KJ
- 2007-06-27
The fact that you are doing volunteer work with immigrants well probably hold far more weight in terms of your future employability than will a certificate earned from an online program, most of which are not worth the paper they're printed on. However, you are in Texas, so that may change things.............lol.
Monique
- 2007-06-27
I am getting TEFL certified online with a combo onsite class. The time onsite is one to two weeks. I wonder if that is enough classroom experience. I want to find something about how this went with other instructors. I am volunteering here in Texas with immigrants, so I feel I will have more classroom experience than some new instructors, but how much is enough?
I am responding to a somewhat related post, because I haven't been able to figure out how to start my own thread. 
I am looking at a certification from this organization:
http://www.intesolinternational.com/index.shtml
Ever heard of it? Any advice would be helpful.
frank andrews
- 2006-08-17
Just to clarify, the managers and headmasters of schools are quite familiar with the different types of TEFL certs, how we got them, what kind of training was involved. Some certs pull a lot of weight, others don't.
What you'll find is a lot of kids with brand new BA diplomae in hand, looking for the quickest, easiest TEFL certificate to add to it, then land a job somewhere, waiting for the bucks to roll in. Take a look at ads in travel and adventure mags, geared toward the 20-30 year old set. These kids have basically no life experiences whatsoever, let alone any experience in the business or teaching worlds. But they are being hired.
I heard a story of a 23 year old guy that had a fresh history degree and cert and landed a 9000RMB a month job teaching business English, and the only work experience he had under his belt was as a part time pizza delivery guy. On the other hand, there was a life long TEFL teacher that had a hard time finding a good job only because he was 60 years old. Or the couple of 20somethings that did the weekend online course just to get the certificate, but were wholey unsuited to function in a classroom.
Basically, rules are made up, reasons are made up, decisions are made for whatever reason, as people go along. If somebody doesn't like the looks of you, you won't get the job. Or you could fit their criteria perfectly, not have any valid experience at all, but get hired on the spot. The whole thing is a little crazy.
Essentially the best way to find a job is pound the bricks, the old fashioned way. Pick out a place that you think you would like, suck it up and buy the plane ticket and go there. Go to every different imaginable school or learning center you can find and get a feel for what they are really like. Go to English corners in the evenings and weekends and ask around. Make contacts, assets, friends. The internet is great for sound bites of information, but not for getting to any depth. The biggest hurdle for the employer is seeing you there right in front of them; they don't have to buy you a ticket, and they don't have to worry about you renegging on your contract/agreement. You get the benefit of seeing what the place is like before you sign on the dotted line. Take out a couple of the other teachers to dinner and quiz them about the place. If the manager tries to wave you off from this, you should see a red flag.
In Asia, university jobs are filling right now, and most will be gone soon. "Language learning centers" hire through out the year, as they contract out mostly to companies for English training for their management staffs, do a lot of tutoring, and sometimes do contract work for primary and middle schools. Learning centers pay as much as 50% more than true schools and unis, but the workload can be greater, and the management practices are pretty questionable most of the time, hence the volume of negative reviews in these boards. (There are any number of reasons for those same practices to be questionable, which is also discussed here ad nauseum.)
As I think I mentioned in my other post, if you do a TEFL training program in the country you are interested in working, you'll get a good idea of where to work, what type of situations interest you, and pick up a lot of the cultural stuff you'll need. There are certain basic techniques that can be used in TEFL teaching, and not otherwise. Teaching English to people that are learning it as a second language, at any age, can be a bit of a challenge, especially when you throw in cultural norms and expectations, politics, finance, preconceived ideas of the teacher and the learners, and all the other countless surprizes that await you. With at least an introduction to all that, you'll save yourself some headaches and a few embarrassing situations.
Again, good luck and have fun!
Dusty
- 2006-08-16
I was a little confused by your advice.
On the one hand you say, "a TEFL certificate will garner a bit more in wages. But the way in which you gain more in pay is being able to be more selective in the jobs offered to you." Which tells me that I just need to wait for the right offer, presumably not from a placement agency.
But then you go on to say, "All the education and experience in the world may not do you much good in landing a job if you don't have a piece of paper that actually says 'TEFL trained.'"
