You may believe that social media should be prohibited in the classroom. It could be interpreted as an indication that students are not paying attention to you. Of course, you’d be correct if they contacted buddies and played social media games. However, there are numerous beneficial methods to use social media as a TEFL teacher in 2023. Let’s consider how you may use it to expand your business and as a classroom tool.

Social Media as a Marketing Tool

Frequently getting work abroad is the most challenging obstacle for a competent TEFL teacher. There will always be competition for your employment; thus, marketing oneself is critical in getting a job. Most major platforms have a part to play, allowing you to use any of them. However, Instagram and Facebook are regarded as the most useful.

Instagram Marketing 

Instagram began as a photo-sharing network. However, it has developed over time, and short-form movies or reels are currently the most popular way to exchange content. All content, regardless of format, should be hash-tagged to increase visibility. You should also follow accounts associated with TEFL. You will always have additional opportunities when you are part of a community.

Facebook Marketing 

The first thing you should do on Facebook is create a company page for your TEFL work. This means that you keep your account and work profile separate. You can include helpful information on the website, such as how to reach you and the type of work you are searching for. It also allows potential employers or students to contact you quickly. To build a page, you must have a personal Facebook account and use Messenger to respond to others. You can also include a group area on the page to allow users to interact more readily. Finally, getting involved with other TEFL organizations would be best. Facebook has lately improved things. Instead of utilizing your account, you may join these groups through your business page, which helps with branding and consistency.

Social Media as a Classroom Tool 

Using social media as a teaching tool is another great advice that TEFL teachers working abroad and online have regularly used. It allows you to communicate with students on channels that they already use for social purposes. You can start a conversation with prospective students and utilize it as a channel for current students to contact you if they have any questions or concerns. It may also be used as a teaching tool if you create content for platforms like YouTube, and it can help with homework assignments while building your status as an excellent teacher. TikTok and Youtube are the ideal social media channels for usage in the classroom.

YouTube in the Classroom 

YouTube is primarily a long-form video-sharing platform, but you can also share relatively shorter videos. You must first create your YouTube channel, after which you can upload video content up to 12 hours long in theory, although we believe your pupils will lose interest rather quickly. If you have a topic that will take a long time to explain in a video, consider breaking it down into smaller bite-sized chapters, as students will be more likely to engage if you do. The films are in the public domain, so while you may make them primarily to help your students better comprehend a topic, others may discover them for TEFL information, which could broaden your profile and help you get your name known in teaching circles.

TikTok in the Classroom 

We added TikTok to the list because younger people frequently use it as their primary platform. It is a platform for creating short-form videos, making it ideal for sharing things like bits of dialogue. Engaging with young people in a language they understand is perfect, but keep any personal accounts separate from your TEFL account.

How to Add Content 

Being present on the platforms is insufficient; you must create new content regularly. This can be unsafe, so here are some suggestions for starting.

English Tips

Gone are the days when you could only learn from a textbook. English is frequently taught online, but even if you teach English abroad, there are several ways to use social media to develop English tips and mini-lessons. They can be brief and demonstrate a single word in both English and the language of the country you teach. It’s incredible what catches the attention of a social media audience. You can suddenly find yourself with several thousand followers from something as easy as a single-word translation video. Of course, this applies to vocabulary and grammar as well as pronunciation. You can also highlight idioms and unusual words in the English language. People enjoy being entertained, so you may be as creative as you want.

Memes and Funny Posts

The benefit of having a social media presence over merely being an online teacher is that you can be amusing and crack some jokes. Some of the most humorous memes use popular characters from cartoons or movies and highlight the apparent sarcasm in everyday events. Numerous memes focus on the English language to ensure you are not infringing copyright by sharing things or crediting the source to protect yourself.

Vlog Your Life

Blogging has long been a popular method for friends and family to share a trip, especially if you live and work in another nation. Vlogging works on the same principles as blogging, except instead of writing about your experiences in a diary, you record them on video. Many people have already videotaped their TEFL trips, but there is always room for more, and if there is one thing that people enjoy seeing, it is real life. Real-life programs on television channels easily outperform fiction, and if you can make an entertaining Vlog, you will quickly attract a large audience.

If you want to make a Vlog, YouTube is the most excellent place to start. You can talk about your experience as an English teacher in another country or offer brief, bite-sized courses based on what you learned that day. It is ideal for those considering a career in TEFL since they will want to know what life is like when you embark on an adventure of a lifetime.

Share Your Skills 

It is also good to showcase your qualifications on any social media platform where you may share photographs. Digital badges are becoming increasingly popular. However, if you cannot obtain your materials in digital form, merely sharing your certificate is an excellent method to help prospective students or employers understand the learning process. You’ve been working hard to become a good teacher.

Add a Poll or Survey 

Including a survey or poll on your social network is an excellent method to increase interaction. This is ideal for Instagram stories and allows you to communicate with your pupils. Perhaps you might find out what they want to learn or ask how they prefer to learn. It will not only help you become a better teacher, but you will be able to share their responses, establishing you as an authority in English teaching as a foreign language. You may also use the poll options to create a quiz. This could be ideal for a final-term event or to refresh their memory before changing the subject.

Hold a giveaway 

Finding innovative techniques to broaden your audience is another crucial component of every social media account. Holding a giveaway is an excellent approach to expand your audience. If you teach English online, consider offering a discount voucher to the winner and entering anyone who uses the social media platform or shares, likes, and tags a friend. This boosts your visibility, meaning many more people will likely view and follow your account. Following that, you must maintain your material entertaining so that they do not leave and maybe bring even more people to your site.

Go Live and Create an Event

Offering the opportunity to participate in a live stream could be a terrific approach to meet new potential pupils. It has the potential to enhance your visibility on social media networks. Instagram, YouTube, and Facebook all support live streaming. For example, you could provide a short revision session that allows people to practice their English skills while also allowing you to demonstrate how you teach. Many people have successfully led speaking sessions utilizing social media platforms’ live functions. So, if you are comfortable and gregarious in front of the camera, this might be an excellent method to use social media to impact your classroom positively.

Participate in Facebook Groups and Other Forums

While this isn’t precisely creating content for yourself, it’s always worth joining some online groups and forums for people with similar interests on social media sites. There are TEFL-specific groups, but you may also discover that other language, learning, or travel clubs are excellent places to share ideas and meet new people. You can exhibit your abilities by responding to posted questions or asking questions to learn from more experienced English teachers. It is an excellent approach to broaden your network and make new connections.

How Much Does Using Social Media Cost?

That is the most enjoyable aspect of utilizing social media! It does not have to cost anything. All social networking platforms are currently free to join. Even if you are a business, you can take advantage of this free advertising channel and gain access to various analytic tools that will help you determine how many people are visiting your page and what kind of articles are most popular.

It is not difficult to create articles; if you are making videos, you must ensure that the camera is mounted on a tripod so as not to shake. Many folks utilize their cell phone cameras. Other programs, such as Canva, allow you to generate high-quality graphics for very little, if any, money.

And there are numerous tools available to assist you in editing and polishing whatever you wish to post. This is known as developing organic content because it grows around you from visitors to your website. There are ways to pay for social media advertising. You can do this for very little money, especially on platforms like Facebook. It can undoubtedly help you expand your reach in the early stages. Regarding sponsored advertising, there are methods available in all fields to make a budget that will not be surpassed while staying within your means.