Korean Job Discussion Forums

rowdie3 · Joined: 22 Sep 2003 Location: Itaewon, Seoul

Hey, I have a friend working in public schools now and who is looking to take a TESOL course to get bumped up to the higher pay grade.
Does anyone know of a good TESOL course that he could take on a weekend in Korea? Preferrably with foreign teachers who have taught ESL.

I took my TESOL course in Canada. Really helped me with my teaching in the first year, so would suggest one to anyone who might be struggling with classes in their first year.

Any links or first hand experience reports appreciated. Thanks!

Troglodyte · Joined: 06 Dec 2009

Does he just want to get a bump up in pay? Or does he want to actually learn something useful?

The best that I know of in Korea is the CELTA. It's probably the only one that's widely accepted internationally (at good schools).

But it's not one of those easy courses that everyone passes just by attending. Anyone who's taken it will tell you that it will take up a lot of time doing "homework".

rowdie3 · Joined: 22 Sep 2003 Location: Itaewon, Seoul

Specifically a TESOL that can be done on the weekends. I heard that there is a company that offers courses but I can't find a link for them. Anyone know?

sksahni87 · Posted: Fri Sep 17, 2010 8:19 am Post subject:

I am actually also interested in getting qualified through TESOL. If it is possible to be done in Korea, I'm there!

hondaicivic · Joined: 01 Jul 2010 Location: Daegu, South Korea

What about Trinity College Certtesol? Between that and CELTA, which one is more preferred? I've heard they're the only two that's internationally recognized.

thrylos · Joined: 10 Jun 2008

If it's a CELTA, try looking at the British Council site or search for I(nternational) G(raduate) S(chool) of E(nglish)-- IGSE. Both CELTA courses are taught by foreign staff and I think they do weekend CELTAs over 6 months(?)

Confused Canadian · Joined: 21 Jan 2003

I know people will slam it because it's offered here in Korea, but Sook Myung Women's university runs an internationally recognized TESOL certificate program which can be completed on Thursday nights & Saturdays. It's based on curriculum from the University of Maryland. All of the instructors have related Masters Degrees, and the program is supervised by the Un. of Maryland, who sends representatives each session to ensure that the instructors are following the guidelines they've set out.

sigmundsmith · Joined: 22 Nov 2007

I think for the OP the Sookmyung program is not for them. It takes 5 months to do. It is really a graduate certificate program. They are looking for something to improve their skills a little and give them a bump in pay.

I won't bag you though. I have done it myself (am doing the masters now as well) and if people do bag it here, they don't know what they are talking about. Especially if they haven't done the course. The work is both academic a practical. The course gets audited every semester by the people of Maryland so a standard is maintained.

Did I enjoy it? Noooooooooooo!!!
Am I glad that I did it? Yesssssssssss!

The Masters degree is intense and a lot of work. It is run professionally and non-Koreanized.

The CELTA I have heard is pretty intense. One month of so much work. But that maybe another option for the OP.

You can do some mickey mouse online tesol certificate course but they really dont hold a lot of water.

Keep searching until you find something right for you.

Epik_Teacher · Joined: 28 Apr 2010

How about the Canook ONTESOL? It's done by Coventry House International in Toronto, the same place that does the Trinity CertTESOL. It's a different program from the the Trinity program. It's recognized by TESL Canada and ACTDEC UK, and it's much cheaper than the CELTA. Best of all, you can do it online. You can do the 100 hour program for US$275. The 250 program is slightly less than US$1000. Both the 100 hour and the 250 hour class has an optional 20 hour practicum that can be done from anywhere else in the world.

http://www.ontesol.com

http://www.ontesol.com/tesol-certificate

I'm considering doing the 250 hour class, because I want to do the DELTA and have not been in any kind of academic class (of this type) in a long time. I want to get a leg up on it, especially grammar and related subjects. The DELTA has a specialty component, the one I'm interested in is Distance Learning/Blended Learning. I have an MS Ed in the subject and am Adobe Certified as well. None of which are useful in Korea. But as I want to escape the rat race known as Korea, it works for me! Wink

Troglodyte · Joined: 06 Dec 2009

When people say "It's internationally recognized." what do they mean? You mean that it's recognized by a couple school in 1 or 2 neighboring countries? What percentage of school in how many countries have to recognize a certificate before you call it "internationally recognized"? The CELTA and Trinity certificates are recognized in just about any country in the world. Schools in some countries that have low standards will recognize just about any certificate, thus most certificates are internationally recognized. In generally though, if the issuing body isn't well known then neither will the certificates, regardless of how good the program was. So.... if you have a certificate that was issued from the University in Maryland it might be recognized by more schools, although schools who have never heard of the University of Maryland (or for that matter haven't heard of it's ELT program) will not likely recognize it. Since Korea isn't very well known in general for the quality of it's foreign language programs (and I'm sure many of us can see why) I would guess that a lot of people will just consider a certificate done here through a local institute, to be worthless - regardless of whether the course was good or not. Even if you got the TEFL certificate from an ivy league university back home, if their TEFL program isn't well known, it's still likely to have a low value in countries that actually care about the quality of their teachers.

The OP has to decide where he's going to work in the future. If he's only going to teach in Korea, then he can choose any TEFL course that will be recognized here (which is a lot to choose from). If he's planning on going to other countries, then he needs to check the requirements for those as well. If he's not sure where he wants to go and he wants a TEFL certificate that will be recognized in most countries, then the CELTA or Trinity TESOL course are the way to go. I think that more people have heard of CELTA but that may just be my experience. The Trinity course is definitely well known and respected by anyone who is familiar with it. If the OP just wants to learn some useful stuff, then there are still a lot of choices available, but not all of them may be recognized everywhere. If the certificate is recognized by a national organisation in his home country (and he got an official qualification back home) then he can probably argue the equivalency of his certifcate to something else that the school he's applying to would recognize.

edwardcatflap · Joined: 22 Mar 2009

I'd go along with that. Unless you are 100% sure you're just going to work for a couple of years in Korea then get out of TEFL, any money spent on a certificate that isn't CELTA or Trinity will be probably be wasted. Because you'll need to get another certificate later to get any of the decent jobs. An exception to that would obviously be doing a cheap online cert and then doing the DELTA later as that would trump the CELTA for any job.

shanen · Joined: 18 Sep 2010 Location: Cheongju

I did an excellent 120 hour "internationally recognized" TESOL course in Seoul. I think they also run the course in Busan and maybe other places. Its excellent because you do a block course over ONE weekend, both Sat and Sun. Then you do the practical at your school in your time when it suits, hence you must be teaching when you do the course. I think it cost me W690,000...well worth the money and great tutors. Try to get a hold of a guy called Matthew, he's the course director. It certainly helped me get a job at Chungbuk National University in Cheongju. The website is www.tesolalliance.com. Again, highly recommended and it really does help your teaching. Very Happy

Troglodyte · Joined: 06 Dec 2009

edwardcatflap · Joined: 22 Mar 2009

You generally need experience but the CELTA is not a prerequisite. It depends on the centre and the strength of the other candidates at the time. As you say, the DELTA is usually a requirement for DOS and senior teacher jobs but it can obviously make a big difference when applying for a teacher's job in a high demand school/place.