Gap year ideas... TEFL?

[mrsmootoo]

DS is awaiting a level results and planning a gap year. Possibly interested in doing a TEFL course (Teaching English as a Foreign Language) as a way of earning/working/travelling. I know lots of courses need students to already be graduates or at least 20+. Are there options for 18+?

DD did 'Workaway' and spent 3 months in Germany living with a family. She had only studied GCSE German before going, but came back and ended up taking German as part of her degree. She got free accommodation, food and weekly language classes paid for. Her duties were to walk the dog twice a day, lay the table, load the dish washer, pick up the 3 year old from nursery (he spoke no English), chat and interact with the teenagers in the evening. So 3 months in Germany cost her less than £100.

DS could try:
https://www.workaway.info/en/host/146437818968

Just to keep in mind - Teaching English as a foreign language is a dead end for a lot of people after university. I worked for a while in recruitment and there were a large number of long term impoverished, TEFL teachers desperate for a career change and having to start at the bottom again (even after 10 yrs teaching).

Yes, just to reiterate what a pp has said. Lots of unemployed TEFL teachers as it's often short term contract work.

For a gap year, it should be possible to teach without a TEFL qualification so as to brush up language skills. She could do a 4 week intensive CELTA qualification which may mean a higher rate of pay.

@Oldowl

that sounds like great experience.

Do workaway verify the families/ placement?

@Rummikub No they don't. DD looked at the reviews from previous workawayers and got a feel for the placement. She had an chat over skype to the mum before committing. This was in 2019. The eldest girl, now 18 came to stay with us last year for a week and the mum and 'toddler' now 6 years old came to visit for the day whilst in England last week.

DD did another workaway 3 week placement last year, working in a school in Hannover and staying with a teacher. A very different experience but great fun.

That’s lovely youve all
kept in touch.

Not all TEFL teachers are impoverished! I did a CELTA after my degree, then a DELTA, then an MA. Worked for 25 years in the Middle East, where I had lived since the mid 70’s. Am still working online but now in Cyprus, and get paid very well for it.

DD did a ski season pre Brexit. Non EU passport holder roles are now limited to chefs and qualified nannies. It may be worth asking them whether chalet host falls into the category of chef. https://www.workaseason.com/ (DD did a cooking/housekeeping course beforehand and then stayed on with the cookery school as an intern until the end of November at which point she was asked if she were interested in working in a private chalet instead, so actually she might have been experienced enough to qualify under EU rules.)

She then did Camp America over the summer. Two months work in a summer camp. Hers was in the Catskills and there were all sorts of activities with a big lake, horses and more. I think the camp counsellors may have had more fun than the kids. They got a day off a week and access to a vehicle so were able to explore. Then she spent two or three weeks travelling around the US with one of the friends she met there.

I'd like to add to the comment by @veiledsentiments - TEFL need not be a dead-end career! I started off with TEFL to enable me to travel - it took me around the world, earning more than other backpackers could with the typical fruit picking/chambermaid/bar work jobs. I didn't have the CELTA, but built up experience to get me work. When I returned, I did the DELTA, and have now been in the field for over 30 years - moving from purely teaching, to a combination of teaching, assessment, writing and curriculum development. There are lots of doors it can open!

Appreciate she needs to earn money to pay for the experience somehow, but going backpacking around Asia or Latin America can be a lot of fun, and perhaps more adventurous and mind opening than, say, ski seasons and suchlike.

TEFL teachers tend to be a bit older than 18 as especially older adult pupils might not see someone that age as credible as a teacher.