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Best place to get CELTA/TESL in LA/SoCal?

 
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22marmosets



Joined: 24 Apr 2014
Posts: 2

PostPosted: Tue May 06, 2014 6:24 pm    Post subject: Best place to get CELTA/TESL in LA/SoCal? Reply with quote

I live in southern California; does anyone know the best and/or cheapest place to get a CELTA? Based on a couple of Google searches, it seems like the most popular one is the Teaching House. Does a CELTA normally run $2500+?

On that note, what is the best and/or cheapest place to get a TESL certificate? I found some at UCI/UCLA Extension, but they take up to a year and cost $3000+. I'm looking for something cheaper and within a shorter time frame. My plan is to get some sort of TEFL/TESL certificate right now, go to a place where certification is not super important for about a year, and then come back and get a CELTA at home. Does anyone any reputable places where I can earn a TESL certificate in a short amount of time?
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nomad soul



Joined: 31 Jan 2010
Posts: 11454
Location: The real world

PostPosted: Tue May 06, 2014 7:21 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

You're asking for leads on a cert course that's cheap-n-quick but it must be "reputable." Well, there are plenty of cheapo, quickies out there to choose from, but forget about the reputable part.

Instead of doing random Internet searching, go to the main CELTA site, cambridgeenglish.org, to see where the course is being taught in your area and then check each course provider's site to see if they meet your budget. Otherwise, consider doing the CELTA in the country you first plan to teach in; sometimes that's an affordable path to take.
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22marmosets



Joined: 24 Apr 2014
Posts: 2

PostPosted: Tue May 06, 2014 8:43 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Sorry, let me clarify: the most important factor is that the course is legitimate and offers a quality education. Of course, out of all the legitimate quality options out there, I would like to find the quickest and cheapest. I suppose my real question is, are all of the TESL certification courses about the same price and length of time? ($3000+ and a year?)

Thank you for the link to the official website! According to that site, it seems that Teaching House is the only place in LA I can get a CELTA. That's useful to know. It doesn't seem like there are very many options at all.
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spiral78



Joined: 05 Apr 2004
Posts: 11534
Location: On a Short Leash

PostPosted: Tue May 06, 2014 8:59 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

CELTA, Trinity, and SIT TESOL are all quality basic standard certs.
They are normally 30 days on-site, and include (key) supervised teaching practice with actual students.

Courses shorter than 30 days, online, or without supervised teaching practice with real students, are usually considered less than the standard entry level.

Ditto nomadsoul's advice: consider a CELTA in the country where you want to start teaching.
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ebsarver



Joined: 14 Jan 2012
Posts: 10

PostPosted: Sat May 10, 2014 2:53 pm    Post subject: Re: Best place to get CELTA/TESL in LA/SoCal? Reply with quote

22marmosets wrote:
I live in southern California; does anyone know the best and/or cheapest place to get a CELTA? Based on a couple of Google searches, it seems like the most popular one is the Teaching House. Does a CELTA normally run $2500+?

On that note, what is the best and/or cheapest place to get a TESL certificate? I found some at UCI/UCLA Extension, but they take up to a year and cost $3000+. I'm looking for something cheaper and within a shorter time frame. My plan is to get some sort of TEFL/TESL certificate right now, go to a place where certification is not super important for about a year, and then come back and get a CELTA at home. Does anyone any reputable places where I can earn a TESL certificate in a short amount of time?


The University courses you're looking at are fancy TESL certificates for teachers who want to teach ESL in the states. They teach you a bunch of stuff for the US education system that will be totally unnecessary in a foreign country, but vital if you want to teach in the USA, with all it's regulations and outdated teaching methods.

The CELTA is the certificate to get, as it is recognized worldwide, takes only one month (in an intensive format), and costs substantially less. Yes, $2500 is a standard price for one in the USA, which is why you should get one in another (smaller, less first world) country, where prices range from $750 to $1300.

I was in Los Angeles when I decided to come to Europe to teach. I got my CELTA in Krakow, Poland. I've been teaching in Kharkiv, Ukraine since then. There was no way I was going to pay twice as much for a CELTA in the USA. That's just a ripoff. Do your CELTA overseas. You'll save money, and you'll get to do your course in another country, which is more interesting anyway.
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nomad soul



Joined: 31 Jan 2010
Posts: 11454
Location: The real world

PostPosted: Sun May 11, 2014 2:08 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

ebsarver wrote:
The University courses you're looking at are fancy TESL certificates for teachers who want to teach ESL in the states. They teach you a bunch of stuff for the US education system that will be totally unnecessary in a foreign country, but vital if you want to teach in the USA, with all it's regulations and outdated teaching methods.

Hmm... Seems there are plenty of us Americans with TESOL-related MAs from US universities who are effectively using similar "totally unnecessary" information and "outdated teaching methods" to teach in classrooms worldwide.
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jtea



Joined: 22 Apr 2014
Posts: 69

PostPosted: Sun May 11, 2014 2:54 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

I paid $2500 for mine and it was a 3 month course, total 150 hours. If you want cheap, you can probably find one on Groupon. I know where I live there's one for under $100 (and they advertise 100+ hours). Would I recommend it? Hell no.

If you're serious about this, don't try taking a short cut or the cheap way. You'll just be wasting your time. Find a course that you can complete in 100-120 hours + as that's the standard a lot of places will require. I can't recommend a place in Cali but I'm sure you can find one doing a google search. I did mine at a foreign language institute in my city and had amazing teachers.

I also recommend you do a course in person and not online, you'll get more out of it. As for the one you saw that takes a year, that seems really excessive. What are the class times like? How many hours total?
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nomad soul



Joined: 31 Jan 2010
Posts: 11454
Location: The real world

PostPosted: Sun May 11, 2014 3:11 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

jtea wrote:
As for the one you saw that takes a year, that seems really excessive. What are the class times like? How many hours total?

That would either be a self-paced, online TEFL course or a university TEFL cert program that entailed X amount of course credits taken over 2 or 3 semesters.
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