Everyone can agree that teaching is more of a vocation than anything else – you have to want to pass on your knowledge to succeed, or you won’t make much of an impact.
And in this increasingly globalised world, there’s arguably nothing more relevant than teaching someone another language. By sharing your skills, you’re effectively contributing to the world of tomorrow in a direct, worthwhile and long-lasting manner.
It helps you
And the benefits of teaching a foreign language aren’t just to the students either – unless you learn a language and then go to live where it’s spoken, chances are you’ll need to keep the language fresh in your mind somehow, and teaching is a great way to do that. By reiterating what you’ve already learned every day, you’ll be sure to keep every little aspect of your extra languages fresh in your mind, as well as keeping up with the constant evolution that any spoken language brings. This also means that you’re able to give the best education to the students in your care, as well as providing them with an up-to-date knowledge of a language that may have changed significantly in as little as ten years.
It helps them
In fact, student satisfaction is a big reason so many people are drawn towards the career. And there could be few things more satisfying than helping teach people to communicate with even more of the world, no matter the level they reach. As your pupils start to take the building blocks of the language and gain the ability to work them into coherent speech and writing, the sense of achievement for both you and them can be overwhelming. In fact, you may even pass on a passion for linguistics and inspire a new generation of teachers.
It’s a promising career
Furthermore, as the government has slowly started to value foreign languages again, teachers can find themselves in high demand and well-paid jobs. In fact, most student language teachers are fully-funded while they train and can receive generous bursaries whilst they do so. If you become a leading practitioner in your field, you can expect to be earning up to £65k a year, which isn’t an amount to turn down. Combining all these material benefits with the already plentiful intangible ones means that this could be a highly rewarding career for the right people.
Do you ever think you could teach a foreign language? Tell us why in the comments below.
Photo: The LEAF Project / Flickr
Warwick Editor for Career Camels and Deputy Comment Editor for The Boar.
Leave a Reply