Teaching English as a Foreign Language

TEFL, or Teaching English as a foreign language, refers to teaching English to students for whom it is not their mother tongue for use in a non-English-speaking region (see ESL/ESOL/EFL/ELT, which explains the distinctions between different kinds of teaching of English to non-native speakers). TEFL can take place in English-speaking regions, for example in language schools or summer camps, but teaching usually occurs in the student's own country. There, TEFL can be either within the school system, or private, either in a private language school or one-on-one. The teachers may be native or non-native speakers.

The rest of this article discusses a particular subset of TEFL, namely the teaching of English by an educated ex-patriate community of qualified native speakers. It is important to remember that this does not reflect the totality of TEFL.

For a wider view, relating to both EFL and ESL contexts, and a full explanation of abbreviations (e.g. the difference between ESL and EFL, or TESOL as a subject and an organisation), see ESL/ESOL/EFL/ELT. For information about foreign language teaching in general, see language education.

Qualifications for TEFL teachers
See also: ESL/ESOL/EFL/ELT.

The basic qualification for teaching English is an undergraduate degree in any subject, plus a TESL or TEFL certificate.

There are numerous organisations who issue certificates which vary in acceptance. There is no international independent accrediting organisation overseeing the issuing of qualifications in general, although in general the more widely-respected certifications are overseen by bodies accredited within their home countries to grant teaching qualifications.

Where to find work
NOTE OF CAUTION

The TEFL world has many cowboy institutions so extreme care should be taken when choosing an employer. Prospective teachers should remember that recruiters receive commissions for filling jobs, and may have little regard for teacher well being. Teachers should check out potential schools on various black and greylists found on the internet. A greylist and blacklist can be helpful in determining if other teachers may have had a problem with the school in the past.

Rates of Pay Worldwide
Rates of pay will depend upon seniority, experience, employer, economic development, terrorism threat and recruitment method. In some countries a low wage may equate to a cosy middle class life style.

If your institute is not a native speaker organisation you may expect to earn considerably more than in institutes designed to recruit travellers.

Among "traveller" institutes pay is highest in the Middle East, Taiwan, Japan, and South Korea. In some circumstances it can be more than adequate in Britain, although plenty of exploitative schools still exist.

Issues in Europe
The expansion of the European Union and of English as a commercial language have gone hand in hand, and consequently there is great demand for instruction, both in the education sector and in the private sector. With care Europe can offer high living standards, relatively secure employment and even EFL careers.

It is important to realise that a CELTA will be very beneficial when searching for a first post in Europe. However it is not universally accepted as a gold standard- particularly in institutions where English is not the first language.

Assistant teacher / state school teacher programs
Many countries have official programs (recruited internationally) and schools often fund part time teachers (recruited locally)

Language Schools aimed at travellers
A large number of web sites carry adverts for jobs, and internet based employment agencies specialise in teacher placement.

The fist starting point in a country should be the local British council web site which will often carry links for respectable local schools. These schools however normally only recruit locally. They may expect to see original certificates and references, and often only employ on a freelance basis, after a face-to-face interview.

Such schools include well know brand names as well as one man bands, these schools have in common low wages, long days and a variable regard for the quality of teacher/ teaching.

Its important to choose a first school that will train and help you develop as a teacher. Most EFL dropouts occur because of poor post CELTA training.

Things you should expect when choosing an employer:


 * A good library of teaching resources
 * A program of teacher trainer development.
 * A Director Of Studies you feel you can instinctively trust
 * A group of teachers who enjoy talking about teaching and who share ideas and materials.

If you are looking for a contract position you should consider career options within that company, and if that company allows the option of transferring to freelance status.

DIY
A lot of teachers quickly sicken of the language school system and seek to increase their share of the income. (Typically language schools retain well over 60% of the students fees).

The more profit-oriented simply move on to run their own school, whilst others simply cut out the middleman and work alone. It should not be assumed that poor local language skills are a barrier to this path.

Teachers may be asked to sign statements not to steal clients: these often have no legal status but are more of a gentleman`s agreement.

The Education Sector
The third option is a move into the educational sector where wages may be considerably higher.

NOTE: If you have Qualified Teacher Status from any EU state, it will be accepted in all EU states.

The Market
Europe can be subdivided into the following sectors

The European Union
If you are an EU citizen work permits are NOT required. Non-citizens may have considerable difficulty obtaining work and travel permits. However citizenship rules are complex within the EU- so it is quite possible that people with ancestors from the EU states will be able to apply for citizenship.

Employment
For teachers looking for employment two options are available

Contract
more typical of new Europe contracts may include accommodation and should include local language instruction. Wages may appear relatively low- however there are huge variations in the cost of living across Europe, and particularly in the new states "low" incomes may equate to a very comfortable life style.

Freelance
More common in Old Europe freelancing allows you to work for a variety of schools and control the hours and days you work. You are however responsible for your own tax and social insurance. Until recently this has been used as a profitable dodge by the transient, however as Europe integrates the opportunities to live between the cracks decrease. If you are a freelancer the use of a good accountant is recommended.

New and Old Europe
The market can be broken up as follows.

Old Europe
Austria	 Belgium 	Cyprus	Denmark	 Estonia 	Finland France 	Germany 	Greece 	Hungary 	Ireland 	Italy 	 Luxembourg 	Malta		 Portugal	 Spain 	Sweden The Netherlands The United Kingdom

The markets in each of these countries can be widely different.

New Europe
Hungary 	Estonia 	Latvia 	Lithuania 	Malta 	The Czech 	Republic 	Poland 	Cyprus 	Slovakia 	Slovenia

A move across the former iron curtain can bring a considerable drop in income, and a real improvement in lifestyle. The new states are undergoing massive development and so career opportunities can be excellent outside of popular cities such as Prague.

