Job Discussion Forums

[Jame Velmont]

I'm looking into becoming TESOL certified in the very near future and I just discovered a course being offered very soon in my area. Its called "Global Tesol College", and offeres a 120 hour TESOL course for $1000. First off this seems too cheap to me as most courses I've been looking into are around the $1750-$2000 range. Sounds dodgy. The other thing is that it doesn't actually state that this is one of the official TESOL courses, only that "Instructors of Global Tesol College are certified with these organizations: TESOL, ATES, TESL". Has anyone heard about this course and more importantly, is it reputable? Can anyone suggest another course that would be good to take. I live in Ontario, just outside of Toronto (in Hamilton). Any suggestions would be very much appreciated. Thanks.

[spiral78]

What you don't get with a Global course is supervised teaching practice. I've heard that their theoretical training course is all right - but without supervised practice, you may not be able to put into practice all that theory.
Depending on where you want to go to teach (or whether you intend to stay in Canada), many employers will not accept a course that is not on-site.
Have you thought of looking into taking an on-site course abroad? It may not be for you - but there are some advantages.
Firstly, you gain teaching practice with non-native speakers.
You can make contacts that will benefit you in terms of future jobs.
Most courses are 30 days, 120 hours, and intensive. If you're abroad while doing this, you will likely be able to focus better on the course and what you're learning.
Anyway, without knowing what your goals are, it's difficult to give more specific advice.

[Jame Velmont]

Thanks for the tips Spiral78. I should have been more specific though in my original post. My goal is to teach abroad (either France, England, Scotland or Australia, preferably France). I'm not doing this so much for the money and all that but more for the experience of living abroad. I do have two and half years of teaching experience in Japan so I can understand your point about the practical side being important. I have been looking into another company, I think it was called "TEFL International" (could be wrong on that one, wrote it down somewhere but can't find the paper...d'uh) and they offer classes in various European and Asian countries. Have you heard anything about them?

I thought it was interesting that you mention you thought it would be easier to study abroad as you would be able to concentrate more; did you learn this from firsthand expereince? I thought it might actually be HARDER to concentrate living in a strange land...you could be right though...anyone else have such an experience?

Once again, any suggestions would be soooooooo appreciated.

[marblez]

Before you invest your time and money into the TESOL program, you should chat with the (many) teachers here who originate from those countries that you wish to teach in. From what I have gathered, the job markets are rough for ESL employment.

[GambateBingBangBOOM]

This is the list of courses approved by TESL Ontario Certification.

http://www.teslontario.org/new/cert/cert_recoginst.htm

If you want to be able to teach ESL in Ontario in private language schools
these are the programmes you should be looking into. They are expensive because they are a year at a college or a university.

You need a degree to be certified with TESL Ontario, or TESL Canada (the Federal certification), but given that you have 2.5 years in Japan, I'm assuming you have one. Those are the only two forms of certification that are relevant for teaching ESL in Ontario (you can get TESL Canada certification by doing any programme that is accepted by TESL Ontario, because TESL Ontario certification requirements are a bit higher). The programmes are often used as a stepping stone to an MA in Applied Linguistics in order to teach in universities and colleges. The other provinces have their own certification as well. You will also need a degree to teach in most countries if you leave Canada.

If you do a search on this website there is more than a little information about Global.

Do you have a British Passport? You might need one to work in Britian (or the EU, unless you have another EU member country's passport). I don't know about requirements for Canadians wanting to teach or work in Australia, though.

[spiral78]

You'll have EU citizenship issues in France, as in most of the Western European countries, unless you have a second citizenship in addition to your Canadian one. Better check around about what kind of visa requirements you will face in your desired locations.
I took my initial 120-hour intensive TEFL in Prague back in 1998. It was tough, but if I'd had friends/family/normal life at the same time, no way! I totally recommend doing the thing on-site from my personal experience, for what that's worth.