There are lots of great reasons to teach English abroad – wanting to experience other cultures, take on new challenges, get paid to travel the world…
However, some people have rather unusual reasons for wanting to take to the TEFL waters… from despotic grannies to a desire for mental freedom, we salute all these wacky and wonderful answers to the question ‘Why did you decide to TEFL?’ from recent i-to-i graduates:
Was following a man around the world.
One night I had one too many beers, looked on the internet and decided I wanted to go travelling again. So here I am in China!!!!!! I can’t say China without the exclamation marks. I love it here.
Photo- Sophie Roberts who didn't go to China after having one too many beers, but did have quite a few while she was there!
Australia has no real culture or spirituality – I’m bored with it.
I wanted a way out from under my grandmother’s thumb. I found it in TEFL.
I was bored as anything doing the purchasing of plumbing supplies!
Was time to take the proverbial bull by the horns. To move away from mind-numbing bureaucratic jobs to a sense of mental freedom.
I wanted to travel abroad but I wanted to make a difference to people’s lives, not just act as a sponge.
I am writing this from my miserable, grey office where everyone is depressed because it’s Monday morning and it’s raining outside! And you ask why I want to teach abroad? Haha!
The quality of spoken English is declining so I would like to do a tiny something to slow the process.
I was frustrated with western culture and its endless rules and legislation which are making common sense redundant! I love the simplicity of the laws in Asian countries and the way people are left to their own devices somewhat - they aren't all suing each other yet!
What was your reason for wanting to TEFL?
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Hi Jenny, welcome to the Chalkboard. I too love New Zealand, its undeniably the most beautiful country in the world and one I feel very fortunate to have been born and brought up in. I have lived in Auckland twice at different times and didn't much like it, because its a city. I am a country person and dont like city life very much at all. However, I live in a bigger city than Auckland now, and have been here for 9 years. I am used to it...but still love the country.
You just cannot beat New Zealand though can you....there is no other country like it in the world.
Cheers
Sanne
I have read the 2 comments above, and felt i am lucky to live in Auckland New Zealand. :) I am doing TEFL at the moment, and I feel like I have found the goal of my life!
Yes well Australia is not much better Paul. Infact, since coming to live here 9 years ago, I have found this is a country so full of rules, they actually have rules for those rules, then they put rules on top of those rules, and then more rules are added to them as well. I was chatting with a psychologist from Centrelink (the country's welfare system) who told me that in 2 years, they have had 96,000 new rules and amendments to their already overloaded system. How the hell has the western system of organization and government get so rankly out of hand... it is ridiculous.
However, I found it tough when I first came here because New Zealand doesn't have a country full of ridiculous and non-nonsensical laws and rules like they do here....and they don't sue people. It wasn't until I went to Indonesia last year, I found a mental breathing space to life there. They may be the most populous archipelago in the world with a nation of 250 million people, but at least they have a certain freedom we do not have in Australia. I have been to Indonesia 3 times since last year and really enjoy the place because it has so much free will and people want to help others. As you say, common sense here, has also gone out the window too.
Why did I decide to be a TEFLer? Because I have seen the attitude of the people in Indonesia to education, and they place it far higher than we do; their enthusiasm to actually WANT to learn....I was asked on my last trip back there, by a 7 year old girl, to teach her English while I was there, she just wanted to learn so much, however 3 weeks wasn't a lot of time. They have no money yet they have a desire to learn and cannot afford to pay for tuition. How sad is that. My reason is, I want to help, to give them something others have to pay highly for. Just because people are poor should not be a reason they are denied opportunity.
I would like to not only teach somewhere in Asia, but also spend time in Indonesia teaching English to those who can't afford to pay.
That's a great story and one that I can relate to. I just feel so sad about the way England is losing it's shine. We are becoming a parody of what one made us such a great country. I've worked in Local Government too long now and I can't take anymore of the way we have become obsessed with rulebook management, instead of common sense. What happened to pragmatism? :D
I've worked at special schools and they are impossible to work in at times, so much politics, and it's the children who are penalised for the failures of the red tape brigade and their nonsense rulemaking. The day I read that an Headteacher enforced a rule in that children had to wear a plastic hat to walk under a conker tree was the final straw lol. Is it any wonder kids grow up and can't think for themselves, they are victims of the nanny state that thinks it's protecting them.
I'll let the lunatics continue taking over the asylum whilst I teach abroad for a few months/years in an attempt to regain my sanity. :D
If anyone is familiar with the poem 'To Risk', then you'll have an insight into my mind. If you don't, please read it and let it motivate you to take that risk,leave your comfort zone and TEFL.
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