Job Discussion Forums

[mslucy]

Hi everyone, I'm new here and I hope someone can help me out

I live in Montreal (born and raisedhere) and I work as a part time special educator. I also teach Saturday morning Italian. I am fluent in English, French and Italian and VERY interested in TESL. I am looking into taking a 5 day TESL certification course (120 hrs) from International College of Applied Linguistics. They will be here in March for an info session which I will attend. In the meantime, I've been reading up on tons of stuff about reputable courses...C ELTA, DELTA...

It doesn't seem like this ICAL school has any of these...Has anyone ever heard of this course before. Here is their website:

www.INTLcollegeoflinguistics.com

I understand that without a Bachelor's degree, no school board will hire me- but I've been told that it's different in the private sector??

I'd appreciate any info you can give me- especially on the ICAL course

Thanks!

[GambateBingBangBOOM]

They are located in Ottawa, Ontario and are not approved by the government TESL body (TESL Ontario). In order to get certified in Ontario, you need a degree. In order to get certified in any province that is affiliated with TESL Canada, you need a degree. In order for a school to be certified by the Canadian Associaltion of Private Language Schools 80% of its teachers have to have an undergraduate degree (but since it is very, very easy for schools to hire only people with degrees, that's pretty much the way it is, the exception being jobs that go to friends).

Quebec does not have a provincial chapter of TESL Canada, but the International College of Linguistics themselves say that "It should also be noted that most directors in Canada will request a B.A." in the FAQ section under prerequisites ('most' in this case is something like 99.99999% of the time unless you are friends with the director first). And also that many, many people from Ontario with year-long certificates in TESL and BAs head out to Quebec (both Carleton University and Algonquin College in Ottawa are churning out graduates every year and it's not all that far to Montreal from there) in the hopes of getting a job at private language school there because there are so many trained people for so few jobs in Ontario.

IMO you will definately need a degree and most probably a university certificate in TESL if you want to teach in Canada.

[Ben Round de Bloc]

[mslucy]

Hi again! Thanks for the prompt response. Like I said, I will be attending an info meeting soon, so I`ll be getting lots more details... like the 120 hour thing...originally (by phone) I was told that I will be starting the course at home, with materials supplied, in preparation for the course. This plus the 5 days attenance counts for 120 hours- like I said I`ll get more info There`s also a Celta course being offered here sooooo, I`ll be checking that out today.

I know what you mean about the degree. I`ll have to check all this out. The great thing about this place though is that there are alot of language schools, and I will have no problems getting into one of those, since I already have a few friends working there. Being in the public school system for over 10 years, I`m very well known in my community and I`ve already been offered a job at a private elementary school. I personnally would like to become certified because I believe that`s an asset. I just need to find a reputable course. Thanks for your input. I welcome any other suggestions.

[Glenski]

120 hours / 5 days = 24 hr/day
If ICAL says your take-home certification amounts to 120 hours of studying, I would be very wary of such a place. C'mon. Look at this simple math. If it were REALLY 120 hours of study, you'd be in classes 8 hours a day for 15 days straight.

[Guy Courchesne]

Fuzzy math...can't say that I haven't seen such claims before. They are counting online time or reading time at home most likely because there seems to be an industry 'standard' of 100 hours minimum study.