Tips on how to become TEFL Certified

2009-04-09T21:56:00.007-04:00

Here is some info for anyone thinking about becoming TEFL certified and what I have sort of figured out about the countless TEFL courses offered. I am sure that I'm going to leave out a lot so do some research on your own. Google is crucial and is where I have found most of my information.

First of all, getting your TEFL certification isn't necessary in a lot of countries. You can pretty much find jobs in all of Central America, South Korea, Taiwan, Indonesia, and other countries who don't require a teacher to have the certification. They are in such dire need for teachers that they don't really care who they take as long as English is your mother tongue. I am sure there are schools in Thailand that don't require the cert. Having it is just like having a BA, it will just open more teaching jobs for you and I think schools will pay you more for having it, depending on where you end up. So you can take a chance and go abroad without it and most likely you can get a job without it, but I believe that you will have an easier time finding a job in a good school if are certified. Unless you want to teach for a couple hours a week, and then you can probably just give lessons and make a couple extra traveling bucks. For the rest of the world that actually cares about where their teachers come from, they require a BA in anything, as well as some sort of ESL certification and the normal background checks and such. If you do decide to become certified then there are two ways to obtain this; online and in-class. There are a number of different certifications that you can get, but I think that the TEFL certification is the most widely accepted cert worldwide. I have read that the best ones come from Cambridge and some other school in Europe and cannot be taken online. I'm not going to Europe, so I'm not talking about those.

I am taking the TEFL certification course online. There are pros and cons with this. It's cheaper ($150-$500) than doing an in-class certification course and you can do it at your own pace, which can turn into a con because it leads to procrastination. If you do it online, put yourself on a program; figure out when you want to have it completed by and then finish the modules on time. Write your own syllabus. The course that I am taking is one of the best ones that I have found just because it has good credentials and is backed by the Department of Education in the United States. Some of them are scams too, so watch out for them. Dodge those SCAMS! :) Here's the website of the course that I am enrolled in: www.TEFLonline.com. This program has 13 modules you have to complete, which encompasses everything from the History of the English Language (which is really boring and luckily a short lesson) to grammar, techniques you can use in the classroom to what makes a good student and teacher. It will give you most of the basics that you will need to know to get you started teaching but does not give you the hands on training that the on-site classes provide. I believe that most of the countries in Europe and some countries in South America require their teachers to have obtained their certification through an in-class course just because of the hands on experience that you do get. I know there are classes out there that are weekend classes you can take where you can get this training, but if unless you want to go teach in Europe or S. America then I think it's unnecessary.

OR.. you can take an in-class course. These are expensive, ranging from $1300-$2000; most of them being somewhere around 1500 bucks. If you want to do this and have the money to spring for it, do it. You can take the course abroad, pretty much on every continent (except for the most southern one) and it will get you used to the country you want to teach in. These classes give you hands on training and teach you about the culture as well. I do not know too much about these since I am not getting my cert through them but it's probably more exciting then doing it online. And you meet other out going soon-to-be-teachers like yourself there too!

Deciding which option to take is really dependent on where you want to teach, if you are thinking of making teaching English as a second language your career, your budget, you time allotment and basically your overall opinion and judgment. Good luck!

This just in! Possibly the biggest news story this town has ever seen!

2009-04-09T00:32:00.002-04:00

Who: Samuel West Lindenberger
What: Teaching English as a Foreign Language
When: As Soon As Possible, hopefully in mid May 2009
Where: Phuket, Thailand
Why: Adventure and Travel
How: Who Knows? Somehow, it's going to happen!

TEFL Certification

2009-04-09T00:06:00.007-04:00

This is the first post of many on Sam's Pacific Rim Job blogger. These might be sort of boring until I actually get over to The Land of Smiles and start my Pacific Rim Job as an ESL Teacher. Right now I am in the beautiful Sunshine State of Florida working on earning my TEFL certification. It is a 120 hour online class and I am about a quarter the way through it. Feel free to check it out if you want; the web site is TEFLonline.com. I believe that I will have this completed by the end of this month and now the question is if I am going to be able to scrounge up enough cash to get over to Thailand. The thought of selling my truck has crossed my mind, but I cannot see myself getting rid of the Magnum for another 2-40 years, so thats out... I'm on the job hunt again tomorrow so hopefully something will work out and I'll be able to find some work. Enough of the sob story, I cannot wait to get back to Phuket where I have a couple good friends already residing there. Greg "Monkey Boi" and Lorraine have been teaching abroad in Phuket for about 8 months and are loving it. I am thinking about sharing a place with them when I get there. They have been scoping out bugalows on the South East coast of Phuket where the water is green and the coconuts are plentiful; right in the sand! If you haven't noticed yet, I am good at rambling... so get used to it if you are going to be reading these. I'm going to hit the sack, so next blog probably in about a month but maybe sooner... if ya lucky!