Most graduates I know don't have a clue about grammar. This includes English (the subject) graduates. In fact it is especially true for English graduates. I can say this as I graduated with an honors degree in English and Philosophy, having taken TEFL courses at university and still not knowing the difference between a noun and an adverb. If this was true for me, how many others must it also be true for?

English is one of the most complex languages in the world grammatically speaking. There are rules, and sub rules and exceptions to rules and exceptions to the exceptions to rules! This is what makes teaching English to non-English speakers difficult once they get to an advanced level and why teachers of English as a second language need higher qualifications and skills than EFL teachers- their students are trying to master the system for speaking and the system doesn't seem to make sense. That is because the system doesn't make sense! What is true for these students is true to a lesser degree with EFL students.

You, if you are a native speaker, have an enormous advantage though. You intuitively, without needing to analyze it know English grammar because you use it every day without thinking. You don't need to wonder why "the cat sits on the mat" is wrong if "the cat" has been dead for two years. You may however need a little help in working out the correct words to use instead: "the cat used to sit on the mat"; "I remember when the cat sat on the mat".

Don't stress about grammar though! I said it was complex and it is not unusual for really bored, uptight, miserable and "better than you" teachers (there are people like this in any profession if you look hard enough) to argue for hours over whether a term is grammatically correct or not- and never find out for sure. What the learners want is to be understood. If it sounds funny, if it sounds wrong then it needs to be corrected. If you, your family, your old boss and half your neighborhood would accept the statement then you generally don't need to worry!

TEFL courses and qualifications are there to teach you the basics of how to teach, and teach you what you need to know in order to teach EFL, including grammar. You will know lots of it instinctively, and it will give practical guidelines on how to teach it. If you are really worried about grammar then it is extremely important that you take a TEFL course that shows you how to teach it. Remember, teachers are allowed to look at the answer book in class!

It should also be noted that many TEFL situations wont require hardly no grammar at all (I couldn't resist that one!). Lots of schools like in Asia have you there to teach conversational English; for instance in South Korea the lesson plans are already prepared by the Korean teachers. Your students will often have been taught English in their school system but not had the chance to practice with a native speaker. Even if you are there to teach an actual lesson most schools will give you a book which you follow and hopefully add something of your own into the lesson. When you're teaching in Asia, that is most often what you are there for, to provide a fun experience with a native English speaker.

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