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[karinb]

Hi!

I was wondering if anyone knew about the possibilities of getting tesol certified and then expanding it to a masters. I'm planning on doing a year long tesol certificate that involves classroom observation and a practicum. This certificate is through a University and is often taken by current teachers because they get an endorsement for teaching esl (within the State as well reciprocity with most of the rest). I have chosen to take a year long more involved certification because I feel that especially as a young person (20) I would really benefit from being able to have the extra months of preparation for teaching. My question (in this convaluted ramble) is whether anyone knew about the possibilities of extending a year-long tesol certification into a masters degree, as in whether credits could be transfered. I know that some Universities have programs where a year long certification can be later extended into an MA but none of these Universities exist in my state. This would mean I would try to continue a Masters within another state after a year or two of teaching. Okay, just wondering if anyone knew about the possibilities of doing this, Thanks!

Another question, are Masters degrees from countries outside of the US (UK, OZ) recognized in the States? From researching alot of these programs seem to be alot shorter than the American masters programs. It would be great to get a full masters degree in a year... though I bet it is expensive for international students.

Question 3, for those of you with masters degrees in TESOL... how did you end up with one. As in, were you already teaching for a number of years with a certificate and then decided to go back to school? If so did you need academic references in order to get into a degree program or were employer ones sufficient.

[GambateBingBangBOOM]

So, is the location in your infomation a lie? It sounds like you're in the States, not Canada.

Your best bet is to contact the specific school at which you will do your certificate and ask them what the options are for obtaining an MA. Somtimes there will be a nearby school that has an MA but no certificate level, and they grant full course exemptions for people who did the certifcate at the nearby school. Sometimes they virtually require you to have done the year long certificate before accepting you into the beginning of the MA.

A lot of the time, different universities teach slightly different philosophies to teaching and that makes it more advantageous to do the certifciate level at the same university as the MA, but a lot of the time it's not a requirement. But then I'm going from the Canadian perspective (and Ontario in particular) so that might not be what you find in your area.

Again, contact the particular school where you will do your cert, and also contact schools with MAs and tell them what you are planning on doing and see if they have a mechanism for transfer credit from your particular programme.

[karinb]

Thank you for answering! Yes, I will definetely start phoning some of the schools once I get through finals and starting asking questions about this. It seems only fair that some of my credits should transfer if they are courses commonly part of an MA in TESOL. Oh and I am in Canada doing my undergraduate degree.

[Yu]

I went to grad school after finishing my undergrad directly. Changed my major to TESOL in grad school because I realized I wanted to get out of the US and go teach English. I had many friends in the TESOL department so I decided it would help to get a MA. I had no previous experience in the ESL classroom.

[Chris_Crossley]

It is interesting to find that some universities have MA in TESOL programmes for those people without any previous experience and MA in Applied Linguistics programmes for those who do have previous experience. The University of Liverpool in the UK is one of those which offers both programmes, although I have never studied there. However, in both cases, full-time attendance is necessary over 12 months.

I am still in China after more than four years, and I am currently undertaking the UK Open University's MA in Education programme by distance-learning. No full-time attendance is required, so it is possible to keep on working and not have to sacrifice the income!

The only other TESOL certificate I have is the Trinity College (London) Certificate in TESOL, which I undertook at my local adult education college in the UK part-time over 31 Fridays before undertaking a 4-week full-time summer school teaching job and then heading out for China. The Open University does actually recognise it for credit transfer, but only with a value of 10 points (a full-time year is the equivalent of 120 points) at freshman level. The follow-up, the Diploma in TESOL, on the other hand, which usually requires two years' full-time experience before applying, is recognised as being worth 30 points at junior honours (third-year) level.