The Day In The Life Of a TEFL Teacher

Are you considering becoming a TEFL teacher, yet not sure if you are ready to take the leap? Perhaps you are a little cynical of the tales you have previously heard of the amazing adventures had by expats!

Let us indulge you in the life of a typical day as a TEFL teacher in Wuhan, China, as told by one of our own TEFL teachers; Susan from Leeds UK.

7am: Wake up, chat a little with my room-mate while getting ready and head off together

7.30am: Walk accross the road to the bus station, not forgetting to pick up breakfast from the market stall. At first I thought it was so wrong to eat fried pork belly hot steamed buns for breakfast, now I cant live without it!

7.45am: Get on the bus for 4 stops, it is often crowded but I find it is the perfect way to practise my Mandarin phrases!

8am: Arrive to the school, have a drink in the staffroom with my room-mate (we work in the same school which is great!) and other colleagues

8.45am: Go to my classroom and put up any visuals I am using and prepare the books for the children

9am: The children arrive and the excitement begins!

9.10am: The class begins, I always start off my class with a warm-up game, the children love it, so do I secretly! We play ‘Duck Duck Goose’ with an English language trivial twist!

9.40am: I get to work on teaching the children past and present tense, I use the pictures of landmarks around the world to learn the phrases “I went to…., I am going to…., I liked visiting ….. becasue…., I am looking forward to visiting … because…”

10.30am: End of lesson, I go to the staffroom for another drink and have a short discussion about our classes and share techniques

11.am: Second class of the day begins! This is a larger class and in todays lesson I am teaching the students English songs and English celebrations. This is a really fun class, we even get a few visitors from the Chinese teachers coming to learn the songs too!

12am: Lunchtime. I have a free school meal in the canteen and sit with many other international teachers that I have become firends with, well we are more like a family now!

1.15pm: I run an English debate class with the older children, todays topic is pollution and the affect this has on the environment. I split the class into two and get them to put together an introduction to the topic, then the fun starts and the debate kicks off! I often record the debates to watch back, this gives me an insight into their abilities and what we need to practise or go over in more detail.

2.30pm- End of the day! We gather ourselves together in the staffroom and decide where to go out to eat tonight! It is the end of our 25-hour working week! We are also taking a weekend trip to complete a mountain hike!

I am so happy I decided to make the move to China and pursue a career as a TEFL teacher, I originally thought I would do this for one year then come back. However, I love it here and feel I have answered my calling in life! I am excited for the future and to see where it takes me!

Take that next step and see for yourself the vacacnies currently on offer for you at teach-in-china.co.uk