The initial allure of becoming an ESL teacher was the idea of a glamorous life living and traveling to new and exotic places, combined with the promise of a rewarding career. This left me unprepared for the day-to-day realities of being an ESL teacher.

It quickly became apparent that fluency in English does not seamlessly translate to the ability to teach it. Yet, I was determined to embrace this learning curve.

Only after accepting these truths could I genuinely appreciate the ESL teaching experience.

1. The Quality of Your Classes Affects the Quality of Your Life

If you encounter challenges in getting your students to enjoy your classes or making a connection with them, it soon begins to seep into your experiences outside of work. When your students don’t enjoy your classes, they complain, and you start to feel pressure from your bosses.

As much as you try to leave work problems at work, they never seem to stay there.

Conversely, when your students love your classes and connect with you, they begin to speak positively about you to their parents, and your work experience improves.

2. TEFL/Education Degrees Don’t Prepare You Enough

I have witnessed teachers spend thousands of dollars on certifications and still struggle when they step into the classrooms. Although they have ideas, implementing them is a lot more challenging. They rely too much on textbook ways to solve everyday problems and soon find that reality is very different.

3. Students Have Limited Attention Spans

Your students’ attention spans are dwindling due to technology and constant exposure to new things. Therefore, you, as a teacher, need to be proactive in developing ways to address this.

Things like stomping, clapping, and voice changing do wonders for younger kids, and incorporating lots of movement will be your lifeline for older students.

4. Fast Paced and Fun Is Key

Creating a fast-paced and fun environment is the best way to begin connecting with your students. When you walk into a class, and the students enjoy their time, they look forward to your next class.

While you may think this is impossible with your class size or your students’ attitudes, I promise that if you incorporate short and stimulating activities that keep them on their toes, they will begin to warm up to you just as fast as it takes to run these activities.

5. Simple is Better 

Students begin to zone out and disengage when an activity is too complex for them to grasp. This is why it’s essential to ease your students in with simple activities—activities that take about a minute to teach them how to play and don’t require a lot of props, materials, and preparation time.

That also means you spend less time outside the classroom worrying about preparing materials or activities.

6. Diversifying Activities is Key

Your students quickly get tired of playing the same activities over and over again. Before, having one or two fun games would have been enough. But today, just like you and me, students want new experiences and new ways to challenge themselves. This means you must know how to change activities and have enough to rotate through to avoid monotony.

You will quickly realize that when you take over a class from another teacher, your students likely have already encountered most of the activities you can find online.

7. Understanding Students’ Individual Needs

One of the realities you will quickly face in your classroom is having brilliant students who grasp and understand materials rapidly, then having slower ones who struggle to get by.

Yet, when bunched together into one classroom, it seems impossible to maintain a pace that keeps the smart students engaged and doesn’t cause the slower ones to lose motivation.

Creating fun activities that don’t just rely on students’ language abilities will help with this. They will create a challenge for smarter students while keeping your slower students motivated.

Activities that allow you to pair off students who can help each other will also be an excellent way to address your student’s needs. Pairing weak students together is another tactic that can help you to understand where to direct your attention.

Knowing and accepting these truths is one thing, but incorporating them into your class to reap the rewards is another. But don’t worry, we are here to help.