Tefl

[sligoman]

Has any of ye ever done this in Europe at all? If ye have can I get info on yer experiences, difficulties etc.

[superfrank]

My brother did the TEFL here in Bray. He's now teaching over in Italy.

He has pretty tough work weeks though. I think he does some work in a language school and then more one-on-one sessions on the side. And then during the summer the work almost dries up completetly.

He seems to be enjoying it though. It sounds like good crack.

[sligoman]

Bump. Any others?

[osarusan]

This is what I do in Japan, so I know more about the Asian market than the European market, but there are lots of similarities, I'm sure.

How seriously do you want to do it? Most jobs require some qualifications, and a lot are looking for you to have a University degree (doesn't matter what kind, just a degree).

Qualifications range from an online Tefl course, (http://www.teflonline.com/content.htm) where the qualification is pretty much useless, to a Master's Degree in TESOL, (http://www.tesol.org/s_tesol/sec_document.asp?CID=124&DID=429) which is about the best qualification around. It takes about 2 years to get though!

A well-respected but easy-to-get qualification is a CELTA, (http://www.cambridgeesol.org/exams/teaching-awards/celta.html)
which takes about a month full time.

Here is a list of EFL/ESL Job Sites (http://www.schackne.com/jobs.htm#Link1) to show you some of what's out there.

As I say, I'm not so well up on EFL in Europe, but I'd say you'll need some kind of qualification to get a job. And another site, showing some salaries. This one has a better focus on jobs in Europe. (http://www.cactustefl.com/jobs/index.php)


Here's a decent EFL Forum (http://forums.eslcafe.com/job/) where you can read what ordinary teachers have to say - as you will see from the forum, Asia is the place to be.

Regarding the work itself, you'd better be ready to

# teach a lot of kids.
# shorten your sentences to understandable levels for non-native speakers.
# Get familiar with what the various names are of parts of language - verb,
preposition, present perfect tense, phrasal verb.....etc.
# tighten your belt - the jobs don't usually pay well, but a lot of them set you up with accomodation.

If you get into it, it can be a really rewarding job. I cam to Japan to watch the World Cup, and am still here 6 years later. I'm guessing you're just looking to do it for a few months though!

If you want any more info, PM me anytime.

(Here's a start - "Teacher, what's the difference between "Have you been to..?" and "Did you go to..?")

[sligoman]

Cheers for that info osarusan, looks decent. I'll have a look through it tomorrow. It's just a 'thinking about it' phase at the moment and yeah, it'd be just something for summer, nothing longer, unless it turns out that I'm really enjoying it and I'm interested in keeping it going obviously.

[sligoman]

Would one of these (http://www.i-to-i.com/tefl/weekend-tefl/) courses be a pretty crap qualification then yeah?

[osarusan]

I wouldn't go for it.
As far as I know, any course that doesnt have

at least 100 hours of total study time
6 hours of teaching time
a seminar where you are the student in a foreign language class (mine was Slovakian)

wont be certified by any language school or centre. Granted, I am not too familiar with online TEFL, but I'd be very sceptical. I am pretty sure that any school which knows its stuff will not accept it.

One of their selling points is

Accredited by ODLQC and SQMS
but ODLQC is just this - http://www.odlqc.org.uk/. Nothing really.

There is an Irish organisation called ACELS, whose job is to check if your qualification will be recognised by anybody. It might be worth giving them a shout. http://www.acels.ie/


IMPORTANT FOR TRAINEES (posted 06/07/07): CELT replaces the Initial TEFL Certificate of September 1st, 2008. This change constitutes an upgrading of the certificate course, the main difference being:

* - minimum of 120 hours input
* - a minimum of 100 hours input
* - a minimum of 360 minutes (6 hours) teaching practice

Please note that the CELT is accepted for employment in other jurisdictions, e.g., accredited schools in the UK and Australia.

[Dodge]

A friend of mine did it in Japan too. Met his wife over there. The similarities to Mr Monkey end there though as she's Welsh and they live in Dundrum

[GuisaSaigon]

Did my TEFL in the Bridge Mills in Galway. Very intensive 1 month course got a RELSA (Recognised English Language Schools Association)certificate after, which is basically an equivalent of a CELTA.
Taught in Vietnam for a few years, great craic, brilliant qualification to have if you like to travel

[sligoman]

ACELS, whose job is to check if your qualification will be recognised by anybody. It might be worth giving them a shout. http://www.acels.ie/I contacted that crowd but got no response.

I have been looking at this course (http://www.teflworldwideprague.com/About-the-TEFL-Course.html) since, seems to be a lot better. It's €1,300 though, does that seem right?

[osarusan]

I contacted that crowd but got no response.

I have been looking at this course (http://www.teflworldwideprague.com/About-the-TEFL-Course.html) since, seems to be a lot better. It's €1,300 though, does that seem right?

It looks much better. Mine cost about 2,500 euros.

The thing to be most careful about (I think) is making sure you get a certificate from an accredited school. Make sure that when people see the certificate on your resume, they will be confident that you know what you're doing. What kind of organisations recognise that TEFL certificate as an acceptable certificate? It says they're accredited by the Czech ministry of Education, which is good.

Take a look at this one - http://www.ihdublin.com/ihdublin/Main/CELTA.htm

Offered by Cambridge University through International house in Dublin, and externally moderated by a Cambridge assessor. Same price.

One offered by Relsa.
http://www.mei.ie/relsa-certificate-in-tefl.html
It will be much the same, I'd guess.

Bear in mind that in some schools (in Asia at least) you don't need any certificate at all to get a job.

[superfrank]

On the TEFL credibility, if it helps, my brother worked in a private English school and a secondary school in Italy for a few years until he moved to Bolivia. Now he's working in a university over there.

[brianw82]

Did a weekend course in Paris a few years ago, but went no further with it.

The bit where you are the student (it was Czech for us) is absolutely brilliant. It just goes to show how appalling language teaching is in this country, where we can barely speak 5 words of it after leaving school.