The pandemic has affected people in all sorts of ways and one more to add to the list is teaching English as a foreign language. While this industry has seen some dramatic downs, The TEFL Org reports an astonishing up, having seen its on-dermand online course enrolment leap by over 250% during the past year. From its own findings, The TEFL Org discovered that a third of its graduates chose the course after deciding to change career as a direct result of Covid fall-out.
“A year ago, if anyone had told me that I would be teaching English to overseas children in the future, I would have told them they were crazy,” says Yvonne Beckles (pictured), who worked for Bath’s local tourism board. After being furloughed and then made redundant during 2020, a chance conversation with a friend led her to consider teaching English online. “The saying goes that when one door closes, another opens and in my case it’s true.”
Co-founder of The TEFL Org, Jennifer McKenzie, says, “We are seeing a massive increase in people looking to start a career in TEFL that has been driven by the impact the pandemic has had on people’s lives. Those who could perhaps not follow a passion for teaching due to travel restrictions or time constraints, and especially those who found themselves out of work, can now do so from the comfort of their own home.”
