2024 is the year to go after your goals! Now is the perfect time to prepare for future adventures overseas, develop your skill set, give back to communities, or even start a side hustle!
Knowledge is power and sharing it is a gift. By teaching English as a second language, you’ll grow and develop skills as a teacher, while also helping students learn one of the world’s most valuable and widely-used languages. By giving the gift of language, you’re increasing access to education, expanding the minds of our future generations and improving job prospects for communities around the globe.
The world needs almost 69 million new teachers to meet the 2030 education goals and there’s an estimated 2 billion English learners around the globe.
Doing an online TEFL course is an invaluable tool to prepare you for teaching English abroad or remotely, so that you and your students can get the most out of it. It nurtures the highly transferable communication skills, confidence and assertive qualities that are needed to thrive as an English teacher - and can even enable you to make money as you travel the world, or from the comfort of your home!
So, why should you take an online TEFL course?
1. Build confidence as a teacher before standing in front of a class
Standing in front of a class in a foreign country or giving online tuition for the first time is out of most people’s comfort zones - but it’s extremely rewarding. You’ll want to feel comfortable and confident before you start, so that you can enjoy the experience and deliver a valuable learning experience to your students.
Taking a TEFL course is an excellent way to familiarize yourself with planning and delivering lessons, managing a classroom and student behavior, identifying different learning styles and much more. This will give you the tools needed to interact effectively with students, control a class, meet learning objectives, foster productivity and create a safe and fun learning environment.
2. Complete the course anytime, anywhere and at your own pace
Whether you’re studying at college, working full-time or staying home, the flexible 100-hour TEFL HQ course can be completed as fast or slow as you like and fits into any schedule. You have the freedom to complete the course from the comfort of your living room, on your lunch break at work, or even as you travel - and it’s compatible with desktop, tablet and mobile, so all you need is a wifi connection!
“I loved the online course format. I was able to complete modules on the weekends and evenings while I still worked full-time and saved up for teaching abroad. Since I’d never been in front of a classroom of students before, the classroom management module helped prepare me to be a confident teacher. Overall, great course!” - Maria Condon, TEFL HQ student
3. Be a more effective volunteer or make money as a teacher
Taking a TEFL course enables you to develop highly transferable communication and language skills, which can open up all kinds of opportunities and set you up for success in multiple aspects of your life.
While a TEFL course is not a requirement for volunteer teachers, it enables you to give more in your role as a teacher - and receive more as a result. As an IVHQ volunteer, you can teach abroad in 32 countries and make a meaningful contribution to the lives of children and adults with limited access to education.
The highly versatile TEFL HQ course is an internationally recognized accreditation, which means you can also secure paid teaching opportunities, such as online tuition or working as a teacher abroad. Currently, more than 20,000 new TEFL jobs are listed per month and average salaries can hit well over $3,000 USD a month.
4. Make your resume stand out to employers, colleges and universities
Having a TEFL course on your resume is seen as a sign of resilience, ambition and a proactive attitude by employers - whatever your career path. Along with teaching or volunteering abroad, it shows that you have the global mindset, cross-cultural curiosity and international intelligence that can set you apart from other candidates. For aspiring teachers, doing a TEFL course can even help you earn a higher salary at more reputable schools.
Doing a TEFL course not only familiarizes you with teaching reading, writing, speaking, listening and pronunciation for the English language, but also gives you experience in planning, designing, and adapting a wide variety of language activities and materials. This course has been developed by experienced second language acquisition specialists and is designed to enhance your effectiveness as a volunteer, maximize your chances of securing teaching positions abroad and give you the skills to adapt to different educational environments.
5. It’s easy to get started - all you need is a high school diploma!
The TEFL HQ course is offered at a discounted rate through IVHQ - you just need to have completed your high school diploma and be fluent in English to get started! You don’t even need to be registered on an IVHQ volunteer program to apply, the discounted course is also open to previous IVHQ volunteers, or anyone interested in maximizing their chances of securing teaching jobs abroad or online.
The course is entirely self-paced and can be completed 100% online, whenever suits you. The easy to digest units are created to suit all kinds of learners in a fun way, with text, visual, interactive and video components with quizzes at the end of each unit. Upon completion of the 100-hours, you’ll receive a certificate to download and add to your resume, job or college application and LinkedIn profile!
