BE ORIGINAL.
TEACH ABROAD.

Gift of the Gab
Teaching English As a Foreign Language

Three quarters of the world’s mail is written in English and it’s the language of a staggering eighty- percent of the world’s electronically stored information.

It was estimated that in the year 2000 over one billion people would be learning English, and we know that at any one time, there are 130,000 students learning English and other skills through the medium of English in British Council teaching centres around the world.

The British Council has a network of teaching centres in over 100 cities worldwide. We run courses for children and adults at all levels. Some start by learning the Roman alphabet (which is what you’re reading now!) but the range of courses runs right through to advanced levels, for example creative writing, presentation or negotiation skills in English. We also regularly win contracts to design and teach special English language courses for companies – such as airlines, hotels, gas or petroleum workers and journalists, and occasionally for public services including lawyers, civil servants, immigration staff and the military.

Taking one of these courses in your gap year gives you a fantastic head-start. They can cost up to £1000, depending where you study, but if you know it’s what you want to do, it’s an extremely good investment. You can take these courses all over the UK and in some cities abroad. Check out the websites at the end of this article to see where you can train. We only recruit teachers who have at least two years experience after training, but lots of other language schools have opportunities for newly qualified teachers. You can start earning straight away – in the UK or anywhere in the world where there is demand for English. If you want to live overseas and discover different cultures, with a good TEFL (Teacher of English as a Foreign Language) qualification the world’s your oyster.

TEFL is also a good base to build on. As a teacher you develop very useful skills which can be transferred to other jobs later on. We see our teachers as potential managers, consultants, trainers and marketing directors, and most of the management team that guide our EFL work from the London HQ were teachers in their early careers. Even the Director General of the British Council trained as an EFL teacher! So there’s really no limit to where you can go within the organisation and beyond.

For the UK there are long-term benefits for supporting international partnerships and cultural dialogue, and the professional development of future leaders. We are a non-political organisation concerned with building lasting relationships. The lessons we teach and learn endure through political and economic upheavals, and our teachers are thoroughly engaged in our public diplomacy role. Language students in particular have a genuine thirst for information about life and opinions in the UK. If you thought teaching English was just about irregular verbs, think again!If you would like to know more about us, or how to become a Teacher of EFL, please visit our website at http://trs.britishcouncil.org

University of Cambridge Local Examinations Syndicate (UCLES) www.cambridge-efl.org.uk
Trinity College London www.trinitycollege.co.uk
Professional TEFL jobseekers site www.tefl.com
Helpful resource for all things TEFL www.cactusteachers.com