|
Job Discussion Forums
"The Internet's Meeting Place for ESL/EFL Students and Teachers from Around the World!"
|
| View previous topic :: View next topic |
| Author |
Message |
ddiinn
Joined: 05 Oct 2005
Posts: 2
|
 Posted: Thu Oct 06, 2005 1:52 pm Post subject: Is Non Native Speakers okay in Teaching ESL? |
 |
|
Hi
I'm seriously considering teaching ESL in Toronto. However, I have some concerns about a few things which I hope someone could shed some light.
1. How important to get the TESL certificate through TESL Ontario/Canada?
2. Does it make a difference if I own a TESL certificate through any institute on the street rather than an official TESL institue e.g. Wordsworth College, University of Toronto?
3. I am not a native English speaker (I wasn't born and raised here, but have been living in Canada for like 12 years). I speak fluently, but with a little bit of Cantonese accent. Would it be difficult for someone like me to survive in this industry in Toronto?
Thanks very much in advance! |
|
| Back to top |
|
 |
Jyulee
Joined: 01 May 2005
Posts: 81
|
| Posted: Thu Oct 06, 2005 4:54 pm Post subject: |
|
|
Hi
It�s "Are non-native speakers" 
Or was that intentional? |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
GambateBingBangBOOM
Joined: 04 Nov 2003
Posts: 2021
Location: Japan
|
| Posted: Fri Oct 07, 2005 1:04 am Post subject: Re: Is Non Native Speakers okay in Teaching ESL? |
|
|
| ddiinn wrote: |
Hi
I'm seriously considering teaching ESL in Toronto. However, I have some concerns about a few things which I hope someone could shed some light.
1. How important to get the TESL certificate through TESL Ontario/Canada? |
Very. Go with a programme listed on the TESL Ontario website, not TESL Canada- the provincial standards are on top of the federal ones. It can be like asking how important it is getting a B.Ed if you want to teach grade 12 History in a Private High School. If you look carefully at what the private certificate providers say, you'll see that they are specific in "teaching" overseas and "tutoring" in Canada. Tutoring means taping or stapling an ad up on a light post and getting people to email you or call for lessons. You don't need anything at all to do that.
| ddiinn wrote: |
2. Does it make a difference if I own a TESL certificate through any institute on the street rather than an official TESL institue e.g. Wordsworth College, University of Toronto? |
It makes A LOT of difference. If you were an employer looking to hire someone and you had 120 applications for your job (and that can be a massive underestimate in Toronto), would you rather hire someone with a degree and training from a university (or college- you can get the TESL certificate at Humber and other colleges too. They're cheaper, and generally tend to have less focus on theory. I've heard varying things about whether or not you can apply/be accepted to an MA in Applied Linguistics after a college certificate, though), or through a private institution that may do nothing more than talk about how fun it is being overseas and then show you how to make a very simple lesson plan?
| ddiinn wrote: |
| 3. I am not a native English speaker (I wasn't born and raised here, but have been living in Canada for like 12 years). I speak fluently, but with a little bit of Cantonese accent. Would it be difficult for someone like me to survive in this industry in Toronto? |
First, I should point out that is is very, very difficult for anyone in Toronto or Ontario to get by on teaching English alone (I mean without an MA in Applied Linguistics, other MA plus a uni TESL certifcate- so that they can work in colleges or universities or without having a B.Ed and ESL endorsement so that they are working in a unionized position somewhere in the k-12 system) . That's part of why there are so many Canadians overseas.
Also, I think it depends on how much of a Cantonese accent you have. Do native English speakers ever seem to have a hard time understanding your English? I did a TESL certificate at a univerisity in Ontario (not at UofT, though) and there were a lot of people for whom English was not their first langauge. Being fluent in other languages is very desirable in English teachers.
Also, recently the Toronto Star has been making reports of demands to consolidate the adult immigration (back?) into a single government body that would have Adult Education (not just cute old people getting degrees in religion etc, but a lot of people who got pushed out of high school) and ESL together. If there is a one in eight chance of getting a (non- "freelance") job now with a private certificate like a CELTA (but most likely not with any of the others- you need to at least get something accepted by TESL Canada, if you aren't going to get TESL Ontario) then it would likely drop to about one in fifty after that happens.
It would be more difficult to find a job with a non-English accent (but not impossible). I' ve heard that it can be very, VERY difficult to get a job at a college or university if English is not your first language (but in order to do that, you would need to first get a TESL ontario university certificate, then possibly go overseas/teach in Canada for a few years, and then do an MA- so that's a long way off from where you are now). That said, there are occasionally opportunities teaching English that require fluency (or at least an advanced knowledge) in individual languages because the lessons are specifically within that community (I've seen ads, but not recently, for people fluent in Asian languages- unfortunately not yours- to teach learners exclusively from that linguistic background that pay far more than usual ESL jobs). Also, university TESL courses are about teaching a language to adult non-native speakers. Other than obvious things like fourth year English grammar courses for fluent users of English, you can apply most of what you learn to teaching other languages. So you might be able to get a job at a language school teaching English to some people, and Cantonese to others.
Finally, do you have any experience teaching overseas? The private language schools that have teacher profiles live to put "So and so has been to this and this and this country or taught in this country for X length of time and speaks X language fluently". |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
ddiinn
Joined: 05 Oct 2005
Posts: 2
|
| Posted: Fri Oct 07, 2005 1:08 pm Post subject: What about teaching overseas? |
|
|
Thank you so much for the information! Here's what I don't understand. You mentioned that there were quite a few non native speakers in your TESL class at the university. Did they realize how difficult for them to find jobs? It makes me wonder what exactly motivated them.
To answer your question... I have no overseas teaching experience. As far as teaching overseas, do you think it's even more difficult (compare to Toronto) for a non native speaker to find a job?
Thanks again! |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
|
|
You cannot post new topics in this forum
You cannot reply to topics in this forum
You cannot edit your posts in this forum
You cannot delete your posts in this forum
You cannot vote in polls in this forum
|
This page is maintained by the one and only Dave Sperling.
Contact Dave's ESL Cafe
Copyright © 2018 Dave Sperling. All Rights Reserved.
Powered by phpBB © 2001, 2002 phpBB Group
|
FAQ
Search
Memberlist
Usergroups
Register
Profile
Log in to check your private messages
Log in
