Job Discussion Forums

[vmp0221]

>I live in South Africa. I am a university lecturer in Business
>management, and I would like to teach English abroad to earn money and see the world. I have a Bachelors of Business degree as well as an MBA degree . I am also a white male living in a country where white males >are severely discriminated against in the job market due to affirmative action. Therefore, I would now like to discover which of all the TESOL, CELTA, TEFL, TESL qualifications are best to acquire to give me the most beneficial opportunities worldwide. Basil

[turtlepi1]

Assuming you are South African that limits you in Korea as you are not from one of the "most favoured nations" (IE you can't get an E2 visa.)

Met a bunch of South Africans since I have been in the Gulf though.
(and I'm sure the rest of the world isn't a problem. I mention Korea because with the weak dollar in the Gulf it is becoming easy to make the nearly the same money in Korea without the "social" limitations that some find in the Gulf.)

As to your question, the CELTA is the road to go assuming you want a professional course that is recognised. Many places will accept TEFL, but in the end if it came down to two identical candidates the CELTA would win. Plus a lot of people see the TEFL as the backpackers ticket to paid vacations. The CELTA is seen at least to some degree as a professional designation. Judging by your other schooling I would suggest the CELTA would be a nice addition. Unless ESL IS the backpackers guide for you then do a cheap one-week course and go to Asia. With your qualifications you will do well unless you are completely devoid of personality.

(BTW in case you don't know CELTA is a specific designation while TEFL/TESL can be from any shady fly-by-night one week course to a full-blown intensive program.)

(BTW2 I'm not an ESL teacher so take it for what it is worth.)

[veiledsentiments]

Definitely the CELTA for all the reasons stated. It will definitely teach you HOW to teach.

Be sure to also list your business experience on your CV. Once you get your foot in the door in the Gulf, you may find that you can pick up a job teaching business courses too. Many small colleges would like to have someone who can teach in more than one area.

VS

[younggeorge]

[turtlepi1]

[QatarChic]

I have actually got a TEFL which I did part time over a year or so- Why?? Because it was cheaper!! Having said that though, it hasn't stopped me getting work- but then again, I went on to do the DELTA few years after...which is even more valuable..

[turtlepi1]

[veiledsentiments]

Turtle... if she is doing an MA, I can't see any use for a DELTA. It would be a waste of money as it would get her no extra pay nor any better chance for employment. I'm on her side.

As to TEFL certs, there are some that you can do over the weekend!!

VS

[Truth Hurts]

[High Plains Drifter]

Truth Hurts, you are deranged.

[QatarChic]

The DELTA was HARD WORK in every sense of the word! BUT Its good if you want to get into teacher training and so forth- I am doing my MA now, which is more "theoretical" The DELTA on the otherhand is a lot more "practical"- to be honest, I personally enjoyed the DELTA more and felt that I got a lot out of it-more so than the MA- which I am doing as its respected more in the Middle East. I would DEFINITELY recommend the distance DELTA http://www.thedistancedelta.com which is run by both International House and The British Council-great supporrt and very professional. Hope this helpsbut go easy on the "pressuring" !

Did you find the DELTA to be a lot of work? Was it difficult or just time consuming? I am "pressuring" my fiance to do the DELTA and thinking about doing it myself. She is working on a masters in Applied Linguistics so it is difficult to convince her [/quote]

[simple is best]

Truth Hurts, well said, the original poster deserved every word of it. I avoided posting for a while because I was quite angry about those comments too.

I'd let it go, then my wife told me that a 3 year-old son of a South African manager at her company in Singapore spits on her every time he sees her. My wife is Singaporean of Indian descent. Apparently this kid also throws temper tantrums every time he's near someone with dark skin and the father confronts the dark skinned person and says, "What is wrong with you? Can't you see that your presence is disturbing my son?". To the original poster of this thread, you probably deserve every rand's worth of affirmative action discrimation you get, and then some.

Regarding comments about the DELTA vis-a-vis a Masters. When I was doing my CELTA, another participant had already done a Masters in TESOL and had teaching experience and she said that she learnt a lot from the CELTA. Imagine what some people could learn from a DELTA? While the Middle East may favour a Masters over a DELTA, not every where does. I also know a lot of people who are simply too afraid of the DELTA and take the easy option out and do a Masters degree. Or even fail the DELTA and then go and do the Masters.

[stillnosheep]

[kaw]

Hi
Just a word of advice - you can't do the DELTA without a cert and I'm sure a couple of years experience. As regards the certificates - only consider the CELTA or the Trinity TESOL - sorry to say but the others really aren't worth the paper they're written on unless you want to work in some dodgy institute and as anyone will tell you there are millions of these around.
Don't know where in S.A. you are but I know that International House run a variety of courses - J'burg run both a full and part time course so check out their website for more info.

[dmb]