6 Novel Ways to Enhance Your Gap Year with a TEFL

Planning your travels will give you a little more direction, ushering in a far more fulfilling sense of purposefulness.

With a TEFL qualification, you can plan your journey more mindfully. With a globally-recognized TEFL certification, you are far more appealing to the volunteer projects, schools, and language centers that matter to you. 

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On the brink of graduation and pondering your next plunge? Mid-way through your studies and considering a breather? It sounds like a gap year is on the cards. 

And what better way to travel than with purpose. 

However, for those who don’t plan their gap year, you may find that poor forethought often leads to aimless wandering.

Instead, why not shape your gap year’s direction with a TEFL certification? 

While most people think a TEFL is only for teaching English in a classroom, TEFL certificates can be useful for gap year travelers in a whole host of ways ⁠— from meeting new friends to boosting your travel budget.

If you’re thinking about a gap year, don’t waste it idly wandering. Instead, use your TEFLPros online TEFL certification to enhance your gap year in these 7 novel ways.

#1 – Use a TEFL on Your Gap Year to: Make Money Online as a Digital Nomad 

The term ‘digital nomad’ refers to backpackers and expats who work online while traveling. Working from internet cafes, coffee shops, hostels, and even beach bars, digital nomads often work as software developers, content writers, graphic designers, and of course, online teachers.

By qualifying to teach English online with TEFLPros, you’ll be able to earn around $12-25 an hour through an online language school. 

Not only does this help to boost your backpacker budget, it also gives you a routine and purpose to help shape your journey.

#2 – Use a TEFL on Your Gap Year to: Boost Your Resume with Teaching Experience

While the conventional school setting may be the most obvious way of using your TEFL abroad, it’s also a great opportunity to keep your resume topped-up.

Taking a year out is a stellar chance to get to know yourself, understand your passions, and decide on your next course of action. But at the same time, future employers want to know that this time was productive.

Don’t leave gaps in your resume. Instead, demonstrate purpose, drive and initiative by teaching English on your travels. 

Completing the TEFLPros 120-hour online TEFL certification will ensure that you are fully trained and qualified to teach English all over the world, from China to Argentina. 

What better way to boost employability than to show you’ve worked all over the world?

#3 – Use a TEFL on Your Gap Year to: Trade English Lessons for Bed and Board

For those keen to volunteer, there are a plethora of opportunities to use English teaching skills to save money on food and accommodation. 

By leveraging your TEFL knowledge, you can nab coveted volunteer positions where you’ll receive bed and board for teaching English.

Take a look at websites like Workaway or HelpX and you’ll be inundated with opportunities — from teaching English in local schools in Vietnam through to one-to-one tutoring in Guatemalan home stays.

#4 – Use a TEFL on Your Gap Year to: Exchange English for a New Language

It’s no secret that knowing the local lingo can seriously help your travels. However, without a teacher, you may find it tricky to pick up useful phrases.

Why not use your TEFL to exchange languages with other backpackers and local people that you meet along the way? 

You’ll find that many local people will be over the moon to learn English from you and to teach their own language back, especially in places where education is scarce. 

Thanks to the awesome curriculum that TEFLPros offers, you’ll be able to deliver top-notch language lessons to others in return for language classes yourself.

#5 – Use a TEFL on Your Gap Year to: Plan a More Purposeful and Rewarding Trip

As many backpackers and wandering nomads will tell you, it is easy to become apathetic and lazy on your travels. Without purpose, you’ll often end up following the crowd from tourist hotspot to tourist hotspot.

On the other hand, planning your travels will give you a little more direction, ushering in a far more fulfilling sense of purposefulness.

With a TEFL qualification, you can plan your journey more mindfully. With a globally-recognized TEFL certification, you are far more appealing to the volunteer projects, schools, and language centers that matter to you. 

This also means you can secure teaching positions with projects you’re passionate about ahead of time.

#6 – Use a TEFL on Your Gap Year to: Meet New Friends

One noticeable thing about ESL teachers is that they tend to flock together. From Bangkok to Barcelona, ESL teachers find ways to build friendly social communities that welcome new teachers.

With just a few minutes research on Meetup and Facebook, you’ll find events and groups that support teachers abroad, while offering a social network to connect with, online and in person.

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Invest in a TEFL Before You Travel…

For gap year students and aspiring backpackers, a TEFL certificate is your ideal travel companion. Whether you’re looking to add a little purpose to your travels, make money on-the-go, or mingle with the locals, a TEFL certificate is your golden ticket in the door.

If you haven’t already taken our free taster, take our 2-Day TEFL course now.