Stress Management Approaches For Future TEFL Teachers
8th July 2022
Teaching jobs require a lot of patience, determination, and discipline. TEFL teachers who teach English as a foreign language abroad often face certain difficulties while teaching a mixed batch of students. A TEFL course or a TEFL certificate will provide lucrative TEFL jobs to English teachers but the stress is for real and the mental health of teachers gets disrupted often. There are several stress management activities for teachers that have shown their proven results.
There are ways to reduce stress by using various stress relieving and relaxation techniques. TEFL training itself is though a fascinating process but a tedious one as well because total concentration is required to become a TEFL certified English teacher. The value of a TEFL certification course is quite heavy and so is the responsibility of a TEFL teacher. The more the responsibility more is the level of stress of a TEFL teacher.
COMMON CAUSES OF STRESS IN TEACHERS HAVING TEFL JOBS:
English teachers having prior teaching experiences are pretty aware of how to make teaching less stressful. They know certain approaches that help to manage stress like deep breathing, meditation, etc., however, for future TEFL educators who are still pursuing TEFL certification courses or are on a job search mode, they must know how to handle stress as a teacher.
These are the main reasons why both native English speakers and non-native English speakers are getting stressed because of their first TEFL jobs.
- High-quality job demands,
- Misbehavior of students
- poor working conditions
- poor relationships at work
- role conflict, role ambiguity
- lack of autonomy, poor school ethos and
- lack of developmental opportunities
LET’S TALK ABOUT CERTAIN STRESS MANAGEMENT APPROACHES THAT WILL HELP FUTURE TEFL EDUCATORS TO THE FULLEST:
Manifestation is really beneficial if practiced regularly right after you wake up in the morning. Maintain a journal and write down your wishes there every day. Morning messages are awesome because once you pen it down, you get a different level of motivation for hustling behind it.
You will have to maintain a good amount of distance from these things in order to eradicate stress. I know that being a fresher, you’ll feel like giving more than 100% of your efforts, which I absolutely adore but skipping meals so as to keep yourself engaged is definitely not an option. On the contrary, if you skip your meals regularly, you’ll fall sick and the rest of your journey might not be fruitful. Thus, all your hard work and dreams will go in vain,
You might encounter a financial crisis while staying in another country for your TEFL jobs and getting worried for this purpose is legit, undoubtedly. It is always better to opt for precautions rather than encountering monetary issues. Thus, keeping the excitement for traveling in a new country aside, you must save your money logically and should cut down unnecessary expenses.
Another great method of getting rid of stress is an adjustment to the new location. To be very honest, it is tough to get acquainted with a new culture in one go. You will experience a different culture, a new language, different food habits, a new behavioral pattern, and so on. It is, therefore, always suggested to learn about the country you’re planning to travel to beforehand. This is a very effective method to get accustomed to the new country and thus, your stress level will not be high.
You must be aware of classroom management for any kind of students batch. You might be responsible for teaching English to a mixed batch having students of various age groups. In that scenario, if you execute strategies for young learners, the adult learners will not be enthusiastic to participate in the classroom activities, and vice versa. Thus, your teaching strategies should have a balance and it is of utmost importance to chalk these strategies out before you step into the classroom.
Performance review is another stressful task that TEFL teachers have to go through. Evaluating the progress rate of each student and giving relevant feedback to them is indeed hectic. Take a deep breath before you sit with this job. You must have a record of each student you’re dealing with on a daily basis. Thus, it becomes smoother for you totally the performance rate of a student from day 1 to the last day.
Do not get stressed if you’re going to teach English as a TEFL teacher for the first time! Try to stick to these awesome stress management activities and make your TEFL teaching jobs less stressful. The TEFL certification course will definitely guide you with more stress management approaches and your 1st TEFL job will be astounding!