1. Gain Knowledge
As an ESL instructor you will be researching many universal topics – you will gain an immense amount of worldly knowledge – you will become a Renaissance man or woman with a mind full of good information which will be a joy to share with your students! For example, did you know that the first etiquette instructions were written in ancient Egypt 2400 B.C. and taught people how to get along with each other, or, that Denmark is the oldest monarchy in the world (over one thousand years old!).
You’ll also brush up on your grammar – do you know what a non-count noun is? How about the difference between a participle phrase and a past perfect continuous?? You will understand it all when you teach ESL.
2. Exercise Your Creativity
And what can you do with all this information that you learn through research? You can be as creative as you have always dreamed of being ! You can use your imagination to create strong informative English lessons which are engaging, intrinsically rewarding and useful for the students in today’s world. You could combine a waffle making lesson with a lesson plan on health, a photography field trip with a lesson on technology, or a lesson on Alberta with a traditional square dance – the sky’s the limit for your creativity when you teach ESL!
3. An Exciting Industry
Teaching ESL will never become dull or mundane; this is because the need to teach ESL is continually growing and changing both within the local community and globally. There are many spin-offs from the base career of teaching ESL such as tutoring, substitute teaching, private coaching toward specific goals, working with refugees and immigrants, creating courses and curriculums for specific needs, teaching business courses, public speaking, writing articles – ESL teaching is a growing and changing career and if you see a need which might be met through ESL, chances are that you can make it happen. As you face these pleasant challenges, you grow as well with the career of ESL instruction.
4. Relax!
Need a career which is casual and relaxed without the heavy formal, social pressures and stresses of the mainstream workforce but that still carries a high degree of pride and discipline? Then ESL instruction is for you. There is an innate camaraderie within the ESL world, a common intuition and relaxed atmosphere for the love of teaching and the caring of people. You don’t have to worry about neck ties, high heels or business suits in the ESL world; it’s all about teaching, not about ego.
5. Build Friendships
I know this is a cliché, but you really do make friends teaching ESL! Who knows, you might even meet your life partner! Your classes will attract the most dedicated, intelligent and motivated students of all ages from all over the globe. Your lessons are intimate due to the small class sizes, and mutual information is constantly exchanged through English practice and conversation, dialogue and instruction. Empathetic views (“your biggest fear” for example) and respectful debate is continuously shared so it is impossible not to make new friends with your students and with the other instructors when you exchange ideas and experiences – you become bonded.
When students move forward and leave your class, they will often stay in contact and will sometimes even invite you visit them in their home country!
6. Explore the World
It goes without saying that teaching ESL can lead to world travel and global networking if one chooses.
Most countries in the world are acknowledging that English must be studied to enhance their economies and provide positive futures for their citizens. As an ESL instructor, your travel experiences could be fantastically rewarding – you could teach at a little country school in the Republic of Georgia, or a modern sophisticated college in Tokyo or a business setting in Arabia!
Of course you could also stay home and enhance the lives of new Canadian immigrants, refugees or visiting students by not only teaching them English and our local customs, but also by showing them our country – multiculturalism is the foundation of Canada and ESL instructors share in the pride of what makes Canada such a great compassionate country which is admired all over the world.
7. An Equal Playing Field
ESL instructors can be any age – there is no age discrimination ! In fact, life experience can be an advantage (as well as a sense of humour) when articulating a difficult concept in your lesson. Fresh young teachers bring their new perspectives, global knowledge, energy and enthusiasm. Youth as well as the experienced, are highly welcomed in the field of ESL instruction.
8. Be Yourself
An ESL instructor is free to use their talents and interests to their advantage when communicating with students and when creating lesson plans and themed units of instruction. Imagine a career where you can actually practice your hobbies and talents! Like cooking? Then have your students follow recipes; do you like collecting used books? Then take your students to a second hand bookshop; like visiting art galleries? Then look at art and discuss its meaning…
9. Have FUN
Last but not least, teaching ESL is fun, and having fun is important! Who wants a career that is not fun? Why do we assume that if something is fun, then it is not an important career? For a fun and worthwhile career, be an ESL teacher!
10. LOVE
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