Job Discussion Forums

[vcarter706]

I'm sorry if this question gets asked 100 times a day... but a quick search didn't bring up anything that helped me.

I'm currently entering my last year of studies and I really want to spend one or two years abroad as a teacher. I think it would be a great experience, and one that would be very beneficial to me. On one hand, I'm very serious about wanting to teach (I don't want to give the impression that I want an easy way to live abroad for a year), but on the other hand I only plan on this being a one or two year experience for me.

As of right now I don't have any certificates, however after receiving my bachelor's degree next June I would be able to enroll in some sort of program. The only problem is that I'm not sure which program to do. I've found a multitude of online, mixed, or classroom programs that hand out varying degrees but it seems impossible to discern which ones are legitimate and thus could help me get the position I want. I'd love to do the CELTA program, but it just seemed far too expensive for a 21 year old university student.

Anyway, I'm wondering what sort of program I should use to make myself competitive. I'd prefer something that is mostly online, but alas I'd rather have a good certificate that is in-class rather than a useless online one. I guess it's also important for me to note that my goal is to teach in Eastern Europe. I read on a website (for Hungary) that as long as I have 100 hours of instruction and 20 hours of teaching experience I'll be fine... but I'm not sure if that's true for other countries in the region.

I'm willing to clarify if anything is unclear. Thanks for the assistance!

[vcarter706]

Also: If I decided to take a CELTA course in a country that I'd like to work in... would I have a good chance of getting a job? The last thing I want is to pay $1000+ for a program, fly to Europe, and then find myself without any work. That's why I'd prefer to stay in the US and do a program online...

[spiral78]

I've found a multitude of online, mixed, or classroom programs that hand out varying degrees but it seems impossible to discern which ones are legitimate and thus could help me get the position I want. I'd love to do the CELTA program, but it just seemed far too expensive for a 21 year old university student.

For the Central/Eastern European region, barring volunteer work (see the Georgia forum for current volunteer opps), a CELTA or equivalent is the standard - the thing is that most newbies on this job market will have a BA and a CELTA or equivalent.

Therefore, any online or short cert will put you at an automatic disadvantage on the job market. Keep in mind that the market is tight - there are lots of teachers around in most cities, and as an American, you pose more difficulties than a UK teacher in terms of paperwork for a potential employer already (teachers from the UK are automatically legal to work inside the EU - Americans must go through a pretty extensive legal process to get a visa. Read country-specific forums for more info on this).

CELTA and other standard-level newbie courses are 120 hours on-site and include supervised teaching practice with real students, with feedback from experienced teacher trainers. This key component obviously is missing from on-line courses, and reputable employers are aware of this. It's not just 'teaching experience'- it's supervised, and with feedback on how you've done.

There are lots of very good reasons to take a course in the country where you want to start working, if at all possible.

Training in-country offers you a great chance to get your feet wet in the country/culture while you still have a support system � they usually arrange for your housing during the course, airport pickup, and local orientation. Your practice teaching students will really be representative of those you�ll be working with when you start. You can be sure that your certification will be recognized by local employers, and a training centre can give you invaluable contacts and advice regarding reputable local employers.

This is usually a better bridge into local employment than coming with a cert already (which may not be recognised here) and trying to find a job with no local contacts.

Also, as you've mentioned finances several times, keep in mind that you are facing significant up-front costs when considering teaching in the Euro region. Schools generally do NOT hire from abroad (there are simply enough teachers walking through their doors so that they don't need to take the risk of hiring someone sight-unseen).

I do not mean to be discouraging - obviously this can be done successfully! But you will need to plan to be sure you have enough funds to get you started, and to be sure you invest in a cert course that is actually going to help you make the experience work.

You will need to plan to pay for your travel to the country, your rent/food/etc for at least a couple of months before you get your first paycheck, and for a certification course. You should also always have enough financial cushion to get yourself home in case of any problems - a little bad luck can go a long way in a foreign country.

[DoubleDutch]

Spiral's giving some very good advice here. Also, there are language schools that will train you and will repay you (part of) the course fees when they hire you, or on completion of a one-year contract. Check out http://www.ihworld.com/ for example.

[vcarter706]

Thanks both of you! I'm really serious about teaching somewhere in Europe, and I'm more than willing to pay a bit of upfront costs for this. I guess I just want some assurance that I'm not going to spend somewhere around $2500 and come home empty handed. I want to be certain that I can come home without having lost any money from this experience. I'll be perfectly happy to break even as the experience itself will make up for it.

Also, I actually hold French and American citizenship, so perhaps that'll help even the playing field against British citizens.

I'll do some research about a CELTA program in a country of interest, and hopefully it goes well. Thanks!

[spiral78]

Having French citizenship makes things worlds easier for you.

I think that planning to take a CELTA somewhere you want to work will be the best/easiest way to get started. Keep in mind that most contracts are Sept - June - it's already quite late to get on an August cert course!

The next normal hiring time is January - some companies get new contracts that start at the first of the year, and there are always a few teachers who don't return after their winter holidays.

[vcarter706]

[spiral78]

CELTA is the brand name and the exact location won't matter. Prague is something of a hotbed of teacher training centres. You might start a search there.

[AGoodStory]

[Chancellor]

[DoubleDutch]

One school to consider is the Boland School in the Czech Republic: http://www.boland-czech.com/
They are a well established school with a good name. Their International TEFL Diploma is equivalent to CELTA, and they offer a job guarantee to native speakers of English.

[spiral78]

I'm familiar with Boland and agree it's a good equivalent to the brand name courses. There are some other well-established providers in Prague as well, whose generic certs are in fact equivalent to a CELTA.

The only drawback is that employers in other regions may not be familiar with the certs from these courses, and you may need to establish that your cert IS from a course with the supervised teaching practice component up front.

'Job guarantees' are a bit of a flag, though. Read fine print in all such cases! If Boland are offering to hire their own grads, that's fine.

However, such claims if applied to other schools normally really boil down to the course provider putting you in touch with reputable schools in the region - you are still responsible for the CV-interview-demo lesson-contract negotiation process. Nothing wrong with that, unless the cert provider has implied that you will simply be 'placed' without doing the legwork yourself!

[naturegirl321]

[spiral78]

If you're only looking to teach abroad for a year or two, you might be able to get away with not having a cert. Obviously, it's better to get one. But, let's be honest, not everyone has that kind of money. go to the lirbary, read up on TEFLing, observe teachers, do some volunteer teaching, talk to teachers, etc.

The OP is focused on Europe, where a cert is very important, as the job market is saturated and most newbies have a CELTA or equivalent. A newbie candidate with no certification has few opps here.

[vcarter706]