BootsnAll Travel Community

So I've been been looking into ways of legitimately being able to work and travel and as part of it I'm thinking increasingly that getting myself a TEFL qualification may be one of the ways I can help myself out.

I'vedone a bit of research but the range of choices, options, courses and affiliates is leaving me throwing my hands into teh air in despair. So here I am looking for a little advice on getting started.

I have my BSc(Hons) in a completely unrelalated field although it seems just having a degree can be useful in these circumstances. I'm looking for a course here in the UK, preferably close to home. I've seen several weekend courses based in London as well which wouldnt be a problem. However Im dubious about getting the qualification based purely on 1 oe 2 weekends, is this the norm or ae there better options doing something over the course of a year say?

There seems to be so many affiliates as well, do schools actually look at who you got your qualification from? Is this a hugely important part or do certain programmes offer better chance of work?

Most of al I want to feel comfortable teaching at the end of it all, it's something I;ve never done and feel I'd need the confidence and experience to be able to get started.

As you can see I'm a liitle perplexed as to where to start and any advice would be more than helpful.

I'm very much open as to where I'd end up teaching, my current train of thought would take me to Argentina (at least to begin with) where I'd be looking to improve my Spanish (hopefully through a course) in addition to teaching English. How viable do you think an idea like that is?

Hopefully I can get a bit of advice on this one, thanks guys.

Im paying for internet time in 20 min increments and dealing with another kezboard, so forgive mz zs and ys while I trz to aswwer quicklz!

If an employer requires a tefl certificate, or you need one to get a work permit, it generally needs to be of the internationally recognized variety, which means 100+ hrs of class instruction and 6+ of real teaching practice with real students. Its my impression that, while they may be useful still, most weekend courses do not offer this. Also - I think the "brand" is not as important as meeting that 100/6 stats...

If you're going to invest the time and money, it makes sense to take one that gives you the formal qualification you need and also the teaching practice that will a) help you do better than someone without any teaching practice once you start and b) help you feel more confident about teaching.

6 hours does not seem like all that much but usually you are observing both other new teachers teach and sitting in on classes of experienced teachers.

Classes like the celta or others meeting the 100/6 + stats above (ie tefl international, which I believe is what is on offer at bootsnall's tefl course page) will usually be what you need for language school work in Europe. In Asia you can often get a job without the course, but doing a course often prepares you a little more and makes you feel more confident - but some schools may have their own short training that they give once they hire you ... and ask you to follow that method. I think it varies in SA but generally speaking I think a course is usually a good way to go.

Guy Courchesne is a bna member who works for a school and training program in Mexico, and he probably can give you the best advice on South America. One thing I hear often is that it is hard to get a work permit in many SA countries, so you may want to look into that. But there is work to be had.

As for improving your language skills - it probably depends on your own interest and motivation. Plenty of teachers intend to improve their language skills and then kind of don't...it just depends, I think. If you're teaching full time, you may only have 20-some contact hours but with preparation it is a full load, and sometimes that makes it hard to keep up classes...but its certainly not impossible.

I believe Piecar is teaching in Colombia so he may be a good person to PM as well.

Cheers Kate, just the sort of thing I was looking for.

I remember a friend doing a TEFL course and it taking some months to complete so I was dubious about these weekend deals. Seems like a 100/6 styled course is the way forward. I'll take a look at the Tefl International stuff as well.

Theres plenty of logistics to sort out for sure but I'm just trying to explore avenues that may be open to me to decide which is the best course of action.

Thanks again for the advice.

Glad it was helpful.

The 100 hr tefl courses I mentioned can be done part-time, over a semester, and there are all sorts of other courses which go alongside a university program.

There are people who think these are substantially better than the intensive celta-type courses I referred to, and I'm sure different things can be valuable. But one UK blogger that I follow - who is teaching abroad - was mentioning that there are even MA programs in the field that don't include any teaching practice. Obviously, a month-long intensive course is not comparable in any real sense to an MA, but it is pretty surprising that such a high qualification can come without real teaching practice or feedback on that performance.

Anyway, good luck, and when/if you do it try to return to this thread and post about how it was!