How to manage anxiety as a TEFL teacher

Anxiety: often talked about, commonly misunderstood, and much more prevalent than you’d think. A mental health disorder that’s often misunderstood as stress, anxiety is extremely common, especially in our modern, fast-paced lives, with high expectations and often little time for respite.

Just over 3 in 10 people have experienced a panic attack at some point in their life. Those are just recorded figures - there are still a lot of people out there who might not realise they’ve had a panic attack. Starting as nerves or stress and becoming more serious, anxiety is something that can affect TEFL teachers of all kinds.

Whether you’re teaching a whole class or tutoring one person, anxiety can affect a teacher at any point. Even the most qualified teachers, who excelled in their TEFL course and have a great rapport with students, can experience panic attacks or other anxiety symptoms. It doesn’t discriminate.

So, how do you manage anxiety as a TEFL teacher? It’s time to discuss.

What is anxiety?

First of all, what is anxiety?

It’s important to distinguish anxiety disorder and the concept of anxiety more broadly. Generalised anxiety disorder (GAD), as defined by the NHS , is “a common mental health condition where you often feel very anxious about lots of different things.” It manifests as stress and worry, as well as other symptoms, including difficulty sleeping, restlessness, inability to concentrate, fatigue, tension, stomach issues, palpitations, feeling lightheaded/dizzy or low mood/depression.

The difference between Generalised Anxiety Disorder and typical anxiety is that a medical professional diagnoses GAD, which is prolonged and occurs regularly. Feeling anxious is a regular thing but is perceived more as an advanced form of stress or nervousness.

How does it specifically affect teachers? According to one study, teachers are twice as likely to be stressed as those in other professions. Consistent feelings of stress can lead to GAD. There’s no other way to say it - teaching can be challenging, and knowing how to manage anxiety is essential.

Planning

Again, we can’t emphasise this enough: anxiety is common, and starting a new experience - like a TEFL job - can be a trigger. That’s why we recommend excellent planning.

Lesson planning is crucial and helps mitigate a lot of nerves. Think of your lesson plan as a roadmap. Some points and intervals guide you through the class and help you build confidence. Though it can sound overwhelming, the busier your roadmap is, the better. The more activities and specific lessons you can plan, the better. This will help your confidence and ability to deal with any unexpected interventions along the way.

English language classes ought to be noisy and creative. So, discussion breaks benefit everyone—especially teachers who could use a breather. Discussions relieve pressure for a little while, allowing you to circulate the classroom, observe, and provide one-on-one support. They also let you collect your thoughts and plan for the next activity. 

Using different forms of media in your lessons helps with lesson planning and offers a bit of a breather. Whether it's using media like podcasts , films, or music , media can bring the English language to life for your learners and reduce stress levels. If your students enjoy themselves while learning, that’s good for any teacher’s mental well-being!

Planning can be time-consuming, sure, but it’s worth it. Walking into a classroom with a solid action plan is far less stressful. Facing a student or room of students with no real idea of what you’re going to do sounds terrifying by anyone’s standards.

Understanding yourself

Perhaps the most important part of managing anxiety disorder is understanding yourself. While feelings of panic and distress can be brought on seemingly by nothing, there is often a stimulus. Money, work pressure, your living situation, relationships - there are a million and one factors.

As a teacher - either through analysing yourself or through therapy - you’ll start to notice patterns. Certain situations can make you nervous as a teacher. It could be speaking to large groups of students for an extended period, introducing new topics and tasks, particular student needs or other teaching tasks that make you feel a heightened level of anxiety. Think about the situations you worry about the most; yes, it can be scary, but it’s important work and can help significantly.

When you can identify which situations tend to cause the most dread and worry, the next positive step is to attempt to understand where these thoughts are coming from and find ways to mitigate anxiety , specifically panic attacks. There are many great resources for this, including the NHS , Mind and Healthline .

Over time, with the right resources, you’ll be able to understand what you need to feel fully prepared for the onset of anxiety. It’s essential to work on systems that help establish safe routines—this can be as simple as finding 5 minutes to meditate outside of class times, getting a cup of tea, or taking a walk. Finding what works for you and understanding yourself can take time, so forgive yourself while you go through the trial and error of finding best practices.

Ensure your school understands

Now, this is where things can be tricky. While the stigma around mental illness has somewhat reduced in some parts of the world, it is still widely misunderstood, ignored or scorned in others. 

