TEFL Stories

TEFL stories from TEFLers

Alice McBrearty, Feb 2008
I made the biggest decision of my life on a cold dark February morning; stuck in the library doing an essay for the third year of my degree, I decided that instead of returning to university after the summer to do an Honours year,I would go on an adventure! Read Alice's adventure.

Amy Weatheritt, Nov 2006
I didn't want to be stuck in gloomy Manchester and the thought of teaching in any high school in England practically filled me with dread. That was when a friend suggested TEFL. So after looking into it I signed up for the twenty hour intensive weekend course, it was just what i needed to give me a taster of teaching and to give me the boost I needed to use my degree and passion for languages not to mention a great excuse to travel the world. Since then I have been travelling around Australia and have just booked a flight to go to Japan where I hope to teach English as a foreign language for about six months. 'itoi' has given me a range of new opportunities, the world is literally my oyster, I look forward to exploiting my new qualification through itoi and experiencing many different cultures in what i hope will be a long and successful career for me.

Arthur Martin, Oct 2006
i took the TEFL weekend last year. I am an ESOL literacies tutor in the Scottish borders. I’m 60 and I work part-time. I did it to gain some methods for teaching adult immigrants functional English.

Jackie Podmore, Oct 2005
I’m in France for two years with my husband (for his job) and am teaching English to business people, part-time. I’m doing mostly telephone lessons and some face to face work. Telephone lessons are popular with business people as they don’t have to leave their work-place and are good practice for conducting business on the phone. They require completely different skills on the part of the teacher though as so much of communication is normally via body language. Before coming to France I worked as a Health Visitor (a sort of community nurse) for more than twenty years and really wanted a change of career. Teaching English is great fun, although a huge challenge for me; I’d like to continue with it when we get back to the UK if possible.
Hope that’s enough to be going on with!

Haelli Ford, Sept 2007
Well for some time now my boyfriend was planning to move abroad because of his work and it went from Japan, to Singapore, to Canada, to the US and back to Japan as of May this year. I always wanted to go with him but I had my own career which I wanted to achieve which was to be a psychologist. As it happened I didn't make it onto the clinical psychology course again this year (3rd time trying actually) and I decided that maybe this wasn't for me and that moving abroad was my dream since a little girl and that maybe moving with my boyfriend and doing something different was what I should be doing.
So we agreed to go together but when things changed from Canada to Japan, again that changed my career somewhat. The only thing I could do in Japan, to make money, was to work in a factory like his father did when he came from France to live in Japan, or to do something worthwhile, challenging and amazingly fun. There was always a part of me that wanted to teach and I have had some experience in teaching through my work. So Tefl it was to be.
I did some searching for the right course back in July and I was just overwhelmed by how many courses owned by different companies there were. I knew that I had to find the right one for me and that I would be drawn to it when it came. I left things for a month then came back to searching and found i-to-i immediately. I called the number even though it was 11pm at night and I was so pleased to be able to get the information I required right there and then when I spoke with a representative in the US on a free call. I explained that I found the website the most helpful, clear and exciting and alongside having a helpful representative to answer all of my 100 and 1 questions this seemed the right one for me. The course date was exactly at the time I wanted for the weekend course and so it was sold to me that night! i-to-i just felt like the right company to see me through my new journey in life.
I was so very excited about the course as it would then make things real to me that I was really becoming a teacher and that I was really starting a new life and career. My boyfriend left in August and I was so excited and eager to join him.
On September 15th I did the weekend course with some 9 other students and I never even thought that it would turn out the way it did. It felt like we had the best class ever. It was a real mixture but we all got on so so well and I absolutely loved it and knew that I would so love to became a TEFL teacher, as did the others. The tutor, Cathy was really lovely and really inspired me. I made friends with everyone and in particular a boy called Alex who is now a great friend. Some of us went to the pub on the Sunday for a well earned drink and we shared our company and our journeys with TEFL and moving abroad. I couldn't have asked for a better way to begin my new life and career. Doing the weekend TEFL certainly set the tone and excitement for being a teacher in Japan.
I am doing the rest of the hours on line (100 hours in total) and just a few weeks ago i-to-i set up links with Japan which was perfect timing for me so that they could find me a job. I was very happy to see that there was a place called Yokohama which was right next to where I will be living, which is a place called Kamakura.
So I am moving to Japan in January and I hope to start work in March, which is the new academic year for the Japanese. I am so very very excited, a little scared, but so happy to be starting a new life and career thanks to the TEFL course but more importantly i-to-i! Thank you i-to-i!!

