TESOL International Association is a community of ELT professionals. This association is involved in numerous activities, including publishing TEIS News, which is a newsletter edited by the Teacher Educator Interest Section. When I was asked to contribute to its latest issue, I was more than happy to say yes. You can read my article here, and I recommend that you check out the other contributions as well.
I decided to focus on teacher-led CPD, which means taking responsibility for your own development as an ELT professional. This topic is close to my heart because I’ve managed to make decent career progress while living in Colombia, a developing country in which you’re not likely to get much support in terms of CPD if you work for a run-of-the-mill language academy. With the exception of a month-long holiday in Europe, I’ve continuously lived in Colombia since 2017, and I hope that my article can provide some hope to those who wish to develop professionally without having to move to another part of the world.
The TEIS News article is based on my own experience, and I’d like to take this opportunity to provide more details about my own journey. I have no problem admitting that the COVID-19 pandemic was extremely beneficial for my ELT career. Yes, I didn’t enjoy the lockdowns and not being able to travel freely, but I spent those two years working on increasing my chances of succeeding in our profession.
First of all, I was able to finish my Delta from my living room. There aren’t any Module Two providers in Colombia, so I originally planned to do the module in Mexico and actually had my interview with IH Mexico right before the pandemic reached Latin America. I managed to complete my M2 with this course provider a year later fully online, which was extremely convenient in terms of reduced costs since I didn’t need to pay for flights and accommodation. The only Delta module that now requires you to do something in person is the first one, which involves taking the exam at an authorised centre. Fortunately, they are usually easy to find in major cities.
IH Mexico runs the fully online CELTA as well, and being able to get Cambridge qualifications from home without worrying about a huge time difference is a great opportunity for those who don’t have any course providers in their location. Having just a bachelor’s degree and a generic TEFL certificate usually isn’t enough; you need to do much more to stand out, and holding an internationally recognised qualification is usually a step that can’t be skipped.
It has to be said that high-quality courses or degrees aren’t cheap, especially for someone who gets paid in Colombian pesos. What I will mention here is that it is necessary to consider the return on investment. Getting a Delta costs a lot of money, but if you play your cards right, it will open some interesting doors for you. In my case, the Delta gave me the confidence to start freelancing and looking for my own students. It also helped me land some very interesting contracts with institutions, so even though it took me a while to figure everything out, the results were pretty impressive: when I checked my bank account two years after obtaining my Delta certificate, I realised that just one month of my freelance work can generate the same income as what I used to earn in half a year as a language academy employee.
I’m certainly not an advocate of reckless spending, but sometimes it’s necessary to bite the bullet and spend a lot of money on your qualifications. If you’re stuck in an entry-level job, you know that things are never going to change unless you take action. A calculated risk can lead to some significant changes: these days I need to work just 10 hours per week to earn more money and be much happier than when I was spending 30 hours a week at the language institute and doing a lot of lesson planning at home. Since I’m my own boss, I normally choose to work more, which allows me to lead a very comfortable lifestyle.
The attitude shift caused by the pandemic means that you can do a lot of stuff remotely and there’s no need to be based in one of the big ELT markets. If you have the right visa and access to the internet, you can live in a small town in South America and teach students from other countries without using a middleman. You can work as a contractor for organisations based in another country, which comes with some obvious benefits. You can run your own in-person or online courses for local students as well. The opportunities are out there, and it’s important to keep emphasising that being a language academy employee is not the only career path for English teachers.
Finally, don’t underestimate the power of your online presence. I’ve met a lot of brilliant ELT professionals thanks to this blog, and it always feels nice to receive positive messages about my posts. Also, without TEFL in Colombia, I wouldn’t have been able to convince the amazing guest contributors to help me create More Than a Gap Year Adventure. If you are thinking of making progress in your ELT career, I recommend that you get a copy of the book since it contains a lot of useful advice that may have a very positive effect on your development in the profession.
TEFL in Colombia 