Job Discussion Forums

[seachange05]

This is my first post so please excuse me if i ask some already answered questions. I have been digesting the amazing amount of info on the site for the past month and i am more confused than ever.

I am selling my business and heading to south america this christmas to travel and hopefully settle somewhere and teach english. I plan to be away indefinatley as i have no ties in australia so i'm looking to make SA my home for the next couple of years.

Where to begin with getting certified? For every post praising one institution there is ten denouncing it. I have enough cash and time to take a reputable course that will give someone without any other teaching skills a good chance at getting work. Having said that i dont want to undertake something as full on as a degree course until i'm confident that its going to be a career shift for me.

I wanted to do my certification in australia before i leave so i can work as soon as the opportunity presents itself. The only problem is that most of the courses here dont seem to have a supervised teaching component and i'm concerned that the certification wont be worth the paper its printed on. Has anyone studied in australia and been able to secure work wit it? Online course seem to get a pretty bad rap. Are there any good ones?

My other thought was to fly to SA and do a course in either Lima, Santiago or Buenos Aires. Has anyone completed courses in these locations and can they recommend some?
I genuinely want to get into teaching and be great at it, so i'd appreciate any advice whatsoever relative to working in SA.

Thanks!

[ls650]

[Riddick]

Hi seachange05

Welcome to the fourm.

[mmm... pancakes]

Hi seachange, and welcome.

I applaud your attitude - taking teaching seriously is all good. It will certainly be a relief to your eventual employer to get a professional teacher over a backpacker.

I'm not Australian and don't have much experience about the courses available there, so I can't really help much.

I will say this, though:

Don't wait too long.

I have never (I think) met you, and obviously know piss all about you. However, there are plenty of people - and you MAY be one of them - who do all the research, study up, and constantly delay the departure. The "I'm ready to go now" moment never comes, and they never quite sell their business, they never even step foot on foreign soil. I'd hate for you to be one of those people, since it seems you have potential as a real teacher.

I did a brief training course before I came to China, and my comment is this: You learn FAR MORE, FAR MORE QUICKLY actually doing the job than reading and talking about it. Even with the courses that offer teaching practice, it never resembles reality. The best way to learn something is to have a go, try it.

Now if you were a complete hopeless case, you'd be doing your students a disservice initially. However, I don't think you're as hopeless as all that, and I think that a little training - even from a short course - will give you all you need to put you on the road towards becoming a good teacher.

By all means take the course, just do it SOON and follow through.

My two cents

Good luck.

[denise]

Seachange--

Welcome to the forum!

Here�s another thing to consider: if you do a course in Australia, you will have no contacts when you arrive in SA. You�ll need to find temporary housing (and of course permanent housing soon thereafter) and a job, and just get to know the area.

If you do a TEFL course in SA, you can start getting your bearings and looking for jobs and housing while you are doing the course. I�d recommend doing the course in the city, or at least the country, that interests you the most. Your TEFL program should have contacts with local schools, and should be able to help with interviews and maybe even with housing. Just make sure to bring enough money to survive for about two months (minimum!).

mmm... pancakes: You`ve got the funniest forum name I have ever seen! I love it!

d

[Guy Courchesne]

Good ideas from Denise. One of the advantages of taking your course in SA is that the course provider should have strong local or national contacts for jobs.

[Gregor]

As long as you have the money to do so, try to find a CELTA or Trinity College, London TESOL certificate course. Anywhere.
I agree with Denise - if you can, do the course in your destination, if possible, for the reasons she stated. I did that (my country was Mexico, and I had a job IMMEDIATELY after I finished my course). Nothing like jumping in with both feet.
And I mean BOTH feet. Sell the business. Divorce the wife. Disown the parents. Do not give yourself anything to go home to, and you will be successful.
That sounds like I'm exaggerating. And I am. But then again, it's true. If going home isn't an option, then you will do very well.

[seachange05]

Thanks for the advice guys, studying in SA it is. Is there any need to do a CELTA course over a TESOL? By all accounts the posts about CELTA seem to suggest that its a traumatic experience, where as the TESOL talk seems to be all good.

Favorite city anyone?? Quality of life, opportunities, good climate, warm people etc. I'm not in it to make $$$ or to party my ass off in clubs all the time. I want to brush up on my spanish and get involved in the culture as mush as is possible. I've travelled most of north america, europe and asia and loved it all but cant seem to decide on where to start in SA.

By the way i've already sold my business, i agreed to be around until the end of the year to help out where needed. Thus the reason for wanting to study in australia, i've got loads of time on my hands. Maybe i'll take some extra spanish classes instead. So come christmas i'm there, one way or the other.

Thanks for taking the time to respond to my posts, much appreciated

[Gregor]

The reason to study there in SA (by the way, does Mexico count? Mexico ROCKS) is because you'll already be well-placed to find work.
But if you have tons of time on your hands, there's no reason not to take a course there in Oz. If you can find a CELTA or a Trinity College, London course, that is. I mean, if you've got all that time on your hands, no worries.
The course provider will almost surely have a job placement scheme of some sort, and even if you don't find anything with that, you can go to pretty much any country in Latin America and find work by just wandering around. I mean, there are advantages to doing the course there, sure, but on the other hand, if you've already done the course by the time you arrive, you'll be able to focus all your attention on the job hunt.
Spanish is MUCH more effectively learned in a Spanish speaking country, I am here to tell you. I'd take the certificate course if I were in your position.

[Eager2teach]

I took the CELTA course in Toronto in July. It was very difficult, but I wouldn't go as far as saying traumatic. The difficulty made it all the more rewarding to complete. Something about the course which may not be considered important, is how it really tests your abilities to get along with a group (12) of people experiencing stress together. It's a good measure of your compatibility with a wide range of people. I was complemented for my ability to work well with others and for being a positive presence amidst craziness. I value that evaluation and think potential employers may want to know that. (It's on my written eval)

There was outstanding help and feedback from the course trainers. I thought it was set up very professionally. I highly recommend it.

Best wishes,
John

[Tarka_littleotter]

Hi there,
I can't give you any advice on where to do your course as I don't have much experience yet, but what's been put on here sounds very good.

I just want to say one thing - I loved every minute of my CELTA course. I did it this summer in Saffron Walden in UK and it was great. The college was wonderful, the tutors were excellent and the students were unbeatable. I would advise anyone thinking about it, to do the CELTA.
I passed the course with a B grade along with one other person, and the others all passed. Some did find it stressful, and I wont lie and say I didn't, but it was inspirational, and the inspiration far outweighed the stress.

Do the CELTA, do the CELTA!!

And good luck in South America. I'm just off to Oman after one year in Azerbaijan.