Job Discussion Forums

[phrodo41]

Hi,

I'm thinking about doing the teach abroad thing, but have very little money for flying somewhere and taking a course. I'm starting to think I should go ahead and get some kind of online TEFL/CELTA certification under my belt; it is cheap and I can do it on my own time while I'm working my other two jobs right now. Even if it turns out not to be the best qualification, it is an easy way to amass knowledge, since I don't have any experience teaching english.

Has anyone had good experiences with any of these courses, or care to reccomend a good one?

[spiral78]

First, on line courses aren't considered as good as on-site courses by many (most) employers because they don't offer supervised teaching practice.
Second, going abroad on a financial shoestring is not recommended. Depending on where you go, you need to have some money in reserve. It's normal to have to pay for airfare (of course), rental costs for accomodation up to three months in advance, and most language schools pay at the end of the month worked. You may also be liable to pay for any health care costs.
You might be better off to save the money to take an on-site course in some place you're interested in teaching. On-site courses usually include your accomodation during the course and they can give you some valuable leads for reputable accomodation and schools after you graduate. Not to mention that certification from on-site courses are recognized by employers!!

[phrodo41]

well, the point is to save a thousand bucks or so on the training to put towards expenses on the other end. I'm aware that this is skimping, but I do have experience working with kids, and plenty of volunteer opportunities to get the practice in.

I might decide to do an onsite thing later; right now I just would like something I can work on during my own time while I'm waiting. So, does anyone know of a good, reputable online training deal?

[ls650]

[Gordon]

[sojourner]

Phrodo,

Ideally, you should consider doing a CELTA or Trinity College certificate course. As part of their assessment processes, both programmes requires one to teach actual L2 students - that is why such courses are recognised everywhere; unlike online courses. Unfortunately, in the UK, Australia and Nth America, CELTA and Trinity training is pretty expensive. However, if you are contemplating teaching in East or SE Asia, you might want to consider enrolling in a CELTA course in Thailand - reasonably cheap, compared to doing it in the US, etc ! I believe that in some Central and Eastern European countries, CELTA training is also reasonably priced.

If you are adamant on doing an online course, go to Dave's Teacher Training Forum, and look up the postings submitted by one Jeff Mohamad (sp?) - one of the more regular posters to that Forum. Apart from his background as a CELTA trainer, Jeff also runs his own online course for those who are unable to undergo CELTA training. Such a course would, I'd imagine, contain much more depth than what is usually provided by the other online courses. Send him a PM.

Apart from enrolling in a online course, you might want to consider doing some appropriate reading, eg books by Jeremy Harmer and Jim Scrivener - the former is often recommended by CELTA trainers.

Peter

[Kent F. Kruhoeffer]

Here's a link to Jeff Mohamed's page:

http://www.english-international.com/

[memorabilis]

I'm doing my Certificate in TESL from the University of Saskatchewan online, and let me tell you, it is far more indepth than any onsite course (the equivalent of 7 university-level courses). It includes 20 hours of teaching observation and more observed teaching practicum hours than the CELTA. It is certified by TESL Canada and TESL Ontario (the only distance program to have this certification). So it's not exactly true that distance courses can't be just as good as on-site. You just have to do your research carefully. You wouldn't find it all that inexpensive though. It's $450 per course and then about $75 for textbooks. Plus you need to get invigilators for all your exams.

[Cdaniels]

I think that online learning will be the future. Online language teaching will be cost effective, and profitable and so it only follows that teacher training will also occur online.
Cambridge and Trinity will be faced with serious competition, especially from American Universities, in the near future.

[Kent F. Kruhoeffer]

Thank you, memorabilis, for posting details of the CERTESL @ University of Saskatchewan.


I have just added the link below to The Master Index Thailand, SE Asia & Russia:


http://www.learnonline.usask.ca/courses-certificate.html





Happy studies!