A Day in the Life of a TEFL Teacher

A day in my life as TEFL Teacher (Teaching English as Foreign Language). I’d like to share with you what a day in the life of a TEFL teacher is like!

Each day can vary and things can change all the time. But this is not for all TEFL teachers; it can all depend where you are teaching and the age group of students you are teaching for. There are training centers, kindergartens, primary schools, middle schools, high schools, and even universities. But for me, I am currently working at an English Training Center in China.

A day in my life before I became a language teacher

Before I became an English teacher, I was working at a swim school for young kids, where I was responsible for the marketing of the business and fetching the kids from their schools to come to their swim lessons. Once they were done, I’d take them back to their schools. I spent the majority of the day driving around picking up and dropping off kids, and when I was in the office, I would deal with parents and do the marketing and advertising. I enjoyed working with young kids so much I wanted to start a career in teaching. This is when I got my job as a teaching assistant in a pre-school back in South Africa.

Becoming a foreign language teacher

There are many countries where TEFL teaching jobs are available for foreigners all over the world. I mean, who would not like to travel see the world and still earn money? The global TEFL environment has provided people and potential teachers with career and development opportunities. After having already spending a year in Thailand to travel and teach, I wanted to make this a more permanent career and started to research countries and options. I came across a TEFL job opportunity in China, and this is where I wanted to start my venture as a teacher.

My day to day as a TEFL teacher

We are ten teachers that work together, two of which were the ‘foreigners’ (non-local Chinese), which was me and my younger sister. We each have about eleven classes each week, and also do demo classes to get new students. All in all, we would normally teach between 12 and 15 classes every week. I work six days a week, with one day-off every Monday.

My day usually starts about 8am or 9am, when I get up, take my dog out for a walk and get her to do her business! I have my mornings free during the week. Sometimes I catch up on sleep and only get up at around 10am. I don’t live far from work, so usually walk or use my e-bike to get to school everyday.

The working hours of a TEFL teacher

We have a fixed time schedule every week. Tuesdays, I started work at 17:00pm to teach until 20:40pm, Wednesday to Friday, I work from 14:00pm to 20:40pm. Weekends are the most busy times of the week, and the only two days we work a full day. Saturdays I teach from 09:30am until 20:40pm, and Sundays from 09:30am to 18:30pm. But even with these long hours, we have a two hour lunch break, as well as a hour dinner break. If you work in a training center, then the weekend will be the most busiest time in the life of a TEFL teacher.

My weekday classes are mainly in the evenings, lasting only about a hour. We need to strictly follow the lessons and curriculum provided by the school. Unfortunately, I do not have much freedom about the content that needs to be taught to our students. We learned a lot about curriculums and course delivery during Unit 11 of my training on the TEFL Lemon 180-Hour Higher Certificate in TESOL, which I’ve now passed.

A cup of iced tea to avoid the summer heat!

When I get to work at the school, I arrive with cup of iced tea, as it’s summer and extremely hot (temperatures here can get above 40c in the summer!) I greet my colleagues, head to the office to start planning and preparing the materials I need for the classes that evening.

Class times during the week are from 18:30pm - 19:30pm and again from 19:40pm - 20:40pm during the week, so we only get a ten-minute break between classes before we go back into class with a new set of children. Teaching children as a TEFL teacher is awesome! I really enjoy seeing their language development.

After work, I go home to prepare dinner, have a hot shower and then relax for the evening or do my online studies (I’m studying my Masters in Education). Sometimes I meet up with friends or just basically relax at home (which I prefer), to unwind for the day.

Being a TEFL teacher opens doors to new experiences

Having taught in Thailand, South Africa and now China, I think being a TEFL teacher definitely opens doors to new experiences and meeting people from all over the world. I met people from all over traveling to China and when I went home back on holiday in 2019. In China, I have made some amazing Chinese friends and they introduced me to various activities and fun things to do in China. During national holidays, I normally take a day or two to sleep and rest, and then travel to a city near by, where I have many friends from back home in South Africa. Many memories have been made thus far and I plan on traveling more and seeing more of China.

TEFL teaching is more than just a job to me

Teaching English as a Foreign Language is more than just a job to me; it has become an occupation filled with new experiences almost everyday. I feel being a language teacher in a foreign country, you are never bored with your lifestyle or even the people around you. Unit 20 on the online TESOL course I did is especially about teaching abroad and experiencing new cultures.

There are so many interesting and exciting things to do in China. I have seen things and been to a few places that I never even knew were possible or even existed. But one major thing I experienced in China was the Culture-Shock (also covered on the 180-Hour TEFL course), and oh boy, did that come and hit me hard! There were ups and downs and everything in between. And being here in China has really taught me so much about work, about myself and about life.

I found my self when I came to China. And I was lucky enough to meet the love of my life. I got married the end of last year to my Chinese husband and could not be happier. I have been living and working in the same city and same school for the last three years and come to the decision it is time for change and new adventures. I have now decided to change my city and school type. New exciting adventures and experiences await me.

by Maxine Johnson