Amazing stories from TEFL Org graduates

We’re constantly inspired by the people who take our courses. There are graduates of The TEFL Org doing all manner of exciting, meaningful things with their TEFL qualification. They’re teaching in classrooms across the world or working from home to their heart’s content.

You follow us on our social media channels, right? We’ll give you a second to ensure you’re with us across the different platforms. Once you’re there, you’ll see a collection of amazing people using their certificates to travel and teach, become freelancers online, or take up other kinds of opportunities within the TEFL sphere. 

It’s a wonderful sight, and you can do many incredible things as a graduate of The TEFL Org. With so many amazing locations to teach in, English tutoring platforms and companies to work for and people to meet, graduates inspire us - and our followers - daily.

So, we thought we’d share some highlights from social media, the feedback we’ve had and stories we’ve received.

TEFL: a chance to change your life

Sometimes, people need to change scenes. Don’t we all, at some point in our life? Taking a TEFL course is, for sure, a fantastic way to shake things up, whether it’s because your career has come to a standstill, you’re disillusioned with how things are going, or you’re simply a wide-eyed adventurer with a whole planet to explore.

There are many great reasons to take a TEFL course; they’re all life-changing. Some stories, though, are particularly striking. For example, Oksana Logvynenko, from the UK via Ukraine , told us: 

“(I took a TEFL course) to support my Ukrainian diploma in teaching foreign languages. As a refugee here in the UK, I had to have British certification to return to a teaching job rather than just working in a warehouse. 

“(TEFL certification) changed my life here completely. I can work from home now, and I can work from any place in the world. I plan to apply for a skilled worker visa to have the right to remain in the UK as my home town was ruined, and I have no place to return to.”

Emily Cook, from the USA , explains that she needed a change after a sudden change of circumstances. She told The TEFL Org: 

“I was laid off from my job a few months ago, which surprisingly brought me a strange sense of relief. I knew I was unhappy in my industry, but it was hard to think of what alternatives to pursue.

“Since I had both wanted to be a teacher and travel for a long time, pursuing TEFL was an easy choice. My long-term goal is to move to a Spanish-speaking country (hopefully Spain itself) to teach.”

Meanwhile, Chantal Hill, who very obviously has a future in writing prose, gave a Kafka-esque description of why TEFL was the route for her. Having studied a course to seal a move to Thailand , Chantal wrote:

“Every ten years, like a beautiful yet grotesque insect emerging from a glistening chrysalid, I change my career. Luckily, as a woman of the world, I had many options: medium? Pirate? Professional ice sculptor? But I knew my carapace - sorry, heart - was drawn to the world's most noble profession: teaching. 

“I was lucky enough, over the years, to spend some time travelling not only to Hong Kong but to various other countries in between here and there: Taiwan , Vietnam , Cambodia , Malaysia , Singapore , and Laos . But no place on earth has ever captured my heart like Thailand.”

Truly vivid stuff, there.

Serena Michelle Taylor: a home-working superstar

We had many fantastic responses to our video competition last year, with graduates of The TEFL Org telling us about what they’ve been up to since gaining their qualification. Amongst our top entrants was Serena Michelle Taylor, who started teaching during the pandemic and hasn’t looked back.

Telling us that “TEFL has really changed my life,” Serena used to be interested in teaching English abroad, but based in London, she’s found a fantastic work/life balance teaching online. Setting up in front of a gigantic world map (“the map always helps!”), Serena’s warm, friendly approach has helped to attract students from all over the world. 

Using both the learning resources from the company she works for and her own materials, Serena mixes lessons to match the needs of each student. In doing so, she’s become increasingly popular, and she says taking a TEFL certificate and going full-time as an online teacher is “the best decision I made.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ywQQ2SjRnps

An EPIK adventure!

We hear a great deal about the EPIK programme from our graduates . We knew that teaching English in South Korea , specifically through EPIK , was a very popular choice. When you see how many graduates talk about it specifically, you start to get a real sense of how excited people are about the chance to work in places like Seoul, Busan and Incheon.

Dagan Fox, from the USA, said: 

“To be able to teach ESL is such an incredible opportunity that not many people get and I wanted to be one of that small percentage. I plan to work with EPIK and teach English in a public school in South Korea.”

Emily Lai, also from the US, is already on the move! She told us:

“I decided to get TEFL certified to apply for EPIK (English Program in Korea). I have applied and been accepted by EPIK to teach abroad, so hopefully, I will move in February 2025.”

Meanwhile, Lucy Astbury from the UK explained: 

“I plan to enroll in the EPIK programme in South Korea and teach while becoming fluent in Korean and living a life full of experiences.”

Guisy Lavarazzo’s student story

A fun fact we’ve learned from student stories and from our podcast ‘I Taught English Abroad’ is that loads of people get an urge to learn English because of music. In our podcast, for example, the Backstreet Boys have come up, more than once, as a source of inspiration. That’s despite the lyrics to songs like ‘I Want It That Way’ , which barely scan in English. 

Guisy Lavarazzo’s inspiration was less a boyband and more a rock band. Queen drove this graduate’s English learning journey, and years later—somewhat through coincidence—Giusy became a teacher.

