Perfect your work/life balance with TEFL

Nowadays, perhaps more than ever, finding a work/life balance can be really difficult. Though remote work has seen many people cut out tedious commutes from their schedule, and employers are more likely to offer flexible contracts, this has come at a bit of a price. The boundaries between home life and work life have, for some people, become blurred. Working from home can mean being constantly contactable.

With mobile phones and the internet, it can feel like the work doesn’t stop. That includes teaching; teachers are more accessible than ever before, and it’s already a very demanding profession. Whether you work online or offline, it can feel difficult to arrange a social life, let alone actually have one!

So, how do we address this balance, teachers? How can you perfect a work/life balance through TEFL? Let’s explore.

Classroom teaching

Before we get into a solution, we have to consider the problem in more depth. Classroom teaching is demanding. It’s always been demanding, but the expectation of teachers these days is higher than it ever was.

Classroom management can be exhausting, even with the most well-behaved students in the world. Not only that, but you have to lesson plan and work with different levels of English proficiency in a TEFL classroom. No wonder, then, that teachers are typically working more unpaid overtime than other professions.

You might, at this point, be thinking of schools and arguing “Well, at least teachers can get home earlier than the rest of us!”, but that’s wrong for a few reasons. One, even in a traditional, state school setting, work doesn’t stop when the kids leave. There’s marking, preparation for classes, talking to parents and loads of other tasks that need doing. Two, if you work at a language school - as many TEFL teachers do! - then work can actually start in the evening, or at weekends. Three, have you met any teachers?

That’s why a work/life balance - or at least trying to get things trending towards one - is imperative. More relaxed and rested teachers are better teachers. Teachers who receive mental health support typically perform better . We can all relate; the better we’re feeling, the better our work will be .

Online teaching

So, you’re teaching English online . Very cool. Depending on the company you work for, or platform you’re using, you can set your own hours, set your own rates, and generally have a level of control over your working patterns.

Flexibility is never a bad thing. You’ve still got to make a living though. Being on an English teaching platform can be stressful; you don’t want to charge too much, you want to be as available as possible, there might be a minimum number of hours you have to work. There’s also lesson planning, sorting out self-employment status and tax, and all the other, less glamorous parts of the job.

If you work for a company, that’s great, but again, you may need to work a minimum number of hours, and you might have to deal with differences in time zones, work certain peak hours or need to be available over evenings and weekends.

Planning a life around online teaching, then, can also be difficult.

Tip 1: To-do lists

So how can teachers start to find some balance between their working life and social life? The first and, possibly, best tip is to get a bit more organised. To-do lists are great for this.

The best way to get through a list of tasks is by, well, listing them. Think of everything you need to do to make a day run smoothly. Does it seem as daunting when it’s written down? Can you divide your working day up in accordance with your list? The alternative can be getting flustered, forgetting tasks and giving yourself more work - hardly what you want!

A small amount of work - literally just listing what you need to do - can potentially save hours. If you feel like there’s a load of non-teaching work during your day, scheduling tasks into an action list can make it seem far less stressful.

Yes, it seems obvious, but if you fail to plan, you plan to fail. A teacher probably told you that, once. There are loads of great online to-do list makers , but failing that, good old pen and paper will do the trick.

Tip 2: Creating “Me time”

Aaaaand exhale.

When life is extremely busy, and just getting through a workday feels relentless, then there’s all the more reason to assert some “me time” .

Yes, scheduled fun or relaxation may sound oxymoronic. However, once you’ve got your to-do list sorted, you might find that your plan for the day is a little less crowded than you’d thought. Setting yourself even 5 minutes of total non-work time during a busy period can be the difference between burnout and productivity.

On the days you aren’t technically working, but have things to do, it’s just as important. Assigning yourself some “me time” can be as easy as saying you’re going to mark papers in your favourite café. Or, you can lesson plan while you’re out and about. Going for a relaxing walk can help to stimulate ideas, as well as being really good exercise.

We’re not talking about reinventing the wheel here. Think about the basic things you like; can they be slotted into your day? 

Tip 3: Try things

This might sound vague, but genuinely: trial and error can be a really positive thing. Setting up a work/life balance isn’t an exact science and finding satisfaction with your work life and personal life can be a real journey.

We talk about to-do lists and “me time”. All fine and well, but you might’ve scheduled in a 30-minute yoga session and feel no more relaxed. Setting aside an hour to watch a game show on TV might’ve actually riled you up more than intended. However, that half an hour with a new book? The new pottery class you’re doing on a Thursday night? These things aren’t just useful in and of themselves, but they’re examples of how changing your routine can be the answer.

A regimented, well-organised life can be exhausting. They say the path to Hell is paved with good intentions. Well, the road to a work/life balance can be littered with experiments that didn’t quite work. Give yourself some leniency.

Put something new in your schedule. If it works, great, more please! If it doesn’t, nobody’s grading you. It may feel like adding a new hobby or setting can be counterproductive when you’re busy enough, but it might just be the key to understanding yourself more.

Easy? No. Worth it? 100%.

We can’t get away from the fact that life as a teacher can be difficult. It can be incredible, rewarding, your ticket to seeing the rest of the world , a lucrative career , affecting social change : all of these things can be true. It can also be exhausting, and at the expense of other parts of your life.

That’s why attempting to establish a proper work/life balance is a fine art, and absolutely worth it. No two people’s balance will look the same. There is no point comparing yourself to anyone else, schedule-wise, because only you know what works for you.

As we say, though, there are three steps you can take to get you on your way. Write a to-do list and get those annoying administrative tasks out of the way. Set up some time slots that are purely for yourself, doing whatever it is that helps to relax you. Finally, establish some new patterns in your life and don’t be afraid to fail.

It’ll take time. It can be hard. 

But is it worth it? Just ask your students, and they’ll tell you it is.

Looking to start somewhere new? Always wanted to travel and work? Read our comprehensive guide to teaching English abroad , and start your adventure today!