Job Discussion Forums

[spiral78]

Everywhere I've worked, a CELTA or equivalent is pretty much needed to compete on the job market right away. But I know that in many parts of the world, quals aren't required.

How long did you teach before getting some related quals?

What was/is it like teaching without training?

Do you think qualifications should be required everywhere, or is it really not necessary in some situations? If yes, which ones?

[spiral78]

Hmmm. 12 votes (ok, one was mine) but no comments? No one wants to say why quals are needed - or not? Perhaps it's all blindingly obvious....but there has been debate on this topic on threads with other main topics in the past

[Ariadne]

I didn't vote. Taught in Japan for 2 years without special training. I was living there at the time... didn't go there for the job. More than 10 years later went back to school to get a university TESOL certificate which included a practicum. I've been in China for most of the last 9 years. I think the cert helped me get my first job in China and I'm sure that it gave me some added confidence.


.

[DebMer]

I'm currently in my 3rd year in ESL and am planning to start a related MA program in September.

I'd like to do CELTA, as a friend told me that it had been more relevant to him in the classroom than his MA in Applied Linguistics. However, I expect to do an online certificate instead, due to time and money constraints, to satisfy my employer's requirements.

Previously earned quals (i.e. B.A. in English-Modern Languages) enabled me to get the job I currently have.

[hvalur87]

I took the CELTA before I started. I couldn't imagine walking into a classroom without having had some kind of training/ teaching practice beforehand. It was terrifying enough standing in front of one after the course! Other than that I also wanted to be sure I knew enough to at least do a satisfactory-ish job from the start.

[santi84]

I did some part-time tutoring in high school and through college without any TESL-specific qualifications. I didn't teach a real class until my practicum, which was about two months full-time teaching. I'm not sure how I would have survived that if I did not have any training! I had to create all my materials from scratch (no internet printouts!) and it was exhausting. I wasn't fantastic at first!

I have a TESL-related degree and TESL university certificate, and I'm still frightened to get up in front of a classroom again I'm in Canada though, so the students here are used to experienced, qualified teachers. I'm planning to get my MA/teacher certification (dual) to improve more.

[coledavis]

[Sashadroogie]

Ah, Cole! They don't need training. They are special people, and the rules do not apply to them...

[fluffyhamster]

Way back in the Paleozoic, when I knew very little about TEFL, I applied for a few Japanese eikaiwa positions and attended one or two group interviews in the UK. Although I knew some grammar generally, I hadn't given much if any thought to actually teaching discrete bits n bobs, so was a bit stumped by the interview tasks like "Show how you would teach (the difference between) some and any" (mind you, some questions would still stump me a bit, even ones years later! http://forums.eslcafe.com/teacher/viewtopic.php?p=25785#25785 ). I found what got me into FL learning-teaching mode was studying Chinese formally for a year, and starting to buy linguisticy books, rather than the CTEFLA (CELTA) per se that I then did a year or so after the Chinese course. (I can't quite say what made me take the CTEFLA - probably a belief that it would help increase my prospects - but as I had the funds available, the time free, and was generally curious, I gave it a go). Obviously, knuckling down to especially the pre-course prep tasks helped iron out a few grey areas in my grammar knowledge (though one can of course do all that and more reading off one's own bat and freely/for free, if one is even halfway disciplined), and the course itself allowed me to see what style of teaching was considered the norm, but aside from the more obvious no-no's (e.g. Don't lecture in English and about English to the extent that your students fall asleep) I'm not really sure what I gained beyond that from the course. And I think if some temp positions had not opened up right after at the school (thanks to my having more through luck than judgement done the course right before the main foreign student enrolments started), and thus given me the chance to gain some actual work experience, I would've very likely been that harder-pressed to get later jobs on the basis of the "qualification" alone.

I can see how people might bypass certs and go onto Dips or MAs after several years' experience, but I don't quite understand those who've apparently taught reasonably successfully (i.e. not too disastrously) for years (and perhaps even gained an MA in the process?) but who then "go back" as it were to do a cert. The only people I've known to do so have either seemed a little neurotic (or believing of cert advertising), or had suggested to them by their employer that a cert is the norm for the school's employees and in their interest to obtain. (And FWIW, the less neurotic of such people then stand a much better chance of obtaining a hallowed A or B grade rather than a bog-standard pass ).

The question to me isn't so much that people have a cert or not, but whether they are really that interested in the job (though I appreciate that a cert is usually a fair indicator of commitment etc, at least initially (whether it is adequate preparation for some of the worse jobs is another matter entirely though!)). I've known people who somehow have had the necessary basic qualifications but have completely lacked passion, enthusiasm, thought, care, intellect, you name it. (Often they are nice enough people, but not really quite cutting it as teachers).

[Voyeur]

[fluffyhamster]

I take it you mean you're considering a Dip or MA, Voyeur? (If only a cert, I'm not sure how far that will help carry an aging veteran!).

[Voyeur]

[fluffyhamster]

Given the way that education in certainly England has been going for decades now, to become certified you'd have to be or become insane.

[Voyeur]

[RoscoeTX]

I'm an American with an unrelated B.A and NOW 5 years teaching experience in Moscow and a CELTA. I got my CELTA around 3 years after I started teaching here and I think it's helped me to make substantial improvements in my teaching. I can't say enough good words about the course here in Moscow, fantastic experience with excellent and well-versed instructors.

Came here to Moscow with only B.A in hand and a smile and was lucky enough to get my foot in the door. Sure, that first year was messy and a true trial by fire. Knew nothing about grammar forms, hardly knew the difference between a verb and adjective. In some ways I was more or less learning with my student's if you can believe that. But I keep a smile on my face, held the Teacher's Books close to my vest and followed it's instructions ever so closely. I'm positive that most of the time I was lecturing and still am in amazement how I made it through those first years unscathed.

Yea, through the years I gained confidence, learned a thing or two and began ironing out the kinks in my teaching methods. But after the CELTA, I truly recognized how far off I really was from the true methodological path of a TEFL teacher. Now that I look back, it was kind of good that I waited to get my cert., gave me time to realize if teaching was for me and gave me time to get comfortable in a classroom setting.

So that when I did do my CELTA course, I wasn't super nervous being watched and marked by my peers and instructors and I could just focus on developing the right techniques for teaching each area of English. There was another American guy in our group and he had no experience teaching and had big problems with nerves in front of the class and his nerves would then throw off his lesson plans. He did not pass.

Long story short, my cert has made a world of difference in making me a better teacher and has of course made me a bit more competitive in the job market.