Being a freelance TEFL teacher, its easy to allow yourself to get booked up with classes without allowing time for everything else. Its great at the start, but you soon realise you need to keep some time free for everything else that comes with freelancing and general life!
When I’m not teaching, the bulk of my free time is taken up with teacher admin. This mainly includes lesson planning and preparation, sending homework/ revision materials over to students, and managing and planning my schedule. Also included in my teacher admin is CPD training and development to improve my skills as a teacher by attending webinars and online courses. Part of being a freelancer means you also need to take time to market yourself too, so this is something else I do when I am not teaching. I use the different social media platforms (Instagram, Twitter & LinkedIn) along with my website, to market myself as a teacher and the different lesson plans I offer by sharing teaching tips and grammar advice, as well as my weekly blog sharing my journey as an online TEFL teacher so far.
When I’m not in teacher mode, I love to be outside. I try to get outside everyday whether its for a run or walk, just to get some fresh air and time away from the screen. I think this is really important, as it’s easy to spend all day either on your laptop or phone, regardless of if you’re teaching or not! I’m part of a local running club which has recently started up, and this has been a great way to meet new people along with getting exercise and seeing different parts of the city. The run club has been a great welcome, especially during Covid-19, to be able to see people (socially distanced of course) when your social life has been drastically restricted. If I’m not going for a run, I love to go and explore all the amazing parks and outdoor areas the UK has to offer. If I can find a beach to walk along, even better!
Before Covid-19 struck, I was an avid traveller. My boyfriend and I would often book last minute city breaks around Europe so we could go off and explore the different places, food and culture the cities had to offer. Along with getting another country ticked off our growing list of places we’ve visited! We also had big plans for travelling this year which are now, along with everybody elses, all on hold. We love to travel around the UK too, and have enjoyed many city breaks here at home before the pandemic hit.
I’m a bit of a social butterfly, and love to visit my friends and family when I’m not teaching. I would always be out and about most nights of the week! Meeting at each other’s houses, going for lunch or dinner, or meeting for a dog walk are some of the things we all love to do and a great way to spend a few hours catching up on all the latest news. My friends and family are dotted across the country, so it also serves as a great way to explore and visit new places too. I love finding new local and independent places – whether it’s a café, bakery or boutique.
Hopefully sometime soon, we can get back to travelling and seeing friends and family and some sort of normality so we can all make the most of our down time!