd like a TEFL job that'll still allow me to travel eg on weekends, school/national holidays etc. I loved making friends during my travels and would like a similar experience but obviously taking my teaching role seriously when I'm working. So my ideal TEFL role would allow me to meet cool people and maybe have good working hours with plenty of time off (whether that's short working days or plenty of holidays or both). I'm single too so potentially would like to date but this isn't a priority and I'm not the sleazy traveller type (more of an after thought during writing this!).
I'd like to continue to save plenty of money. So pay, living costs (i'm pretty frugal), accommodation/flights included all would be considered.
I have a BSc degree but no teaching qualifications. The only experience I have is from voluntary teaching English in Thailand but this was about 7 years ago. I also coached sports to children about 7-8 years ago. I realise this is 'pushing the boat' and a bit outdated anyway. I'm prepared to do a TEFL course.
I take my health and fitness seriously. This means eating well/clean and going to the gym to lift weights (a proper gym rather than a little hotel type gym with limited equipment).
I noticed the children were quite cheeky during my previous teaching experience in Thailand. I guess this was because they were young and the school had many previous foreign teachers at the school who probably played with the children as they're a lot of fun. Because of this, the children probably thought foreign teachers are less strict and more fun and therefore it was hard to control a class. They were also very young. Admittedly I probably wasn't a great teacher too and the kids could barely speak any English whatsoever which made teaching challenging when I didn't speak Thai.
Somewhere with a reasonable climate.
Where'd you think would suit me as well as being somewhere I could get work based on my background? I'm leaning towards either Asia or the Middle East but not ruling out some parts of Europe. Vietnam appeals most in Asia while in the Middle East its Bahrain, Oman and Dubai. In Europe its Spain/Portugal/Ukraine/Serbia/Poland.
If I did this for a year, what happens at the end of the year? Hypothetically speaking, If I liked it, would the school keep me on under the same conditions? If they didn't keep me on will it be easy to find something else with little-to-no period of unemployment in between leaving that role and starting the new teaching position? If I chose to stop TEFL after a year, would this year doing something different affect my career in marketing (assuming I choose to go back into marketing)?
How do you spend your evenings/weekends? Do you have time to travel?
Any tips/advice to assess if TEFL is something I want to do? I'd hate to start teaching then realise it's not for me and have to go through the motions for the year... counting down the days for it to come to an end. What can I do now to work out if it's the perfect job for me?
I'm a 25 year old guy living in the uk working in marketing. I graduated university with a sports based degree in 2016 and for the last 3 years I've been living with my parents.
I was saving up to buy my own place in a new city (currently in the south of England but wanted to buy in the north). This would mean a new job. I started making changes to my CV/Resume which is when I realised I'm not sure if I want to do marketing.
Financially if I moved out to up north it'll also mean I won't be able to save as much. I currently earn £26k a year (£1.6k-1.7k a month) and save £1k a month. If I moved out I'll probably earn £25k (the north pays worse despite me progressing a little in my career) and I reckon I'd save about £500 a month but obviously will be paying a mortgage which is good.
TEFL should allow me to save approx £1k a month depending where I teach.
I've done quite a bit of travelling.
Trip 1...... 4 and a half months in Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam and a weekend in Kuala Lumpur. This trip included just over 3 months voluntarily teaching English and PE (sport) at a Thai primary school in a rural village (a behind the times school with old equipment and a few students from fairly poor backgrounds). This was unpaid and about 7 years ago (did it when I was 18 and now 25).
Trip 2...... 2 months in northern Thailand and Laos.
Trip 3..... 3 weeks in the Philippines
Trip 4...... 3 weeks in Croatia, Montenegro, Macedonia, Albania and Bosnia.
Overall I love travelling. My ideal TEFL job is below. I realise there may not be this perfect job so I may need to compromise on a few things:
I'd like a TEFL job that'll still allow me to travel eg on weekends, school/national holidays etc. I loved making friends during my travels and would like a similar experience but obviously taking my teaching role seriously when I'm working. So my ideal TEFL role would allow me to meet cool people and maybe have good working hours with plenty of time off (whether that's short working days or plenty of holidays or both). I'm single too so potentially would like to date but this isn't a priority and I'm not the sleazy traveller type (more of an after thought during writing this!).
I'd like to continue to save plenty of money. So pay, living costs (i'm pretty frugal), accommodation/flights included all would be considered.
I have a BSc degree but no teaching qualifications. The only experience I have is from voluntary teaching English in Thailand but this was about 7 years ago. I also coached sports to children about 7-8 years ago. I realise this is 'pushing the boat' and a bit outdated anyway. I'm prepared to do a TEFL course.
I take my health and fitness seriously. This means eating well/clean and going to the gym to lift weights (a proper gym rather than a little hotel type gym with limited equipment).
I noticed the children were quite cheeky during my previous teaching experience in Thailand. I guess this was because they were young and the school had many previous foreign teachers at the school who probably played with the children as they're a lot of fun. Because of this, the children probably thought foreign teachers are less strict and more fun and therefore it was hard to control a class. They were also very young. Admittedly I probably wasn't a great teacher too and the kids could barely speak any English whatsoever which made teaching challenging when I didn't speak Thai.
Somewhere with a reasonable climate.
Where'd you think would suit me as well as being somewhere I could get work based on my background? I'm leaning towards either Asia or the Middle East but not ruling out some parts of Europe. Vietnam appeals most in Asia while in the Middle East its Bahrain, Oman and Dubai. In Europe its Spain/Portugal/Ukraine/Serbia/Poland.
If I did this for a year, what happens at the end of the year? Hypothetically speaking, If I liked it, would the school keep me on under the same conditions? If they didn't keep me on will it be easy to find something else with little-to-no period of unemployment in between leaving that role and starting the new teaching position? If I chose to stop TEFL after a year, would this year doing something different affect my career in marketing (assuming I choose to go back into marketing)?
How do you spend your evenings/weekends? Do you have time to travel?
Any tips/advice to assess if TEFL is something I want to do? I'd hate to start teaching then realise it's not for me and have to go through the motions for the year... counting down the days for it to come to an end. What can I do now to work out if it's the perfect job for me?