While I have no idea of your particular needs, interests, goals, or budget, I would strongly suggest traveling to an English speaking country to pursue your education.

Further, you might want to consider getting a certificate as a test for your new career. If you are really interested in the field, the wiser path would be to join a major university to earn an MA in TESOL. Whether you go to Hunter College in New York, USC in Los Angeles, or Indiana University in Bloomington, you will set yourself apart from the vast majority of ESL instructors. You will also have a graduate degree that you can use in other fields.

Your post, however, continues a discussion from other threads and illuminates the need for some ranking on an explicit criteria of international teacher training programs - and English language schools to work in. ESL has become such a huge industry that somebody should have compiled this book or guide, but I am unaware of it. TESOL, of course, does have a directory of graduate programs - but it only provides contact information and some basic factual information. I would like to read an actual ranking like in many other fields.

On the other hand, I know that thousands and thousands of people have received excellent training as English teachers in ESL teacher training programs. Yet, as so often in life, I usually consult various rankings and/or personal experiences of friends. If someone wants to learn engineering, there are many rankings that they can look at published by experts. Teaching English has become such a huge field that somebody – and I have no idea who – must evaluate school or chain claims. Right?

So, does anybody know of an organization that ranks English teaching training programs - by quality or location? Does TESOL have some list of approved or sanctioned schools? Does somebody else – perhaps even local governments – track the effectiveness of schools? Further, what is their criteria? Where can individuals – students, teachers, parents – get that simple, yet vital bit of information?

I would suspect, especially for international students of considerable income, that there would have to be somebody who attempts to grade, evaluate, and rank teacher training programs and schools. If I was going to travel to the United States, Australia, or the United Kingdom, I would certainly want to know the quality of the program and teachers. Even I was just going to a local language school, I would still check on the school's reputation. Given the potential investment in money and time, is it really possible that nobody has done this yet?

Again, consider me curious.