Should I Take A TESL Course?
Many of you have seen advertisements for TESL/TESOL/TEFL/CELTA courses, which are all different types of certifications for Teaching English. Some courses you can take online and others in classes. So the question is, are these courses necessary?
In general, it doesn’t hurt take one of these courses because it will give you a good background on how many of the schools, especially private language schools, approach their lessons. Many of these courses focus on the “communicative approach” which focuses on interactive lessons and practical use of the English language, as opposed to just learning from a textbook. I would suggest to everyone thinking about taking one of these courses to avoid doing it online. Taking these courses in a real classroom setting will give you a chance to learn and practice with real people, it’s interactive, and more fun. Also, you’ll make some new friends, some of whom may be thinking about traveling to the same country as you.
If you are going to take a course, make sure it has a minimum of 100 hours. For South Korea, having one of these certificates can increase your salary, but they won’t consider it unless it has the minimum 100 hours. In Japan, some position do require these courses in addition to a teacher’s experience, especially if you are trying to get away from the regular eikaiwa (conversational schools) positions, and many of the Assistant Language Teacher positions in public schools.
If you are thinking about pursuing a long term career in teaching English, then I would suggest that you think about doing a Master’s Degree in TESOL, Master’s Degree in Education with a specialization in TESL, or a Master’s Degree in Applied Linguistics with TESL. Having these credentials will open up doors to university level positions.
If you’re just getting started, it might be a good idea to take one of these courses. But don’t put too many of your resources into it. There are plenty of courses that offer the 100 hours, and the cost is reasonable at less than $1000.00.
If you have any questions or thoughts please send us a message.
Tags: CELTA, Japan, Korea, Teaching English, TEFL, TESL, TESOL
October 19th, 2008 at 5:27 am
A surprisingly fair and accurate survey, apart from perhaps the price- I don’t know which countries you are thinking of, but I think even the unrespectable ones in the UK charge a lot more than 500 pounds.
October 20th, 2008 at 12:54 am
ACTDEC (http://www.actdec.org.uk/) is the Accreditation Council for TESOL Distance Education Courses and provides a reliable benchmark for quality assurance in online TESOL courses. It is a non-profit making independent body governed by officers and Council, established to advance professionalism by maintaining and also improving on standards of distance TESOL/TEFL programmes.
A range of different course providers have been accredited to one of 4 different levels (http://www.actdec.org.uk/levels.html) and course providers are independently audited to ensure standards are maintained (http://www.actdec.org.uk/members.html).
Should you decide to choose an online course, ACTDEC provides some reassurance that the course provider meets set standards in course provision.