Embarking on a journey into Teaching English as a Foreign Language (TEFL)? 📚 Don't let these common pitfalls derail your progress! In this informative video, we unveil the 9 crucial mistakes to sidestep on your TEFL adventure.
For private lessons, should we ask potential students to purchase a coursebook before beginning? I find that I really enjoy working through coursebooks. I hate having to come up with plans of my own as I lack creativity. Which coursebooks do you recommmend?
I've been there! There is no need to reinvent the wheel, coursebooks are great starting points for us as TEFL teachers. Before asking a student to buy a coursebook, you need to know what book you enjoy teaching! Then, test it with the student, and if it is going well (not too easy, not too difficult), ask them to buy the coursebook. But also, most coursebooks come with a workbook (you need to pay for this separately), these are fantastic, as students can work through them independently, which is perfect. You can teach 1-1's from the coursebook, and set follow up work using the workbook. Personally, my two favourite series are: Outcomes by National Geographic, and Gateway. 'Your Space' by Hobbs and Keddle is good for beginners (although it's aimed at 15 and under). Once you've found a book you really enjoy teaching, I recommend investing in buying yourself a copy in Elementary, Intermediate, Upper-Intermediate levels. Search online and the books may offer free samples to try out! Hope this helps.
Hi, I'm going back to uni to get my BA in English this year with a view of doing TEFL -CELTA and then teaching in Spain or Latin America. I'm a native speaker from the UK and have a BSc but from my research to teach in most schools , they require a BA? This will most likely take me 3 years but I'm determined to get there. Thanks for the content
Hi Kenny, from my experience, it isn't that schools and academies require a BA, it is usually more about being granted a work visa in said country. I'm not familiar with BSc, but I'm assuming it's the same level of qualification as a BA, which would mean you probably wouldn't face a hurdle there. I'm less familiar with Latin America, but certainly in Spain, you could go the route of doing the Language Assistant Program, allowing you to get into the country, get experience, and bypass a lot of excess. I can only imagine that Latin America is even easier. The truth is, most English teachers around the world suck, standing out isn't too hard. As a side note, what type of videos or content would be helpful for you as someone getting into this world of TEFL (please be as specific or vague as you want)? Thanks, Lewis.
I've spent a lot of time thinking about this topic, my conclusion: It's a total crap fest out there! I followed the accreditation of a lot of TEFL courses, and it turns out a lot of these 'accreditation' companies are also just a bag of nothing...and the courses themselves are also shocking in detail. If you don't have a degree, my advice is to play it safe and get a CELTA. If you do have a degree, choose a TEFL course that shows you real teaching and practical strategies. I've actually got a free one if you're interested, it's in it's BETA stage but it's of good quality. Message me on Instagram if you want the link for the free version... @lewisgreenaway_