Switzerland- (Non EU)
In terms of structure the employment market is similar to Old Europe- however work permits and visas are hard to obtain.

Soviet sphere countries
Ukraine, Belarus and Russia

Political instability and poverty make these interesting but risky ventures. If you are looking for stories to tell your grand children these may be the place for you.

Issues in Northeast Asia
South Korea has a great demand for native English speakers willing to teach, to the degree that it is standard for institutions to pay for the round-trip airfare and housing costs of a teacher with any university degree. However, as with all occupations, when working in a foreign country there is a danger of exploitation by employers.

In Japan the JET (Japan Exchange and Teaching) program employs assistant language teachers to work in Japanese high schools and elementary schools. Other teachers in Japan work in private language schools and universities. Large language school chains like GEOS and Nova are some of the major employers.

In Taiwan most teachers work in buxibans (cram schools). Some buxibans are part of chains like Hess and Kojen. Others are independently operated.

Monthly pay in such schools is around the USD $2,000 mark, with an extra month's bonus if the teacher fulfills his or her contract. Some teachers who cannot adapt to living and working in a foreign country leave after receiving their first few salary cheques.

Issues in Southeast Asia
Thailand has a huge demand for native speakers, and has a huge ready-made workforce in the form of travellers and expatriates for whom the lifestyle in Thailand is very attractive. As Thailand prohibits foreigners from most non-skilled occupations this means that the majority of foreign teachers are working, as they can do nothing else to make a living there.

Officially, teachers require a degree to work as a teacher, and in some areas to be eligible for a work permit, however in practise many teachers find that a CELTA or other TEFL certificate suffices on its own.

Fake degrees and TEFL certificates are openly available to buy on the Khao San Road in Bangkok, which has led to schools in Thailand employing a large number of fraudulent teachers, though in many cases this is encouraged by the schools wishing to facilitate work permits for its teachers. The quality of the fakes however, are poor and easily spotted. Common mistakes are spelling errors, wrong formatting ie the certificate in landscape not portrait, wrong fonts etc.

Even those who do not want to follow this path often find themselves working illegally, though again labour laws are rarely enforced and many teachers can work illegally for years, by either working on an easily available non-immigrant visa, and in many cases on a 1-month tourist visa, which can be renewed simply by border-hopping every month. Many schools do not themselves know how to process an application for a Teachers Licence and Work Permit. There are occasional crackdowns however, and those caught can find themselves at best, looking for a new job and at worst, locked up in Thai jails until they can come up with the money to be deported, although this is very rare.

Schools generally do not pay for round-trip airfares or receive many other benefits aside from the given salaries. Local teachers wages are very low, at around 250 dollars per month, with native speaker salaries averaging between USD 500–1000 per month. While this can afford a fairly comfortable lifestyle in Thailand, it is amongst the lowest TEFL salaries internationally, and many long-term expatriates find they can no longer afford to return to the West.

The relatively high salaries in comparison to the local salary can lead to a certain resentment among local staff who feel that they are being usurped by less-qualified, and better-paid people, while the foreign teachers lack long-term motivation to remain in Thailand, therefore staff turnover can be very high in many schools.

The culture of education in Thai schools can often come as a shock to foreign teachers, with class sizes of 50-plus, unmotivated students who are forced to learn English due to Thai government policy, a shyness to question teachers, a culture of plagiarism, and an unwillingness to study anything that is not fun. Even at the better schools with dedicated English Programs, many teachers also find that they are forced to pass students who fail tests, and in some cases do not even attend class.

The downs of the life style
Whether we teach to travel or travel to teach an EFL life style is not without its difficulties. Teacher's gripes you can expect normally fit the following categories.

Culture
The biggest concern of new TESOL teachers are issues related to cultural integration. Foreigners often express themselves in widely different ways and have very different expectations than the native population. Even with prior mental preparation, culture shock can be prevalent.

The School
When your school and your private life are one and the same work problems can seem all pervading. For instance the sudden loss of work mates can be a real shock. Enthusiastic teachers often become disillusioned by private institutions lack of regard for quality or teacher development.

The language
Some cultures are really accepting of language learners whilst others are obsessed with free language lessons.

=Teaching techniques= See also: Language education

Reading
The technique of using literature aimed at children and teenagers for TEFL is rising in popularity. Both types of literature offer simpler material ("simplified readers" are produced by all the major publishers), and are often written in a more conversational style than literature aimed at adults. Children's literature in particular sometimes provides subtle cues to pronunciation, through rhyming and other wordplay. One technique for using these books is called the "multiple-pass technique". The instructor reads the book, pausing often to explain words and concepts. On the second pass, the instructor reads the book completely through without stopping.

Blended learning
The concept of Blended learning has been much discussed recently among teachers of English as a foreign language. Recent studies have shown that ELT and EFL benefit greatly from a combination of face-to-face teaching and interactive (and therefore frequently electronic) practice activity. This can be achieved through the adoption of a Virtual Learning Environment (VLE).

VLEs have been a major growth point in the TEFL industry over the last 5 years. They are developed either as an externally-hosted platforms onto which content can be exported by a school or institution (examples being 'Worldwide Web Course Tools, WebCT' or the 'Blackboard' VLE) or as content-supplied, course-managed learning platforms (an example being the 'Macmillan English Campus').

The key difference is that the latter is able to support course-building by the language school. This means that teachers can blend their existing courses with games, activities, listening exercises and grammar reference units that are contained online. This has applications in the classroom and as self-study or remote practice (for example in an internet café).

=See also=
 * ESL/ESOL/EFL/ELT
 * Language education
 * Second language acquisition
 * Applied linguistics