Author Martin Hajek talks about the importance of role models and access to information to make informed decisions about our careers in the English Language Teaching industry. Martin shares three stories from his latest book More Than A Gap Year Adventure that demonstrate the wide range of career paths that are possible.

Key talking points

Inspiration Behind the Book

Martin shares how his training as a journalist inspired him to start researching and compiling various essays from educators around the world for More Than A Gap Year Adventure.

Challenging Negative Narratives

Part of the inspiration for the title of the book was to challenge the perception that work in the industry is temporary and lacking in professional training and roles. He goes on to talk about the role click-through TEFL certificate course providers have to play in perpetuating this misconception.

Three Different Stories

Martin shares three very different essays featured in More Than A Gap Year Adventure that shed light on work in assessment and material design as just a few examples of what is possible in the ELT field.

References & Resources

Hajek, M. (2024) More Than a Gap Year Adventure: How to Make a Long-Term Career out of TEFL. Independent

Martin, M. (2024) TEFL in Columbia. Access: https://teflincolombia.com/

All hyperlinks listed were accessed on 15/10/2024.

Watch the video with closed captions or refer to the transcript below.

Transcript

00:00:00:03 - 00:00:22:00

Laura

TESOL Pop season ten, episode five. Hello and welcome to TESOL Pop the mini podcast for busy teachers. My name is Laura and joining me today to talk about Career Pathways in ELT is freelance educator and author Martin Hajek. In this episode, we explore the importance of having role models and access to information so that we can make informed decisions in our careers.

00:00:22:02 - 00:00:35:15

Laura

Now, many of these different career pathways are actually featured in Martin's latest book, More Than a Gap Year Adventure. We talk about this and so much more in this episode. So let's join the conversation where I asked Martin what inspired him to publish this book.

00:00:35:17 - 00:00:57:22

Martin

Well, what inspired me to create the book was my own experience. I decided to get into TEFL quite late at the age of 30, and while I fell in love with teaching, I quickly found out that the industry is a little weird and I felt a bit old, you know, for the kind of nonsense that often happens in TEFL

00:00:57:24 - 00:01:23:14

Martin

Teaching English is often perceived as a second rate profession and not as a proper job. Entry level roles are usually poorly paid, and many people don't feel it's possible to make, career progress. There is a lot of information online that is either misleading or incomplete. And since my academic background is in journalism, I kind of have this urge to share information with people.

00:01:23:16 - 00:01:46:19

Martin

So I decided to put together this book to provide some hope that it is possible to succeed in this profession. I would have loved to have access to a resource like that when I started out. And now I hope the book helps other teachers to make great decisions. So another important point is that I believe having role models is extremely helpful.

00:01:46:21 - 00:02:13:12

Martin

I'm based in Colombia, so you can imagine there isn't much support in terms of professional development. So as an inexperienced teacher, I started looking for connections online and found amazing professionals like, Sandy Millin, Rachel Tsateri, Pete Clements and many others. And I've learned a lot from them, and I still do. So I originally wrote most of the book with most of the content by myself.

00:02:13:14 - 00:02:37:03

Martin

But then I realised it was important to support my advice with, texts written by experienced ELT professionals providing real life examples. So I started approaching people, and in the end, I managed to collect 23 essays for the book, which is absolutely amazing. And I'd like to give a big thank you to everybody who agreed to participate in the project.

00:02:37:05 - 00:03:03:10

Laura

You mentioned earlier that there's, some untruths or misguided information that's out there on the internet about careers in our industry in teaching English, English language. I know there's quite a few out there, but are there any particular ones that you want to highlight that you feel are particularly damaging to this concept of the options and the profession that people can pursue?

00:03:03:12 - 00:03:31:17

Martin

I guess the main issue in TEFL would be low standards in terms of teacher education, because anybody can create a TEFL course online. It is so easy to set up a course and charge I don't $100 or $50. And the problem is those low quality courses are accepted by schools and even countries for visa purposes. So you can take a really cheap, low quality course with no teaching practice.

