Hello, I am looking at taking a 100+ hour TEFL certification. It is entirely online, as due to location I do not have access to classroom, and I have been assured that this is fine from my employer.
I have already been teaching for almost a year, so in-class hours are not a huge concern for me. Thanks for the info, I am applying through EPIK but I wanted to get a little further in the application process without shelling out the cash for TEFL in case something goes wrong.
If a school asks for teachers with a TEFL certificate or “CELTA or equivalent”, that is what they are expecting. If any of those things are shorter, especially the observed lessons, you really are not qualified to teach English.
Loosely speaking, there are two types of TEFL course – face-to-face courses, typically done full-time over 4-5 weeks, or part-time over six months, and online/blended courses, which are normally self-study courses completed over a three- or six-month period, and which may or may not include a 20hr weekend-/classroom-based element.
The TEFL Academy offers a comprehensive 168-hour Level 5 TEFL course that you can complete a majority of online (148 hours) over the course of six months (or less, if you have more time to commit), with the final 20 hours taking place in a classroom.
When searching for a TEFL course, many students ask 'is a 120-hour TEFL certificate enough to teach in a classroom or online?' . It may not feel like enough time to become a qualified teacher, but we can assure you that it is. 120 hours is the bare minimum that most ESL employers will ask you to complete.
Depending on how the course is structured, a 120-hour TEFL course can take anywhere from one month to six months. Shorter courses are more intensive and require full-time study.
While a Level 5 qualification can help to boost your CV and make it easier to secure work it won't give you a salary bump. Salaries in the TEFL industry are typically determined by experience, so entry-level teachers can expect to earn the same, whether they have a 120-hour, Level 5, or CELTA qualification.
A level 3 course will be perfectly fine if you want to teach English online. It should also be good enough to get you an entry level position teaching English as a foreign language abroad. However, if you want your pick of the TEFL jobs online or abroad you should really go for a level 5 course.
It is very rare for any student to fail an International TEFL Academy TEFL Certification course. International TEFL Academy has a passing rate of over 90% (one of the highest passing rates of any TEFL school worldwide).
In fact, according to one teacher, "TEFL courses were initially developed for high school grads, and tend to have that level of material." Keep in mind that grammar lessons can be technical and slow moving—it is harder than it looks to re-teach ourselves the "Why" behind a specific sentence structure!
If you don't have a teaching license and are seeking an overseas teaching job, you should have both a bachelor's degree and a TEFL certificate. With these under your belt, you may be lucky enough to find ESL teaching jobs in countries such as China, Japan, and Korea.
With China now out of the picture, where do you recommend going to save money?
The public schools in Vietnam have just announced they will teach the first term Sept - Jan online (which doesnt include ESL teachers). You can read more about it here: https://saigoneer.com/saigon-news/20557-education-department-proposes-vaccinating-students-to-reopen-schools?fbclid=IwAR15a96REmcMkD_v05kwX5FDX9K5xJ2IjdFkqj-lGZOLCxhhT81sEDDEwEc
It seems that Saudi Arabia or the UAE are the best options going forward. Every article I read online or video I watch makes it seem like you can really earn a lot of money there and have a good chance at a long-term career.
I think I want to begin my TEFL journey in Russia because I know their language pretty well and am familiar with the culture. I understand that the pay is low but the cost of living is also low and from what I've read this cancels out to a decent living.
So I bailed on my plans to join CIEE thanks to all the information put out here. Also the price tag was not something I could afford and decided to set up my route to teaching in South Korea like this:
Loosely speaking, there are two types of TEFL course – face-to-face courses, typically done full-time over 4-5 weeks, or part-time over six months, and online/blended courses, which are normally self-study courses completed over a three- or six-month period, and which may or may not include a 20hr weekend-/classroom-based element.
TESL: Teaching English as a Second Language. If speaking correctly, TEFL refers to teaching English in a country where English IS NOT the first language, while TESL refers to teaching English in a country where English IS the first language. TESOL is used to refer to either context.
Legalisation is the process of authenticating or certifying a legal document so a foreign country's legal system will recognise it. Where legalisation of your TEFL certificate is required for a work visa, you MUST get it done in/by the country where the company that issued the certificate is registered. So, if you're American, for example, but your certificate came from a British company, you will need to get it legalised in/by the UK. This can be problematic, not to mention expensive, so check where the TEFL provider is registered BEFORE choosing a TEFL course.
They are also the preferred qualifications for teaching in Europe. The best known are the Cambridge CELTA and the Trinity CertTESOL, but there are a number of accepted equivalents, including the Certificate in TESOL, formerly the CELT (Ireland), the SIT TESOL (USA/Latin America), and the Cert I V in TESOL (Australia).
TEFL, TESOL, and TESL are all acronyms for the industry (as opposed to being specific qualifications). TEFL: Teaching English as a Foreign Language. TESOL: Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages. TESL: Teaching English as a Second Language.
Once you have been teaching for a couple of years, you might consider upgrading your qualifications. Doing so will serve as professional development, and may make you eligible for more senior positions.
Aside from being completely untrue, a course being assessed at 'Level 5' is no indication of either equivalency or quality; it simply means that the level of skills, knowledge, and work required to complete it is that the same as that required to complete a Foundation Degree.
A standard length for a TEFL certificate course is 100 to 120 hours of (usually face-to-face) training with six to eight hours of observed and graded teaching practice. If a school asks for teachers with a TEFL certificate or “CELTA or equivalent”, that is what they are expecting.
In TEFL, a Diploma is a qualification for people with at least two or three years of relevant job experience and usually an initial teaching qualification. A Diploma such as the Trinity DipTESOL or the Cambridge DELTA can get you credit for an MA in TESOL, TEFL, ELT or Applied Linguistics.
Yes there are bad courses out there but also many great ones, this is nothing more than someone writing a contrary title to a blog to grab traffic.
However good the training that you get on a course, if it is only offered by that one school you will spend the rest of your TEFL career having your qualification questioned or ignored. Some course providers might be well known locally, but few people only teach in one country or area for more than a couple of years.
As well as a weekend or purely online course being almost worthless, schools which mainly offer these qualifications but also have a (less popular) four-week face-to-face course are usually to be avoided. 4. Entry requirements. In general the more difficult it is to get on a course, the better the course is.
Such a certificate cannot, however, be used to show your teaching ability or knowledge, because none of that is tested on that kind of course. The same is true for courses who do demand written work from you, but in which everyone who sends it in passes.
By “reasons to avoid a TEFL course”, I most certainly don’t mean to avoid all TEFL training. Any training is better than none, and there are well-known and well-respected courses such as the Cambridge CELTA and Trinity CertTESOL that are available and recognised all over the world. There are, however, plenty of courses that you probably should avoid, especially if you also have the option of taking a more respected one (and most people do).