A normal day for me starts about 8 o’clock in the morning when my personal butler wakes me with a coffee. He then prepares breakfast on the terrace before my chauffeur comes to collect me. Drrriiingggg! Errr, no. It’s not quite like that actually. My very non-glamorous life might not really be that much different than for most of you who are probably doing quite similar things, wherever you are in the world. If you’re just starting out or thinking of becoming an EFL teacher though, this typical day of a TEFL teacher might give you an idea of whether you’re going to enjoy it and if it’s the job for you. So this is a day in my life as an EFL teacher for kids in France. Spoiler: no glamour, no champagne, but a lot of fun.
It’s time to get up!
Breakfast time in our house is normally quite chaotic. I have two teenagers who are not the most chatty first thing in the morning. They need a while to get going so I normally get up early and have a peaceful coffee before starting to wake everyone else. Once the chaos has finished and they’ve gone to school and my husband has left for work, I prepare myself for my morning in one of the local primary schools.
Make sure you’ve got everything for the day
- Lesson plans – the right one for each class in case I forget what I have to do
- Class lists – so I know who I’m teaching and if everyone is there
- Flash cards or anything else I’ll need to teach
- A watch – classrooms don’t always have a clock and I’m on a strict timetable and need to know when I have to change class
- Tissues – for me and normally for the kids too who never seem to have one when they need it
- Something to eat at break time to stop my tummy rumbling and making the kids laugh
Off to school!
Depending on the day, I go to different primary schools in my city. I also teach at a private language center outside school hours. This makes for quite a varied week and lots of different people to see. A typical day for a TEFL teacher is often like this in a lot of countries. Unless you’re only working full time for one school, you will probably find yourself travelling between classes or private students and seeing a variety of students.
In the mornings, I work in a local primary school. I give classes of about 30 minutes to small groups of kids. I help them practice the spoken part of the English they’ve been learning in class. We play games and learn vocabulary and I try to get them to speak as much as possible in that 30 minutes and really make it fun and worthwhile.
At break time, I have time for a banana and a quick chat with some of the teachers. Then we start again with the rest of the groups. It’s quick and intensive and some groups are keener and harder working than others. I think the majority of the kids enjoy it and I try to make English as interesting as possible for them. If you’re interested in seeing some of the ways I get kids talking in class, you can find them here.
It’s lunch time
Some days of the week I teach a lunch time class to smaller kids and we play games and sing songs and have a lot of fun. Otherwise, I rush home, have a sandwich and take the dog for a walk before getting ready for my afternoon classes if I have them that day. If I don’t have any classes, I write, I prepare lesson plans and I prepare for classes. If you want to see how I write lesson plans, you can find my method here.
Since we moved to France, I have got to know a lot of families from different countries who have moved here for work. We see each other quite a lot and I sometimes help their kids with English. If you are looking for private work, try and get to know as many people as you can and tell everyone that you’re an English teacher. You shouldn’t have any problems finding work.
Afternoon classes
Depending on the time of year, I have classes in the afternoons in after school clubs or at the language center. Kids are often tired in the afternoon if they’ve had school all day. They aren’t necessarily in the mood for a heavy going intensive class so I try and keep it as light and as fun as possible. If you’re working in Asia, I would imagine that things are very different and the kids are working hard until quite late in the evening. I think it’s even more important in this case that your lessons are interesting and get the kids involved and learning even if they’re tired.
Home time
When I’ve finished teaching for the day, I normally head home, doing some shopping for dinner on the way. Then it’s a fun filled evening of arguing with the kids about whether they’ve done their homework and fed the dog, dinner with the family and in summer, a walk with my husband and the dog. I tell him about the funny things that have happened that day with the kids and we discuss plans for the weekend.
At the weekend we meet friends. We also try and visit different cities as often as possible and make the most of where we are. We’re lucky enough to live in a part of Europe that has many beautiful cities and other places to visit nearby. Make sure you do that too if you’re living in a different country, it’s a great opportunity to see the world!
Off to bed!
Before going to bed, I get my bag ready for the next day and make sure I know where I’ll be going and what I’ll be doing. I like to be prepared so I check my email and messages to make sure there is no change of plan. Then I can relax with a book before going to sleep. I’m normally tired at the end of the day but satisfied with what I’ve achieved and ready to sleep.
So that was my typical day of a TEFL teacher. Not madly dramatic or exciting but fun and satisfying in its own way. If you’re a teacher, is it similar to your day? What do you do that’s different? To stay up to date with new posts and ideas, you can follow the GoogooEnglish Facebook page. Alternatively, sing up for email updates below.