Bridge is excited to announce the next BridgeUniverse Summit, TEFL Jobs ’22: Launch Your Adventure & Enhance Your Career!, which will take place June 27th through July 1st. It will cover the landscape of job opportunities and good practices for getting hired and promoted as an English language teacher.
The most recent BridgeUniverse Summit, which took place in late April and focused on English language testing and assessment, received positive responses from attendees hailing from every corner of the world. The upcoming Jobs Summit promises to continue supporting the global ELT community by offering quality expert panels and thought-provoking discussions.
The Jobs Summit: Helping New and Experienced Teachers Navigate the ELT Job Market
This BridgeUniverse Virtual Summit will last five full days, during which time attendees will engage in practical discussions and interactive networking opportunities with an emphasis on acquiring teaching jobs, continuing professional development and advancing one’s career while leveraging 21st-century skills and supporting "teacherpreneurship."
“The critical enhancement is providing practical job search skills plus job and career networking opportunities with select companies, sponsors, and panelists,” says Ian Wright, Director of BridgeUniverse.
One of the consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic and the Chinese government’s new regulations regarding online teaching in 2021 is that teachers are finding the job market more difficult. Lately, English language teachers, whether newly certified or long-time practitioners seeking advancement or looking to specialize in a niche, are increasingly concerned with securing good jobs, both online and in-person. Language schools are encountering higher competition from online marketplaces while also struggling to get teachers to return to the classroom as the travel limitations (and trepidations) of the pandemic persist.
“We’ve developed a schedule of sessions that will appeal to the continuum of TEFL career development, from newly certified to experienced teachers, from those teaching abroad to staying home, and for those instructing online or in-person,” explains Wright.
There are also digital and global "nomads" who need tips on traveling in a new world, whether teaching online or face-to-face in a foreign country. The Summit addresses these issues head-on, with global experts from the classroom to the hiring lines to offer valuable solutions to the challenges teachers face.
“More than anything, this is a forum for exploring the broad spectrum of possibilities, catalyzing the desire for greater professional development and job satisfaction. Therefore, school owners, teaching supervisors, program administrators, and hiring managers will also benefit from attending this Summit!” Wright adds.
Check out the Jobs Summit schedule here.
Past Participants Share Thoughts on BridgeUniverse Summits
There have been two previous BridgeUniverse Summits. The inaugural event focused on teaching English online and the second on language proficiency testing and assessment. Both were hosted exclusively online, were free to attend, and received high praise from attendees hailing from around the globe, including the United States, India, and South Africa.
“Being able to join the sessions online is another invaluable tool for everyone who is not based in the host's country. I would have never had a chance to attend in person,” says a polled participant from the Summit on High Stakes Language Testing and Assessment.
Another attendee summed up the testing Summit as follows: "I just earned my TEFL certificate and teaching English online certificates through Bridge and attended this Summit to see if teaching test prep would be of interest to me. I learned an amazing amount of information. It was fantastic!"
More than 90% of survey respondents agreed that Summit sessions are "useful and interesting" and would strongly "recommend BridgeUniverse to a friend or colleague."
Participants are also continually pleased with the fully-virtual format, where they can ask questions directly to panelists. They voiced a need for more time allotted to networking, which Bridge will address in the upcoming Jobs Summit.
“We’re bringing back the virtual networking experience from our first Summit with an exciting new environment,'' says Wright.
These free BridgeUniverse virtual events are designed to support the global ELT community by focusing on relevant, timely topics and featuring experts in the field. The upcoming Summit, TEFL Jobs ’22: Launch Your Adventure & Enhance Your Career! will offer English language professionals an opportunity to stay ahead of the curve professionally and discover exciting job possibilities in a global market.
Summits serve Bridge’s goal to empower a global community of English teachers and support excellence in English language teaching. In addition to our accredited portfolio of TEFL courses, BridgeUniverse offers articles, teaching resources, webinars, and more!