Job Discussion Forums

bonibaby · Posted: Wed Mar 05, 2008 12:31 am Post subject: seeking information

Hi - newbie here! I've already made the decision that I'm going to pursue the CELTA, but I have a question. First, my background - if that will help your answers.

I've been looking at a variety of schools for earning my CELTA. I'm a Texas certified teacher with 15 years experience and certifications in History and Geography. (My children are now grown and I'm looking to do something for myself that I've always wanted.) I've always had a love of language, not learning them myself, but how language is acquired in general. Consequently I've always been the teacher the ESoL students are assigned to. To further my certifications I attended a two week training to become the dyslexia 'specialist' on my campus. There is no state certificate so it's either training in your district or at a university or simply assigned to an English teacher. I also hold an M. Ed.

Does anyone have any information on the BridgeTEFL school / program? I'm looking at the class they're offing in Seville in July and am depending on a grant proposal I've written to do it. Is this a good / reputable school? I know the CELTA program is monitored for consistency, but I also know that a lot can vary from school to school. Any information will be appreciated.

Thanks so much for your time! :lol:

johnsmither · Joined: 04 Feb 2008 Posts: 43

Hi, myself and my wife are teaching English here in China, we were in South Korea prior to coming here, we had been told a TEFL or CELTA would be an advantage to our teaching here. We took our TEFL through a company called ITTT, based in Thailand. We did our course completely online and although the course was intense we crammed it into one month's study. The exam at the end was also an intense one took us most of the day to complete. I know that TEFL can be a cheaper option, and in my experience here there does not seem to be too much scrutiny on your certification, only if you have any. Some places will take you on with no experience and no qualifications, depends on the company and the province. The website of the company we used for our TEFL was www.teflonline.net I hope this is of some assistance to you.

Anda · Joined: 16 Jan 2003 Posts: 2199 Location: Jiangsu Province

I think you would be better off posting here on Dave's for such infomation.

http://forums.eslcafe.com/job/viewforum.php?f=21&sid=7dc850cac1d08bc589a890dd0bb965f5

Serious_Fun · Joined: 28 Jun 2005 Posts: 1171 Location: terra incognita

bonibaby · Posted: Fri Mar 07, 2008 3:33 pm Post subject: thank you!

Thank you all for your responses. My situation is somewhat unique - I have written a grant proposal for the $$ to pay for the CELTA or CertTESOL and one of those is the absolute MINIMUM 'certification' I'll accept. Bottom line is: if I get the grant the ENTIRE experience (cert., air, housing, food & misc) will be covered by the grant, so I just want to make sure it's a reputable school so I can at least TRY to enjoy spending a month in sunny Sevilla!!!!

Thanks again!
bonnie
Smile