Job Discussion Forums

[Arpita29]

Hi ! I'm an indian National . I'm currently employed with an International Baccelaureate School in India. I work here in the capacity of ESL Coordinator. I teach ESl to students coming from across the globe . Not just asian ESL students. I wanted to do a Tesol or a CELTA from Thailand.

Someone suggested American Tesol Institution . I applied for a 3 week 120hrs. course . There 's this Thai special project that also guarantees 4 months of short term job immediately after sucessful completion of the course . The course fee for it is 750$ + 200 $ for accomodation . However they discriminate the priviledge of + 4month of short term paid job between native speakers and non - native speakers. They are charging me the same course fee , however, all I get as a package is a regular Tesol Course that includes the same course fee 120hrs. for three weeks . And guess what guys 3 weeks is not even three weeks it is like 19 days.

But I do not qualify for the Thai special project . so i do not get any guaranteed 4 months short - term job only because i'm not a Native speaker.

Now how fair is this?

Can somebody pls. lemme know if a 3 week Tesol which is a (19 day) 120 hrs. course at this Institute is even valuable in the ESL Job market?

[MaiPenRai]

Any TEFL/TESOL course you take in Thailand that is not the CELTA probably wont be too highly regarded outside of Thailand depending on the country. Although most TEFL/TESOL courses in Thailand tend to have a Thailand emphasis which is helpful and nice if you plan on working in Thailand. If the course is 120 hours and has observed teaching practice, it should be a viable and useful course.

Without getting into the native vs. non-native speaker debate and my personal opinions on the matter, many schools/Thais in Thailand are very racist (for lack of a better word) in who they hire. Most schools would prefer to have a 23 year old blue-eyed blond-haired beautiful American girl. Many will not hire people of colour or people of asian/muslim/indian/etc. decent even if they are native speakers and born in UK, US or Can or wherever let alone Indian or Asian nationals.

If you are going to be working in Thailand, expect to have these kind of issues and expect to be treated differently and discriminated against almost anywhere you go in Thailand.

Sorry and good luck

[Arpita29]

Thankyou ! for responding .

How well renowned is American Tesol institute in Thailand ?

Which are the best schools to get a valuable CELTA certification done from?

[brevel_monkey]

You either want to do an offical CELTA (Cambirdge Certificate in English Language Teaching to Adults) or possibly a Trinity Cert. TESOL . Both of these are widely recognised (the former more so, I think). Other courses liek the American Institute one may well help you become a better teacher, but their value in the job market will be limited (especially outside of the country they are taken in).

A good list of CELTA providers is here:

http://www.celta.esljunction.com/find-celta-course/celta-courses-worldwide.html

I here that ECC Thai provide CELTA courses in Thailand in three locations, although I can't get there website to work atm - www.eccthai.com ). Some CELTA courses are probably better than others, but as all of them are monitered and approved by the official governing body they all maintain a fairly high standard. As far as I can tell from the website, the only body that regulates the American TESOL Institute is the American TESOL institute - this should make you pretty wary.

Check out this thread too:

http://forums.eslcafe.com/job/viewtopic.php?t=59293