Highland firm The TEFL Org sees pandemic-related surge in interest
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Workers re-thinking their careers in the wake of the Covid-19 crisis are looking towards new opportunities teaching English as a foreign language.
This has meant a surge in interest for Highland-based language teaching provider The TEFL Org, which has seen a 250 per cent increase in virtual classroom and on-demand online courses with more than a third of graduates starting their courses because they wanted a career change.
Company co-founder Jennifer MacKenzie said: “We are seeing a massive increase in people looking to start a career in TEFL (teaching English as a foreign language) that has been driven by the impact the pandemic has had on people’s lives.
“Those who could perhaps not follow a passion for teaching due to travel restrictions or time constraints, and especially those who found themselves out of work, can now do so from their own home.”
One professional who made the move was Yvonne Beckles, who worked for the Bath tourism board before being made redundant during the coronavirus pandemic.
Having studied French and German at university, she completed a 120 hour course in 12 weeks before starting her career as a teacher.
“A chance conversation with a friend led me to think about TEFL and I decided to look into it further,” she said.
“I hadn’t done any language teaching before, but I had trained staff and given talks to tourism students.”
She added: “Even though I was slightly daunted by the prospect of going back to studying after so many years, I thoroughly enjoyed the course, and it felt good to be doing something positive and keeping my brain active following my redundancy.”
