Valentines Day is just around the corner, let's write a love letter to TEFL, what do we love about TEFLing?

We think a lot about the challenges of a TEFLing life both in and outside the classroom. It's also important to reflect on the good stuff, on why we do it and, of course, why we love it. Whether we're TEFL-lifers, settled teachers, or recently qualifiedor or maybe we're on a gap year, or recently refocusing life and shifting our work, however we engage with our TEFLing, let the love flow. So, why do we love TEFLing?

The TEFLer is a fortnightly companion for language teachers written by Simon Pearlman and brought to you by Active Language Teacher Training. Subscribe on LinkedIn or email training@activelanguage.net with the header “Subscribe to The TEFLer” to get it delivered straight to your inbox.

A sense of freedom.

For many of us TEFLing means the freedom to live in different places and to work in different ways.

We can teach almost anywhere in the world. Where have you been? Where do want to go? Istanbul? San José, Costa Rica? London? Seville? Cádiz? We can work in-class and online, in schools and independently, with children and business people. Given the right circumstances we have the opportunity to live and work in a way that we choose. TEFLing can give us that sense of freedom.

A sense of connection.

TEFLing gives us opportunities to  connect with people, with places and with the world.

Colleagues past and present can become some of our best friends, some of our dearest people, perhaps even our life partners. TEFLers are generally good people, we are lucky to have each other. We tend to be open and welcoming, interesting and interested. We create wonderfully supportive communities on all levels, in-real-life and online.

We can connect in very special ways with places and people in those places as we live and work alongside in different places, it is a massive privilege. For many of us TEFLing might have been born from a wish to travel, backpacking might be great but living somewhere different for a year or two or maybe even twenty, creates deep and meaningful connections.

Creating our utopian classroom

As TEFLers we often have some significant freedom in our classes and as such the possibility to create the classroom environments we want whether we're working in-class or online.

What's our vision of the classroom? How do we want it to be? If we have a clear idea, we csn work towards it. Do we want our classrooms to be productive, English only (or mainly!) spaces? Do we want them to be cooperative, respectful and inclusive? We can create spaces where each and every learner feels safe, welcome and able to take advantage of the possibilities. We have the opportunity to create some amazing learning environments, that's exciting.

Being with learners

If we love the learners we work with, its hard not to love TEFLing.

We can learn so much from learners; learners can help us grow in so many ways. We can share real emotions in our classes and we can have great fun with our learners too. We can laugh and sometimes cry together. We can create connections and meaningful relationships in the classroom. We can help learners soar and reach great heights, we can support those that need us more. If we love the learners we work with, especially the more challenging ones, we can get so much and give so much in our teaching spaces. Whether we're working with 5 year olds, or teens, university students or adults, being with learners is always a privilege.

Of course there are challenges a-plenty too and we need to engage with those but right now it's around Valentines Day, so let's think of TEFLing with love.

Why do you love TEFLing?

Please let us know in the comments, we'd love to hear, it's always good to share the love.

The TEFLer is brought to you by Active Language Teacher Training, providers of the Trinity CertTESOL, DipTESOL and Teaching Younger Learners courses. Let yourself fall even more deeply in love with TEFLing on one of our courses. Which course is right for you? See www.activelanguage.net for details.

And Happy TEFLing!