Teaching English as a Foreign Language for Dummies (9 page)

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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
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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.

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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 exam such as IELTS (International English Language Testing System) with a minimum band score of 7. However, even if you’re a native speaker, your grammar should be of a reasonably high standard or else you can find yourself doubting your English and losing the confidence of your students. You should know that your English is correct even if you cannot explain why yet.

What you can do with this certificate

A certificate from a weekend course tells employers that you’re responsible enough to undergo basic training before applying for a job. It doesn’t mean that you’re now a qualified EFL teacher, regardless of what the advertisement says.

In fact, after a training weekend, you’re likely to feel a lot more enthusiastic and aware of what the job entails. You won’t feel ready to go anywhere and teach anyone but at least you know a bit more about how to put a lesson together and the kind of the information students need. View the course as a taster and tell employers that you’re keen to develop your skills on the job.

What the course covers

A weekend TEFL course follows similar lines as a full TEFL certificate because it touches on most of the same course components but in a very brief way.

A weekend course should include:

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Basic grammar:
There’s far too much grammar in the English language to teach everything in such a short time, but the course should make you aware of different tenses (you may think that there’s a past, present and future tense and that’s it, but believe me, the truth is a little more complicated). You usually touch on the different kinds of words you use in a sentence too – nouns, verbs, adverbs and adjectives.

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Classroom techniques and activities:
Very often the tutor treats you as though you’re a foreign student and shows you how to handle warm-up activities and pair or group work in the classroom.

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Lesson planning:
You should learn one of the different formats for planning a lesson so that you know in which order to do things and how to make your lessons fun and effective.

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An opportunity to practise teaching:
You teach a mini lesson or part of a lesson to volunteer students or to your fellow trainees.

The maximum class size should be about 20; a tutor can’t effectively teach more than that.

How much it costs

A weekend course should be a lot cheaper (about 25 per cent of the cost) of a full certificate in a school, but don’t forget to factor in the cost of accommodation and travel too. In the UK courses cost approximately £200 for 20 hours training.

i- to- i (www.i-to-i.com) has been offering weekend TEFL courses in the UK, USA, Ireland, Canada and Australia for several years.

Signing up for a certificate course

TEFL certificate courses come in a variety of packages these days. You can do intensive or part-time courses or complete a distance course online or by post.

You have to be at least 18 years old to do a TEFL certificate in most cases, which is practical as you’ll be managing people in your classroom. There’s no upper age limit.

Course providers generally prefer to take students with degrees or a good standard of education (good enough to go to university). Don’t despair if you don’t have any formal qualifications though. It’s worth speaking to the school or college in person. If it’s satisfied that you have a good head on your shoulders and a respectable level of English, it may well accept you.

Applicants with teaching experience are also favoured. Most schools ask you to take a test to prove how good your English is, so inform the school beforehand if you have a learning difficulty that affects your writing. If you’re a non-native speaker, schools expect you to have an exam pass at advanced level in English as well.

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Part I: Getting Started in TEFL

Intensive TEFL courses last four or five weeks. Don’t try to keep up your part-time job or even your favourite TV show because every waking moment is filled with lesson plans and projects. However, this type of course is a great way to jump in and get started.

If that sounds a bit too much for you, plenty of courses are spread over three months or even a year, enabling you to attend sessions in the evenings and at weekends, so you can fit it in around your job.

In any case, you need over 100 hours of tuition, plus feedback and homework time to gain your certificate.

What you can do with this certificate

With a bachelor or master’s degree in any field and an EFL teaching certificate you’re eligible to apply for the majority of vacancies.

To be honest, many university graduates have no idea what to do in a classroom so some employers bypass your level of education if you’ve managed to prove yourself and passed a certificate course.

What the course covers

The overall aim of certificate courses is to provide initial training for people who want to teach English to speakers of other languages and to make sure that they meet the criteria for teaching by demonstrating English usage accurately, by giving well balanced lessons and by evaluating their lessons.

Objectives for the course usually include familiarising trainees with all those areas that go into English language teaching – methodology, classroom procedures, techniques and aids, language awareness and testing. You have the opportunity to teach and to find out how to prepare and evaluate lessons too.

Other objectives for taught certificate courses are:

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To help trainees learn about the main pronunciation, vocabulary and structural features of current English.

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To raise awareness of the learning needs of individuals or groups of learners and of the motivation they have in a variety of circumstances and environments.

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To make sure that trainees can work cooperatively as members of a teaching team or group.

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To help trainees develop the ability to create and maintain the learners’

interest and establish rapport.

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To make sure that trainees can plan lessons with clear and achievable aims using methods appropriate to the learners’ levels of achievement and age.

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To give trainees basic classroom management skills and the ability to provide relevant activities.

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To make sure that trainees are able to use and adapt published teaching material and create their own basic teaching material.

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To highlight the main advantages and disadvantages of various language teaching approaches.

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To ensure that trainees can continue their development in TEFL after completing the course.

Before you start, the course provider sends you an EFL reading list and often asks you to complete a work book that provides an introduction to three important areas of the course. One is the unknown language section, the second is a grammar section and the third section is about how to teach.

Some courses include lessons in a foreign language so that you understand how the students in your class feel. Through these lessons you can gain the dual perspective of both a teacher and a student and experience various teaching techniques. You produce a project based on these lessons near the end of the course.

Teaching practice is an essential part of the course so expect real live students to volunteer to take part in your lesson. You also have the opportunity to see various other experienced teachers at work and your tutor gives you continual advice, feedback and support.

Courses with a
learner profile project
give you the opportunity to get to know one EFL student a bit better and analyse their language skills in depth. For the project, you usually conduct an interview with the student and record it. In addition you set them a written task so that you can write about their strengths and weaknesses and discuss ways in which you would help them through EFL lessons. You may teach one lesson with the student in which you address one of that student’s weak points.

A
materials project
is designed to help you use and adapt basic materials, such as a photograph, in the classroom. You’re asked to show how to use the same set of materials with students of different levels and abilities.

At the end of the course there’s often a test on grammar and phonology (pronunciation).

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Part I: Getting Started in TEFL

Speak to local schools and colleges about their teacher training programmes.

CELTA and Trinity CertTESOL are the most widely accepted certificates for the private sector and employers worldwide recognise them. If you’re currently studying for a degree, check whether your university runs TEFL courses in the summer.

How much it costs

The average cost of the CELTA and the Trinity CertTESOL is £1,000. You may need to consider accommodation and travel costs too if no course provider exists where you live.

Keeping your distance

Distance learning courses never share the same high profile as taught courses because they don’t let you experience teaching practice, but they have their own advantages.

Many people find it easier to fit the course into their normal lives by studying in this way. You can go at your own pace – and distance courses are a lot cheaper. On the other hand, you may never meet a student until you’re teaching a class yourself and your tutor can only offer feedback on your written work not your actual performance. So distance learning has a few disadvantages too.

Many people who already have a suitable teaching qualification, such as a PGCE (Postgraduate Certificate in Education), but have no experience in EFL

choose to take a distance course because the certificate itself is not as important for them. The skills to do with presentation, classroom management and lesson planning are transferable, so with this kind of course it’s easier for the teacher to choose which areas to spend more time on.

What you can do with this certificate

Overseas employers appreciate the fact that you’ve taken the trouble to study and get yourself a certificate, and this tends to carry more weight than the actual certificate itself. This is because the organisations offering distance courses aren’t as well known as CELTA or Trinity, which provide taught courses.