TEFL TEFL Certification
Is a TEFL certificate really necessary? What time of year is the best for doing a course? What is a TEFL certification course all about? Find out here.
Interview With A Recent TEFL Course Graduate, Kineta In Wisconsin (Part 2)
In Part 1, Kineta described how her TEFL course changed her outlook on teaching. Continue here to find out more about the challenges and rewards as well as her advice for others.
What was the most difficult part of the course?
Kineta cites “getting and more importantly staying organized” as the most challenging aspect of the course. “I received so many important handouts, assignments and took many notes to the point that the pages from my binder began to give way. However, I noticed the more organized I was the more smoothly things seem to go. In a 5 week course with 130 hours there’s just no time to lose because of carelessness, which can be a direct result of being disorganized.”
Date: April 7th, 2007 |
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Why Go To Grad School? Part 2
In Part 1, Tedkarma set the stage and outlined the reasons for getting an advanced degree in the field of English language learning. Read on to get a more in-depth view of how a Master’s degree will relate to professionalism, opportunity and personal philosophy.
Professionalism: We all know that most jobs in EFL offer the teacher a high degree of autonomy and minimal direction. As you move to more professional positions this responsibility – and it is a responsibility – increases. The need to develop special materials for students increases and it is not just the special materials that requires greater understanding, it is understanding how learning occurs and how to develop materials that will facilitate long-term learning – not just short-term flash. In my own experience it helped me develop and write eight different EFL text-books designed to meet exactly the needs of my students at the time. We all have complaints about how materials are typically not well-focused on our students’ needs. It’s important to know not just what is needed, but the why and the how of putting it all together in a way that works best for exactly those specific students. And, to be able to do a thorough and accurate needs assessment for those students. This, a good graduate education will help you do.
Date: April 2nd, 2007 |
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Interview With Kate, Recent Trinity Cert TESOL Graduate In England, Part 2
After finding out why Kate chose the course she did and how it affected her outlook and challenged her in Part 1, I asked her for her opinion on the difference between doing a course at home and abroad – perhaps a difficult question for anyone to answer because of course most people will do just one course, not one of each! But her predictions matched much of what I would expect (having done a course abroad myself). She mentioned the practical advantages – the comfort of being in your own home, access to materials and resources, knowing “where to buy things like packs of multicoloured card when you want them”. She also mentioned that she benefitted greatly from communicating with her course-mates, and thought greater proximity (living in the same neighborhood or even building) during a course abroad might be useful.
Kate’s advice for those considering whether to do a course or not:
“I’d say that if you want to teach, and particularly if you don’t have any experience, it’s definitely worth doing the course. It gives you loads of ideas, and you learn where you can search for other resources. It gives you a qualification, which I think is becoming increasingly necessary to find a job teaching English.
Date: March 29th, 2007 |
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Interview With Hilal, Recent CELTA Graduate In Istanbul
Hilal Hastaoglu lives in Istanbul and recently completed an intensive CELTA course; she was kind enough to do an email interview for the TEFL Logue. (You can get her story and thoughts first hand by subscribing to her ESL Base TEFL Course Diary) In the near future, I hope to be able to offer interviews with a number of recently graduated TEFL trainees – these can be useful for insight into a particular course, and also for comparing different courses or different relevant aspects of courses (full-time/part-time, at home/away, in-person/online, etc.).
Hilal shared a personal story in her email interview which, I think, gives a good background to why she chose to pursue teaching:
“When I was 5, my grandmother taught me how to play teacher-student with my Cabbage Patch dolls. Her dream for me was for me to become a teacher (she thought I had the talent for it). As time passed by, I was taking steps into becoming a businesswoman instead. One day, I realised that I’m not doing something I want and my grandmother is absolutely right.”
And so it began…But first things first. Why did she choose the particular course she ended up doing?
“The reason why I decided to take the CELTA was because it had teaching practices and a good reputation world wide. I thought going overseas to take the course would be best. However, when I heard of the International Training Institute in Istanbul, I changed my mind. After studying in 16 schools and living in 6 countries, I really didn’t want to see another suitcase or an airport. So, why go abroad when you have the same quality in Istanbul.”
Date: March 27th, 2007 |
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TEFL Course: Full-Time Or Part-Time?
Many TEFL trainees immediately go for the full-time intensive TEFL course – generally four weeks long – and there are plenty of advantages to this: you only need to pay for one month’s housing, you could well be out of the “earning race” for only a month, and you’re really thrown into the thick of it: you use what you learn right away. The pace at which you have to plan and deliver – for the next day usually – often mirrors the situation in the real world.
But the ESL Base TEFL Course Diaries made me reconsider the value of part-time courses – often done over three months or so. Yes, you do have to pay for housing for the length of the course, which, depending on the location, can in fact add up…but you may well have more of a chance to absorb what you are trying to take in. If you already have some experience, and are just doing the course to improve your skills – or if you’re already working a job in another field – you may be able to do the part time course and keep working.
Date: March 13th, 2007 |
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Why Go To Grad School?
Tedkarma, creator of TEFL Bootcamp free online TEFL training, has contributed his insight and advice to the TEFL Logue before, most recently on the topic of using business experience to help you in TEFL.
