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SilentPower
Joined: 22 Jul 2007
Posts: 11
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 Posted: Thu Sep 20, 2007 3:09 am Post subject: Is the Oxford Seminars a prestigious place to get TESOL? |
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This is the website that advertises their services. Has anyone heard good reviews about this place and do people that have used this seminar received a good job after getting their certificate?
http://www.oxfordseminars.com/
Has anyone here heard things about Oxford Seminars? I would like to get CELTA but it is only offered in like 10 cities in the United States. |
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tw
Joined: 04 Jun 2005
Posts: 3898
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| Posted: Thu Sep 20, 2007 8:55 am Post subject: |
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Do a search and you will find many discussions on Oxford Seminars.
My warning:
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Beware of Oxford Seminars job placement service for its graduates! You are better off finding a job yourself. I activated my job placement service in May 2005 and the so-called coordinator never took the initiative to contact me other than to confirm that she had received my activation and later, the documents needed to process my case. I was told a recruiter had been working on my behalf to find me a job but I never heard from this recruiter, or any others that the coordinator later told me she had given my documents to. When I e-mailed her, she told me that because (1) I was not a university degree holder and (2) because of my Chinese background the recruiter was having a difficult time finding positions for me. She also used this excuse that because I had "insisted" on working in Dalian it made things more difficult. That was of course a lie because I had only said that my preferance was Dalian, but never did I say Dalian ONLY. As for the no-degree and Chinese-face problems, I received plenty of job offers from my own job searches and even had to turn down a few contracts before deciding on well-paying job in a northeastern Chinese university last year.
The Oxford Seminars course is useful for anyone without any teaching experience. To me it was just spending some money to buy a piece of paper in order to increase my marketability. |
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SilentPower
Joined: 22 Jul 2007
Posts: 11
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| Posted: Thu Sep 20, 2007 8:08 pm Post subject: |
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| thanks for the insight. So would you, despite all of the troubles, still recommend that I get the TESOL certification from Oxford Seminars? |
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Jetgirly
Joined: 17 Jul 2004
Posts: 741
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| Posted: Thu Sep 20, 2007 9:36 pm Post subject: |
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| I think most people would recommend getting the CELTA in the place where you want to teach. Are you planning to teach in the USA? |
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SilentPower
Joined: 22 Jul 2007
Posts: 11
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| Posted: Thu Sep 20, 2007 9:41 pm Post subject: |
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| No I want to teach in Spain, South Korea or Russia |
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tw
Joined: 04 Jun 2005
Posts: 3898
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| Posted: Fri Sep 21, 2007 12:32 am Post subject: |
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| SilentPower wrote: |
| thanks for the insight. So would you, despite all of the troubles, still recommend that I get the TESOL certification from Oxford Seminars? |
What kind of education do you have and where do you want to work in?
I don't know about Russia, but I know that EU countries and Korea require university degrees. Of course, Using fake degrees to land teaching gigs is a common practice in Asia.
Oxford Seminars is quite affordable, and for people who just want to learn something about teaching ESL (classroom management, lesson planning, etc), it is enough. However, if your career objective is to teach ESL for a living, get a CELTA or Trinity TESOL diploma. Oxford Seminars is unrecognized and only useful in poor countries where the ESL is disorganized and a bit of a joke (China for example). |
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SilentPower
Joined: 22 Jul 2007
Posts: 11
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| Posted: Fri Sep 21, 2007 6:27 am Post subject: hey |
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| I am going to graduate in December with a degree in Film Studies and a minor in English. I plan to do ESL indefinitely as a career. |
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spiral78
Joined: 05 Apr 2004
Posts: 11534
Location: On a Short Leash
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| Posted: Sun Sep 23, 2007 5:32 pm Post subject: |
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If you're serious about spending a few years or more in the field, get a certificate from an on-site course, 100+ hours, including at least 6 hours of supervised teaching practice with real students (not peer trainees) and feedback from experienced trainers. CELTA is the name brand, but there are generic courses out there that meet the standards as well.
There are serious benefits in taking a course in the country where you want to start teaching. You can get your feet wet whilst you still have a support system (training centres will arrange for housing during the course and offer orientation), your practice teaching students will be really representative of those you'll be working with when you start, and a good training centre can give you invaluable guidance in regards to local schools. Further, you can be sure that your cert will be recognized by employers in the region. |
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naturegirl321
Joined: 04 May 2003
Posts: 9041
Location: home sweet home
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| Posted: Sun Sep 23, 2007 10:44 pm Post subject: |
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| tw wrote: |
| I don't know about Russia, but I know that EU countries and Korea require university degrees. Of course, Using fake degrees to land teaching gigs is a common practice in Asia. |
But it seems like more and more places are asking for your degree to be legalised and Apostilled to make sure it's real. |
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tedkarma
Joined: 17 May 2004
Posts: 1598
Location: The World is my Oyster
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| Posted: Tue Sep 25, 2007 6:10 am Post subject: |
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| naturegirl321 wrote: |
| tw wrote: |
| I don't know about Russia, but I know that EU countries and Korea require university degrees. Of course, Using fake degrees to land teaching gigs is a common practice in Asia. |
But it seems like more and more places are asking for your degree to be legalised and Apostilled to make sure it's real. |
NatureGirl321 is right - that gig is over. Certainly in Korea and Thailand.
I suspect a few people are staying put - as they have been somewhere a long time and are not being examined closely - but new hires (and their documents) are being scrutinized quite carefully these days. |
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GambateBingBangBOOM
Joined: 04 Nov 2003
Posts: 2021
Location: Japan
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| Posted: Tue Sep 25, 2007 6:49 am Post subject: Re: hey |
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| SilentPower wrote: |
| I am going to graduate in December with a degree in Film Studies and a minor in English. I plan to do ESL indefinitely as a career. |
Then do yourself a favour and get a graduate degree- or at least a graduate certificate from a reputable university in it.
It'll likely be housed in the Linguistics department. |
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tedkarma
Joined: 17 May 2004
Posts: 1598
Location: The World is my Oyster
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| Posted: Tue Sep 25, 2007 7:09 am Post subject: Re: hey |
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| GambateBingBangBOOM wrote: |
| Then do yourself a favour and get a graduate degree- or at least a graduate certificate from a reputable university in it. |
I didn't notice the
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| indefinitely as a career |
- and I would say don't waste time or money on a certificate - go straight to graduate school - don't pass go - you will collect your $200 in vastly improved benefits and working conditions over the term of your career.
In the last fifteen years I have, only rarely, had less then ten weeks paid vacation (most typical - 20 weeks) and only infrequently worked more than four days a week.
A graduate degree with also tend to get you significantly higher wages over the term of your career. Not always at first and not in every country - but the better jobs will tend to pay you additional increments for each year of experience - even though you are working only seven months a year . . . 
Gambate is 100% right.
Some people will tell you that you can land (and that they have landed) good university jobs with just a BA/BS/B.Ed. - but these are real exceptions. And, I have made the point before that I worked at a college once where they were firing the BA/BS people because they were finally able to hire the MA/M.Ed people they really wanted. |
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