Happier Abroad Forum Community

Hi everybody,

Can any of you guys who are already teachers recommend a course (or type of course) for breaking into the teaching English as a foreign language thing? How did you all get started?

While I'm living so close to London I think it would be a good idea for me to do some soft of English teaching course next year. Then I'll be all set for some more adventures .

I know about the CELTA and TESOL. I like the idea of doing these in the UK, especially at a highly rated University here. My problem is that I don't think I could manage one of these at the same time as doing my job.

Are the online TEFL courses any good? I see that to teach in China you need a course that's 120 hours long. That's probably all I need, given I have two degrees and a very long resume.

I'd like to hear it too. I taught English to ten year olds when I was in Shanghai, but it wasn't for very long. The opportunity came up because the local school asked my university for volunteers.

I went to Shanghai on a Study Abroad program through the company CIEE. They also have a program for teaching English that I'm considering:

http://www.ciee.org/teach/

But I think the main problem I had is that the middle school didn't tell me anything. They just told me what classes to go to. I had no idea how much English the students had already learned, so I was just ad-libbing my lessons. So for anyone who's really taught before, how did you create lesson plans?

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I helped out in some English classes when I was in China. Really the role of a foreign language teacher in China is just to get the students to talk. I was lucky to assist a few of the other teachers there, and they had some nice games for getting the students to participate and practice their speaking.

Anyway, I'll continue to search for an appropriate course. I haven't yet found a prestigious place offering a course that's not as tough as the CELTA/TESOL. My previous employers ran the CELTA, and I couldn't even do the admissions test for it. Native speakers don't learn grammar from textbooks, they learn it from their mom.

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Ghost wrote:

xiongmao wrote:I helped out in some English classes when I was in China. Really the role of a foreign language teacher in China is just to get the students to talk. I was lucky to assist a few of the other teachers there, and they had some nice games for getting the students to participate and practice their speaking.

Anyway, I'll continue to search for an appropriate course. I haven't yet found a prestigious place offering a course that's not as tough as the CELTA/TESOL. My previous employers ran the CELTA, and I couldn't even do the admissions test for it. Native speakers don't learn grammar from textbooks, they learn it from their mom.

Something which most Chinese language centers will not care about, unfortunately. They don't care if they sound like robots, or stiff, or strange. They think languages come from textbooks. (Though it is nice to have a white face with the book. )

Actually I had a tutor over in China to teach me in Chinese. She ended up quitting the school I was at because of exactly that. She tried to go off the books.

The best English teaching certificates out there are the CELTA, DELTA and Dip TESOL--but all of them cost a lot! So, if you plan on getting one, save up some money, first!

If you really want to teach English then by all means get a CELTA, but if I were you I'd use your IT background and get a job teaching IT, or better yet get a job with a multinational in Asia working in your own field. The latter is easier said than done but with your qualifications and experience at least you'd have a shot. I have neither a CELTA nor a PGCE but I just accepted a new job in Shanghai teaching physics and science that pays more than most teaching jobs in Britain and I know about jobs out there than pay well over twice that and beyond. It can be done, if you've got what it takes there are few limits to what you can achieve abroad.

Doesn't experience teaching English trump the quality of your TEFL courses? What if I just took the Oxford training, then taught English as a second language here in the USA for about 6 months?

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Thanks all.

I am planning to do a CELTA and I have a number of open days booked in January so I can check out some schools. I realise that London is a great place to do a CELTA, given the number of different nationalities there. Also a CELTA gained in the UK will be a little bit more prestigious (although the test is standardised worldwide).

I think my best option is to do a 12 week less intensive CELTA. But if it proves too much I'll quit the day job.

I checked out online options, but the CELTA opens most doors.

As far as providers go, CactusTEFL and International House both look good.

If you have the money (and already have a first degree) there is another option - do a Masters in teaching. I like the look of the Temple University one that they run in Japan. I'm seriously tempted but I'm struggling to understand the entry process (I don't know much about the US education system on which it's based). I'd guestimate it costs around the same as a Masters does in the UK. But you can work when you're a student in Japan which is useful.

On the testimony of Mr. Peabody, perhaps Cornfed, and one or two others, the CELTA is extremely rigorous. If taken over the course of a month, it will command all your time. Don't know how it would work over three months.

Yup, it is rigorous. But in my favour I've done something very useful - I spent quite a bit last year studying a foreign language. And if my job gets in the way I will quit my job and work full time on my part time CELTA.

Course booked... but not a CELTA.

I got put off by the CELTA's requirement for referees. I had no idea who to ask. I did my degree 20 years ago and don't really want to impose on anyone in the teaching space, as I barely know them.

Anyway, that got me thinking that a CELTA is too much for now. In China last year they were prepared to let me teach without anything. So I've just booked a far cheaper 120 hour real world/online TEFL course. 20 hours are in the real world which seemed a bit better than the online only things.

In the time spent not doing the CELTA I'll have a go at the HSK tests. I'd love to get the first one done at least.

OK I've now got my 20 hour TEFL certificate. There's definitely an advantage to classroom based instruction rather than an online course. I also got a good feel for whether it would be worth doing a CELTA.

One GIGANTIC advantage I realise I have is having recently studied a foreign language (jn my case Mandarin). I've reused quite a few techniques I spotted my Chinese teachers using.

Next week I'm going to look at a CELTA school.