Do you want to see the world, but think you don’t have the money? It can be done. It’s not glamorous, but it can be a fun and at times hilarious. One way to travel and earn money is by teaching English around the world. If you speak English and have a TEFL certificate, you can do it. You won’t be rich, but you won’t starve either. You’re first step is to find good TEFL certification programs to choose from, decide where you want to go, then go!
That’s what I did in 2002. I had been a high school Spanish teacher and a special education teacher (for the emotionally disturbed – I really don’t recommend doing that). After being attacked for the third time by the same kid, on that very day, I paid for a TEFL course in Thailand. I needed a change before I started killing kids.
I wanted to take the course in Việt-Nam because that’s where I planned to teach, but back then there were no TEFL courses in Việt-Nam, so I settled for Thailand. I didn’t know anything about Thailand. I didn’t think I’d like Bangkok, so I settled for Phuket. I didn’t even know about Phuket, except for the Phuket Thai Restaurant downstairs from the Fook Yoen Chinese restaurant in Honolulu.
I flew to Phuket on 1 January 2002 – Oh, if you do travel through Taiwan during the winter to Thailand, you should know that IT’S COLD in Taipei, especially if they don’t heat the airport. I was traveling from Honolulu to Thailand. It never occurred to me that I would need warm clothes – Anyway, I managed to get to Phuket and took a 120 hour course over a six weeks period. Most courses are four weeks. If you can, I recommend the six week 12o hour course because that gives you more time to digest the material and gives you time to enjoy the place, that is, if you’re taking the course overseas. If not, get it over with and get going on your adventure.
Whatever you do, make sure it is at least 12o hours with practice teaching. Most schools will not accept a TEFL or TESOL certificate without that. Online courses are usually not enough. Although now I see that there are TEFL programs that split their courses into two parts, an online part that covers grammar and teaching theory and another part of practice teaching with evaluation from the instructors.
Although I had already been a Spanish teacher, I have to say that the TEFL course was invaluable. I learned more about teaching foreign language from that little course than all my “official” educational courses I had previously taken. Teaching English is much more difficult than you might think, especially for a native speaker. You have no idea where to begin or where to go. A non-native English speaker at least has an experience of learning English to go on. Native speakers don’t.
After I finished the course, my school told me about a position at Prince of Songkla University (PSU) in Phuket. Although I had planned to teach in Việt-Nam, I ended up staying in Phuket. It was a great experience. Two years later, when I was in México, I got an e-mail from PSU asking me to return to teach Spanish. That was an even better experience.
A TEFL certificate won’t make you rich, but it can open doors to new experiences and opportunities around the world. If you’re thinking about doing it, I encourage you to go for it. It was one of the best things I’ve ever done.
