Job Discussion Forums

[Miopukka]

I live in London, Ontario, Canada and am about to enrol in a TESOL course.

Does anyone have any comments with respect to the above named institutions?

Global TESOL is $1,000. Included in their fee are two specialization courses.

Oxford Seminars is ~ $850 and does not include any specializations.

Thank you for your assistance.

Julie

[31]

Both are mills that flog worthless pieces of paper. Any job that would accept one of these pieces of paper would accept you without one. Save your money and don`t embarass yourself further.

[ls650]

[31]

My point exactly. Why pay a thousand dollars for a piece of paper when all the employer asks you to do is show something that looks the part. MOD EDIT Don`t enrich some tefl mill. Or get a real one like a CELTA-you can do one for a thousand dollars in E Europe.

MOD EDIT

[Chris_Crossley]

MOD EDIT

Disclaimer: The author of this post assumes no liability or responsibility whatsoever for actions taken as a result of reading the first paragraph. So there.

[applejuice39]

I could offer some observations on Oxford Seminars, because I completed the certificate no long ago in Toronto. Whether this course is good for you really depends on what you are looking for. The course is brief and only scratches the surface of teaching English as a second language. It is great if you are looking to get a taste of what teaching would involve, and it will help you decide whether it is something you would want to further pursue.

What to expect:

Textbooks/other course material:
a) A thick training manual compiled by Oxford Seminars that includes ideas for games and exercises, directions on lesson planning, classroom management, and teaching the different language aspects. It's pretty comprehensive and IMO a pretty useful guide to bring with you.
b) How to teach English by Jeremy Harmer (covers teaching methods for all aspects of language learning)
c) Teaching English Overseas: A Job Guide for Americans & Canadians (An overview of job searching, the job market, legalities, dealing with a new culture, etc.) A good overview guide but you will have to do a lot more independent research to learn about your desired destination.
d) A package that includes some material to guide you in resume and cover letter writing.

The instructor:
I obviously cannot speak for all Oxford instructors but I was satisfied with mine. She is experienced and embodies what a good teacher should be like.

The course content:
Lots of material packed into 6 intensive days--Overview of how to teach grammar, vocabulary, speaking, reading, writing, pronunciation; how to cater to students of different levels and different types of learners; assessing students; lesson planning; classroom management; what to look for in contracts etc.

The practicum:
I am not certain if every instructor manages practicums in the same way. In my class, as homework, we prepared our own 60-minute lesson plan to be handed in to the instructor. In class, 6-7 classmates pretend to be ESL students and you "teach" them for 10-15 minutes. In other words, you teach a shortened version of that 60-minute plan. The instructor evaluates you on your lesson content, your pace, your projection, etc. and hands you a comment sheet at the end of class. Generally my classmates and I cited the following pros and cons:
Pros: Gives you an idea of just how much effort goes into planning a good lesson. Gives you a chance to develop your own creative lesson material and actually put whatever you learned into use. Forces you to face your shyness or nervousness.
Cons: Feels somewhat like a "acting" session. Pretty unrealistic as it is only 10-15 minutes and you know your "students" understand you perfectly well.

The certificate:
You'd have to really try to fail the course. If you have a very heavy accent or if you are clearly still learning English yourself, you will get a certificate that indicates "non-native speaker". This means that Oxford's job placement guarantee will not apply to you.

Conclusion:
This course only has time to give you a brief overview of teaching English. If you have no prior teaching experience you can certainly learn alot from it. You will make friends and have lots of fun. You will gain some confidence. Even for those without a certificate, getting a job abraod doesn't seem to be a problem--so having the certificate on your resume can't hurt. I'd say it's more for the sake of your own preparation if you are interested in teaching abroad. I believe in most cases this certificate is insufficient if you intend on teaching in North America.

My main complaint is that the "60 hours" marketed by Oxford is an inflated number. According to my calculations, actual class time is only about 44-48 hours. This is after you subtract lunch hours, and classes usually end at least a half hour early. For 9am-6pm classes, everyone is pretty exhausted by 5. The number is inflated to include homework time, but even so, the number is not more than 50-52.

[applejuice39]

And even though the Oxford course is cheaper than most others I think it's still quite pricey. A lot material like games and exercises you can get on websites like this one. It will make you more aware of what's involved in teaching, but don't count on it to make you a better teacher.