A 2016 study concluded that 64% of countries had “laws (which) prohibit discrimination against persons with mental health during recruitment.” However, only one-third of countries had “laws (which) prohibit discontinuation of employment,” while 56% of countries have laws ensuring reasonable accommodations for mental illness in the workplace. Other research has shown that in some countries, as many as 90% of people wouldn’t recommend psychiatric help to a family member. 

So, it’s a mixed picture, meaning some schools will understand more than others. In countries where there are laws to protect teachers from dismissal based on mental health, you are usually entitled to ask for support. Anxiety, after all, can be utterly debilitating, and if you are using SSRIs to medicate a generalised anxiety disorder, this can affect your cognitive abilities. Ideally, all employers would want to know and be able to help.

If you can, ask what your employer can do to help. If you feel empowered to tell them of the situation, reasonable support should be provided for you. That’s if you’re working for an employer - if you’re freelance, consider whether you’re taking on too much, whether there are too many clients on your books, and if you can programme more breaks into your schedule.

These conversations can be challenging. The irony is that they can be anxiety-inducing. However, knowing your rights and the culture around mental illness where you’re based is really important.

Managing classroom stress

Finding ways to manage stress in the classroom can be a case of trial and error. A lot of the time, you simply won’t know what’ll come up. This is especially true if you teach children - they can be unpredictable!

Other teachers can really help. Whether it’s advice on children who - there’s no other way to say it - tend to misbehave or for students with particular learning styles, having other teachers providing their input is incredibly useful. Experienced teachers have been there, done it and got the mortar board, so take their advice on board, and you’ll feel more relaxed and confident.

A trigger for classroom anxiety can be if students just aren’t really responding to an exercise or lesson plan. When that happens, mix it up. You’re not admitting defeat and haven’t got anything wrong, but sometimes, certain things don’t work. This is why preparation is so necessary, and getting to know your students and what they like is also a big part of the process. Maintaining a respectful but authoritative manner helps create the positive environment you’ll need, which takes time and knowledge of your students.

Outside the classroom

What can you do outside of your teaching environment to manage anxiety?

You may feel a bit silly rehearsing public speaking and giving lessons from home, but honestly? It can really help. Even the most talented teachers can have issues verbalising instructions or speaking for long periods of time. Having an idea of what you want to say, and even doing a bit of practice teaching at home, can help mitigate the nerves that can bring on anxiety.

We know you’ve heard this before, but mindfulness exercises , meditation and exercise and tried-and-tested stress busters. While they are not the be-all-and-end-all, and GAD can require therapy and medication, spending some time on yourself through activity or relaxation techniques can only help. Many teachers we speak to are big proponents of yoga , especially as a mental health exercise.

Looking after your body more generally is a great way to mitigate or reduce stress. Establishing good sleep hygiene means being better rested. Tiredness can be a significant anxiety trigger, after all. Some people with anxiety cut out alcohol, while smoking can also be unhelpful for dealing with anxiety. We’re not going to brow-beat you or argue for temperance, but these factors can help.

Networking with other teachers isn’t just ideal for managing stress in a classroom situation. It’s valuable for life in general. Clearly, having a supporting network of fellow teachers around you can never be bad, and we can guarantee that many excellent TEFL teachers can impart fantastic mental health advice.

Speak to your doctor

This is, perhaps, the most important part of managing anxiety. If you’re consistently feeling symptoms of anxiety, including panic attacks, difficulty sleeping and feeling your concentration slip, it’s a medical issue.

If worry and panic are starting to run your life, speak to a medical professional. This cannot be emphasised enough. You don’t have to go through it alone. Anxiety is very often misunderstood and ignored, but it ought not to be. If you’re somewhere where you’re worried about stigma, online therapy and resources are your best port of call. 

Anxiety can affect anyone

Whether it’s situational - stress and anxiety symptoms come to us all - or disordered, anxiety is something which affects everyone, especially teachers. Teachers are particularly at risk for anxiety, but too many of the teaching community are letting it go unchecked or writing it off as a normal part of life.

The answer isn’t straightforward and simple, but there’s a good place to start: being kind to yourself. If you can, establish a support network around you and use the people in your life as a sounding board for your worries and fears. Not everyone can do this, but if you feel empowered, clarity with your employer helps.

Finding ways to look after yourself and understanding your anxiety are the most important things for any teacher. We ought not to accept what could be an undiagnosed anxiety disorder as a fact of life. Everyone should be able to access support that works for them.

If you’re feeling anxious and need support, consult the Help Guide to find resources in your area. This includes free international services, which can help during a panic attack and sustained periods of anxiety, or they can help you to source resources for someone you care about.

Looking for resources to guide you through TEFL lessons? Look no further than The TEFL Org’s Lesson Plans & Resources !