Tourfolio

My sister has traveled throughout a decent portion of the world by teaching English (TEFL) to native children of Thailand and Costa Rica – as well as attending Semester at Sea. I thought it would be helpful for her to share a few helpful tips surrounding the process of finding a job as well as teaching.

Flickr.com (seetefl)

Show Honest Interest

When looking for a job, be persistent but not aggressive. Many schools have people “interested”, but most of the time it will fall through on the job seekers end. Schools are skeptical of hiring people over the internet who say they want to teach for their school. You can tell them you are interested, but make sure you show them you are willing to make an effort to be there to interview. They won’t hire strictly via internet. They will hire you when they see the whites of your eyes.

Be Committed

When the employer asks about your commitment to the school, most schools want a one year minimum commitment. Most schools, especially in Central and South America, know it doesn’t always work out. The pay isn’t amazing, so the employer does have the understanding that teachers can run out of money, unexpected medical reasons and family situations back home.

Teaching Duration

If you are only interested for teaching for a semester (typically about 5 or 6 months), tell your employer you that you can potentially stay for a year, but you can guarantee them at least 6 months. As long as they have notice of you leaving, they will be able to hire a new teacher before you leave. It’s important that when you guarantee them 6 months, that you stay for those 6 months.

Apply at the Right Time

When looking for a job, make sure you are looking at the right time. Most countries have different school years than the US. Make sure you are catching the schools at the right time for hiring, rather than in the middle of their semester when they aren’t looking for teachers. If you give them your resume in the middle of the school year, they will more than likely lose it and forget about you when it comes hiring time again.

Relate to the Student’s Culture and Hobbies

When you are teaching, make sure the materials in the lessons pertain to the cultural interests, personal interests, ages, levels of English and reason for learning English. For example, if you are teaching a teenage class of boys in a Central American beach town, incorporate surfing, dancing, music and soccer into your lesson plans. It’s all things they are interested in and they will be more apt to grasp the material they are being taught because they can relate to it. Keep the material relative to who you are teaching. If you are teaching Business English for a company, incorporating dancing and sports will most likely result in them losing interest. If they are meant to learn how to speak in a professional meeting, most of their personal interests will be irrelevant and sometimes inappropriate for the lesson. If you keep it relative to the ages and purpose and location of where they are learning, what they are learning, and why they are learning English, the lessons will be fun and successful.

Additional TEFL Resources

TEFL.com – The world’s largest real-time database of English language teaching jobs.
TEFL.net – An independent resource site for teachers of English worldwide containing the world’s largest TEFL course database.

Are you TEFL certified? What were your experiences when teaching overseas? Care to share any of your tips as well?