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Motley_Crue
Joined: 13 Nov 2005
Posts: 14
Location: Canada
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 Posted: Sat Dec 03, 2005 5:30 am Post subject: TESL help |
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Hi there my name is Joshua, and i really want to start traveling in my life. I heard that teaching overseas is one of the best ways to get some traveling experince. Since some places pay for your food and room and board.
I really wanted to goto japan ever since i was like four years old its just i never had the money. But now i have the chance to get into a TESL course, that is 6 months of teaching for $2100 and you get a certificate. I'm just wondering if this is a good path to take? Is the price and everything worth it? and I heard japan is the best place to go first, considering they pay the most and its just really friendly. I have to decide in a couple days whether or not i want to take this course so any help/ advice is appreciated |
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Gordon
Joined: 28 Jan 2003
Posts: 5309
Location: Japan
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| Posted: Sat Dec 03, 2005 8:11 am Post subject: |
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You pay $2100 for a TESL certificate AND you have to work for 6 months? What do they pay you to teach?
If you want to teach in Japan, you need a degree for a work visa. A TEFL certificate will not help you. |
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Motley_Crue
Joined: 13 Nov 2005
Posts: 14
Location: Canada
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| Posted: Sat Dec 03, 2005 8:15 am Post subject: |
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| No i meen the course costs $2100 and goes for 6 months, and after you graduate you get a TESL certificate. |
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Gordon
Joined: 28 Jan 2003
Posts: 5309
Location: Japan
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| Posted: Sat Dec 03, 2005 8:18 am Post subject: |
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How many hours is the course? How many hours of teaching practicum? What is the background of the teacher trainers?
These are the most important questions to ask before embarking on a TEFL program, IMO. |
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Motley_Crue
Joined: 13 Nov 2005
Posts: 14
Location: Canada
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| Posted: Sat Dec 03, 2005 8:26 am Post subject: |
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| Gordon wrote: |
How many hours is the course? How many hours of teaching practicum? What is the background of the teacher trainers?
These are the most important questions to ask before embarking on a TEFL program, IMO. |
the course is 2-3 days a week. and the teachers background....she said she never taught over seas but has tought a lot of foreigners here in canada and has a TESL degree and a couple of degrees in other areas. |
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Gordon
Joined: 28 Jan 2003
Posts: 5309
Location: Japan
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| Posted: Sat Dec 03, 2005 11:36 am Post subject: |
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| If you have a link of the course, I'll look at it and let you know what I think. |
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ls650
Joined: 10 May 2003
Posts: 3484
Location: British Columbia
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| Posted: Sat Dec 03, 2005 1:18 pm Post subject: |
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| I need to know more information before I can comment. Is this a reputable school that offers a quality program, or is this Suzie running Suzie's House of English from her basement? |
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Gregor
Joined: 06 Jan 2005
Posts: 842
Location: Jakarta, Indonesia
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| Posted: Sat Dec 03, 2005 4:19 pm Post subject: |
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| Quote: |
| the teachers background....she said she never taught over seas but has taught a lot of foreigners here in Canada and has a TESL degree and a couple of degrees in other areas. |
Umm...sounds a little bit dodgy. What's a "TESL degree"? You might want to check into it. Where did you hear of this? TEFL certificates have no governing board, so you want to make sure you get in on a decent course. Also, $2100 sounds a LITTLE bit steep for a course (unless you're talking Canadian dollars).
The standard courses are CELTA or Trinity College, London TESOL certificate. Those are expensive, and you don't need to go that route specifically. There are plenty of private, independent courses that are just as good. But you want to make sure that it covers grammar, teaching styles, a bunch of other stuff (I'm not prepared at the moment to give a blow-by-blow curriculum), and six or more hours of observed and critiqued teaching practice in front of real students (meaning people who honestly need to learn English, not pretend students who are actually your peers on the course, or some other native speakers of English).
Who is running the course? Is it reputable? There are a LOT of charlatans offering TEFL certificate courses, both online and face-to-face.
Your course should be 100 to 140 hours, including the teaching practice.
It also should have a WEB site or some other way of checking on its validity.
If you post the site here and it turns out to be TEFL International, SIT, Transworld or something like that (reputable course providers), you'll likely get people saying "DON'T DO IT! GET A CELTA!!" But the rest of us will tell you it's cool.
If, on the other hand, it IS Suzie's House of English, ALL of us will let you know that it's a bad idea.
Anyway, you want to have a degree in something as well. Especially in Japan, but even elsewhere you might have trouble getting work these days. |
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Glenski
Joined: 15 Jan 2003
Posts: 12844
Location: Hokkaido, JAPAN
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| Posted: Sat Dec 03, 2005 8:57 pm Post subject: |
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Don't expect anyone in Japan to pay for your room and board. That is an extreme rarity here.
To have travel experience while teaching, you must realize that you are hired to work, not sightsee. In Japan there are 3 major holiday periods per year, but that's for everyone, not just teachers, so you will find that when you are off, so is everybody else in the country, and travel-associated expenses double or triple.
Plus, many employers don't give you personal days off. It's just too hard to find replacements to cover the classes that you have been assigned to (and that the students have paid for), so you are stuck with the holiday periods I described above.
Moreover, newbies may find that they are in a probationary period, with lower salaries for a month or 2. And, your work week may not give you 2 consecutive days off for your weekend (Sunday, Tuesday, for example). Hard to squeeze in some traveling there.
I agree with the others about the degree. If you don't have it, you will likely not get a job here. Depends on nationality,too.
As for Japanese being friendly, that's relative. Lots of people find them xenophobic, shy, and standoffish (learn about honne and tatemae to know what I mean). As for making a lot of money here, salaries have been fairly high, yes, but so has the cost of living. And, in the past year or two, salaries have been dropping. I suggest you read the Japan forum for details. |
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denise
Joined: 23 Apr 2003
Posts: 3419
Location: finally home-ish
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| Posted: Sat Dec 03, 2005 9:55 pm Post subject: |
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I`ve met a lot of people who, when they find out what I do for a living, say something like, "Oh, you must like to travel!" Well, yes, I suppose I do, but if traveling were all that interested me, I would go home, get an office job, save my money, and go on vacations.
Teaching EFL is a great way to live in other countries--by that, I mean that you will deal with day-to-day issues, hassles, etc. Finding an apartment, doing your laundry, figuring out the postal service, etc. Not nearly as glamorous as traveling and having non-stop adventures. Plus, as Glenski said, there is limited time for traveling. Not just in Japan, either! You will basically be limited to traveling during breaks in between school terms.
If you only end up teaching EFL for a year or so before returning home to what others might consider a "real" job, then I would still suggest that you go for it. This is an incredible lifestyle. But don`t expect it to be a year-long vacation! You will get international exposure, see new perspectives, learn a lot about yourself and whichever other culture you live in, etc., but you probably will not do an awful lot of traveling. Unless you save up all of your money and wait until your contract ends.
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