Job Discussion Forums

shmooj · Joined: 11 Sep 2003 Posts: 1758 Location: Seoul, ROK

It's absolutely untrue to say that TEFLing is a dead end. If however, you yearn to be an astronaut, then you may have a point.

Personally, I love it. It got me out of a dead end, not into one.

Spinoza · Joined: 17 Oct 2004 Posts: 194 Location: Saudi Arabia

Stephen Jones · Joined: 21 Feb 2003 Posts: 4124

quote]I was under the impression DELTA is a qualification to teach ESL in English-speaking countries... [/quote]

No, the DELTA is the Diploma, the CELTA is the certificate. Even the CELTA has more than the 40 hours' insturction loonravin' mentions - but then she's never considered you need to know sometthing before you talk about it.

For the CELTA you do four weeks intensive training (and between classes, practise and preparation you will probably be doing about fifty or sixty hours a week. It is intended as an introduction to EFL teaching; originally you were unlikely to be accepted without a degree, and it took six weeks not four, but admission standards got laxer, and the course more intensive.

The DELTA is for EFL teachers with at least two years', and more likely four or five, years' experience. Nearly all RSA centres now require you to take the CELTA first (presumably to make the most out of the milch cow) and many Trinity Centres do the same. It takes eight weeks in house I believe (maybe down to six now), and many do it by correspondence over a year with a one or two week in-house part for the practical classes and exams. It is intended to show you the why of what you are doing, whilst the CELTA is meant to be a crash course in the how. Go to either the Trinity College or the RSA web sites and take a look at the Reading List - you will find a long list of books on linguistics and EFL that few on this forum have read, let alone mastered. I think you could say that the DELTA is the equivalent of half a Masters in Applied Linguistics, and some institutions, such as Sheffield Hallam University, have the DELTA courses as part of the MA.

Now, I tend to agree with the author of this famous Telegraph article,
http://education.telegraph.co.uk/education/main.jhtml?xml=/education/2004/01/17/teftefl17.xml
that many DELTA and CELTA coursegivers tend to pompously overestimate their own and their course's importance, but neither course is anything like the degree mill stuff, or the one week TEFL courses you sometimes see.

Teacher in Rome · Joined: 09 Jul 2003 Posts: 1286

The description of the language school in Rome and of the teachers sounds depressingly familiar to me. Most freelance EFL teaching here is badly paid and demotivating. If you're not rushing about between companies or schools on unpleasant public transport, you're worrying about paying the rent.

As far as I am concerned, there is no easy solution to this. You can try to get a contract at a school / institution that pays a living wage, but there are only so many contracts. The problem - at least in Italy - is that a sluggish economy coupled with a traditional low priority given to language training means that companies will always go for the lowest price, regardless of quality. I can say to a company that I am qualified and experienced, and so I merit X euro per hour. However, that company might not care in the slightest about the added quality that I might be able to offer.

For people serious about making a career out of TEFL in Italy, the answer has to lie outside private institutions. There's a lot more money in universities, although even these are feeling the pinch. The company I work for does an increasing amount of business teaching online - and this is perhaps one "growth" area.

dmb · Joined: 12 Feb 2003 Posts: 8397

An excellent post Stephen. You mentioned the DELTA as an 8 week intensive course and a correspondence course. The DELTA can also be done on a p/t basis from October to June(one afternoon a week)

shmooj · Joined: 11 Sep 2003 Posts: 1758 Location: Seoul, ROK

Spinoza · Joined: 17 Oct 2004 Posts: 194 Location: Saudi Arabia

GambateBingBangBOOM · Joined: 04 Nov 2003 Posts: 2021 Location: Japan

Moonraven is North American (from the US, I think) and in many parts of North America, neither a CELTA nor a DELTA will get you a job in a university, college, province/ state run English language class, or even a lot of private language schools.

This is an international board and different English speaking countries have different requirements for certification (where offical government boards even have ESL certification as either seperate or in addition to public k-12 certification).

Phil_b · Joined: 14 Oct 2003 Posts: 239 Location: Back in London

To work in the UK, you don't even need a DELTA... However, The money is pretty shocking in private language schools.

For FE colleges there are a number of 'recognised' qualifications which give you NQT, which is supposed to be compulsory. These include the PGCE and the FETC. As of yet I don't think they match up with EFL qualifications.

As for Universities, I have no idea, but I would think that you would need at least a Masters and probably a PhD.

Sheep-Goats · Joined: 16 Apr 2004 Posts: 527

Chris_Crossley · Posted: Wed Nov 24, 2004 10:32 am Post subject: Re: Stories which "sell"

shmooj · Joined: 11 Sep 2003 Posts: 1758 Location: Seoul, ROK

merlin · Posted: Wed Nov 24, 2004 1:43 pm Post subject:

CELTA DELTA MA is a good start I think for getting a foot in the door of the better-paid jobs overseas.

If we adjust the original post a bit we get closer to the truth, I think:
TEFL with only a BA and CELTA is a dead end
or
TEFL is a dead end as soon as you stop your learning as a teacher