Über die Autorin bzw. den Autor

Michelle Maxom has been teaching English throughout the UK and Italy since 1997 and has the Trinity Certificate and Licentiate Diploma in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages. Formerly Director of Studies at Avalon School of English, she now trains would-be TEFL teachers and runs one-to-one and executive English courses.

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Learn to:

• Put an EFL course programme together from scratch
• Let your students loose in skills classes - from reading to listening
• Deliver grammar lessons in a logical and intuitive way
• Cope with different age groups and capabilities

Your one-stop guide to a career that will take you places

If you thought that teaching a language that's second nature to you would be easy, think again! Explaining grammar, or teaching correct pronunciation while simultaneously developing your own skills as a teacher can be a huge challenge. Whether you're on a training course or have already started teaching, this book will help launch your career and give you the confidence and expertise you need to be a brilliant teacher.

• Make an educated decision - decide between the various courses, qualifications and job locations available to you
• Start from scratch - plan well-structured lessons and develop successful and effective teaching techniques
• Focus on skills - from reading and writing, to listening and speaking, get your students sounding and feeling fluent
• Get your head around grammar - teach students to put sentences together, recognise tenses and use adjectives and adverbs
• All shapes and sizes - tailor your lessons to younger learners, one-to-ones, exam classes and Business English learners

Open the book and find:

• TEFL, TESOL, EFL - what all the acronyms mean
• The best course books and materials to supplement your teaching
• Advice on running your class and handling difficulties
• Lesson plans that you can use in the classroom
• Activities and exercises to keep your students on their toes
• Constructive ways to correct and assess your students' performance
• Ways to inject some fun into your classes
• Insider information on the best jobs around the world

'An invaluable manual for anyone thinking of embarking on a TEFL journey. Michelle Maxom's step-by-step guide provides practical tips to get you started and offers key advice to help unleash the creative English language teacher within.'
- Claire Woollam, Director of Studies & a Teacher Trainer at Language Link London

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Teaching English as a Foreign Language For Dummies

John Wiley & Sons

Chapter One

In This Chapter

* Realising the need for English teachers

* Finding out where you can teach

* Travelling to foreign lands

* Considering how far TEFL can take you

So you want to teach English as a foreign language. In this chapter you get an overview of the industry and an idea of what the lifestyle of a person in this rewarding career is really like.

Understanding Why English

Many factors contribute to the market for Teaching English as a Foreign Language The historical factor offers the legacy of the old British Empire that took the language around the world. The political factor gives the current dominance of the USA. Science and technology have developed with English at the forefront. In addition, there's a need for a global language to make international communications smoother, and tools such as the worldwide web truly accessible around the planet.

These days English is viewed as a language which gives you access to the world. Some want to study at prestigious English-speaking universities; some want a high flying career with international connections. Others just want a better chance in life and move to wherever the money seems to be, and then again, some just love Hollywood, international rock stars or their English girlfriend. Even the free-spirited backpackers need English to get by in far-flung lands.

Looking at the TEFL Marketplace

For most would-be TEFL teachers, the draw of the job is the ability to travel and work. Even if your responsibilities don't allow you to leave your own shores, at least working in TEFL brings other travellers to you.

Considering countries - both home and abroad

Before entering TEFL, give some consideration to where you want to teach and who your ideal students would be. Subtle differences exist between the criteria for teachers in English speaking countries and elsewhere. The training you need for particular student groups also varies. In addition, unlike a career change at home, teaching abroad presents challenges you may not have considered.

Staying in the home market

Finding work in TEFL in an English-speaking country can be more difficult than doing so abroad. The problem is that, unlike being a foreigner overseas, you have no novelty value when you're at home. As many English-speaking nations are economic powerhouses, they tend to have various regulatory bodies governing the employment of teachers and trying to ensure high standards in education. In other words you need to jump through more hoops to get a decent job.

REMEMBER

Very often TEFL jobs are advertised as ESOL (English for Speakers of Other Languages) or ESL (English as a Second Language). Teaching English as a Foreign Language, English as a Second Language and English for Speakers of Other Languages are all the same kind of work depending on which country you're in and who your students are. There's a slight difference between learning a language to survive in the English-speaking country you now live in and learning English while you're in a non-English speaking country.

ESOL students may be refugees or economic migrants who need help with day-to-day situations such as seeing the doctor or understanding letters from their child's school.

Many students are entitled to attend government funded courses or free classes run by charitable organisations. In addition, private language schools offer courses from two weeks up to two years. In the latter case, students pay for their lessons and often have other activities to make the experience more fun, including a social programme that teachers generally get involved with too.

Although the basic skills of the job are the same in each sector, you may not be eligible to apply for all of these jobs. The first thing you need is to be able to speak English well (whether you're a native speaker or not). Most employers require teachers to have a first degree and a TEFL qualification (certificate, diploma or Master of Arts) although in the public sector you usually need a qualification specifically for teaching adults in further education. Non-graduates can often get onto a training course but fewer job opportunities are available to them.

Amongst countries in the European Union things have been changing. Citizens of the EU have rights in the UK, including the right to enrol on courses offered by the state. This means that instead of learning English in their home country and then moving to the UK to look for work or higher education opportunities, it's quite feasible to move over and then learn the language through the state system and full immersion. There have been quite a few changes in the number of jobs offered in countries like Poland for these reasons. Unfortunately the British economy is not what it was, and as the world struggles with the recent banking crises, people are thinking twice about their prospects abroad anyway.

Working abroad

You can find far more opportunities for TEFL abroad than on home soil. The world is a big place, after all! However, despite the thrill of setting off on a new adventure overseas, you need to approach a TEFL work with a balanced outlook that considers both the advantages and the disadvantages.

The advantages are that: