15 Benefits Of Living Abroad as A TEFL Teacher

Getting paid to live, work and travel in another country… this is what TEFL is all about! This work abroad adventure provides you with excellent career and growth opportunities that nobody can imagine availing while living in their native country. You get international work experience, enhanced skills set and increased exposure to foreign cultures and people. Here are 16 exciting benefits that you can get while living abroad as a TEFL Teacher.https://tefl-madrid.com

If you’re about to move abroad as a TEFL teacher or studying purposes, then you’re in a mixed feeling state of nervousness and excitement about your new destination. No doubt, TEFL abroad is going to be the most exciting educational experience you’ll ever have. Here is the list of some benefits that you gain while living abroad as a TEFL teacher. 

• Flexible Working Hours

Being an ESL teacher, you have a great opportunity to choose flexible working hours and job options.  If you’re not an early bird, then you can set schedule whenever you feel comfortable with the working hours. You can easily earn a decent salary by working 20 hours/week in an afternoon timing for Monday-Friday. Or you can choose the morning timings of Monday-Thursday if you want to adopt a more intensive routine.

• Expanding Your Horizons 

While traveling to another country, you constantly gain knowledge and learn different histories associated with those cities, cultures, and languages. This real-world experience by traveling and living among them for a year or above is priceless. Dealing with a shopkeeper at a grocery store, and even a mere engagement or conversation with a local on a pavement, all provide a different learning experience and enable an ESL teacher to grow intellectually.

No doubt, TEFL experience matures you in intangible ways by providing an encounter with foreigners and different situations that you can’t learn by searching online or reading a book. 

• Personal Growth

While moving abroad for doing TEFL in Spain or any other country, every TEFL teacher finds it little terrifying or intimating at first regarding new situations, settings and cultures abroad especially if he is an introvert person. But, no doubt, it also gives a great opportunity to grow as an individual- both professionally and emotionally. 

While eating new cultural cuisines, you’ll experience emotional growth that you never felt while living in your home country. You will miss your family and friends back in the hometown as you may not fluently communicate with them due to phone companies or busy work routine. You’ll experience interaction with different people on a daily basis and will explore everything from scratch in a new country to navigate around. Doubtlessly, these experiences make you more patient and stronger as time passes. 

• Employment Opportunities

No doubt, there is an increasing demand for the English language in the international business market. Every nonnative English-speaking country has a huge demand for teachers to make their students capable enough to meet international market standards. You can find students around the world that are desperately looking for a certified English teacher. So, what are you waiting for? It’s time to broaden your horizons geographically either by exploring Chile in South America, Madrid in Spain or Seoul in South Korea as an EFL teacher. 

• Multicultural Experiences

Well, you can find huge cultural diversity as an ESL teacher. Both children and adult ESL students come from diverse backgrounds and areas which reflect in their code of conduct. This diversity in the form of students and courses keep ESL teacher’s soul fresh and away from boredom.  

• Improved Creativity

It’s a great opportunity to implement your own creativity within lesson plans. You don’t have to follow typical methods of teaching, the specific curriculum, and strict schedules to meet academic goals. This autonomy with lesson plans gives freedom to TEFL teachers to follow their specific teaching methods and materials to meet goals set by your student /academy. 

• It Can Be Adopted as A Part-Time Career

If you are living in a foreign country for higher studies and worried about how to pay off student loans, then you can start working as a part-time TEFL teacher to earn extra cash to support family back in your belonging country. While teaching abroad as a TEFL instructor, you will get enough free time to explore, learn and earn.

• Learn New Languages

Well, people are fond of learning new languages as a hobby. While if you’re teaching abroad, then it provides unparallel opportunity to learn the host country’s language. 

Several EFL teachers used to take courses in other country’s native language where they are about to move. Being honest, you can learn only 20-25% of their language until you move to that specified country by yourself. It’s far easier to learn the Spanish language after moving to Madrid rather than listening to tapes or taking classes in your home country.  No doubt, you find the best hospitality from surrounded society wherever you travel in the world. You can easily learn and enjoy other language being surrounded by other dialects. 

• Stepping Out of The Comfort Zone

Moving abroad gives an opportunity to explore and mix up with other cultures. You make new friends, explore cities, their food, and cultures. These all new experiences broaden your vision, insights, maturity level, and make you more appreciable to nature and life. As a year-long abroad journey is enough long-span to learn cultural practices, mingle with the locals, and hang out on touristic places with new friends. 

• International Qualification and Experience

Usually, people claim that English teachers have no value in markets. This statement is true only for those applicants who go for a cheap TEFL course where there is no involvement of practical application of effective teaching-learning environment, and negligible job placement assistance.

An international TEFL certificate or course follow stricter standards of quality in their programs. TEFL applicants who completed the 120-hours course of academic training and live practicum are highly demanded in every corner of the world.

TEFL Madrid academy provides a great opportunity to earn international level TEFL certification with a 120-hour-long course where 6 hours are dedicated to the practical application. It gives assistance of job placement and highly-qualified instructors for the students. 

• Opportunity to Make A Life-Changing Impact on Others’ Lives

A TEFL teacher gets an excellent opportunity to share success guidelines in professional and personal life with a huge crowd of students. Make a positive impact and motivate them to build a good character with a shining career through learning English practices. 

• Chances to Explore the Host Country

If you moved to Spain to become a TEFL teacher in Madrid, then it can be a life-changing experience for you. As Spain offers more than 22 official holidays in a year. A TEFL teacher gets enough free time to explore what this amazing country has to offer. You can easily enjoy the experience of seasonal foods, festivals, and cultural events to the fullest with a nice work-life balance. 

• Travelling Becomes Easier

EFL teachers can easily travel around exotic cities or countries with their salaries. A Thailand based EFL teacher can visit Laos or Cambodia in $50 USD. If you’re teaching EFL in a European country and live in an hour or less drive distance of an airport, then you can pick a cheap Ryanair flight to enjoy a weekend in Berlin or Prague.  

• Becoming A Student in Your Classroom

 No doubt, a friendly relationship between the student and teacher helps in better understanding of student personality and even excites them. As a TEFL instructor in a foreign country, this networking gives benefits to you as well as your students. As students can give the best information to their teachers regarding cultures, hostels to live in, places to explore, local slangs, and recommendations or suggestions about restaurants, food to consume, markets etc. This one-on-one beneficial interaction between students and teachers make an ESL teacher life easier in a foreign country. I personally recommend that teachers must build a friendly relationship with students either they are teaching in the home country or other. Near me, networking by engaging with students in class conversations or after class is a worth considering strategy. 

• CV And Skills Booster

If you don’t want to teach abroad as a long-term career, then it’s okay. People used to switch off this field due to homesickness and an inelastic or nonadaptive nature towards other cultures. But, don’t make mistake by taking your skills for granted that you developed along a TEFL way.   

A CV is the best reflection of your education, skills, work accomplishments, and experiences that you gain in life journey. An addition of TEFL abroad experience gives an impression that you’re open-minded, adaptable to different situations, and adventurous person. Doubtlessly, your leadership and interpersonal communication skill improve while conducting classes, and you also get to know how to overcome cultural barriers during your 1-3 years TEFL abroad experience. 

Summing up all above discussion, moving abroad for becoming a TEFL instructor in Spain is truly rewarding both professionally and culturally. As you can travel from the world’s south to its north that you never dreamt of. What are you waiting for! Add a beautiful chapter in your life by enrolling in a TEFL course in Spain today. If you have queries, feel free to connect via email or Facebook.