Teaching expats a new life in Belgium

IT'S already on the tip of your mother tongue and within a month it could become a money making winner in your expat life.

Sharon Miles from Brussels is one of an increasing number of British expats who've trained to Teach English as a Foreign Language (TEFL), and in doing so changing her life completely.

With the current worldwide economic crunch making job hunting even harder – especially for expats – native English speakers are discovering that a teaching qualification gives them extra leverage in their career aspirations.

And the TEFL training industry says it's seen an increase in applications from would-be teachers as a result.

Sharon studied for the Cambridge Certificate in English Language Teaching to Adults (CELTA) at the International Teaching & Training Centre (ITTC) on the south coast of England.

Sharon, who moved to Belgium from Reading in January, is now setting her sights on Brussels' language schools after researching the job market.

“My first couple of months in Belgium, I felt really lost,” she said. “It was such a big change.

“But I'm not one of those people happy watching Trisha on TV all day. It's all about starting again, getting a job and independence, and meeting new people and friends.”

The 45-year-old former HR professional left the UK to be with fiancée Pete, who works for SONY in Belgium.

“We've been together for about six years and had a commuter relationship. But it was very hard and the time had come for me to make the leap.

“It gives me the opportunity to do something new and try a different career. CELTA will give me something concrete to give employers over here.”

CELTA is an internationally recognised teaching qualification that builds on your native language abilities and shows you how to help learners with their English.

“We're finding that expats find it really convenient to fly back to the UK for a month and combine their training with seeing family and friends at weekends,” said Richard Davies, head of training at ITTC.

“And there's still nothing quite like coming ‘home' to do their training in a familiar culture. It boosts their confidence and they learn far more as a result.”

He says he's seen an increase in applications from expats considering teaching as the way forward in their adopted countries.

“We've had people from here going to Belgium, France, Spain and Portugal but also much further afield.

TEFL is also a great way of integrating into a new community if you don't have the benefit of children, says Richard.

“CELTA is designed for people with little or no experience of teaching English,” said Nick Charge, examinations manager University of Cambridge ESOL.

“Students are all ages, from recent graduates to older people who are looking for a career change and even people who have recently retired.”