7 other careers that those TEFL skills will help with
From editorial desk positions to the folk who raise great bridges and buildings, there are loads of different professions that could benefit from TEFL skills – learnt on a myTEFL training package, of course.
Magazine/newspaper editor
If there’s one thing that completing that TEFL training is sure to do it’s to teach you how to dot those I’s and cross those T’s. Yep, getting to grips with all the ins and outs of things like grammar and syntax is one of the major skills on the menu for budding would-be teachers. And that’s not just going to help you when you’re faced with a class of bemused adult students who really want to know what the devil you mean when you say ‘modal verb’. It’s also going to help if you ever need to edit lengthy pieces of prose or proofread something prior to publication.
Tour guiding
TEFL skills aren’t limited to the technicalities of teaching language or managing a classroom. They also extend to life outside of school. Yep, by opting for a career that takes you to all-new destinations around the planet, places you in contact with different cultures, and gives new colleagues all the time, you’re sure to nurture a certain wanderlust and love of the unknown. Now, if that won’t help you become a tour guide, leading groups of wide-eyed globetrotters around the world’s great destinations, then what will?
Ski/surf instructor
Similar to nurturing that sense of wanderlust and adventure is making the most of the new environments that TEFL teachers find around them. For those in the Alpine countries of Europe, that could mean completing ski instructor courses on the weekend, while folk in the salt-washed lands of Asia might prefer to become a surf tutor on the waves. The upshot is your newfound skills in student communication and skill explanation is sure to help when it comes to revealing the secrets of carving, no matter if that’s on snow or sea!
Engineer/architect
The math-heavy professions of architecture and engineering might seem like miles away from the language-orientated world of English tutoring, but there’s actually plenty of crossover between TEFL skills and number crunching. Yep, with critical thinking, textual analysis and an eye for the theory of language all part and parcel of EFL training, there’s little doubt that getting qualified will help you when it comes to pulling out the calculator or raising a skyscraper. Then, of course, there’s all that meticulous lesson planning you’re going to be doing, which requires the same sort of focus on prep and pre-project management as architecture and the like.
Public speaking
We’ve touched on the importance of confidence-building before. For teachers who aren’t used to standing up in front of groups of new and strange students, it’s certainly one of the main TEFL skills that’ll be honed in your training sessions and first couple of months of teaching. Once you’ve emboldened yourself with a couple of mistakes and mishaps, and realised that you really can rule the roost in that classroom, there’s absolutely no reason why that newfound panache can’t become a transferable skill; a transferable skill you use to stand-up and express yourself in public, perhaps.
Any other form of teaching
Now it might seem a little obvious, but very few teachers actually make the connection between their newfound TEFL skills and the world of professional teaching in schools back home. Perhaps that’s because the weather’s just a little nicer in tropical Thailand and there’s a bit more cultural immersion in the throbbing cities in Asia. Who knows? Still, the fact is that those classroom management, discipline and literacy abilities are sure to come in handy if you choose to make the switch to mainstream teaching one day.
Marketer
Before you roll those eyes in disbelief, bear with us just a mo. If you think about all the technical writing and listening abilities associated with constantly marking students’ homework in the English classroom, and then compare it to the communication, audience analysis and content-creation skills required of a modern marketing position, you’re sure to see just a little crossover! Whether that means constructing error-free social media posts or being able to proof outreach emails, TEFL skills are always at use in the PR office…
If you can think of any more useful transferable TEFL skills, we’d love to hear about them in the comments below – there are loads more! Or, if you think it’s time you got qualified and teaching English out in the world, head over to our courses page.