00:03:31:19 - 00:03:48:15

Martin

You can do it over the weekend. And with that so-called qualification, you can get a job teaching, in Asia or teaching children in some other country, which I think is really, really strange and it's harmful for our profession.

00:03:48:17 - 00:04:15:02

Laura

Yeah, it kind of, damages the credibility, doesn't it, of teaching. And it is a bit like the wild, wild West. When I was working, in my previous role, part of my responsibility was to screen TEFL certifications and to support the team who was creating them as well. And through that process, we actually found some real cowboys that are on the market, some that won't even provide training, but just issued a certificate upon purchase.

00:04:15:04 - 00:04:24:03

Laura

And I think that's quite dangerous. That's dangerous for so many reasons, isn't it? It just means people aren't properly trained or aren't trained at all to go into classrooms to support learners in achieving their goals.

00:04:24:09 - 00:04:51:18

Martin

Some of those providers kind of sell you the idea of living in an exotic location, having fun. But in reality, teaching English is a real job. Like you need to develop, you need to plan, and usually you don't have much time, you know, to have fun. So they kind of create this perception of having fun, moving around. People fall for it, but when they actually start working, they find out the reality is completely different.

00:04:51:18 - 00:05:05:21

Martin

And they struggle a lot because with no preparation, you can’t just, you know, turn up in the classroom. There needs to be some training. And usually many teachers enter TEFL with insufficient qualifications.

00:05:05:23 - 00:05:17:12

Laura

So with this book that you've published, this co-created project, more than a gap year adventure. Who is this book targeted at? Who would you like to read this?

00:05:17:14 - 00:05:44:20

Martin

Anybody interested in having a long term career in ELT. The book tries to push back against the idea that TEFL is just a temporary job that involves moving around, having fun for a couple of years. I believe it can be a serious job and that there are various career options you can explore. The book provides advice to those who would like to get started, and I do think it will increase their chances of landing a good job.

00:05:44:22 - 00:06:09:20

Martin

Also, I feel that quite a few teachers are stuck in an entry level job, which in many cases can be frustrating experience and they may not be aware of the opportunities to make progress. So they either quit the profession which includes many CELTA qualified teachers, by the way, or just continue teaching in a job that isn't rewarding at all.

00:06:09:22 - 00:06:32:04

Martin

So to make career progress, you need to move beyond entry level jobs, which is tough because that's a step into the unknown. But I think it is an essential step. I mean, there's nothing wrong with being just a teacher, but you might want to move into university teaching, for example, or have some kind of niche and look for your own clients.

00:06:32:04 - 00:06:55:16

Martin

So don't need you don't need to work for a language academy. You don't need to work crazy hours for a salary that is not good enough to cover, you know, your expenses. So as well, career progress usually means exploring other options than like classroom teaching. And I think our book provides a lot of information that can point the reader in the right direction.

00:06:55:18 - 00:07:14:23

Laura

Now, I know there's a lot of different essays in there. 23 I think you said right from different perspectives, and professionals in this industry and the pathways have taken. I know it's really difficult to do this, but if you were to pick maybe your top three examples to show the variety that's in there, which three would you pick?

00:07:15:00 - 00:07:37:10

Martin

There are lots of options, but let me give you two common ones and one that I didn't know much about. But fortunately I encountered somebody who helped me understand it better. So if you want to have a strong online presence, you can become a content creator, which means, setting up a YouTube channel, podcast or blog. And I think blogging is the most accessible one.

00:07:37:11 - 00:08:03:04

Martin

I mean, that's the easiest one to set up. So in the book, we have an essay from Pete Clements who runs eltplanning.com, and he talks about the benefits of blogging and the inspiration behind his blog posts. Blogging is excellent for for networking because some posts, may go viral and be read by many important people in ELT and that might lead to some really nice job opportunities.