Karen Lloyd, June 2007
I thought the course was excellent - it was so much fun and very informative, I felt very at ease and the teacher Mark was great. I thought that the TEFL course was going to be sat at desks and writing notes like being in school again but I don't think I wrote more than two sentences.
I have also done the 40hour online course which I found was an elaboration of the 20hour course so I would recommend everyone to do this as well as the 20hour weekend course.
I found the whole course to be interesting due to the fact it was all about the students and how to get them interested in talking - also the fact that teaching a language is not as easy as it looks and is actually fun...
I am currently doing my 20hour grammar awareness course which I'm finding quite challenging but fun.
I have recently been accepted as a TEFL teacher in Indonesia which starts on the 6th of November this will be my first time in using my skills. I am feeling rather excited and scared at the same time as this will be a life changing experience.
I would like to thank I-to-I for their support and the opportunity to gain a worldwide recognised qualification that is going to change my life. I want to thank you for the support you have provided me through my journey as I know I have pestered the guys with all my queries.
I would recommend everyone to do this course not only to use it for travelling but to meet great people and also to improve their English and confidence with presentation skills, it also look great on your CV.
I can't wait to go to Indonesia to teach, I have given up my life here in North Wales to start on the greatest adventure of my life, I've said good bye to my career, flat, family and friends. Here goes, full steam ahead no turning back now...

Nina Finnigan, May 2007
Further to the email I received from i-to-i re using my TEFL qualification, I thought I would let you know about work that I shall be doing after my retirement in December.
I'm a CEO of a medium size charity in Wales (45 staff). As part of my retirement programme I did an 80 hour TEFL course with i-to i. I am an ex VSO volunteer from 1998 to 2000. I was placed in Zimbabwe as a Sustainable Tourism Advisor, to work with local communities to link them into the mainstream tourism industry. I had a brilliant time and sometimes felt more like a tourist than an advisor! Sadly, tourism is all but finished in Zimbabwe now.
My VSO placement gave me the urge to volunteer again, but not for as long as two years in one place. I really want to travel and put my skills to good use.
So...I am extremely lucky. I shall be heading off to Bodhgaya in northern India at the end of December to spend six months (maybe even longer) teaching young Tibetan monks English. My TEFL qualification really will come in handy. There are a number of reasons why the monks want to learn English - they want to be able to communicate with western visitors to the monastery and to travel abroad and teach in western centres. So if you meet a Tibetan monk who speaks with a Geordie/Welsh accent then you'll know who taught him English!
I'm so looking forward to going - I've never been to India before and I am hoping that I may even be able to put my skills in management to good use. The Head of the monastery intends to establish a Buddhist university for westerners so perhaps I may be able to help there too. I'll try to keep i-to-i informed of how the English classes are going.

Samantha Flanagan, July 2007
I found the course with i-to-i excellent value for money. The weekend course was intense but I learnt so much, mainly what it is like to stand in front of a class of 20 people and give a mini lesson. The weekend course was also great fun with hands on learning so there wasn't any time to get bored over the 20 hours! I also undertook the online grammar course which I completed in about 6 weeks, studying for about 2 hours every night. I found parts of it a bit tricky but very good for re-learning ,or indeed learning, all about grammar.
I will be watching the online videos again before I take off on my adventure as they all gave fantastic tips for teaching. I think overall taking the i-to-i course gave me the confidence to believe that I could teach abroad.
If I knew anybody that was thinking of doing a similar thing I would definitely recommend the i-to-i course.

