TEFL Tutor – Stephen Clarke
TEFL for me is simply the best job in the world. My 25 years of teaching has been constant fun and learning in the most rewarding sense of the word. I’ve created so many friendships and was able to truly experience life abroad with fellow citizens of the globe. I wouldn’t have exchanged by my experience for anything!
My time abroad
My connection with TEFL has been characterised by staying for reasonable amounts of time in several countries; Sweden, Italy and Germany in particular. During my time overseas, I was able to learn various languages, gain insights into other cultures and recognise what makes people tick in these different societies.
Who should TEFL in my opinion?
Anyone who likes being with the sheer diversity of people and who shares this sense of global adventure can contribute so much to peoples' lives by teaching English - the world language of trade and commerce - and make that difference abroad.
Along this special route, you’ll also take stock of all the resources available today to teach English, and the special thrills of seeing lesson plans materialise into lessons that gel. Furthermore, you’ll be able to evaluate the success of ideas in lessons that did fire up the students imaginations and readjust those that didn't quite work.
Range and Diversity is everywhere in TEFL
You can start off teaching general English and soon find yourself in contact with managers desperate to have teachers in their businesses. Oftentimes, they’ll need specific task based language projects to assist with their international commercial considerations. In addition to these opportunities, you might simply have coffee at an evening centre for housewives, church groups or a whole host of other informal special interest groups! By the next morning you might be at a primary school just singing songs and playing word games with 6 and 7 year olds...
It is an exhilarating ride, no doubt about it
The world of Teaching English as a Foreign Language; It just seems to mature with age like a good wine, and like wine leaves particularly pleasurable tastes in the mouth - one of the types of jobs where you remember on a weekly basis the good times far more than the bad, in my experience.
Although few millionaires emerge form this particular field of endeavour - the sense of being special and valued by people beats the sweat and agony and the burn out of continuous financial gain and loss (these days) by a mile, in my view.
