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cleonar3
Joined: 03 May 2010
Posts: 7
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 Posted: Wed May 05, 2010 12:12 am Post subject: TESOL cert from a well-respected U.S. community college? |
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I currently have a B.A. in Communications and I am considering getting a TESOL certificate from a local community college. I am concerned that the certificate won't be respected, as it is only continuing education units (CEU) from a community college. (FYI - the certificate is 11 workshops and 25 hours of classroom observation.)
I realize there is no true regulator for TESOL certificates in the U.S., but would a TESOL certificate from a community college be respected in the ESL teaching community? |
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Chancellor
Joined: 31 Oct 2005
Posts: 1337
Location: Ji'an, China - if you're willing to send me cigars, I accept donations :)
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| Posted: Wed May 05, 2010 12:42 pm Post subject: Re: TESOL cert from a well-respected U.S. community college? |
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| cleonar3 wrote: |
I currently have a B.A. in Communications and I am considering getting a TESOL certificate from a local community college. I am concerned that the certificate won't be respected, as it is only continuing education units (CEU) from a community college. (FYI - the certificate is 11 workshops and 25 hours of classroom observation.)
I realize there is no true regulator for TESOL certificates in the U.S., but would a TESOL certificate from a community college be respected in the ESL teaching community? |
I think you'll find the answer is "it depends" - on the employer, the part of the world where you want to teach (the Euros tend not to want anyone who doesn't hold an EU member passport and who didn't take CELTA or Trinity or, perhaps begrudingly, another course taken in one of those countries). CELTA, Trinity, etc. are not college courses and you don't directly get college credits for taking them (though there might be a college or two out there that will "evaluate" a CELTA or Trinity course and give you college credits for them). Then again, the course you want to take doesn't really get you regular college credits either, does it? What about that 25 hours of classroom observation? Is that you observing other teachers or you being observed by other teachers while you teach? The former, while possibly helpful in that you'll get to see real teachers in action, is pretty much worthless without the latter.
The fact of the matter is that there is no one standard for accrediting TESL courses (e.g. Oxford Seminars doesn't have anything to do with the prestigious Oxford University in England and i-to-i claims to be accredited by certain organizations that are pretty much worthless). What amounts to a "minimum industry standard" is 100-120 course hours with at least six hours of supervised teaching practice with real ESL/EFL students. There are plenty of courses claiming to be "accredited" by this or that entity but you really have to find out whether the entity is qualified to accredit courses (meaning that it has a standard accrediting process for externally evaluating courses, that it regularly re-evaluates the courses, etc. much like the regional entities that accredit American colleges and universities) and that it does, in fact, put schools through a rigorous accreditation process.
Some people here are enamored with brand names (in other words, it's CELTA, Trinity or, maybe, SIT or you're not certified) and, as prospective employers, won't even look at an application from anyone who does not take a brand name course (much like an American employer saying "If you didn't go to Harvard or Yale then you don't have a college degree;" of course, it is an employer's market out there and they plenty of candidates to choose from); but since Americans are very unlikely to even get employment in Europe, you need not worry about them. That leaves the rest of the world. Since many employers won't even have a clue what a community college is (and won't bother to find out), you'll probably have to emphasize that you have a TESOL certificate from x college, a regionally-accredited college recognized by the United States Department of Education (make sure, of course, that it is) since it is not a degree program. There are, of course, some employers that probably won't give it much thought; but those jobs tend not to pay well.
Do you know where you want to teach? If so, check out the forums for that part of the world. |
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Glenski
Joined: 15 Jan 2003
Posts: 12844
Location: Hokkaido, JAPAN
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| Posted: Wed May 05, 2010 10:21 pm Post subject: |
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I agree, it depends. Here in Japan, the norm for newbies is not to have any certs at all. Doesn't mean one shouldn't have them, but if employers don't know or care...
So, to repeat the question, where are you thinking of working? |
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Justin Trullinger
Joined: 28 Jan 2005
Posts: 3110
Location: Seoul, South Korea and Myanmar for a bit
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| Posted: Thu May 06, 2010 12:14 am Post subject: |
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I'd recommend getting a link up to a specific course- in general, a community college cert should be decent, but there are a few specs that your post doesn't include.
Would you do any teaching as part of this cert, or just observing? How many teachers to an instructor? Who are the instructors?
Best,
Justin
PS-
| Quote: |
| CELTA, Trinity, etc. are not college courses and you don't directly get college credits for taking them (though there might be a college or two out there that will "evaluate" a CELTA or Trinity course and give you college credits for them). |
Your statement that "there might be a college or two" that would offer credit for said courses is not exactly informative. THere are a large number of colleges that have, and routinely do, this.
PPS- Or you can get 5 grad credits for the SIT TESOL Certificate. (http://www.sit.edu/graduate/6711.htm) |
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nickpellatt
Joined: 08 Dec 2006
Posts: 1522
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| Posted: Thu May 06, 2010 5:04 am Post subject: |
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| I know the Open University in the UK offers credits for Trinity/CELTA/DELTA. I think its commonplace. My Trinity was worth 10 points in credit transfer. One full academic year is worth 120 points....so there is a direct relation in the credit transfer Vs time studied |
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GambateBingBangBOOM
Joined: 04 Nov 2003
Posts: 2021
Location: Japan
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| Posted: Thu May 06, 2010 9:47 am Post subject: |
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| Glenski wrote: |
I agree, it depends. Here in Japan, the norm for newbies is not to have any certs at all. Doesn't mean one shouldn't have them, but if employers don't know or care...
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To be fair, I think it should be pointed out that more and more a "TESOL Certificate" (meaning it could be a virtually useless weekend at the Y type certificate, though if you show up with an online newb cert from some dodgy freakin' place it would probably count against you rather than for you) is becoming requested. I would say that by now more JETs have them than don't, same with most of the dispatch companies and every single direct hire that I know. It's probably mostly just the eikaiwas, out in rural areas and interac, where it isn't the norm for people to have some sort of TESOL 'qualification' (even if it is just something that really means nothing at all other than that the person decided to give a fly by night company a bunch of money). |
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Glenski
Joined: 15 Jan 2003
Posts: 12844
Location: Hokkaido, JAPAN
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| Posted: Thu May 06, 2010 1:12 pm Post subject: |
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Gambate,
That's nice to know. Can anyone else corroborate this?
Oh, and I suppose that trend has started since the demise of NOVA...? |
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