If I could go back in time, what would I do differently with my TEFL career?

By Delv

It’s probably fair to say that most of us can see where we could have made life easier for ourselves if we’d approached our TEFL careers differently. These days a Masters degree in TEFL will usually include a module on reflection. I’m afraid I was one of the dubious crowd who was not sure of the virtue in studying reflection at the expense of a list of other teacher-related modules which I believed would be more useful. However, as soon as we started the module it became apparent how useful reflecting on our respective TEFL careers was: identifying areas which could have been planned better as well as identifying our strengths. I realized I could have saved myself a lot of work, time, and money had I taken a step back and considered my future plans more thoroughly. So, here’s my list of things I would do differently (and things I got right) if I wound back the clock to January 1st 2000:

Finding out if TEFL teaching was for me without having to spend a lot of money

Fortunately for me my first TEFL position was for a language school in Japan which didn’t require a TEFL certificate as they provided a basic one-week course in teaching practice. This saved me spending a substantial amount of money on the recommended 160-hour contact TEFL course and then possibly finding out that I didn’t see myself working comfortably in front of a class. The downside of this is that a one-week course isn’t really enough: there were times when I was out of my depth in terms of classroom management and knowledge of the subject, which a TEFL course provides.

I should have saved every activity and lesson plan, properly stored in a filing system arranged by student level and lesson aim

In my defence, when I started teaching I didn’t have a computer and storing data was therefore difficult. However, I should have started saving all those lesson activities and lesson plans I took so much time to prepare earlier – how frustrating it is to know that you’ve just spent the last 40 minutes preparing the same lesson activity you’ve written or drawn out at least once before!

Share materials

I’ve been lucky (most of the time) as I have worked in staff rooms where teachers have been happy to share materials. There’s nothing better than using a tried-and tested activity whether it’s yours or a colleagues. It also makes life more interesting for the students as they are not exposed to just your particular approach to activities. You might be creating as many as five activities an evening, five nights a week. Multiply that by the number of colleagues you’re sharing materials with and you’ll soon have a comprehensive database of tried-and-tested materials covering most of the main areas you’ll be teaching – so you can relax and explore your new environment, instead of rewriting lesson activities.

Paid into a pension scheme earlier

I’m probably not alone in allowing the excitement of living in a different culture to distract me from making plans for my retirement.  It wasn’t until I worked in the Middle East that I started looking into pensions and paying the British National Insurance Contributions (and so be eligible for a state pension).  Everything feels and tastes a bit better when you know you’ve secured some kind of retirement plan.

Taken my DELTA before my MA

I could have saved myself a lot of time and money by studying my DELTA before my MA: some MA programmes accept DELTA modules as part of the MA and so you’ll only pay for those modules you need to gain your master’s. Of course, you don’t need both, but in an increasingly competitive world and with such a favourable view of Continuing Professional Development (CPD) within TEFL, having both will increase your employability.  (By the way, if you are undertaking a master’s in order to find a teaching position at a particular university in a particular country, then it’s worth finding out if that university has any affiliations with a university in the country where you wish to study your MA.  This might give you the opportunity to make contacts which will help you gain employment at that particular university.) The sooner you are better qualified, the sooner the better positions become available.  Usually this results in less time at the ‘chalk-face’ and a better salary and overall package.  

I could have saved myself a lot of time and money by studying my DELTA before my MA: some MA programmes accept DELTA modules as part of the MA and so you’ll only pay for those modules you need to gain your master’s. Of course, you don’t need both, but in an increasingly competitive world and with such a favourable view of Continuing Professional Development (CPD) within TEFL, having both will increase your employability.  (By the way, if you are undertaking a master’s in order to find a teaching position at a particular university in a particular country, then it’s worth finding out if that university has any affiliations with a university in the country where you wish to study your MA.  This might give you the opportunity to make contacts which will help you gain employment at that particular university.) The sooner you are better qualified, the sooner the better positions become available.  Usually this results in less time at the ‘chalk-face’ and a better salary and overall package. 

Networking

“Don’t burn your bridges”, a wise old saying which is very apt for TEFL teachers.  While I loathe the concept of networking, having contacts has helped me find the jobs I have been looking for – without contacts you are not in the loop and so might not hear about a very attractive job opportunity until it’s too late. 

Chosen a particular area of TEFL sooner, e.g. EAP, business English, ESP, etc

Teaching general English arms you with a broad knowledge of the subject to use in the future. It also helps clarify the direction you wish to take in where and what you want to teach.  When you have found out which area you wish to specialize in, this can make your life a lot easier: you don’t have such a wide range of lessons to prepare; you can start building a comprehensive bank of resources for your particular field; add more and more relevant experience to your CV making you a better candidate for the roles you want; and usually specialist areas pay more and demand fewer hours in the classroom.  In my case I wish I had started teaching EAP (English for Academic Purposes) classes sooner: I enjoy working with university-level students and EAP teachers are in high demand so the packages offered are usually more attractive.

I found reflecting on my TEFL career really useful and hope you will too.  We would like to hear from you if you have any comments or tips on how TEFL teachers can make their lives easier and at the same time reach their goals.