TEFL Teacher Profiles - Derek Hardiman

Without a job set up beforehand, Derrick Hardiman took a TEFL course in hopes of a career change.

“A TEFL qualification gives you the opportunity of travelling and being able to find relatively well paid employment in a lot of different countries,” Derrick said. “It gives you a real insight about living in a country.”

After his course Derrick started searching through local papers and dozens of Web sites to find job contacts, he said. Finally after thoroughly searching different media outlets, Derrick made contact with an employer and soon was off to Hong Kong for a teaching placement for two years.

During his teaching experience Derrick loved the weather, food, and learning a new language, he said.

“Having a TEFL qualification gives you the opportunity to travel and experience different cultures,” he said.

Even without any past experience before taking his TEFL course, Derrick found a reputable teaching contract and was able to find well paid work at his first teaching placement.

From his experience Derrick does recommend doing a course with teaching practice and trying to get experience or extra study in the field of teaching young learners, he said.

“That is the area that you will probably end up teaching in, especially in Asia, and also learn how to sing!!” he said.

After his great experience in Hong Kong, Derrick is currently back in Ireland deciding on which country he will travel to next, he said.

“Most of all try to have as much fun as possible as this makes teaching a class a lot easier on the teacher and the students,” Derrick said.

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© i-to-i, 2009