Job Discussion Forums

[svonwerd]

I hope this is the right place to be asking this question, and if it isn't I would love to know where else I might find the answers I'm looking for.

I am currently applying for teaching positions in Japan and I am very frequently running into requirements for job postings that say "TEFL/CELTA Certificate required" or "TEFL Certificate Preferred" and the way they are worded is making me worry, as I currently do not have any formal certification of my training in TESOL methodology.

I studied Linguistics at Eastern Michigan University with Minors in Japanese Language and Culture and T.E.S.O.L. The education program at Eastern is highly regarded and their TESOL undergraduate minor is a rigorous program that included 40+ hours of actual time in front of ESL students, as well as a course-load that blows these 110 hour online courses out of the water. I feel confident in my abilities but I lack a piece of paper that "certifies" or "proves" that I am a trained teacher.

What should I do? The thought of shelling out $1500+ for a run through the same courses I paid for in college in order to get a stamped piece of paper seems ridiculous. That said, I would hate to hurt my chances at getting a job because I lack the proper documentation.

Is there a way that I can present this information during the application process on my resume? Will recruiters and hiring professionals understand if I explain why I don't have a "certificate", or is it really that important to have?

I would love to hear what you all think and I am happy to answer any questions that you might have. Thank you for your time.

Cheers,
Stefan

[nomad soul]

Those generic online TEFL certs aren't credible to begin with.

I don't have a TEFL certificate either; my MAT included an ESOL practical component, which I always clearly indicated on my CV. For example, right under your BA, you could state something like the following:

Minor in TESOL, included X hours of classroom study with 40 hours supervised teaching practice, Eastern Michigan University, Michigan...

The point is to not let prospective employers have to guess about your qualifications.

[santi84]

OP, does your school offer a TESL certificate? I didn't do a separate "TESL certificate", just a degree with a TESL concentration. After I finished my undergrad/teaching practicum, I applied to graduate the TESL certificate program. Two birds and one stone, right? I would check out your options with the university.

[GambateBingBangBOOM]

Why don't you look around and see what kind of credit you can get for that minor in a masters degree in TESOL, or (if the university has one) take courses and upgrade that minor into a major and then see if you can get advanced standing in a masters.

Alternatively, you could look into doing some sort of slightly related masters (communications, international relations etc). In any case, you will need a masters degree to teach at a university pretty much anywhere.

I live in Japan (I've been here for well over a decade) and I can tell you that for the majority of jobs that hire overseas, "TESOL Certificate" boils down to a checkmark on their form. If I were you, I would organise my resume with education first and list that minor in TESOL on its own line. It's far more training than the majority of newbies to Japan have.

That said, the NAME of a qualification seems to carry more weight than the value of the qualification in this country (a 'master of arts' from a famous university that simply calls its undergraduate degree a 'master' [Ancient universities of Scotland, plus Cambridge, Oxford, Dublin]) may carry you further than someone who has a PGCE (a one year teacher's qualification in the UK) plus a BA, even though that's an undergraduate degree plus a year of postgraduate studies (outside of teacher training, in the UK a masters degree is a one-year postgraduate qualification).

In the end, if you don't just get a job that doesn't ***require*** a TESOL certificate and use that as a stepping stone to a better job and a masters in TESOL (or Applied Linguistics), then you may end up doing a CELTA or something like that.

You could also see if there's anything like TESL Canada or TESL Ontario where you are, and if there is, if they certify people. I'm from Ontario, where TESL training is a one-year program after graduating from a language area undergraduate degree. It sounds like it's probably a similar program to the one you did, but in a single year. TESL Ontario certifies people to teach in the government run Language Instruction for Newcomers to Canada --LINC-- program. Our one-year qualifications are called 'certificates' even though they are a full-time year in a university (they're the same length as the masters in TESOL at some universities- the people who were in charge of the one I did just brought the terminal MA in TESOL from the university they were working at in the US to Ontario, Canada and the university in Ontario called it a 'certificate'), and honestly, other than getting you transfer credit in a masters degree {and making you a much better teacher} you get stuck and cannot get jobs that require masters degrees in Japan.

[suphanburi]

The OP was a one post wonder but seriously...

Major in linguistics and minors in TESOL and Japanese.

Compared to someone with an unrelated BA and a generic TEFL cert you are about 4 light years ahead.

You can safely ignore 90% of the advice you get on EFL/ESL forums.
You have more than enough in terms of qualifications to work in EFL/TEFL/TESOL anywhere in Asia without the need of any "additional certifications" or academic credentials.

The next think you know they will be telling someone with an MA in Applied Linguistics that they need a CELTA to teach English.

[Alien abductee]

[Elicit]

[santi84]

[spiral78]

I've been at three institutions that do exactly that - one in Canada, and two in Europe, on the premise that knowing about the language doesn't necessarily indicate that you can transmit that knowledge effectively.

[GambateBingBangBOOM]