The Importance of Being a Certified Teacher to Teach EFL Students Abroad

Most people who backpack the world will mostly find themselves on a budget once that budget has been reached they have a few options one is to return home or the other is to find work. Asia, in general, is a very easy continent to find a job teaching English. English teachers are high demand in Asia and it has an attractive salary thus why many western travelers decide to relocate to a country of choice for a maximum of 6 to 12 months.

This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Georgina C. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of ITTT.

Who are teachers abroad?

Teaching abroad is not only for broke backpackers but for people who would like a change of scene and are generally interested in teaching in an unknown country where they can learn a new culture and experience a different environment from the one they are known too.

Applying for a teaching job position in Asia is very simple nowadays. Most English centers are online advertising for various job positions with what they require. It is attractive to foreigners as most jobs don't need a contract and are paid hourly. This can also be a problem as you are not insured and could be stopped at any time, yet most well-paid centers require teachers to sign a contract of six months with high salary and benefits.

Also Read: Top Tips for Sending Money Back Home While Teaching English Overseas

Benefits of teaching in Asia

Of course even tho it sounds easy and a great deal, Asia, in general, has a highly discriminative culture they believe native people with a degree or even without a degree are more suitable as English teachers because of the color of their skin and native heritage. This is a concerning issue, whereas highly educated English teachers do not have equal pay and are more likely to be neglected from most suitable job positions.

However, more recently across Asia, it is now necessary to have a bachelor or most favored a TEFL course. The reason behind this is because most English centers have noticed the poor performance of the teacher's skills and are more focused on pupils' education and outcome instead of race and culture.

Also Read: Guide To Writing Your First TEFL Syllabus

The importance of training

Completing a TEFL course is very important for teachers and equally beneficial for the pupils. Within the course, teachers will learn the reasons for the importance of teaching correct grammar, and how pared with vocabulary it will have a stronger effect on students' pronunciation and spelling. The course will help teachers understand the differences between students' mentality and abilities within each English level from a beginner to advanced and how each level of a teaching plan will help them improve their skills. The course in general covers all aspects of creating a good lesson structure while giving examples and advice on different ways of teaching within the teachers' comfort zone. Having said this, it benefits the students as the teacher is better prepared and is suitable to give a more structured lesson.

Take the example of teaching grammar, it isn’t as easy as it seems. It is one of the most disliked parts of the lesson for teachers and students. Taking this to note, this is where the TEFL course can help with giving clearer understandings of differences between verbs and nouns with a variety of different activities and examples, which can help the teacher create more structured worksheets while giving a better and more engaging lesson for the students.

To be continued the course will help the teacher to understand the deeper initiatives of the usage of grammar and in which ways it is used for a foreigner to understand the different meanings of a sentence threw finding their equivalents from their own language and creating suitable fun activities within the classroom. Using activities will gain the interest and attention of the topic while using drilling exercises will help with the memory of new vocabulary.

People may wonder why is it necessary to learn grammar? Learning grammar can help you in communicating within a society or community, if people didn't learn grammar then everyone would be lost in translation and there would be no clear understanding within a sentence. This is why grammar is important, to communicate effectively within society.

Also Read: 10 Tips When Teaching English as a Foreign Language To Children

Personal experience

In the past year, I had volunteered as an English teacher In Vietnam to a group of teenagers, I had never tough a class before and was very anxious. However, over the following weeks, I had gained more confidence and giving the best possible lesson plans as I could. I had also done a few cover jobs in various centers from kindergartens to elderly classes. And even though I was confident in my teaching skills I felt I was lacking basic knowledge. This is why I had taken it upon myself to take the TEFL course.

Do you want to teach English abroad? Take a TEFL course!

Doing so I have become even more confident and gained better knowledge and understanding of certain strategies and the biggest impact for me was learning in a clearer form the meanings of grammar and vocabulary. Threw this course I have noticed my previous faults and how I can improve them with the various examples and activities the course has provided me. I now feel more complete and have a more focused and engaged mindset on teaching. This is why I feel everyone new to teaching or want to improve their teaching methods should take this course.

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