The 5 Most Life-Changing Benefits That Happen When You Teach English Abroad 

Teaching English, or EFL (English as a Foreign Language), abroad is an experience that can have many benefits, both personally and professionally. Whether you’re a recent graduate or a seasoned educator, teaching abroad can be an incredible opportunity to:

• Develop your skills
• Learn about a new culture 
• Make a positive impact on the lives of those you teach
• & much, much more

At Destination TEFL, we’ve dedicated our careers to helping individuals who want to teach English abroad from all walks of life. We offer a life-changing opportunity to begin a TEFL career with ease. In this post, we’ll explore five of the best benefits you’ll get out of your teaching abroad experience.

1. Have Many Opportunities to Make a Positive Impact.

One of the best ways to make a positive impact is through sharing your knowledge and skills with students. Or in other words, just being a good teacher. And the best part is the opportunities for positive impact are packaged right in with the job! 

As an EFL teacher, you can help your students achieve their goals and improve their prospects for the future right in the classroom. This can be especially meaningful if you’re teaching in a developing country or working with disadvantaged populations, which most of our teachers do at some point in their careers.

Here’s a really good example: Our teaching practicums in Bangkok take place at a temple school. Meaning our TEFL teacher trainees (say that 10 times fast!) get to teach students inside an actual Buddhist temple. 

The majority of the students in this school come from a multitude of different countries in Southeast Asia and aren’t able to attend public schools in their home country or Thailand for various reasons. Many of them have fled their home in neighbouring countries and don’t possess a state ID to register for public school. 

Helping the temple school by providing students with an education they wouldn’t otherwise receive is honestly one of the most priceless opportunities to make a positive impact in our profession. But enough tooting our own horn. The point is, these opportunities are endless and happen every day inside every classroom. It’s really the best and most rewarding part of teaching English abroad. 

By fostering empathy and understanding through these opportunities, you can help create a more peaceful and connected world which, you guessed it, has a profound positive impact.

2. Develop a Global Mindset & Engage in Cultural Exchange.

When you teach English abroad, you give yourself an opportunity to immerse yourself in a new culture and gain a deeper understanding of local customs, traditions, and ways of life. This experience alone is deeply and personally transformative. It allows you to:

• Broaden your perspective
• Find different and often better ways of doing things
• Adapt quickly to a wide assortment of circumstances
• Develop a greater appreciation for diversity and inclusion

Immersing yourself in a new culture also allows you to reflect on your own cultural upbringing, and apply new cultural perspectives to your life. We’re all products of the culture we grew up in. While it’s important to appreciate one’s cultural values, it’s equally important to examine them critically and keep an open mind. When you teach English abroad, this critical thinking skill becomes incredibly easy. 

Living and working abroad also gives you a chance to learn a new language and even improve your already existing language skills. This skill set is especially valuable if you’re teaching a foreign language or if you plan to work with immigrant or international students in the future. 

It’s also applicable in the workforce because, as your students are already well aware, it pays to be bilingual. On top of all that, studies have also shown that learning new languages improves cognitive function over the course of your life, and even decreases the rate of cognitive decline later in life.

3. Expand and Develop Your Professional Horizons. 

Passionately diving into a TESL career is a fantastic way to develop your professional skills and gain new perspectives on education and the global workplace. For many people across the globe, the ability to teach English Abroad has given them a profound sense of Ikigai.  

Whether you’re a seasoned teaching professional, switching careers, or just getting started, an experience like this is guaranteed to significantly extend the possibilities of your career. By teaching in a different culture apart from your own, your resume is going to stand out in any field. We have no doubt about that. 

You’ll encounter new challenges and opportunities to learn things you wouldn’t normally experience back home. You will need to adapt and learn new ways of doing things. Which just means you will quickly strengthen the brain muscles it takes to think on your feet. A skill that just so happens to be extremely valuable in the global workforce. Not to mention developing priceless classroom management skills that translate easily back into the workforce. 

Teaching English as a foreign language (TEFL) will also improve your communication skills and help you become a more authentic teacher and working professional. With your newly improved skillset, you’ll find an abundance of opportunities to expand your professional network and gain even more international experience. You will meet other educators from around the world, attend conferences or workshops, and even collaborate on research projects. The opportunities to build experience and an incredible network of friends that can help you in your own career development are truly endless. 

4. Turbocharge Your Personal Growth.

We’re not gonna lie, the entire journey you’ll take to be able to successfully teach English abroad is a challenging one. It requires you to adapt quickly, be resilient, and be more willing than ever before to step outside your comfort zone. 

By overcoming the challenges you’ll undoubtedly face on this journey, you’ll develop important life skills that will benefit you in all aspects of life. Some of the challenges you may face include:

• Culture shock – overcoming this will help you gain resilience and a worldly perspective.
• Homesickness – easily overcome by making new friends and learning how to adapt.
• Loneliness – learning how to persevere through this will help you gain confidence.
• Burnout – overcoming this will help you build perseverance & become an even greater teacher.

You will become more independent, self-confident, and open-minded. A skill set that only experience can give.

Use the opportunity to teach English abroad for personal growth and self-discovery. You will discover new things about yourself that you wouldn’t have found out if you just stayed at home and sat on your couch. New interests and passions will no doubt emerge. 

You’ll meet new people, and even, dare we say, develop a new sense of purpose. It’s an incredibly transformative experience that helps you grow as a person and find greater meaning in life.

At the end of the day, the relationship we hold with ourselves is the most important one. Developing and improving this relationship is essential for a happy and purpose-filled life. Teaching abroad is one of the most rewarding and adventurous ways to personally develop your sense of self, and your purpose, and find meaning in life.

5. Become a Citizen of the World, Not Just a Tourist.

When you teach English abroad you will become a professional traveler. It’s just a fact of life and a really nice side effect to the challenges you will face along the way. You’ll have endless opportunities to easily explore new parts of the world and experience new cultures. 

Many teachers take advantage of their time abroad to travel and explore nearby countries and regions. You’ll have a chance to see new sights, try new foods, and make new friends from around the world. Friends that you can visit long after your teaching career takes off. And, if you hang onto those friendships they too provide endless opportunities to travel for the rest of your life. 

Teaching English abroad is one of the best ways to satisfy your wanderlust and gain a sense of adventure. Living in a foreign country can be a thrilling and exciting experience and it’s guaranteed to create a treasure chest of priceless memories that last a lifetime. 

Start Your Journey to Teach English Abroad Today.

We’ve got you – for real. 

If any of these 5 reasons spoke to you and the goals you might have for your life, you seriously should book a call with one of our expert TEFL staff members. At Destination TEFL, our life’s mission is to help individuals who want to teach English abroad experience all of these benefits to the fullest. 

We know that moving abroad is a life-changing experience and we want to make sure you’ve got the support you need while growing into an incredible citizen of the world. 

While teaching English abroad is an amazing experience, it’s also an unparalleled challenge. You’ll be facing things you’ve never faced before. Unfortunately, there’s also not a ton of reliable information on the subject either.

But that’s exactly what we’re here for, fam.

Our mission is to help equip you with the knowledge, skills and support to maximize your experience abroad. We know that by doing so, you’ll be able to make a bigger impact in your students’ lives as well.

That’s what we call a ‘win-win’.

Ready to get started? Take the first step today and book a call with one of our experts on staff to talk strategy and answer any questions you might have. 

They’d love to hear from you!