Who will my TEFL students be?

Whether you teach English online, or in person, the chances are that you will be working with a wide range of students. There are all kinds of people who require English tuition, from the very young to the long-retired. University freshmen and CEOs alike are in your potential student body, so it’s important to be adaptable to different situations, age groups and proficiencies.

After all, jobs can be unpredictable. As you’ll have learned from our student stories or our podcast, ‘I Taught English Abroad’ , you could be asked to very suddenly adapt to a brand-new situation as a TEFL teacher. Situations can change - you might be asked to teach a class of a certain age, and then find out you’ve been reassigned to a much bigger class of younger children. You could be expecting to teach pre-teens, then end up teaching adolescents on the cusp of leaving school. It pays to be versatile.

So, who will you encounter as a TEFL teacher? Let’s take a look at the different groups you’ll likely come across as you navigate through the world of English teaching.

Preschool/kindergarten

You’d be surprised by how many parts of the world where English is taught as a foreign language from an extremely early age. Yes, TEFL enters the curriculum from kindergarten in some parts of the world, and that means there are jobs available for those who are skilled at teaching particularly young learners.

For entry-level teachers, jobs at the preschool level are particularly good opportunities. Lessons at this level are usually more about games, expression, and - to put it simply - having fun with very basic English. Your main task is fostering enthusiasm for the English language that lasts, and helping young learners eventually reap the benefits of learning another language early on in their educational development.

Young learners at school

If you’re teaching young learners in a school, you’ll likely either be assigned a particular age group, or you’ll work across different classes. You could consistently work with the same group of students, or you’ll deal with a range of proficiency levels. Either option is an exciting challenge for a TEFL teacher.

Importantly, you’ll be dealing with a group of learners that have to be there - your challenge will be to keep these kids engaged, with lessons that they find meaningful and have clear learning outcomes. You might be teaching in countries where English proficiency is high, and your learners already have a strong understanding of the language. Or, they may have little to no outside knowledge of English whatsoever.

It’s also worth talking about language schools, especially if you’re teaching in Japan or South Korea . Cram schools, or hagwons as they’re known in South Korea, are extremely popular schools for kids who need extra English tuition. These will usually be students who are either keen to get ahead in their school lessons, or are preparing for specific exams. Usually, they’ll be more enthusiastic learners.

Young learners outside of school

If you opt to teach English online , what’s likely is you’ll either find work with a teaching company that focuses on teaching young learners, or with an online platform whose clients include young learners. School pupils make up a sizeable proportion of the online TEFL student base, either in the form of specialised group classes, or one-to-one tutoring.

Popular online tutoring companies and platforms like Novakid or Skooli are either specifically designed for this audience or are particularly popular with young learners. In short: if you’re looking to teach English online long-term, chances are you’ll deal with a range of young learners outside school hours.

This is also true for in-person TEFL tutors. In countries where English isn’t the primary language, and education is particularly competitive, you’ll find there’s enormous demand for in-person tutoring, in major metropolitan areas, suburbs and rural areas alike. 

The motivations, online and off, are largely the same for young learners - it’s generally about keeping up with lessons at school. 

Adult learners

For adult learners, there are a range of reasons for learning English and different types of learners you’ll come across as a teacher. For a start, there’s more of an emphasis on choice - while young learners are typically taking lessons in school, or getting tutoring under the influence of a parent or guardian, an adult’s English tuition is self-directed. 

TEFL teachers will normally approach adult learners through one of two platforms: language schools, or through tutoring. Language schools are particularly popular in large, diverse cities, and are normally busiest during evenings and weekends. Tutoring can occur anywhere, anytime, and is great for teachers who want to supplement their income.

Types of adult learners

There are billions of adults in the world, all of whom could feasibly have their own motivations for learning English! However, based on our experiences and research, here are the most common types of adult learners we think you’ll encounter as a TEFL teacher:

• Business employees : Adults who conduct business with firms in English or work extensively with English-speaking customers. These learners are looking to improve their level of English competency in the workplace. Some companies will contract with a local language school to bring a TEFL teacher on site, so you may work with individuals or with groups. Business English is, in some respects, its own language!
• Tourism and hospitality workers :  People who work in tourism and hospitality around the world typically need to know at least a little bit of English. 
• Students : Whether it’s for college or university, you’ll encounter loads of students who don’t speak English as a first language and who’ll need a little help getting through their course. There’s a whole TEFL sector devoted to this - English for Academic Purposes - and it’s a very well-established route for English teachers.
• Hobbyists/Enthusiasts - A lot of people want to enjoy English-speaking culture, like TV, films and music, and be able to instantly understand it. There will also be an audience who just want to learn another language - why not English?
• Learning English for a partner : One of the more romantic reasons to teach someone  English - sometimes people need to learn the language because they’ve met someone special. 
• Retirees : With more free time available, some retirees leap into doing some of the things they’ve always wanted to do. For some, that means learning languages.

Volunteering scenarios

If you’re teaching English as a volunteer, you’ll meet a wide variety of people who want to learn the language. Depending on where you are, these could be pre-school kids up to retirees, from all sorts of different backgrounds. 

Usually, in volunteering scenarios, you’re working with people who have very little proficiency in English. If you’re working abroad, you’ll find the vast majority of volunteering opportunities are in rural parts of countries where English proficiency is low and funding for education is at a similar level. However, if you’re volunteering at schools, for example, you’ll find that learners are extremely keen, but the facilities might be basic, and you’ll have to improvise at times. 

If you’re working locally, particularly with refugees and asylum seekers , you’ll find learners are incredibly motivated. In some cases, they will be studying for qualifications like IELTS or TOEFL, to secure employment or places at educational institutions. Or, they’ll be looking for help with bureaucracy - housing forms, help with their local GP, and other everyday scenarios.

Either way, no two students will ever be the same, you’ll meet incredible people, and you’ll have a tangible positive impact on people’s lives. We can’t recommend it enough!

Takeaways

So, who will your TEFL students be?

Yes, there will be lots of people with the same motivations. There will be hundreds of school kids who are required to be in your class, employees of a company who are enrolled in English classes, and so on. There will also be people who have plenty of free time, no real stakes, and just pure enthusiasm to learn English. Learners have different motives, but the key thing is to treat them all with the same level of respect and enthusiasm.

When it comes down to it, no two of your students will ever be the exact same anyway, no matter why they’re learning English, and what their desired outcomes are. Everyone learns at a different pace and has different strengths and weaknesses. 

Some of your students will be ruthlessly motivated and won’t need much encouragement. Others won’t be, but your challenge as a teacher will be to inspire a level of commitment to learning that your students didn’t know they had. You’ve got to consider and embrace the sheer range of personalities you’ll encounter as a teacher, no matter the age, background or reasons for learning English.

It’s an adventure, regardless of whether you venture to new locations, or you’re working from home. Perhaps that’s the most exciting thing of all. Teaching is an opportunity to create opportunities for people, whether it’s just making a class at school better for a kid, or ploughing a new lane of career opportunities for an adult who feels lost at their job. 

Yes, there are types of students you’ll likely come across, but really, who will your TEFL students be? Well, it could be just about anyone.

Ready to begin your TEFL adventure? Start a course today from the most accredited TEFL provider on the planet.