Tedkarma has an M.Ed. in Educational Psychology (learning theory) and describes it as “…invaluable - on a deeper level - in terms of thinking about the best ways to approach lessons when learning isn’t happening at a pace or on a level that it should be.” Find out what Tedkarma has to say in his own words on: Why Get a Grad Degree? Why not?
There is a lot of chatter on Internet bulletin boards about how much and what kind of education one needs to pursue a job or a career in TEFL. Often these “discussions” become angry and heated debates – usually between those with little or no tertiary education and those with a lot. Some claim that “street smarts” are all you need, others claim a need for deep analytical skills. Here’s the poop as I see it after fifteen years teaching EFL in four countries, all in Asia: For a real career in TEFL you need a graduate degree in a relevant area.
Date: April 2nd, 2007 |
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Interview With Kate, Recent Trinity Cert TESOL Graduate In England
Kate Sutcliffe, who recently completed a Trinity Cert TESOL in Woking, England, and took the time to do an email interview about her experience for the TEFL Logue. You can read and subscribe to her ESL Base TEFL Course Diary Blog here, where she details her thoughts and experiences during the course and also plans to add her insight on teaching when she gets started.
As for the most valuable thing she’s gained from her course, Kate cites the teaching experience.
“We taught six lessons as part of the course, and I think in many ways this is the most important aspect of it; it’s what helps you to feel like you do know what you’re doing, at least to a small extent. It was also really useful doing Russian lessons [as part of the course]- feeling what it’s like from the student’s point of view must help a lot with teaching. And of course the qualification in itself is pretty valuable - that’s probably what’s going to allow me to get a job in the UK!”
Kate chose her particular course in part for a very practical reason: it’s near where her parents live and she had a free place to stay during the course.
“However, I was particularly attracted by the fact that we did some Russian (not to learn Russian, but to experience what it was like to be taught a new language, from scratch, only using the language to be learnt). I was also attracted by the free, one day seminar which anybody can go along to, to find out about the course and whether it’s for them. I thought that was a very good idea, and when I went along the place seemed friendly and it looked like it would be an enjoyable course and like I’d learn a lot, so I decided to go for it.
Date: March 30th, 2007 |
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Interview With Hilal, A Recent CELTA Graduate In Istanbul (Part 2)
Hilal reports how the CELTA has changed her outlook on teaching:
“When I was in university, I would always wonder “when is this class going to end?” However, the CELTA helped me realise that the world is changing and that the classical teaching style is now history. Classes have become student oriented and teaching students has its variety of methods.”
What advice does she have for people thinking about doing a TEFL course?
“…if the desire is from deep down inside of you, then don’t hesitate. However, if it is because you want to add another fancy certificate to your collection, I suggest you think twice. Teaching is a very serious duty.” Once you are already in the course, consider the five golden rules for the CELTA Hilal posted on the tefl training diary.
Date: March 28th, 2007 |
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Guided Discovery: What’s That?
One of the themes that comes up in many teacher training classes is guided discovery. For lots of us, including me when I first heard of it, this is somewhat of a new concept.
If you’re using a textbook like Cutting Edge or Headway, there is already some guided discovery there. In general terms, as I understand it, guided discovery works something like this: students get some examples, in a meaningful context, and then answer leading questions – which are focused on the target language – about the examples. The point is not to“guess the rules” but to give students examples and clues which they have to think about in order to reach the end point of some grammar rule. Even when the questions are very direct, it is better than just telling them the rule because they are pressed to use their own logic to figure it out a) because people are more likely to take in something they are actively involved in than something they are passively told and b) because it is good to practice these deduction skills because developing them will help them as language learners.
Date: March 26th, 2007 |
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The Low Down On TEFL Training: TEFL Course Diaries At ESL Base
If you’re looking for first-hand info about TEFL Training Courses from people involved in them this very moment, look no further than ESL Base TEFL Course Diaries.
There are currently two “completed” diaries – meaning the trainee bloggers finished their courses – and ten current ones. Anyone who will be doing a TEFL Course in 2007 is invited to join the competition and keep a TEFL Course Diary blog. The blog with the most subscribers wins a minimum of £400; the powers that be at ESL Base will be controlling for factors like course length when comparing the numbers.
Have a look at the different blogs to see which one floats your boat – and make sure to play along and subscribe! One blogger has posted a video of a well-built rhino in briefs dancing the faruca (even his ears wiggle!) and an amusing explanation of suggestopedia (these could be your students. Really!)
Locations range from London to Istanbul to Bogota.
In-person Course Blogs:
A grandmother of three is doing a CELTA 2 which includes 114 hours of classroom teaching. She shares some second thoughts but keeps going strong.
A TESOL intensive course trainnee in New Zealand finds that the intensive schedule does in fact keep you on your toes.
Visit the visually-pleasing blog of a trainee on a CELTA in Turkey and find out her golden rules for doing such a course.
Follow a trainee who did a four-week intensive course in her own country…and found that deciding what to do can be harder than planning and doing it!
And last but not least, read about a trainee who did a program in the midwest – Madison, Wisconsin, to be exact – which she investigated and found comparable to the CELTA.
Distance courses blogs:
Date: March 7th, 2007 |
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