Have you ever considered teaching English abroad? While you are traveling the world, why not make some money. Something that will have deep impact on your life, more than you imagined, is teaching while you’re traveling.
If you want to be a strong person, teaching abroad will help you develop faster. So, step out of your comfort zone, stretch your personal limits, and make yourself a better version.
Teaching abroad has a lot of benefits, like meeting new friends, learning new skills, expanding your worldviews, and become a person you wouldn’t have recognized before – in the best possible way.
DISCOVER THE BEST VERSION OF YOU
Challenging yourself every day is one of the greatest ways to uncover who you are and what you want to do with your life. Discover what you need to be happy, who you like to spend time with and how to handle challenges.
Strength is a key to all of your successes in your life – this is the most important lesson you will ever learn. If you are an ambitious, confident, and steady person, you will attract a lot of people and you will have a dozen of opportunities that can add value and joy to your life.
All of this may sound weird for teaching abroad – but if you challenge yourself with this opportunity you will become wiser and stronger.
By teaching abroad you can build strength and character
But, what exactly that mean? But, in order to start teaching, you should move abroad first – which will have valuable impacts on you.
COURAGE
If you want to keep up with changes – courage is the right way to persuade. The more you step out of your comfort zone, the less you will fear. For example, moving to e new country, where you don’t speak their language requires a lot of courage.
Moving to a foreign country and create a new life, is a terrifying thing to do. But, looking at it from a historical context – people for centuries left everything to persuade more opportunities. And people are supposed to continue to do so because the rewards they get outweigh the risk.
Moving abroad is one of the hardest things you can do – but it is rewarding once you establish yourself.
RESILIENCE
Moving abroad and teaching will teach you a lot of things. One of these things is resilience. As soon as you step out of the plane, in a new country you’ll understand the importance of resilience.
Moving to a foreign place can confuse and frustrate you sometimes. But it is the price you have to pay and realizing later that you are happily surviving and succeeding in the new country.
SELF-SUFFICIENCY
As you are learning the nuances of the country’s language and culture, you will feel moments of helplessness and self-sufficiency. But, going through days with ease and confidence is a great feeling and is a proud moment for everyone who reaches this point.
DEVELOP NEW SKILLS WHILE TEACHING ABROAD
While you are teaching in a foreign country, you will gain more skills. Teaching students is a great experience and can strengthen your mind and intuition. Make sure to use these skills:
PATIENCE
Patience is the most important skill to master to be an effective TESOL teacher. There is nothing worse for students than seeing their teacher frustrated while guiding them through the learning process.
It is especially important to be patient with language learners since they often feel stressed about practicing their new language.
Patience will continually serve you in your own life as well – because it is a key to your success and well-being.
GET OUT OF YOUR COMFORT ZONE – CHALLENGE YOURSELF
You have to constantly challenge yourself in order to build strength and expand your limitations. For example, teaching English abroad forces you to leave your comfort zone and build a life from nothing.
But at the end of the day, strength is not a quality you can acquire by just snapping your fingers – it is a collection of traits that work together to make you a stronger person.
If you’re not totally convinced of teaching English’s value abroad but you are interested, you should definitely consider how much you will develop and grow as a person.
But remember, if you want to teach English abroad you need to get a TESOL certification.
COMPASSION
Not only patience but also showing empathy is something you should consider when teaching. You should understand student’s unique perspectives. You should hear patiently their thoughts and intentions. You have to build trust and make the best learning environment possible.
Compassion with others will also teach you to be more empathetic with yourself too. You deserve to be heard, respected, and supported.
Everyone deserves to be treated well.
DETERMINATION
Well, teaching others is quite a difficult task. You have to bring out the best. You need to be there for your students. You have to be determined to help your students succeed.
CONCLUSION: No one comes back from the teaching abroad journey the same person as when they left – this is the best part! While you are helping students learn you will be learning how to be a better version of yourself.
Esmé Gelder is an abroad teacher with 8 years of experience. She tries to use positive reinforcement teaching techniques to encourage student behavior and growth. She believes that teaching abroad makes you more confident.