Free Teaching English as a Foreign Language for Dummies by Michelle Maxom Page B
Authors: Michelle Maxom
worthy if they don’t meet the British Council’s standard for EFL teaching qualifications or if their qualifications are not so well known. As a result they usually avoid hiring anyone who doesn’t fit the profile or may cause them extra work.
✓
Public sector: On the other hand, in the public sector, schools and colleges have to meet ever changing government standards. So these days, all new teachers have to take a ‘Preparing to Teach in the Lifelong Learning Sector’ qualification.
Unfortunately, one certificate alone won’t easily grant you entry into both sectors. The point being that, if you know where, who and how you want to teach, you can do your research and select the right course.
Look at TEFL job ads specific to the country you intend to work in and even call or email a few employers to find what exactly they are looking for. If you need a work permit before you can work as a teacher in your chosen destination, check whether you qualify for one. If not, you may have to put in a bit Chapter 3: Examining Courses, Qualifications and Jobs
35
more planning, otherwise you’ll find yourself dependent on dodgy operators who run courses with poor facilities and ridiculously low pay. Find out too if the schools there have a strong preference for one qualification over another.
Becoming a qualified teacher
A fully qualified EFL teacher is someone who has a diploma in TEFL and has at least two years’ full-time experience in teaching EFL.
The best-known diplomas are the Cambridge DELTA (Diploma in English Language Teaching to Adults) and Trinity DipTESOL (Diploma in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages). You may also have a master’s degree in ELT or a similar field (such as Applied Linguistics) in addition to teaching experience.
These qualifications are for people who want to make progress in their career and apply for managerial positions such as Director of Studies. You need a qualification like this if you’re interested in training roles too. The good news is that all these positions attract higher pay and even if you’re teaching the same courses as your less qualified colleagues, you’re likely to have a better hourly rate than them.
Diploma and master’s-level courses are not for the faint hearted. You need to get thorough experience in TEFL before considering a qualification at this level.
Getting on Course
After you decide that some form of training is in order, you need to find the right course.
Doing a training course abroad may be cheaper than doing one at home.
Entering introductory courses
Various organisations offer weekend courses of about 20 hours that introduce you to TEFL. Courses aren’t accredited by any of the best-known bodies, so word of mouth is an important indicator of quality.
Even though the certificate may have an accreditation stamp, it may be from an organisation most employers haven’t heard of. So it’s worth finding out about the tutors’ qualifications and experience and of what the course consists before parting with your cash.
36 Part I: Getting Started in TEFL
In most cases, courses have a minimum age requirement of 17 or 18. To be honest, you need to have an A-level standard education or similar to get your head around it all, but more importantly, you should have the confidence to manage people, which is something teenagers may struggle with unless they restrict themselves to teaching small children.
There’s no upper age limit, but once again, the pace is rather hectic on these courses. Be honest with yourself as you need to be the kind of person who can absorb knowledge quickly and put it into practice to get the most benefit out of these TEFL weekend programmes. Trainees sometimes underestimate what is required of them and end up a little discouraged. So be warned.
Weekend courses are fast and furious!
If you’re not a native speaker, you usually need to show that you’ve achieved an advanced level of English by passing an
✓
Public sector: On the other hand, in the public sector, schools and colleges have to meet ever changing government standards. So these days, all new teachers have to take a ‘Preparing to Teach in the Lifelong Learning Sector’ qualification.
Unfortunately, one certificate alone won’t easily grant you entry into both sectors. The point being that, if you know where, who and how you want to teach, you can do your research and select the right course.
Look at TEFL job ads specific to the country you intend to work in and even call or email a few employers to find what exactly they are looking for. If you need a work permit before you can work as a teacher in your chosen destination, check whether you qualify for one. If not, you may have to put in a bit Chapter 3: Examining Courses, Qualifications and Jobs
35
more planning, otherwise you’ll find yourself dependent on dodgy operators who run courses with poor facilities and ridiculously low pay. Find out too if the schools there have a strong preference for one qualification over another.
Becoming a qualified teacher
A fully qualified EFL teacher is someone who has a diploma in TEFL and has at least two years’ full-time experience in teaching EFL.
The best-known diplomas are the Cambridge DELTA (Diploma in English Language Teaching to Adults) and Trinity DipTESOL (Diploma in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages). You may also have a master’s degree in ELT or a similar field (such as Applied Linguistics) in addition to teaching experience.
These qualifications are for people who want to make progress in their career and apply for managerial positions such as Director of Studies. You need a qualification like this if you’re interested in training roles too. The good news is that all these positions attract higher pay and even if you’re teaching the same courses as your less qualified colleagues, you’re likely to have a better hourly rate than them.
Diploma and master’s-level courses are not for the faint hearted. You need to get thorough experience in TEFL before considering a qualification at this level.
Getting on Course
After you decide that some form of training is in order, you need to find the right course.
Doing a training course abroad may be cheaper than doing one at home.
Entering introductory courses
Various organisations offer weekend courses of about 20 hours that introduce you to TEFL. Courses aren’t accredited by any of the best-known bodies, so word of mouth is an important indicator of quality.
Even though the certificate may have an accreditation stamp, it may be from an organisation most employers haven’t heard of. So it’s worth finding out about the tutors’ qualifications and experience and of what the course consists before parting with your cash.
36 Part I: Getting Started in TEFL
In most cases, courses have a minimum age requirement of 17 or 18. To be honest, you need to have an A-level standard education or similar to get your head around it all, but more importantly, you should have the confidence to manage people, which is something teenagers may struggle with unless they restrict themselves to teaching small children.
There’s no upper age limit, but once again, the pace is rather hectic on these courses. Be honest with yourself as you need to be the kind of person who can absorb knowledge quickly and put it into practice to get the most benefit out of these TEFL weekend programmes. Trainees sometimes underestimate what is required of them and end up a little discouraged. So be warned.
Weekend courses are fast and furious!
If you’re not a native speaker, you usually need to show that you’ve achieved an advanced level of English by passing an
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