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nuchie
Joined: 25 May 2004
Posts: 37
Location: Brisbane, QLD, Australia
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 Posted: Tue May 25, 2004 11:19 pm Post subject: Help! :) |
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Hi,does anyone here hold a TESOL Certificate?
I cant decide whether to get one or not? Any advice would really help 
thank you [/i] |
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Synne
Joined: 06 Apr 2004
Posts: 269
Location: Tohoku
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| Posted: Wed May 26, 2004 12:07 am Post subject: |
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The overall responce I get from the ppl I know who have one is that it did very little to get them to Japan.
There is one friend though that made his way there on it...
I cant really say much more...sorry |
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The Great Wall of Whiner
Joined: 29 Jan 2003
Posts: 4946
Location: Blabbing
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| Posted: Wed May 26, 2004 12:10 am Post subject: |
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I got TESOL and it helped me out a bit in Korea, and a whole lot in China.
In Japan, it has the value of toilet paper. |
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Glenski
Joined: 15 Jan 2003
Posts: 12844
Location: Hokkaido, JAPAN
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| Posted: Wed May 26, 2004 12:33 am Post subject: |
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A TESOL/TESL/TEFL/etc. certificate will not get you a better job in Japan. It MIGHT open a door or two, but don't count on it. Eikaiwas are often afraid that you will bring in teaching methods that aren't compatible with their pre-programmed formats.
A certificate WILL make you more prepared as a teacher, so this is my standard advice.
1. If you are planning on teaching EFL more than a year, get it.
2. If you have no experience/background in teaching English (other subjects don't count IMO), get it.
In my opinion, the value of a certificate is twofold:
* It might refresh your memory or teach you something about English grammar.
* It should/might give you a good perspective on how to plan a lesson and present it properly. |
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AgentMulderUK
Joined: 22 Sep 2003
Posts: 360
Location: Concrete jungle (Tokyo)
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| Posted: Wed May 26, 2004 2:22 am Post subject: |
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A 20-day course cannot really prepare anyone for teaching here or anyone else IMO.
But it depends on what kind of job you want here. Many are high school placement type jobs...and if you consider that it takes a least 1 year to train to be a school teacher, on top of a degree of your intended subject....then 20 days won't really help a great deal.
Of course teaching conversation is not quite as demanding(!) and the necessary skills are probably those you are born with :
(1) ability to talk about anything, even if it bores you stupid
(2) ability to listen
(3) patience
(4) even more patience
Some of the big companies give basic training (minimal, but better than nothing).All the schools here do seem to have their own methods so the Cambridge/Trinity/blahblah is not always the way to go. Some of the methods here are a bit 'dated' by western standards, but we can't change that.
So yes, a TEFL is pretty much irrelevant in Japan (at the risk of upsetting those who have invested their money...), but a very useful investment for a future that may involve working in other countries too.
I would say that its a good idea to read a book about such as
"The Practice of English Language Teaching (LHLT)" for some important pointers or better still just ask people who have done it. |
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shmooj
Joined: 11 Sep 2003
Posts: 1758
Location: Seoul, ROK
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| Posted: Wed May 26, 2004 4:29 am Post subject: |
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| AgentMulderUK wrote: |
All the schools here do seem to have their own methods so the Cambridge/Trinity/blahblah is not always the way to go. Some of the methods here are a bit 'dated' by western standards, but we can't change that. |
We could if we had a Cambridge/Trinity/blahblah and knew what we were talking about when we worked for a school with a dated method 
The school I worked for in Japan was initially so badly run that my Trinity cert saved my professional life. Without it I wouldn't have had a clue how to teach PROPERLY. I could have muddled by but things would have remained very badly done. As it was, all that I learned on my Trinity was directly relevant to leaving my particular sphere of TESOL in Japan way better than it was when I arrived.
So, I'd insist on it... |
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AgentMulderUK
Joined: 22 Sep 2003
Posts: 360
Location: Concrete jungle (Tokyo)
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| Posted: Wed May 26, 2004 12:19 pm Post subject: |
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| shmooj wrote: |
| We could if we had a Cambridge/Trinity/blahblah and knew what we were talking about when we worked for a school with a dated method |
Lucky for you. My 2 schools INSISTED I use their method.
Some of the Trinity stuff just doesn't apply here to most jobs. Maybe its really great for Europe, but a lot of Asian teaching methods are different.
Of course its better to have than not have, but experience of teaching people (anything) is far more worthwhile.
Trinity college 'methods' are not the Gospel of English teaching. Ask the average educated person back in the UK and they have never even heard of Trinity college... |
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Mike L.
Joined: 28 Feb 2003
Posts: 519
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| Posted: Wed May 26, 2004 1:24 pm Post subject: |
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Mine got me and 3 classmates on JET!
After that it wasn't so useful.
The ideas you learn in a TEFL/TESLv program such as using only the "target language" only in the classroom have yet to be fully accepted or even realized.
On a positive note this is changing though not in the public schools where it's realy needed.. |
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