00:08:03:06 - 00:08:28:12

Martin

In my case, I know that without my blog, I wouldn't have been able to create the book because many of the contributors had read my blog or they checked it out when I contacted them and they liked what they saw. So they decided to help me out with a book. The second interesting area is assessment, and this is where the money is, because there are so many exams out there, which means many opportunities.

00:08:28:14 - 00:08:52:14

Martin

I mean, you need people to create the exam, to administer it, to mark it, and also to train the people who mark it. And in the book, we have an essay written by Kate Khurtsilava who's from Georgia, and she has experience with, working as a Cambridge examiner in Saudi Arabia. And I think this is this is a great option for your professional development.

00:08:52:15 - 00:09:17:06

Martin

It looks good on your CV and it usually pays more for teaching. This path was also recommended by Tiago Bueno in his own essay. That's one of the first steps you can take if you want to move beyond entry level roles. And finally, I'd like to mention editing, which is a role that doesn't get that much attention, but it's extremely important in publishing.

00:09:17:08 - 00:09:44:20

Martin

Editors make sure the final product is good enough, and what they do is crucial in the whole process. And again, there is decent money in it if you are good, good at it. So in the book, we have an essay from Noreen Lam, who describes how she found an opportunity to edit ebooks. And then thanks to that project, she managed to get some really interesting work in editing on a variety of different projects.

00:09:44:22 - 00:09:55:04

Martin

And I think this is a really good option for freelancers who love language. And of course, you can continue teaching while working for publishers as an editor.

00:09:55:06 - 00:10:16:12

Laura

Yeah. All these options you just mentioned are things that listeners today, they could start exploring them. It's not a case that you have to leave your job now to make time to venture into these, to see what you like and find out what you like. I wonder for your own case, because you obviously started your blog some time ago, and that's obviously led to lots of opportunities and collaborations.

00:10:16:14 - 00:10:26:10

Laura

Could you share a bit about your insights and like how you started blogging and what you were doing at the time, and how it fitted into your, workload?

00:10:26:12 - 00:10:48:21

Martin

Yeah. What's important is to to get started because, if you don't make any change, you know, you're always going to be stuck, working for a language academy. But if you just start with a simple a single blog post, you know, you can get into the habit of writing and producing some kind of content. Fortunately, I'm a I'm a journalist.

00:10:48:21 - 00:11:32:15

Martin

Originally, that's what I studied in university, so I love sharing information. I like doing research. So blogging has been extremely beneficial. In my case. And I, I mean, people have different interests. So if somebody prefers, video content, they can set up a YouTube channel. But as you mentioned, the most important part is to get started. And even if you have some spare time, the weekend, you know, you can dedicate an hour or two, you know, to some kind of content creation or any other activity, you know, to basically get into it, to get into something new, to move away from the experience of working long hours for a language academy, which

00:11:32:15 - 00:11:38:06

Martin

is, in many people's case, you know, the daily reality.

00:11:38:08 - 00:12:05:22

Laura

That's really good advice to close with. So to keep things small, just start small scale, follow something you're interested in, and also think about what your strengths are, like you did as a journalist. Blogging. It seems like a very natural transition to explore and play with. Martin, it's been a real delight talking to you today. Thank you so much for sharing insights into more than a gap year adventure, and for sharing your tips and stories from that collection of essays.

00:12:05:22 - 00:12:08:11

Laura

I really appreciate it.

00:12:08:13 - 00:12:12:18

Martin

Thank you Laura. I appreciate it a lot. Thank you for the invite.

00:12:12:20 - 00:12:28:23

Laura

For links to, the book More Than a Gap Year Adventure, you can find that in the show notes. As always, if you've got a question or an idea that you'd like to pitch to us, then you can go to the website tesolpop.com.

Finally, you can support the work we do by leaving a rating, a review wherever you listen to the podcast, by sharing today's episode with your teaching community, or by even buying as a coffee, by going to ko-fi.com/tesolpop

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