Job Discussion Forums

DaveW125 · Joined: 18 Feb 2007 Posts: 54

Im heading off to South Korea in a couple of months to look for a teaching job. I have no formal teaching qualifications or experience but do have a Bsc in Computer Science and an Ma in Medical Law. Would it be useful to obtain some form of TEFL cert before i go? I Know one of my friends taught in SK with just a BA and was earning the same money as a girl with a MA TESOL but was he just lucky?
looking at the forums many people are saying the online certs are pretty worthless and what really matters is teaching practice but the majority of the job ads ive read say 'no experience necessary' (how does this work? do you get on job training?). i cant really afford one of the residential courses and if the most valuable asset required is teaching practice would the experience i gain from any job i do get be worth more than the TEFL certs offered on these programs (residential or online)?
hence once i have 6-12months teaching experience and (hopefully) a good reference would i be in good shape to teach in other countries without any cert?

Gordon · Joined: 28 Jan 2003 Posts: 5309 Location: Japan

If you want any info on Korea, you will need to join the Korean Job Forum.

My opinion is that online TEFL certs are worthless as it does not include a practicum, the most worthwhile part of the certificate.

Work experience is not the same as a practicum. A practicum will have a trainer observe you and who can help you. Some people can have a few years of experience and still teach like cr@p because they may have never had any good feedback on their teaching. Employers may not even be qualified either, especially in Korea.

mlomker · Joined: 24 Mar 2005 Posts: 378

ls650 · Joined: 10 May 2003 Posts: 3484 Location: British Columbia

IMHO, if you have no previous experience with teaching groups (quite a different thing from tutoring 1-on-1) then a TEFL Certificate course with a practical classroom component is very helpful.

I believe that what's most useful about such courses is the live classroom with supervision/feedback, so IMHO, internet courses with no such practice are not worth much.

Sgt Killjoy · Joined: 26 Jun 2004 Posts: 438

A friend of mine paid $500 for an online tefl course. It basically consisted of her downloading a pdf ebook of the course and submitting assignments that were just rubber stamped a-ok. I asked her what benefit she got from it and she said, it didn't teach anything you could find out on your own in a weekend of at a decent library.

An in-person course gives you the feedback you need.

Jetgirly · Joined: 17 Jul 2004 Posts: 741

When you look back at an on-site TEFL course, you'll remember your experiences standing in front of that class. Any other knowledge you gained about lesson planning, classroom management or grammar will be remembered in relation to your practice teaching.

OleLarssen · Joined: 26 Apr 2006 Posts: 337

keepwalking · Joined: 17 Feb 2005 Posts: 194 Location: Peru, at last

A TEFL course will be helpful to you when it comes to planning lessons, marking work, answering a student�s questions etc but much more important than that it will help your students. They are more likely to have a teacher in front of them rather than someone who just speaks the language.

Having academic qualifications is not the same as being able to teach. There are of course good teachers who don't have TEFL just as there are terrible teachers with doctorates in education. However, a TEFL course will at least equip you with the basics as to how to approach classes - you'll actually learn to teach in the first year of doing it, and for how ever many more years you stay in the job.

Don't see the TEFL as a piece of paper which you need to get visas or jobs - see it as something you need to start you on the way to being a teacher.

tedkarma · Posted: Sun Mar 25, 2007 6:23 am Post subject:

Observed teaching practice is what you need in a TEFL training course. Otherwise - just get some free training at www.TEFLBootCamp.com - a good portion of my skills after several years of teacher training.

Yes, sometimes people with advanced degrees might make the same money in Korea (or any country) as those will only a BA/BS. One may have good connections, lots of experience, connections, chutzpah - etc etc - the other may not.

When I last worked in Korea I earned only a bit more than some of my friends who worked in langage schools, but my contract hours were less than half and almost 1/3 of theirs - I worked a four-day week, and I had 20 weeks paid vacation. Roughly same pay, yes. Same job? H*ll no!

dessiato · Joined: 06 Feb 2007 Posts: 9 Location: Portugal

Although my teaching has all been in EU, my experience is that without a specific EFL/ESOL qualification you will not even get a reply to a job application. Again from my experience, any on-line qualification will automatically be rejected.

The most recognised are those through Trinity College London or Cambridge CELTA. Checking around the web these seem to be the best basic qualifications, and the most widely accepted.