After you complete a Teaching English as a Foreign Language qualification you can jet off to over 50 countries to teach English.
With teaching jobs, internships and summer schools ranging from three to 12 months long, it’s a great way to spend your summer, or even take a gap year.
Tyler Hope is currently doing an internship in Vietnam. “The decision to quit my job with minimal savings and no clear plan was a terrifying one, and one which I questioned over and over again before making,” she says. “I can now say with complete confidence that it’s a decision I’ll be forever thankful for.”
Travelling to a new part of the world alone can seem terrifying, but it comes with plenty of benefits. “The trials and tribulations of the internship so far have been thrilling and enlightening in equal measure, and have helped me to become a much happier and more confident person than I’ve ever been before,” says Tyler.
Teaching English abroad might sound hard if you have no prior experience, but TEFL Org UK requires you to complete one of their online courses followed by a weekend course. The number of hours you have to complete depends on which qualification you want. Different jobs require different hours to apply, and the more hours you have behind you, the more places you can travel to.
One thing about teaching English is that each day is different – and it’s always exciting. “One lesson I may be teaching in an overcrowded room with nothing more than a blackboard, the next I may have a television, a computer, and an interactive whiteboard to hand,” says Tyler. “There was one time my lessons were cancelled due to ‘harsh’ weather conditions: the temperature falling to just below 10 degrees.”
That might sound like a lot, but a full-time job abroad doesn’t mean all work no play. Being in a new country gives you endless places to explore and being paid while you work allows you to do just that. Since arriving in Vietnam in January, Tyler has taken language lessons, taken part in Vietnamese traditions and travelled all across the country. “Places which have been on my bucket list for years are now just a bus ride away, there hasn’t been a weekend so far where I haven’t ticked off something new,” she says.
One thing’s for sure, no matter where you travel with TEFL Org UK, you’ll come home ready to find where you want to teach next.
To find out more visit the official TEFL website.
