Student Testimonial - Scott in Budapest
My name’s Scott and I am 27 (27? How did that happen???). Anyway, I am currently teaching English on a freelance basis in beautiful Budapest, capital of Hungary. Hungary is, as the locals will be quick to tell you if you accidentally mention it being in Eastern Europe, very much in Central Europe! I’ve been here working for 2 months or so now and despite it being absolutely freezing most of the time, I’m having a great time exploring living in this fascinating city.
Before I decided teaching English might be a fun 
way to spend a year or more (who knows?) I was actually a trained Maths teacher in England. The school system there was very old-fashioned and not really an outlet for any creativity I may occasionally have come up with so I gave that up. I have worked with children and teenagers all my adult life in summer camps in the US and UK so this seemed like another logical step.
I saw an advert for the TEFL Scotland course in Dumfries and thought “what the heck, I’ve got nothing to lose”. If you get your ILA to pay for the weekend course, then literally nothing at all to lose! The initial 20 hour course whetted my appetite for teaching English so last summer I worked at the summer camps in Andalucia, Spain advertised on TEFLScotland.co.uk to see if I enjoyed it on a short term basis. Turns out I did, so I researched my further study options and came out to Budapest to do my four week CELTA course, and started doing some work within a couple of weeks of finishing this course.
There is lots of work available here in Budapest 
for native speakers. There must be about 40 English language schools here. I have to turn down work every week because I don’t have the time (or the inclination!) to teach as many hours as I am offered. I haven’t been asked for CELTA/TESOL certificates at every school by any means so I think a TEFL certificate would certainly get you a job here.
There is a large ex-pat community and a strong, supportive camaraderie between English teachers all across the city, both Hungarian and native speakers. In my free time, I play for the Budapest Exiles rugby club, I play badminton and five a side football with some other teachers and I love walking in and around the city. If all this sounds a bit healthy, to counteract this I eat my own body weight in kolbasz (local sausage) and hurka (sort of a cross between haggis and white pudding) most weekends! Hungarian food is incredibly stodgy, mostly fried and contains absolutely nothing green so us Scots feel right at home instantly!
I have no idea what the future holds for me 
in the TEFL world. At the moment I’mstill settling in here and learning about the culture and some of the language (a ridiculous one unrelated to any other language in the world except extremely tenuously Estonian and Finnish!) and teaching as many classes as I feel comfortable with – mostly in businesses and school/university exam preparation classes, as these are by far the most popular reasons for taking English lessons in Hungary.
My advice for anyone considering doing TEFL and moving abroad to teach is study as much as you can and really get to know the English language and examine your reasons for wanting to teach it. The 20 hour course is a great starter and opens so many doors for you if you choose to walk through them!
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