Job Discussion Forums

[tharealness]

I am planning to go overseas(probably Japan or Korea) later on this year or the beginning of next year. I was planning on going without getting my certification until my first or second year so I can save money to get certified in the first place. I do have a bachelor's degree and all of the qualifications that they do mention. Many of the companies and schools that I have used to look for jobs say they will offer training from anywhere between 1-4 weeks before I am put in a classroom setting. I wanted to get some opinions about going without getting TESL/TESOL/CELTA certified first. Is it a good idea...or will I get in over my head. I do not have any experience teaching but I am confident and enthusiastic about pursuing these opportunities.

Thanks

[coledavis]

There are quite a lot of threads on this, particularly in the Newbie forum. To save you a bit of time, I would say that if you want adequate training, leading to some choice in what job you get and some confidence based upon actual knowledge of what you can do, then you should do either the CELTA or the Trinity TESOL (TESL is I think a generic term).

There are internships but they can be inferior in terms of training (if you get much) and mean poor pay for an extended period. Avoid online and weekend courses: not only do most employers ignore them but they offer you no practical experience.

If you do a proper course, you get to observe experienced teachers and you get experience yourself with feedback on your performance.

There are some jobs you get without a decent course behind you, but whether or not you will want to continue in teaching while undergoing such an experience is a moot point.

As I suggested, I think you should now visit the newbies forum and look at threads which relate to what you've asked. I hope that helps.