Teaching English – A career guide
English teaching has become a popular career choice for many nowadays. The skills useful for the development of a language are Listening, Reading, Speaking & Writing (LSRW). These skills need to be integrated by an ESL teacher in the classroom. Our guide will help you to identify the skills, requirements, and qualifications required to be a teacher.
Is teaching a suitable career for you?
Teaching is a rewarding career.
The perks of teaching are:
- flexible schedule,
- holidays,
- lifelong learning,
- opportunities to move abroad as an ESL/EFL teacher,
- a chance to enlighten and change lives.
but the responsibility of a teacher is a challenging one. A teacher needs to connect to every individual, understand their different learning abilities, and cater to their educational needs. The motive for teaching English (academic, social, immersion, enrichment, survival) depends on the foundation of a strong teacher-student relationship and the classroom, experience.
Do you have the right skills that are required to be a successful teacher?
Teaching is not only about being passionate but it requires degrees and training certifications and a commitment to impart knowledge dedicatedly to the right age groups.
- A welcoming personality
- Interpersonal and intrapersonal skills
- Organizational skills
- Ability to manage conflicts
- Excellent communicative skills
- Class engaging personality
- Ready to impart practical as well as theoretical classes
- Amiable as well as an assertive personality
- Ability to handle work pressure
What are the different levels of teaching?
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Pre – Primary school teacher
In India, pre-primary school teacher teaches the age group 3-5.
Eligibility criteria:
TTC, D.L.ED, BTC
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Primary school teacher
Eligible for teaching the age group 6-12 years.
Eligibility criteria:
B.ED, D.EL.ED, ETE
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Special educator
A special educator has a specialization in special education & diploma.
Aspiring students need to pursue a B.ED.
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ESL/EFL Instructor
Eligible for teaching young & adult learners.
Eligibility criteria:
B.A/M.A English, TESOL/TEFL certification, CELTA, DELTA
What teaching courses do you need to get into a teaching career in English?
India has diverse linguistic groups where the population uses Hindi, English, and a wide variety of other languages to enable communication. The actual training starts inside the classroom where the teacher imparts knowledge more practically and the students indulge in an interactive environment.
- Teaching English as a Second language
- Teaching English as a Foreign language
Why are methodologies, learning styles, and approaches important in communicative language learning classrooms?
Language learning is more than talking about the rules of language and grammar. A teacher can choose any subject and are passionate about and their lives enrich themselves through language acquisition.
Methodologies, learning styles, and approaches are required to teach modern-day dynamic individuals. The methodology is a way to teach ESL learners with the help of proven interactive methods. Methodologies & approaches keep changing & evolving with time in regard to ever-changing lifestyles & technology.
Many approaches & methods have been developed over the years to teach ESL learners. However, the best among them are Communicative Language Teaching, Community Language Learning & Total Physical Response.
Requirements for being a successful teacher
To fulfil your desire to educate, you should have training certification and ample knowledge.
For being a successful ESL teacher, the requirements are:
- an accredited TESOL/TEFL and CELTA certification
- good proficiency in English
- a bachelor’s or master’s degree in English
- knowledge about teaching tools and technology
How do you know you have a passion for teaching English?
- You connect well with the students
- You are good at engaging people with communication
- You are responsible
- You are dedicated and ready to make a difference in their lives
- You are adaptable & open-minded
- You have a quest to learn
- You are a compassionate human being
- You are assertive
English Language Teaching (Teaching English to non-native speakers)
If you are aspiring to teach English to ESL and EFL learners, you need to know about ESL and EFL learners.
If you think ESL/EFL is your thing, then wait no more! Do check out our TEFL/TESOL Course and let us help you get started right a way
Who are ESL & EFL learners?
ESL stands for English as a second language. English is used by them predominantly as a mode of communication in their workplace & society. This is taught in non-native English-speaking countries and to immigrants in western countries. Individuals from non-English speaking backgrounds speak their native language L1 fluently but often struggle to speak their target language (English) L2 in the workplace and society. The immigrant communities of Australia, Canada, and New Zealand are ESL learners & speakers.
People who use English for international communication are EFL learners. It stands for English as a foreign language. English learners who are exposed to an English-speaking environment since childhood have a massive advantage over ESL learners. Continuous exposure to the language makes them adept in the basic knowledge of language learning.
How is English taught in India and abroad?
We use the traditional method of teaching English in India starting with functional grammar. However, researchers like Noam Chomsky and Stephen Krashen have developed theories based on learners’ innate characteristics. New approaches & methods have replaced the traditional methods in many parts of the world.
What is Second Language acquisition?
The process through which learners acquire one or more second/foreign languages.
To understand language acquisition, let’s take the example of a child who learns to pronounce vocals by imitating sounds & patterns around them at an age of 2-3. They are likely to form telegraphic sentences at this age not focusing on grammar or sentence structure. By the age of four, he/she learns the format and rules of grammar. The child develops metalinguistic awareness during his pre-school years.
What is the goal of language acquisition?
The goal is to attain the Communicative ability to use the language fluently and appropriately to a certain extent. In ELT and Linguistics, L1 is the first language or mother tongue of a speaker and L2 is the second language of the speaker which he uses as a mode to communicate in his workplace and society.
How can you expect growth in your career as a teacher?
For career growth in teaching, you need to have the following qualities:
To facilitate career growth,
- Keep enhancing your skills
- Earn relevant degrees
- Never stop learning and acquiring Knowledge
- Enhance your knowledge by doing certification courses in your concerned area of interest
- Expand your network on job portals by connecting with people of similar interests.
- Attend workshops and seminars
Career opportunities for you
Teaching is a highly rewarding job with numerous job perks. If you are aspiring to be a teacher or are already experienced in teaching and trying to advance your skills to make a difference, there are a lot of career advancement opportunities for you to explore.
A wide range of opportunities for you have been mentioned below if you are adept at teaching English or passionate about it
- Curriculum designing
- Learning and development
- Training and development
- Writing
- Publishing
- ESL/EFL instructor
- Child development
- Professional development
- Soft skills development
- Translator
- Academic advisor
- Corporate trainer
- Teacher trainer
- Departmental head
That’s it for the day folks, if you find this article informative the do let us know in the comments. For teacher training and spoken English courses visit ILCA.in to know more.
