We all know personal growth is important for our mental health and well-being. Stagnating in the same stage of life and the same headspace is detrimental to our general happiness. Sometimes life gives us opportunities to grow and develop, which allows us to take ourselves out of our rut, but sometimes we need to make these opportunities happen for ourselves.
Taking a break from your job and career may sound extreme but it could be exactly what you need in your life. We’d like to introduce you to a new career which will take you out of your comfort zone on many levels. Teaching English as a Foreign Language is the perfect opportunity for you to move away from what you know and challenge yourself. Here are five ways teaching English as a Foreign Language will help you grow:
1. You will expand your horizons
The obvious perk of teaching English abroad is that you are abroad. Living in a new country will expose you to new cultures, new ideas, new ways of thinking. You will discover new places but also new people. Even if you decide to teach English online, you will still reap the benefits of getting to know (and understand) people from all over the world.
2. You will communicate better
Teachers need to be good communicators but especially teachers of English as a Foreign Language. You probably won’t speak your students’ first language and your students may have a very low level of English so good communication is key – as it is in all aspects of life.
3. You will upskill yourself
Teaching enables you to upskill yourself. You will learn time management, people management, and organisation skills. You will prove that you are responsible and professional. You may even learn a foreign language. All of this looks good on your resume.
4. You will become adaptable
Not only in the classroom but also out of it. A large part of teaching is thinking on your feet, identifying where you need to deviate from your lesson plan to address your students’ needs, and dealing with learning and discipline situations as they arise. Outside the classroom, living abroad teaches you how to adapt to change in a real-world sense.
5. You will know yourself better
Living and working abroad is a true test of your capabilities. You will have no one else to rely on except yourself. You will have no one to answer to except yourself. This is the best way to get to know your strengths and weaknesses, and improve on yourself.
Does this sound like something you’d be interested in? If you do a TEFL course from an internationally-recognised, accredited TEFL course provider, you can easily apply for jobs as a TEFL teacher anywhere in the world. But if you’re not sure where you want to go, simply download the TEFL World Factbook 2021 from The TEFL Academy, which gives you all the info you need on your dream TEFL destination.
They say a change is as good as a holiday, and you can be a TEFL teacher for a month, a year or the rest of your life. Make TEFL work for you, and make the change to your life that you need.