Being an EFL teacher is a great way to earn a living, travel and meet people. You will develop better communication skills, become much more confident in group situations and generally develop as a person from the experience. These are transferable life skills which will continue to benefit you even if you decide to leave the profession after a few months or years.
However, EFL teaching is not for everyone. In order to be a good EFL teacher it is not enough just to be a fluent English speaker. Of course, subject knowledge and teaching skills can be learnt, but you need to have certain qualities to begin with. To avoid wasting money starting a career for which you are not suited, ask yourself these questions, and consider the comments below.
1 Are you an educated English speaker?
You don’t necessarily have to have formal qualifications, but they will certainly help. Employers in some countries will expect you to have a university degree or equivalent. While you are not expected to have an encyclopaedic knowledge of English grammar, as a starting point you should be able to spell confidently, you should be able to say whether a sentence is grammatically correct or not, and you should know the difference between a noun, a verb and an adjective.
2 Would you feel confident working with different age groups, nationalities and levels?
When you get a teaching job it is unlikely that you’ll be able to pick and choose your students. Teenagers are a large part of the EFL market both in the UK and abroad and you will come across students from a variety of language backgrounds ranging in ability from beginner to advanced. You will need to be flexible and resourceful, and able to think on your feet.
3 Are you a good communicator?
To be a good teacher, a thorough knowledge of your subject is only half the battle – you need to be able to inspire your students to learn. This requires an enthusiasm for your subject, a natural talent for explaining things and a good deal of patience.
4 Are you lively and outgoing?
There is a lot of truth in American journalist and author Gail Godwin’s observation that ‘good teaching is one fourth preparation and three-fourths theater’. Learning is all about memory, and lessons in which students have been entertained and stimulated will be more memorable, and therefore more effective.
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