Job Discussion Forums

[spyrothedrago25]

I've got 4 years experience and I am half way through an MA TESOL. I took the option of doing a language teacher development module and I would really like to break into teacher training - either pre or inservice. What I would really like to do is make my own kind of program for teacher training (either weekend courses, longer TEFL certs or even a university based module) and try to either make my own teacher training business or join one of the big league teacher training companies. I am currently in Korea and would like to remain here if possible - perhaps I would like to make a program training Korean English teachers in schools across the country.

Could anyone who works in teacher training give me the skinny into what is usually required to break into teacher training and how I could make it into / join some kind of enterprise that dealt with TT.

[tedkarma]

There is a large TT industry in Thailand - you might explore doing it here for a while to get a little experience and also to take a look at how the business is run.

[dmb]

I think contacts are important. I got into TT through the local Cambridge office here in Istanbul. First of all getting trained up as a CELTA and DELTA TT, then take it from there. Your local British Council may be a start.

[naturegirl321]

I'm in the same position. Except here in Peru there aren't many TEFL traning centres. I think that private ones are easier to get into than CELTA.

[dreadnought]

I don't think there is always a clear pathway to becoming a teacher trainer. I kind of fell into it by becoming a DoS for organisations like EF and IH and having to do workshop sessions for teachers at my school. I moved onto a pure teacher training job for the Soros Foundation in developing countries and then finally got involved with the SIT TESOL course.

From the few Cambridge trainers I've known, the process of becoming a CELTA trainer is a little 'mysterious' and normally involves working as a teacher at a site that runs those courses and working your way up through the system. Becoming a SIT TESOL trainer is a little more transparent, go to their website and click on the 'becoming a trainer' link.

My advice - for what its worth - would be to start getting your feet wet with teacher training by running some workshops for colleagues, doing some presentations at local conferences, offering to do some sessions for local teachers. This will not only give you some confidence but will also bolster your application when you start looking for more official teacher training positions.

As regards Korea, I've done a few courses there (in Suwon and Daegu) and will be coming back to the latter to do some more in the summer/fall. So yes, there are definitely opportunities for teacher training work there.

[spyrothedrago25]

I think my problem so far seems to lie in the fact that I have gone the MA route rather than the CELTA.

As CELTA is first and foremost a 'teacher training' course (a course whose scope is to provide a 'skills' or 'craft' approach to teaching, the goal of which is to provide students with a recognized set of universal principles as well as an testable rubric and skill set from applied scientific research or practical skills examinations) rather than a 'teacher education' course (a course which is by and large a reflective process formed from teachers experiential knowledge which takes into account teachers cognitions, teaching contexts and sows the seeds not only for self reflection but also for social change in and out of the classroom).

What I would like to do is to try and provide the latter 'teacher education' method for training for pre and in service teachers, yet there doesn't seem to be much of a market for this kind of education and seems almost impossible to get into. With practical skills based courses such as CELTA dominating the TESOL training market, I worry that perhaps I have taken the wrong route to get into teacher training, and without a doctorate as yet, I worry that I would have to get a DELTA before I could find work in this area.

I will take onboard the suggestions to set up conferences myself, which hopefully after I have more time I can prepare amongst employees or TESOL conferences. Something to get on the resume sounds very good indeed.

[dreadnought]

[Justin Trullinger]

Being in the right place at the right time makes it a lot easier. I also train on the SIT TESOL course, and the fact that my training process was paid for by my school made it a lot easier. (Partly for the economic side, partly because it ensured that I had a place to train.)

I would agree with Dreadnought that the DELTA is invaluable in becoming a trainer on the CELTA- but there are lots of other teacher training gigs to be had.

Even before I started to work on the SIT TESOL course, I gave seminars, workshops, and continuing development sessions to teachers in Ecuador. Most people working in this area at universities are also more traditionally qualified. (MA instead of DELTA.)

Off the subject- on thing I like about SIT is that the "becoming a trainer" process is fairly transparent. Another thing I like it the fact that the community of trainers is fairly close-knit, even between regions that are geographically separated. (I think we've been in touch, haven't we, dreadnought?)

All the best,
Justin

[dreadnought]

[spyrothedrago25]

I'm a brit too dreadnought. the sit program might be something i would be interested in after graduation. could i have the details for that please?

[naturegirl321]

[dreadnought]