Susan Aitchison, August 2007
I am now 57 years old and am a trained teacher with 37 tears teaching experience. I am a Home Economics teacher with no experience of teaching English.
3 years ago I agreed to work with a small charity called LEAP which was building a school in Erfa, near Lalibela, in Ethiopia. I agreed to manage the school for 2-3 years. The first school building is now complete and I moved here 3 weeks ago. 2 Ethiopian teachers have been employed by the charity to teach in the school. As the area has never had a school, all the pupils are grade 1 regardless of age.
When I was in Lalibela in June for a variety of meetings, the head of the education department asked if, once I was settled here, I could give English lessons to his staff. I agreed, went home, panicked, and registered with i-to-i for the 40 hour on line course, the 20 hour weekend course and the advanced grammar course. Before I left, I managed to complete the 40 hour course and the weekend course. As all my books are in a container heading here by sea, the grammar course will not start until December.
I was very impressed with the content of both courses and the professionalism of the tutors. The support tutor for the on-line course was excellent and gave excellent advice at all stages. The tutor for the weekend course was superb. I was amazed at his enthusiasm which lasted throughout the 2 days. The young people attending the course were great and I would have had no hesitation in employing any of them in spite of their concerns at having no degree.
Now that I am settling in Lalibela, I think I will be involved in teaching English to the children at school, the teachers working in the area and privately to interested groups in the community. All very exciting! I would certainly not have had the confidence to do this without the i-to-i courses and support.

Paul Stanton, September 2007
My name is Paul Stanton and I've completed the 40 hour online course with the added teaching young learners and teaching large classes, grammar course and 20 week end course too i learnt such a great deal and I am volunteering in Hanoi with I-to-I for two months on the 19th of this month to put my newly learnt skills to the test. I am currently in Bangkok at the moment studying Thai for two weeks before heading to Hanoi.
I was very interested in what you sent in your email regarding the local newspaper article. That would be a great idea as I would love to write an article about my experiences with i-to-i because already they have done so much for me and I would love to write an article to tell anyone and everyone about my experiences. Even though I have yet to arrive in Hanoi I-to-I has set me on a path I could only dream about before, with the TEFL courses.

Alex Denham, September 2006
I got my job through i-to-i working for Aston Future School in China.
I was set to work here until March 2007 but I enjoyed it so much that I resigned my contract and stayed at the same school until September, I was then offered the chance to move down to south china, Guizhou province which is completely different to the big city of Dalian where I was located before. I really enjoyed my time there too and I’m set to fly home in a weeks time. I would love to pass on my experience to others as I think china is an excellent place to begin your TEFL experience and it doesn’t get the coverage it deserves. Let me know if you would like me to send some details of my experience and what details you would like me to include.

Tim and Elisabeth Longley, July 2006
Having done our fair share of globetrotting in our younger days (we have both passed the 70 mark) we weren’t tempted by offers of jobs in places as far apart as Turkey and China. Indeed that was not our intention when we signed on for the course, but rather we saw it as a means of getting alongside the large number of Eastern Europeans (mainly Poles) who have come to work in this part of Scotland.
With those thoughts in mind we got together with some like-minded folk from our local church and in September last year began a series of weekly English classes in the church hall in Aviemore. These were well-received by those who came along, though some who were working at the Hilton hotel had a walk of nearly 2 miles each way.
When the management of the Hilton got to hear of this, their response was quite overwhelming. Not only did they make rooms (complete with flip charts) available to us, but they also paid for a consignment of “Headway” elementary students’ workbooks. However, moving to the Hilton now meant that we had to use our cars to fetch people who lived and worked in Aviemore, where there is another big hotel and where, by contrast, the management are uncooperative and, not surprisingly, labour relations are not good.
As for the students themselves, they are mainly in their early twenties, though there is one grandmother among them! Their knowledge of English varies from zero to being able to carry on a basic conversation, albeit with difficulty and a lot of inaccuracy. Without exception we have found them a delight to teach. They are polite and keen to learn and very grateful for what little we are able to do to help them. Last Christmas-time we laid on a Scottish “Ceilidh”, which they all seemed to enjoy, and in return – before we broke up for the summer – some of them cooked a Polish meal for all of us.
After a summer break, we have recently begun a second year of classes. They are divided into three groups: Beginners, Elementary, and Intermediate. We are teaching the Elementary class, averaging about 6 in number. However, even within each group there are still quite wide differences in standard.
After a year of teaching, how, with hindsight, did we find the TEFL course? Tim found it hard work to maintain concentration for so long, and he would have liked more time to prepare for each practice lesson, but he recognises that we then wouldn’t have been able to achieve all that we did. For Elisabeth, it gave confidence to go out and have a go. We are both greatly enjoying the stimulus of the teaching we are doing at the present time. We have often had cause to think back to what we learnt from you on the TEFL course, and for that we shall always be most grateful. Undoubtedly your great enthusiasm in the way you conducted the course has washed off on to both of us!
We were sad to hear that the course in Inverness was to be your last, and that you were moving on into a “desk job”, but we trust this is working out well for you.