COVID-19 played a part, with Giusy tutoring a neighbour during lockdown. The joy of that experience led to Giusy taking a course with The TEFL Org, which sparked a career change that has her shouting her story from the rooftops.

Unsatisfied with her existing job in an office, Giusy started giving online classes until she had enough demand to quit. It’s a great story, but the revelatory moment of her teaching epiphany makes this story special. When her neighbour, a schoolgirl, managed to pass her exam, it changed everything:

“It was only at the final exam - which she passed with flying colours - that I realised I tangibly helped her strive through that difficult time. She was so impressed with her results that she asked me if she could ask her Mum to hire me for the following year!”

Rachael McGettigan: seeing everything clearly

A podcast guest who shares her teaching stories on The TEFL Org’s Instagram , Rachael McGettigan’s story is really exciting. Having moved from Ireland to northern England to find work, Rachael had settled into an office life, but it just wasn’t for her. She had thoughts of changing careers but wasn’t sure what she wanted to do. Randomly coming across the ‘I Taught English Abroad’ podcast changed everything, as did a trip to see a friend teaching.

Rachael is both a yoga and an English teacher, and her video account of teaching in Cambodia nicely marries those two concepts. Working with preschool kids, Rachael teaches English through yoga, interpretive dancing, songs, and chants. She also teaches the kids mathematics and other subjects.
Having gone from career despondency to travelling around Italy , Malta , Cambodia and India , Rachael has used TEFL to explore the world and become more centred. Hers is a truly inspiring TEFL story - by her own admission, she can’t believe she’s doing it, but it’s happening!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2sETbVd37xs

Andrea’s TEFL love story

Imagine this: in one minute, you’re a photojournalist based in Hungary, shooting photos of celebrities like David Beckham, Helen Mirren, Angelina Jolie, and Brad Pitt. The next, you’ve met someone on holiday in Florida and become a teacher based in the United States.

Andrea Kövesdi had little experience teaching beyond “playing teacher” as a child. Eventually, she did teach some English while at university, but it was never necessarily a career plan. Then, after meeting the love of her life while on a holiday, her ideas changed. 

This story is worth reading - the twists and turns are genuinely unexpected - but it’s not just her story that’s worth knowing. It’s the insight she gives as someone who’s become an English teacher. 

Hearing about her teaching inspirations and what she aims to bring to the learning environment is really special. She wrote:

“I loved teachers who were interesting and served as role models for various reasons. I found my place in the classroom, realising that speaking English and delivering the language with its grammar rules are two different things. 

“As a non-native speaker, my linguistic knowledge is similar to that of my students (on a higher level, of course), and it definitely helps them to understand all the rules better. Every individual brings a unique story to share, ensuring there is never a shortage of interesting topics to explore together.”

Sophie’s famous mooncake moment

https://www.tiktok.com/@teflorg/video/7415565000921632032?_r=1&_t=ZN-8tH8LrzVOwo

Brilliant people, brilliant plans

TEFL can help people achieve amazing things and have experiences worldwide. We’re lucky to meet so many fantastic new students every day, and we can only hope that by coaching them through their TEFL certificate, they can reach their goals and have the career they want to have.

Some of those careers involve helping others, and that’s incredibly special. Some of our graduates told us about their plans for using their TEFL certificates, and we’re really excited to share them.

Ahmed Noor from Somalia told us: 

“I wanted to go back to Somalia and help disadvantaged people learn the English language. This would increase their confidence and open many doors for them. Focusing on volunteering, I will try to build a community where students can get help with homework and improve their conversational English.” 

Kimberly Honeycutt said that, with her TEFL certificate:

“I'll continue to teach English on various Latin American service trips and intend to be a resource for a couple of different volunteer organisations that offer English classes.”

Meanwhile, Wong Duy Tru offered his experiences:

“I’m already putting my skills to use by volunteering with a UK-based charity, tutoring English online to young learners from overseas. Additionally, I’ve taken the initiative to tutor two young children in Ho Chi Minh City , allowing me to connect with students on a personal level while building my confidence as a teacher.”

Those are just three examples of the brilliant, outward-looking work that our graduates are doing. There are so many more, and we hope to bring you stories like these in more detail in the future.

Join the ranks of TEFL teachers doing amazing things

With a TEFL certificate, you can do it all. You can work from home and meet people from all over the world, either starting a business or joining a community of teachers from great companies and platforms.

Maybe you’ll end up working abroad and experience a range of stunning locations from a first-person view. You can empower generations of learners, help communities, reach educational and occupational goals with students, and take on the planet in your own special way.

All the while, you can share it on social media and join the ranks of our outstanding TEFL Org alumni who share their stories online. If you have a story to tell, we want to hear it.

The last word has to go to our social media superstar Melis, who says:

“Collaborating with several TEFL teachers who inspire our community of fellow educators daily has been truly amazing. Seeing how a passion for exploring new places and experiencing different cultures has transpired into a life teaching abroad and producing short-form video content for the TEFL Org audience has been a particular career highlight for me.”

Excited about where English teaching could take you? You can start an industry-leading 120-hour TEFL course today.