How The TEFL Institute is Shaping the Future of English Teaching in South Africa

Teaching English as a foreign language (TEFL) in South Africa is something which has surged in popularity over the last few years, and we’re pleased to be at the forefront of this brave charge towards the future.

We consider it to be very important that we continue to nurture the growing TEFL scene in South Africa because teaching English as a foreign language can be a rewarding career and beneficial to the local community at the same time. We are very proud of the work that we do, and we wanted to talk more about how we are helping to shape the future of TEFL across the South Africa area.

Bringing TEFL to South Africa

We’ve worked very hard over the years to bring TEFL careers to South Africa and have done our best to support the fledgling infrastructure which is already in place. The majority of South African people are multilingual, with 9.6% of the population speaking English as their primary language. However, this opens up the possibility for many South Africans to learn English in schools and creates many exciting opportunities for TEFL teachers to build new careers.

However, as South African schools require a recognised qualification to teach English as a foreign language – as does most of the world – we’ve been doing our best to make our 120 and 180-hour qualifications accessible. Plus, we have a 97% pass rate, meaning the overwhelming majority of people who want to teach English abroad are capable of doing so.

Getting Qualified For South Africa

If you do want to teach English as a foreign language in South Africa, it is safe to say you have a few options at your disposal which will hopefully make the process a little easier. We have tried our best to make it easy to get qualified and start learning.

If we distil the process down to a few options, there are two basic types of qualifications to choose from – 120-hour courses and 180-hour courses. The difference between the two is, ultimately, the level of difficulty involved.

The 120-hour TEFL course will make you qualified to teach English as a foreign language in schools. It is a recognised qualification because it is agreed around the world that 120 hours of study is the minimum you will need to be ready to teach. Contrastingly, the 180-hour course is a higher level qualification, is harder to complete, and takes longer. However, it does give you access to more options and better employability. The choice is ultimately yours regarding which one you pick.

Our courses empower people to make meaningful choices regarding their future and open up a range of skills and knowledge they can use no matter where in South Africa they choose to go.

Teaching TEFL Across South Africa

Teaching English as a foreign language in South Africa is a very rewarding occupation, but it may take a little bit of time to create a viable career from the process. As part of our ongoing mission to make TEFL a more widespread part of South African education, we have been championing both paid and volunteer opportunities for people across the area.

One thing that we want to make very clear is the fact that you don’t have to come to South Africa and immediately find a paid position to stay in the area and teach English as a foreign language. The cost of living in Africa can be up to 60% lower than in other countries across the world, so it’s entirely possible to live on a smaller budget.

Why is this such an important topic to touch upon? Well, the thing is that there aren’t always paid positions available teaching English as our language in South Africa. Furthermore, you may not be able to travel to these locations and secure accommodation or other necessary parts of life in the areas where there are positions available. Therefore, there’s a heavy emphasis on online work. Thanks to the power of modern technology, it’s easy to teach English as a foreign language across South Africa, regardless of where you are.

Ultimately, that is where we come into the equation. Our certifications enable you to teach English globally, as they universally recognize your qualification, offering flexibility in your location This means that even if you are in one part of South Africa, you could teach the other end of the country through online means, or in other parts of Africa using your qualifications and an internet connection.

Offering Qualifications to Change Lives

As part of the work that we do to make sure people can teach English as a foreign language in South Africa, we do offer qualifications that will change your life. As we previously said, we have a 97% pass rate, so the likelihood of you being able to realise your dreams of teaching in South Africa is very high.

We focus on making sure that you get a solid grounding in teaching and build up the necessary attributes for classroom work. You have to be patient, able to communicate and understand the nuances of teaching English. After all, English is one of the more complicated languages in the world to teach, because it’s a very complex language made up of different parts of the world that have all fused to create one language.

When you consider that there are different tenses which can radically alter sentences, or words that are spelt the same, but mean different things, teaching English as a foreign language becomes a very difficult task, so you need to have good qualifications under your belt to feel confident enough to do that.

That’s exactly what we set out to provide, and the qualification we offer, in conjunction with our comprehensive support scheme means that if you are ever looking for more help or some advice, you’re going to get it. A lot of our tutors and teachers have all taught English as a foreign language in South Africa before, so they can provide you with real, actionable advice about how to thrive in a new place.

Teaching English as a Foreign Language in Durban

If you’re teaching English as a foreign language in South Africa, then a good place to start is in Durban. A beautiful coastal location, Durban is overlooked by the Southern areas by a bluff, and then you see the Umengi River to the north.

Durban is a fantastic area to teach English in, featuring a comfortable standard of living and friendly locals. You have access to both volunteer and paid opportunities too, so whatever your preference or lifestyle choice, it’s easy to get a life-changing experience.

Durban is just one of the areas where we have done our best to expand our reach, and we have strong relationships with local schools and education providers in the area. They will help us provide you with placements, and many of our tutors have lived and taught in Durban so they can give you some advice for making life more comfortable.

Bringing TEFL Careers to South Africa

We actively invest in expanding TEFL careers in South Africa, ensuring accessible English teaching opportunities for all interested individuals.

South Africa is an amazing place to live and work. Experiencing the local culture, and becoming part of a new area is always an exciting part of any career change and being able to teach English as a foreign language provides a valuable skill to the future generation. It is something we are very passionate about, and we have worked very hard to create a certification that will allow you to go anywhere in South Africa and teach English.

We will continue to invest heavily in the South African area, making sure that we maintain relationships with both current and past TEFL teachers living in the area, maintaining our good rapport with schools and education providers, and keeping up-to-date with all of the developments in the world of TEFL to ensure that South Africa remains an attractive place to teach English.

We would love To Hear From You!

If you are considering something like this as a career path, we welcome your input and encourage you to take a look at the qualifications that we have available. You will be getting first-class support throughout the certification, and you will come away, feeling confident and ready to start teaching English as a foreign language in any South African classroom. The future awaits, so the time to make a positive change is now. We can’t wait to see what the future holds for TEFL and will continue to adapt our services to meet the growing demands of the amazing people living and working over there.