Teaching English in China and Spain: Maria’s story

Do you dream of teaching English as a foreign language? Or maybe you have your hopes set on living in China. Read Maria’s story for a little TEFL advice.

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Teaching English in China and Spain: Maria’s story

Do you dream of teaching English as a foreign language? Or maybe you have your hopes set on living in China. Read Maria’s story for a little TEFL advice.

Our customers say Excellent

4.6 out of 5 based on 9,764 reviews

Originally from Cordoba in the South of Spain, 26-year-old, María Ortega Blanco gained her TEFL qualification in 2016. Having spent some time teaching English in China, María has now returned to Cordoba to teach for the international company, Helen Doron Early English. We asked María some questions about her TEFL experience.

Why I chose TEFL

I had heard about TEFL through my colleagues. After reading on the internet about the potential benefits of being properly trained in teaching English as a foreign language, I had no doubt—I had to take a TEFL course. Despite my experience and being good at dealing with young children, I still found it hard to prepare interesting lessons that did not become boring for the students after the first half hour. I thought a TEFL course would help in different areas of the teaching field.

Back home, I studied Translation and Interpretation, my major being English and Chinese, so I had no training at all in teaching or education. When I moved to China, I taught for approximately a year and a half before deciding on a TEFL qualification, preparing lessons for both young children (3-12-year-olds) and adults.

How I became a TEFL teacher

I obtained my TEFL qualification in November 2016 and have taken advantage of it ever since.

When I got certified, I was working in China, and the qualification helped me develop and improve my teaching skills. This resulted in better-prepared activities, smoother lessons and an increase in my own efficiency. I used my TEFL qualification for a year in China, teaching in a kindergarten and a public primary school. I have been back in Spain since September 2017, where I have been working as an English teacher in various language centres. What I learned from my TEFL course is still helping me with lesson preparation and class management.

I am 100% sure my style has turned from totally teacher-centred to absolutely student-based, with activities that engage and involve the students and encourage them to use English to express themselves. Furthermore, I can see my own evolution in lesson preparation. I have become more efficient, and I can now relate content and activities more quickly than I could before taking the course.

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Taking a TEFL course involves learning how to teach, as well as how to prepare lessons, manage classes, and prepare activities depending on the type of student and teaching content.

If you already have experience with children, taking the course will help you expand the range of activities you normally prepare and decide whether a certain activity is the most appropriate for the type of content or class (young children, large groups, etc.).

I would definitely recommend TEFL Org since it offers a wide variety of courses, with more or fewer hours to meet all the customer’s needs. Plus, once you are a student, you have lifetime access to their Jobs Centre, which, in fact, helped me find a job back in Spain.

Moreover, the courses offered are complete and helpful and provide teachers with important tools to complement and improve their teaching skills. Besides this, the online courses offered by TEFL Org allow you to set your own rhythm and learn at your own pace, always bearing in mind that, should you need any help or have any doubt, you can contact the staff, and they immediately do their best to provide you with a solution. As I said, it is absolutely recommendable.

I could learn to speak, eat and live like Chinese people, and given my passion for Chinese food, it was a more than satisfactory experience.

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Where I went and what I did

Teaching in China and Spain is completely different, as the curriculums and methodologies have nothing in common. When I returned to Spain, adapting my teaching style to the new methodology was the most challenging part of the job. I also found the relationship between the teacher and the students differing between Spain and China – which took some time to adapt to as well - I found the bond with the Spanish students to be stronger than it was with Chinese students.

However, teaching in China helped me a lot with classroom management. In primary school, I had 60 children aged between 6 and 10 in each group. This is where teaching large groups as part of the TEFL course was implemented. Initially, I was scared as I had never faced such a large group. However, their behaviour was exceptional during lessons - their interest, alongside the wide range of activities offered by the TEFL course for large groups, made the school year pass by quite smoothly.

I have always found Chinese culture highly interesting, and living there enabled me to experience it first-hand. I could learn to speak, eat and live like Chinese people, and given my passion for Chinese food - it was a more than satisfactory experience. Working with them, though, is harder than it may seem. First of all, I found that many Chinese people tend to consider foreigners as ‘experts’, so they look forward to hearing your advice, but it can be quite challenging to introduce changes in how they work. Besides this, in my own experience, all the teachers at my school were extremely pleasant and did not want to bother me, so I could barely work because they would do all the work for me.

Going back to the cultural part, China is full of historical places. I was lucky to have many holidays throughout my two years living in China. I had the chance to visit Beijing and the Great Wall, Shanghai with its skyscrapers, Xian and the Terracotta Army, and Chengdu with the pandas. There were also all the places that I could visit in close proximity to China, like Japan, South Korea, Thailand, and Malaysia.

All in all, I found living and working in China tough, but it was also an absolutely enjoyable experience that has helped me grow both personally and professionally and enabled me to acquire an important background for future jobs and life experiences.

Reflections on China and Spain

Although I knew a lot about China due to studying Chinese language and culture for over four years, living there was a huge cultural clash. The differences between the West and China are massive, and most are unexpected. I had previously lived abroad for a year in Sweden, but Sweden and China are nothing alike, and the differences were noticeable. Not only is the language a tremendous handicap for foreigners, but Chinese has a wide range of dialects that vary incredibly between provinces, even the closest ones. Had I known all the difficulties I would face, I would have never moved to China in the first place, leading me to miss an incredible number of experiences and places.

For those who have not studied or have no teaching training, taking a TEFL course is a must. Teaching is way easier when someone explains how to teach – the course teaches you the best methods for lesson planning and the most appropriate games and activities according to the class size and the student's age, etc. Classroom management also becomes easier when you have guidelines to follow. A good atmosphere in the class will always make the lesson go more smoothly.

For those who have studied Pedagogics or a Teaching Diploma, I found it quite helpful – as TEFL works to build on your existing teaching knowledge. In my opinion, it is desirable, as a teacher, to never stop learning and growing so that you can relay this to your students.

Are you excited about a career in teaching but unsure where to start? Take a TEFL course quiz through The TEFL Org, and we’ll help you find the right direction.

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Our customers say Excellent

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