Job Discussion Forums

TG12345 · Joined: 09 Mar 2007 Posts: 41

Hi everyone,

I know that Global TESOL does not seem to be the best course to take, and I am looking at some other options in Winnipeg. I can't take a summer university course because I need to work during the week. What would be the opinion of people here about Oxford Seminars? Would it be better than Global TESOL? About the same?

Thanks for your input and take care!

Tomasz Glowacki

spiral78 · Joined: 05 Apr 2004 Posts: 11534 Location: On a Short Leash

Oxford is about the same. If you're eventually going to Poland, you really have to have a course that is on a par with what most newbies in Poland will have (I seem to remember from an earlier thread that you are thinking of Poland - if I'm wrong about that, sorry).

And that's 100+ hours on-site including at least 6 hours of teaching practice with REAL students (not peer teachers) and feedback from experienced teacher trainers.

Preferably taken in the country where you want to start teaching - so that you have a chance to make local contacts and the schools will definitely recognize your certification.

danielita · Joined: 06 Mar 2006 Posts: 281 Location: SLP

TG, I am not sure how much time you want to spend on the course, but you could also look into the distance program at U. Sask. If you ever have plans to return to Canada to teach ESL, this is a great option. Check it out at:
http://www.extension.usask.ca/ExtensionDivision/credit/Certificate/CERTESL.html

GambateBingBangBOOM · Joined: 04 Nov 2003 Posts: 2021 Location: Japan

I would say Oxford's better in terms of getting jobs afterwards because I've met a bunch of people who teach EFL and one or two who teach ESL who have taken their course and no other teacher training, while I have never met a single person who has taken the other one you mentioned either abroad or in Canada (well, to be honest I've met tonnes of them in Canada, just not ones who were actually working as ESL teachers at the time, or any other it seemed). But note that that's not a scientific study. It's just my experience.

I have no idea about the content of the course itself, but it's pretty short, so I think it's pretty standard short initial certificate stuff, I would guess it's about the same as any other of similar length.

Lex Draconis · Joined: 23 Apr 2007 Posts: 3 Location: CANADA

I took the Oxford Seminar last fall and I am going to teach in Moscow this September. I don't have any teaching experience so I chose to take an Internship to build my confidence up.

Oxford doesn't have the 6 hour practicum and that could cause some problems with some schools.

VanKen · Joined: 29 Oct 2003 Posts: 139 Location: Calgary, AB Canada

nelly06 · Joined: 18 Sep 2006 Posts: 22 Location: Japan

Hi,

I took the Oxford course last summer and I'm now teaching in Japan.
With no teaching experience, I would say it gave me some BASIC tools in terms of lesson planning, classroom management etc.
They did not care about my certificate in the interview (in J), and I was thrown into the classroom with zero guidance. I was glad I knew at least a few things and it gave me a little more confidence.
The big question is: What do you expect from the course and where do you want to teach?

Find out what the requirements are for the country you want to go to and then pick a course. Anything else could be a waste of money!

spiral78 · Joined: 05 Apr 2004 Posts: 11534 Location: On a Short Leash

If the OP wants to teach in Poland, he/she will need to have a certification that allows him/her to successfully compete in the job market there. That means an on-site course including teaching practicuum. That's what the vast majority of newbies in Central/Eastern Europe have.

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

tw · Joined: 04 Jun 2005 Posts: 3898

Beware of Oxford Seminars job placement service for its graduates! You are better off finding a job yourself. I activated my job placement service in May 2005 and the so-called coordinator never took the initiative to contact me other than to confirm that she had received my activation and later, the documents needed to process my case. I was told a recruiter had been working on my behalf to find me a job but I never heard from this recruiter, or any others that the coordinator later told me she had given my documents to. When I e-mailed her, she told me that because (1) I was not a university degree holder and (2) because of my Chinese background the recruiter was having a difficult time finding positions for me. She also used this excuse that because I had "insisted" on working in Dalian it made things more difficult. That was of course a lie because I had only said that my preferance was Dalian, but never did I say Dalian ONLY. As for the no-degree and Chinese-face problems, I received plenty of job offers from my own job searches and even had to turn down a few contracts before deciding on well-paying job in a northeastern Chinese university last year.

The Oxford Seminars course is useful for anyone without any teaching experience. To me it was just spending some money to buy a piece of paper in order to increase my marketability.

GambateBingBangBOOM · Joined: 04 Nov 2003 Posts: 2021 Location: Japan

I've never taken their course, but I have known several people who have, and they've found really good jobs in Japan (where I met and worked with them), as well as in Toronto (even though they didn't have the supposedly required year long training from a community college or university- and it is this latter that I have. Note: private language schools can hire whoever they want). All of them have had university degrees, though.

I think the story the previous poster was getting may well have been exactly the position that the company felt they were in.