In this second article in the series Teachers for Teachers, Barcelona-based writer George Chilton speaks to 5 experts about moving onwards and upwards in their EFL teaching careers.
Teaching English as a foreign language (TEFL) is a rewarding profession, but there’s something of an information gap when it comes to career development.
Many teachers find that when they want to move onwards and upwards, there’s little help or advice.
Other than taking on administration jobs in academies, or running next year’s summer camp, what can you do to widen your TEFL horizons and perhaps take home a bigger salary?
Top tips for career progression
We spoke with 5 experienced and highly qualified teachers who have all furthered their careers in a number of interesting ways.
Jamie Keddie
Jamie Keddie is a teacher, trainer, the author of Videotelling and speaker. His websites include Jamiekeddie.com and Lesson Stream.
I think that a lot of teachers are unaware that there is a profession and an industry out there,” says Jamie. “If that applies to you, then get yourself to a conference like IATEFL – you’ll get a taste of the possibilities there including training, writing, publishing, consulting, etc.
Mandeep Locham
Mandeep Locham has a Master’s degree in Applied Linguistics and is a member of Serveis Linguistics de Barcelona Cooperative. Mandeep is a big proponent of continuing education and has found that furthering her studies has opened new doors. “Spend time on your professional development,” she advises.
“Decide where your interests are and hone your skills. Work on being a part of the teaching community and opportunities will come up.”
Marek Kiczkowiak
Marek Kiczkowiak is a well-known speaker and the founder of TEFL Equity Advocates. He offers three different ways for teachers to take their careers in new directions.
Marek first suggests taking your teaching skills online and offering courses that give value to a different audience. If this sounds like it could be for you, check out platforms like Udemy, which will help you launch your courses.
“Give evergreen online courses focused on solving a very specific problem your audience has.
You can scale them and there’s practically no limit to how many clients you could have.”
His second suggestion is for teachers who want to continue in the classroom, but would like to improve their salaries.
“Become a business English consultant or coach – bypass the language schools and go directly to the company,“
Marek’s final suggestion ties in with Mandeep’s advice, which is to continue your professional development and start teaching higher level English classes.
“Go into English for Academic Purposes (EAP). There are countries (e.g. the UK, Belgium) where you get paid VERY well.”
Paul Walsh
Paul Walsh is a writer and university EAP teacher. He suggests using your skills to move on to another language related field.
“Writing and editing are two fields teachers might think of moving into after TEFL,” he says. “There are lots of career paths to choose from such as content creation for blogs and websites.”
You can also use your hard-won classroom correction skills in another way.
‘Copyediting might also be a good choice – having a good grounding in the mechanics of the English language can be a real asset,”
Phil Wade
Phil Wade is a prolific ELT writer and blogger with a long career in teaching and materials development.
He suggests that teachers should look more deeply at the industry and what it has to offer, or step outside and find a language-related profession.
“Many teachers go on to work in publishing a lot of the time,” he says. “You can also become an examiner, a writer, a blogger or even move into journalism or advertising.”
A common theme throughout is the need to focus on professional development. By pushing yourself to the next level, you will naturally build your professional networks and find new areas to work in.
For teachers, there are plenty of options to move into other fields with similar skill sets, including ELT publishing, self-publishing via blogs, delivering online courses for people with specific needs, and even moving into the media and advertising.
Any ideas?
Have you made any interesting TEFL-related career jumps or advice for other teachers looking to change things up? Let us know in the comments.
Find more useful articles for EFL teachers in our section on TEFL teaching.
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