Case studies : ESOL teacher: Catrin

Catrin graduated in 2001 with a degree in Russian from the University of Sheffield. She currently teaches English as a second language for a district council in various community settings.

My interest really started when I worked as a voluntary summer school teaching assistant in Poland. I really enjoyed the job and felt I was suited to it.

I rang Sheffield College to ask what they required for ESOL teaching. They found out I had a degree in Russian and immediately employed me through an agency to teach Russian. The ESOL department were also short staffed and I built up a full timetable. After a year, I paid for a CELTA (Certificate in English Language teaching for Adults) course. After four years at Sheffield I got funding through PDNet to get my Cambridge Stage 3 Level 5 Certificate in FE teaching and Level 4 ESOL Specialist Subject.

Once I finished that I got a job at Doncaster College. It was maternity cover but when it ended I got a permanent contract. After a few months I got a second job at Doncaster as a language, literacy and numeracy tutor. I did this for two years, but when lots of redundancies were announced last year I started looking elsewhere and got the Wakefield ESOL job.

I feel that ESOL is the best sort of teaching you could do. I work with absolutely fantastic students who are so motivated. You meet people from all over the world and find out so much about different countries and cultures. There's also the satisfaction of teaching someone to speak or to write and seeing the progress and knowing what a difference you've made to someone's life. Also, it's such fun. So many learning activities involve humour and are very enjoyable.

The downsides are there is endless paperwork, a lot of organisation, huge pressure for learners to achieve and constant system changes. There are a lot of funding cuts and other restrictions on who can join classes, and you're the one who has to turn them away. Many ESOL teachers are hourly paid through an agency with sometimes poor terms and conditions.

I’d say that although ESOL teaching is hard at first, it’s always fun, and after a couple of years it gets a whole load easier. I've been doing it eight years and love it and wouldn't do anything else and don't know anyone who likes their job as much as I do.

But it's not a career to go into if you want any money or free time. It's all-consuming and badly paid, and at the moment suffering serious cuts. Try and get some experience as a volunteer and see how it is. Many further educaion colleges and adult Education departments welcome volunteers.