Job Discussion Forums

[Kramer]

Hello, this is my first post

I am 41 years old and semi-retiring shortly from a successful engineering career in the Silicon Valley area of California, USA. I have a lot of public speaking experience but no real teaching experience. I have undergraduate and graduate degrees in Physics and Electrical Engineering, respectively.

During the next year, my plan is to temporarily move near family and spend a lot of time with them as well as visit old friends around the US, do a couple of long international trips, and get a CELTA. After that, I hope to get a teaching job abroad. I have not decided where I would like to teach but hope to visit a few potential countries during my travels and I have already learned a lot from these forums.

My question is about the timing of getting a CELTA. I may have time near the beginning of my time off to get a CELTA in San Diego (International House) or San Francisco (St. Giles). But I probably wouldn't start teaching somewhere until almost a year later. Since I have no real experience and would not have applied what I learned within a year, would my certification be considered stale? Or maybe that would set off a red flag with a potential employer.

I am hoping to do some volunteer work in literacy or even ESL (San Diego area) during my time off, although I am not sure about scheduling because of my other activities. I figured that volunteering might help prepare me, as well? It is something that I have always wanted to do.

Another possibility is to get a CELTA during my international travels. OK, I travel real light. I know this sounds dumb, but don't they require a bunch of materials and I would have a bunch of books at that point that I would need to lug around for the rest of my trip?

Thanks for any insights. I have genuinely enjoyed learning from the posters here.

Kramer

[Deicide]

[shuize]

By all means, do what makes you happy. But I have to say I agree with the post above. I think you're selling yourself short.

[Gordon]

If you were to do a CELTA, do it just before you want to start teaching. Not that the cert is stale, but you would forget much of it in that year long sabbatical.

[sheeba]

Come on guys . I don't think the OP is thinking of cash here !! I met some guys on my CELTA with options far better than TEFL but we're not all in it for cash .

As for your course. I don't think that it presents much of a problem if you have no experience for a while after the course but I would try and do the course nearer to the time that I expect to work (if possible). Just makes sense really in that you can use what you learn fresh from the course . I have to say though that I was limited after the CELTA to the methods I was taught and soon realised that you have to do your own reading to meet your theoretical needs as a teacher. So if you just want the course to get work or progress in the field, that's cool ,but I think for practical use the CELTA is overrated and unless I was serious about TEFL wouldn't bother doing it.That's me - I'm sure others may disagree.

Books for the CELTA - I used two and referred to the internet for some stuff. I don't think you need so much info on theory . There's more thinking about how you would present something to a class and lesson planning.

Books -I used Peter Roach's English Phonetics and Phonology and David Riddel's -Teach yourself to teach English as a Foreign language.

Mind you I didn't get an A . I did the minimum to get through . I still can't see that those that got even an A would use too many books .

[Deicide]

[dmb]

Like most things there is no black and white. I have worked/recruited for companies that weren't too bothered about the legalities of things, so everyone was ok. I have worked at companies where the necessary paperwork was important. Then we might have considered when the CELTA was done and someone might not be considered because they were stale.... but if it was a busy time of year and we wanted a teacher with the right bits of paper it wouldn't matter when the CELTA was completed.
Everywhere is different.

[Kramer]

Thanks for all of the advice.

Well, it sounds like I should focus on taking the CELTA closer to the time I will be teaching. I might try to bone up a little with a couple of books before I start the course.

[Deicide]

[Chancellor]

[MamaOaxaca]

How about teaching English to future Electrical Engineers in a needy part of Mexico? Take the CELTA, and when you are ready to start working give me a call.

www.utm.mx

[Kramer]