Free Teaching English as a Foreign Language for Dummies by Michelle Maxom Page A

viewed as a great catch by schools and individual students looking for a tutor, despite your lack of qualifications and experience. Being a native speaker can be your USP (unique selling point), but try not to be complacent.
    Many EFL teachers have no training whatsoever but still manage to find work and develop their skills while in the job. If you won’t be relying on an income from teaching and are unlikely to spend more than a few months in one place, a short taster course is probably all you need. Various organisations offer weekend and short courses in TEFL that give you a taste of what is involved in the job and help you decide whether teaching is for you on a long-term basis.
    In the UK, for example, Berlitz (www.berlitz.com) won’t employ a teacher who doesn’t have a degree and teaching certificate. However, if you apply to one of their schools abroad, you may have the chance to prove yourself on their unpaid training course which lasts one to two weeks.
    Unfortunately, employers don’t view all native speakers as equal. UK, Australian and other accents from economically strong nations are viewed as high status and are more sought after. Students tend to mimic the pronunciation of their teachers and many have distinct preferences about the accent they want to acquire. Countries that use English as just one of their national languages often bring influences from the other language (or languages) into the pronunciation, grammar and vocabulary of their particular variety of English. Some students find Asian and African varieties of English, for example, less desirable than those of the single-language nations. Whatever your accent, practise speaking clearly and accurately.
    When you start approaching schools, project a professional attitude, a sense of humour and an interest in meeting and helping people.
    Once you find work, you need more than a great accent to get through the lessons. If a choice of work comes your way, teaching conversation lessons is your best bet for easing yourself into TEFL. Teaching conversation is a little easier because you can concentrate on teaching less technical areas like fluency, vocabulary and pronunciation and avoid tricky grammar questions until you build up your experience. It’s inadvisable to advertise yourself as merely a teacher of conversation lessons though, as this can limit your 34 Part I: Getting Started in TEFL
    chances of finding work and you may find yourself feeling pigeonholed even after you’ve expanded your skills. It pays to brush up on your own grammar anyway and take an interest in how the English language works. (Look at Chapter 15 for info on grammar.) Think about when and why you say the things you do.
    Getting initiated
    If you intend to teach for more than a few months, make a reasonable living at TEFL, and give your students value for money, you really should invest in a TEFL certificate course of 100 hours or more. Teachers at this level are officially called TEFL initiated. Most EFL teachers remain at this level as this is what the majority of employers require from job applicants.
    Before enrolling on a certificate course, consider who you want to teach and where. Each country has its own standards and preferences, so failing to meet the criteria for visa applications and the standards set by local employers hampers your chances of finding work.
    The UK TEFL market is a prime example. The two strands of English course providers are the private sector and the public sector:
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    Private sector: The more established private language schools tend to be accredited by the British Council who expect EFL teachers to be graduates (in any field) and to hold the CELTA (Certificate in English Language Teaching to Adults) or Trinity CertTESOL (Certificate in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages) qualifications. Other qualifications are technically acceptable but school managers have to jump through hoops to convince inspectors that their teachers are