Well, I have gotten quite a few offers without the TEFL cert under my belt; granted that 95% of the offers are junk (see: placement agency), but they're offers all the same.
So is what you're saying: TEFL cert online doesn't prepare me, but it is valued nonetheless, and can help me get a job?
Danke,
Dusty
Raoul Duke
- 2006-08-15
Hey Dusty,
My takes on your questions...
>1. Is higher salary usually earned with the >certification, paying back the cost of the >certification itself and generally making life > easier in China?
I would disgree a bit with Henry on this one. I've seen a zillion job ads, and I've never noticed a significant correlation between salary and a cert requirement. Requiring a cert doesn't in any way seem to guarantee more money, better conditions, more honest treatment, or any other benefits. The one thing I'd say about a cert in China is that it does open a few more doors...some jobs do require a cert, and cert holders will have these jobs as options where others will not. In general, these are not good reasons to get a cert if you want to teach in China.
2. Is an online TEFL program worthwhile?
No. If you're going to go this route, just buy one of those certs they simply tear off of a roll, and save yourself some trouble.
3. Does such a certificate actually help prepare a person to teach English as a second language?
As Henry indicated, it very much depends upon the program. IMHO for a program to be of any value in building a teacher, it has to be real-time with live classes and teachers...which eliminates all the online and correspondence courses. The CELTA program has its fans and detractors, but it will have at least some value if you're a neophyte teacher. I also can recommend the Boland School...I know the faculty and many graduates, and it seems to be quite a good program. There are others as well.
A cert is of some value if you plan to teach in North America, the EU, and perhaps Japan. In China I feel they're of questionable worth unless you really feel you need some preparatory teacher training.
frank andrews
- 2006-08-15
Hi Dusty-
Good questions. For you and how you conduct your own personal classroom prep work, a TEFL certificate may tend to be a formality, especially if you have actual previous classroom teaching experience. You'll find that many, if not most, TEFL teachers have had no actual classroom teaching experience prior to climbing off the airplane.
Sometimes, depending on who you work for, a TEFL certificate will garner a bit more in wages. But the way in which you gain more in pay is being able to be more selective in the jobs offered to you. All the education and experience in the world may not do you much good in landing a job if you don't have a piece of paper that actually says "TEFL trained."
In Asia, TEFL is a bit of an unregulated and somewhat unsophisticated system. You personally may hold professorship at a major North American or European university, teaching English or literature to diverse populations, but without that TEFL cert you may find yourself standing in line with fresh college grads pandering for whatever gets tossed your way. Often, universities in the west just don't have the same brand recognition elsewhere.
On-line TEFL training programs aren't worth the electricity used to boot up your computor. I've worked with a few teachers with this training, and it provided them nothing, except the paper it was printed on. Bu there are a number of one to three month programs that give you a lot of good info about teaching techniques for special populations, and some thorough grammar review. There are some distinct differences between how you would ordinarily teach native English speakers and how you would approach ESL students. Also, if you can do a training program in a country or culture in which you'd like to teach, you gain a lot of insight toward cultural approaches. One of the biggest stumbling blocks for most TEFL teachers are the problems associated with differences in cultures, as you can tell from so many of the posters and threads in this forum.
Good luck with your endeavors.
Henry
- 2006-08-15
1. Is higher salary usually earned with the certification, paying back the cost of the certification itself and generally making life easier in China?
Yes, often.
2. Is an online TEFL program worthwhile?
Yes, for entry level jobs certainly.
3. Does such a certificate actually help prepare a person to teach English as a second language?
Depends on which one you take. The better ones do, the poor ones don't unfortunately.
I mentioned in my earlier post that I have a college degree, as well as college level teaching experience. This seems to count for a lot in getting responses and job offers.
But many of the jobs preferred, though didn't require, a TEFL-type certificate. And I've been told that such certificates can command higher paychecks, but don't really do much to prepare a person to teach English.
So my questions are:
1. Is higher salary usually earned with the certification, paying back the cost of the certification itself and generally making life easier in China?
2. Is an online TEFL program worthwhile?
3. Does such a certificate actually help prepare a person to teach English as a second language?
Thanks,
Dusty