scattydove ([info]scattydove) wrote in [info]tefl,
@ 2007-03-02 19:17:00
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TEFL courses in the UK
Hi all

I am 23 and come from Leeds, UK. I will be finishing my undergraduate degree in Psychology in a couple of months time. As one of my major desires for a few years now has been to travel, and another to get into teaching i thought i would try and kill the two birds with one stone and take a TEFL course to teach English in a new part of the world!

My question is this...I was looking in the memories and at all the different acronyms that TEFL qualifications adopt, and am slightly confused. I know that there are weekend courses run quite frequently in my hometown of Leeds. These courses cost around £250 and consist of 20 hours teaching us stuff we need to know. However, i have also seen week long courses elsewhere in the country that cost more but, i'm guessing seen as they are a week long, more will be taught! Is a weekend course enough to gain the necessary certification? I can't even remember the website that i was looking at now that told me this information. Where would be best to look in order to find reputible and well respected courses in the UK?

Thanks for any help you give :)

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[info]themezzanine
2007-03-02 10:46 pm UTC (link)
I'm sure someone more experienced will be along in a bit to answer this more fully, but in brief:

If by "the necessary certification" you mean the CELTA or Trinity certificate, the minimum you're looking at is a month of 9-5, five days a week, at a cost of anything from about £700 to £1200. A lot of schools will insist on one of these qualifications, so if you're looking to teach for more than a few months it is worth the time and money it will cost you as it will open a lot more doors than a shorter, less recognised qualification.

That said, as has been mentioned many times in this community and elsewhere, there are countries (I shan't try to specify as I'm not sure) where any kind of certification (or none at all if you are a native speaker with a degree) is acceptable, although even in these places I would imagine that better work and better money would be available to someone with the CELTA or Trinity.

Shorter courses are not worthless, obviously, and if you don't want to shell out for one of the big two I would still recommend doing something so you're not going into it completely cold. But CELTA and Trinity have internationally standardised curricula and the places that run them are externally assessed on a regular basis, so you can be sure that you are getting training of a certain standard. Smaller, less official courses might be great, of course, but they also might be terrible, and without official certification there is no way of telling.

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[info]scattydove
2007-03-02 10:54 pm UTC (link)
Thanks for your comment...that info really helped :) So i took a little glance at your user info. Are you living and teaching in Rome right now? Is that your first job?

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[info]themezzanine
2007-03-02 11:06 pm UTC (link)
Yes, I've been here for nearly six months now and am mostly loving it. I work for the Wall Street Institute, a big multinational school about whom opinion is divided - I rather like them myself, but others' experience may vary. It's my first proper job - I did the CELTA last May and taught a summer course in Cambridge and then for a month or so in London before coming here.

Where do you think you might go if you travel to teach?

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[info]scattydove
2007-03-02 11:12 pm UTC (link)
Well...i am planning on getting a Working Holiday Visa for Australia and i always planned to go backpacking around some countries in Asia while i was over in that bit of the world. But, thinking about it, i could use the TEFL qualification to teach in China, or Korea (i've heard they're always looking for people there?), save quite a lot of money as accomodation and flights are paid for and THEN go onto Australia...

I'm not sure yet though. More than anything, i need to build the confidence to travel on my own in foreign countries. I've been around quite a bit of Europe alone and with others. Visiting Asia alone though would be stretching my confidence limits.

One thing i have wondered...How can you completely get by with just knowing English?! I'm sure that this question would be answered should i take a course, but surely you need to converse with students in their own language at some point? And indeed with the locals who you work with as well?

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[info]themezzanine
2007-03-02 11:36 pm UTC (link)
This is another thing that a person with more specific experience could discuss more authoritatively, but some places in Asia will train you as well as pay for your flights and accommodation (the one I know about is JET, which I doubt would be suitable for you as they require you to give them a year of your life and also the deadline for the next academic year has passed, but I expect there are others), so that could be a possible option. But in general it sounds like a great idea to get someone to fund your air fare, work for a while and use the money to travel. Maybe someone here has actual experience of doing something like this and can advise about the possible drawbacks.

The language thing, hmm. Well, like you say, any decent course would give you tips on that. The CELTA method ideally involves very little speaking, even in English, and there are other methods (e.g. the Silent Way) that involve almost none, so ignorance of the students' native language(s) is less of a handicap than you might think. Obviously it's handy if you speak a little of the local language as it can save time when the students simply don't get a particular word or idea, but it's not strictly necessary, at least in terms of work. Obviously if you want to have a life outside work it helps to be able to talk to people, but I know teachers here in Rome who have been here for months or even years and speak barely any Italian and get by just fine with the few words they've picked up, in combination with having English-speaking friends. Again, I guess it's different in each school, but your admin and support colleagues are likely to speak English too - in my school it's a requirement, although I'm sure it isn't everywhere.

