My TEFL Journey

Growing up we are constantly being asked, “What do you want to be when you grow up?” I always answered this question with, “I want to be happy when I grow up.” I thought this was an appropriate response until I began to understand that I am supposed to respond with the job title that I want. As if this job title will define my adult self and who I will one day become. 

I never would have answered this question with, “I want to be a TEFL teacher when I grow up.” Simply because I never knew this job existed and honestly never even thought about becoming a teacher growing up. It wasn’t until I actually became a TEFL teacher that I realized this is what I am supposed to be doing with my life. But it took me a while to get to where I am today. This is my TEFL journey:

Uncertain College Years:

I entered my freshman year of college at the University of Rhode Island in 2012. I scrambled to declare a major in communications, fearful that not having a major would set me back amongst my peers. A few weeks into my courses I found that I was missing my art classes from high school and quickly declared a double major in art. After one year of my communications and art courses, I felt like these majors weren’t for me. I was starting to become interested in advertising (thanks to binge-watching Mad Men), a major that my school didn’t have, so I switched my majors to public relations and film media. While I was having this whole internal struggle to figure out what I wanted to major in, not once did I ever consider teaching.

Miserable Adult “Real” Job Years:

At first, I really enjoyed my public relations and film media courses and loved my internships throughout college. However, then the real world came and I started my career as a publicist. The hours were long, vacation days were few, and the work was exhausting and unfulfilling. After two years of working as a publicist and not being happy, I quit my job to teach English in Barcelona (full story on why I quit here).

I had absolutely no experience teaching. The most experience I had with kids was babysitting and a few summers as a camp counselor. Growing up I never really had a passion for children and honestly didn’t really give them any attention. It wasn’t until I became an adult and spent more time working for adults that I wanted to spend all my free time with children. Even though I was beginning my career as a publicist and had a great salary, I found myself looking for babysitting gigs on the weekends just to be able to spend some time with kids even though I didn’t need the money. There is just something about their innocence and curiosity that brings me pure joy. Putting my love for children and the English language together, I decided teaching English is what I should be doing.

Beginning of my TEFL Years:

I started to Google how to go about teaching English abroad and quickly realized I would need a TEFL certificate. I researched the different options to get TEFL certified and found that the International TEFL Academy (ITA) was the only option I really considered. Their alumni network and support system were the main reasons why I chose to receive my TEFL certification through them. Wanting to start my new life abroad right away, I looked into their different in-person courses abroad. 

I was immediately intrigued by their 4-week intensive course in Barcelona + student visa program. With this course, I was able to receive my TEFL certification in one month and then begin taking Spanish classes through their student visa program for 7 months. This is a great option for people who want to get TEFL certified and legally live and teach in Barcelona (they also have this program for other European cities). I should also probably mention that I met my boyfriend in my TEFL course too! He is from Portugal (obviously fluent in English) and was enrolled in my course as well. After my TEFL course ended, I was enrolled in Spanish classes through one of ITA’s partner language schools and had classes for 25 hours a week in the evenings. 

This gave me plenty of time to teach online with VIPKID as well as teach private students during the day. VIPKID was a great way for me to become familiar and comfortable with teaching English as a foreign language to children. I loved it so much and it really built my confidence as a teacher that I began to crave teaching in a real school. Because I am American and work visas are extremely difficult to obtain for English teachers, I began to look into the different language assistant programs that exist throughout Spain. However, not all of the programs offer teaching positions in Barcelona, which is where I really wanted to stay as it felt like home to me.

First “Real” TEFL Job:

Luckily, I was offered the perfect position in Barcelona through the Meddeas program. So once my student visa ended with my Spanish courses in September 2019, I was able to renew my student visa for another 10 months through the Meddeas program in Spain — without having to go to the U.S. for any paperwork!

With the Meddeas program, I taught for 24 hours a week in a private school in Barcelona with kids aged 2-5 years old. Since all participants in the program are required to have a student visa, you are immediately enrolled in an accredited teaching-related University course. This is also why you are only allowed to teach a maximum of 24 hours a week as you are technically a student and the rest of your week should be focused on your studies. Meddeas has different programs/courses for you to enroll in based on your experience and qualifications. Since I already have my TEFL certificate, I was enrolled in their Expert in Bilingual Education course at the Universitat Internacional de Catalunya. I learned a lot from my course and was able to spend only about 5-10 hours a week on my coursework.

Second “Real” TEFL Job: 

Once the 2019-2020 school year came to a weird Coronavirus-infected end, I had the option to teach for another year at my school through the Meddeas program or continue my TEFL journey elsewhere. It was really hard to leave Barcelona, but after enduring a 3-month Covid-19 lockdown there, my boyfriend and I decided to pack our bags and move to Lisbon. My boyfriend is from Lisbon and is getting his Master’s here this year, so it was a great place to continue my TEFL journey!

We moved to Portugal in July 2020 and lived in the town he grew up in, right outside of Lisbon, for the summer. During this time I kept teaching with VIPKID (I also taught with them throughout the Meddeas program on the weekends for some extra $$$) and started this little blog! We moved to Lisbon in September and I immediately started to email my CV to every language academy in the city. With the help of ITA’s student affairs team and their job search guidance, I was able to secure a teaching position within a month!

I am currently hired as a part-time contract teacher with a language academy in Lisbon. The academy has a partnership with different low-income private schools throughout the city. I teach at 3 of these schools for 3 afternoons a week (around 10 hours a week). This is exactly the type of work I wanted to have in Lisbon as I wanted to still be able to teach with VIPKID during the morning. Teaching English as a foreign language to children with different socio-economic backgrounds has definitely been a challenge — but it has also been extremely rewarding.

As for what’s next? I have NO idea — please don’t ask hahaha. I know I want to continue to teach English in other new countries, so we will just have to wait and see where my TEFL journey takes me next!

Stick a pin in it: