TEFL. Whats a boy to choose!?!?

Question

Im interested in getting a teaching qualification to teach english abroad.(in particular Spain for south/central America) After a little research i feel inundated with choices. Different certificates, short courses, long courses, different locations. Dont really know what to opt for, keeping in mind that i dont have a degree. Can anybody offer any help advice? Thanks Very Much

Answer 1

Yes, I'm an English language teacher, working and living in Japan for the past nine years.

My advice to you, is to find your nearest test centre to get yourself CELTA qualified.

Also, if you're considering going abroad to teach English, I whole heartedly recommend getting a degree first, as many employers are reluctant to give jobs to people without one. (Usually for financial reasons from teacher exchange programs run between governments of respective countries).

There's a really good book on the market called 'Teach English Overseas' (I forget the authors name), which gives lots of good sound advice for people like yourself. I have a copy of this book.

There's also a good website that sells ESL resources for both students and teachers. It's like a one stop site listing all the best resources, so you don't have to jump from website to website all the time. http://www.eslgoods.com

Best of luck to you...would be happy to help more if you need it! (^v^)b

Answer 2

I agree - get a CELTA or a Trinity Certificate. or a course that covers the same ground and is externally moderated. These are sometimes open to people who have no degree, at the discretion of the course director. However, a degree would help enormously.

Whatever course you choose to do, make sure it covers the following;

Language systems:

-Grammar

-Vocabulary

-Phonology

Language skills:

-Listening

-Reading

-Speaking

-Writing

Management:

-Materials evaluation

-Lesson planning

-Classroom management

And the course MUST include supervised teaching practice with real students (not fellow trainees pretending to be students) and feedback from a qualified observer. This obviously precludes online courses and 20 hour 'TEFL weekends'.

If you do a CELTA or similar course you can see yourself as initiat ed into TEFL, but not as qualified. If you get the TEFL bugand decide to stay with it you, could then go on to do a TEFL Diploma, e.g., DELTA or Trinity Diploma.

E-mail me if you want to know anything else.

Good luck.