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[info]scattydove
2007-03-02 11:54 pm UTC (link)
the one I know about is JET, which I doubt would be suitable for you as they require you to give them a year of your life

No, on the contrary! I would love to spend up to a year in a new country! Basically, as things stand, i have found that i have absolutely no interest whatsoever in persuing a career in the subject i am doing my degree in (Psychology) but i do know that i want to teach-in some capacity. So seen as i have no immediate plans for the future, this looks great! I may look into it when the next application cycle comes round :)

And "the silent way" of teaching sounds very interesting. I've heard all the theory behind it at some point on my Psychology course but never thought that it could be applied in a classroom setting in that way. It's something that i will definitely look into further.

Thankyou so much! You have been a wealth of information :) Would you mind if i added you to my friends list?

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[info]themezzanine
2007-03-03 12:14 am UTC (link)
i have absolutely no interest whatsoever in persuing a career in the subject i am doing my degree in

Heh. Small world. My degree was in English & Philosophy and I initially worked as a copywriter but chucked it after 3 years because I couldn't bear using the fun techniques I'd learned to sell phone systems to business types.

I've seen people teaching the Silent Way and it is a bit odd, but in the right circumstances can be very effective as it forces the students to do all the talking themselves. Obviously it can fall on its arse as well and what you are left with is not so much Silent Way as Silent Room.

And yes! Add away! I like new friends. If you decide to do the TEFL thing, go ahead and ask me stuff if you like. Now I teach for a living (gosh, I like saying that) it is nice to be of use and give people the (minimal) benefit of my (minimal) experience. And if you look at my diary around May last year you will get a little bit of an idea of what the CELTA's like.

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[info]scattydove
2007-03-03 10:32 am UTC (link)
I guess it sometimes takes 3-4 years of hard study plus time in the workplace to make you realise that your passions lie elsewhere...Hey, that's life right?! Hehe

I've added you :) Will definitely look back to see your take on the CELTA.

Thanks again :)

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[info]brinker
2007-03-03 04:16 am UTC (link)
I will second themezzanine's comments. Although you might learn something from these courses their benefit in helping you get a job is minimal at best. And although there are countries you can work without any cert, again, the better jobs require certs (and there is definitely a different level jobs out there.)

I wrote a longer post on the subject a while back. It's listed in the memories of this page, so I'd direct you there.

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(Anonymous)
2007-03-03 02:24 pm UTC (link)
I did a 20 hour weekend course with ITC in Edinburgh before going to Korea for a year cos while you dont need a tefl course I found it gave me more confidence. Once I got back from Korea I wanted to work in the UK and Europe, and eventually Canada where I am now and found I had to have a CELTA or Trinity certificate to work most places so I did the CELTA.

So I guess it depend where you want to work. Some countries require it. Some dont.

Good luck. :-)

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[info]urbankat
2007-03-03 02:24 pm UTC (link)
Sorry that was me.

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[info]scattydove
2007-03-03 02:39 pm UTC (link)
Thanks for the comment :) I think i am just going to go straight for the CELTA. It is a lot of money but i figured that i am going to use it and can go to work in some really cool places, and get better jobs.

Just out of interest, what sources did you use to find out about global EFL jobs?

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[info]urbankat
2007-03-04 01:26 pm UTC (link)
I used an agent to get my job in Korea. Tefl.com for my job in Italy and I applied directly to the schools in Scotland and Canada.

So I think tefl.com is good. Daves ESL cafe is a good source of info too but Im not sure of the quality of the jobs on the site.

Good luck.

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[info]quiznitediva
2007-03-04 01:44 am UTC (link)
If you are planning to work in ESL in Australia you will need a CELTA or Trinity Cert minimum. There is no (reputable) language college that I know of that will accept you without one. That said, once you have the right qualification, it is quite easy to get work here. You do have to move between colleges if you are on a working holiday visa (you are only permitted to do 12 weeks at one college then you will have to go to another one) but at peak times (September - March) there is not normally a problem getting work.

Most new CELTA graduates find it helpful to spend some time in Aus getting experience before moving on to teaching in Asia.

HTH.

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