BootsnAll's Travel Community

Hi, i hope you are all well. I am posting on behalf of my best mate.

This person has had a burning desire to go flee the office life and time and time again he has had knockback after knockback.

He dreams of teaching English around the world, but alas no luck. However, as luck would have it (albeit hard work on his part!) he passed the CELTA interview and was offered a place on their course.

Upon passing CELTA, how likely is it he will land a decent paying job in Asia? He would love to go to Japan.

He also has TEFL and a first class degree in Accounting ( i opted for the qualified accountant route - we graduated on the same course. Wheras he bided his time in a poor job gaining teaching quals and experience - how i envy him now!)

Also, for my part. Is there an age limit on when you can do CELTA? Would they consider a qualified accountant with broad travel experience? as i am thinking of doing it in a few years once i pay off my mortgage.

Cheers!

Hi Donny
As for your friend, it is probably worth it for him to do a search through the job boards at Dave's ESL Cafe and see what employers in Japan request. For some of the organized programs that send people to Japan, like JET, NOVA, AEON, GEOS, etc., no certificate is required. I'm not necessarily saying these programs are better than finding a job independently, but more for reference.

Also, keep in mind that the CELTA is just one kind of TEFL certificate. TEFL itself generally stands for teacher of English as a foreign language, and there isn't just one certificate called the TEFL. Some programs are considered internationally recognized, and include some minimum of instruction hours and teaching practice - and if an employer wants a certificate, they will generally want one that's internationally recognized, but sometimes they don't require one at all.

What I've heard is that while employers in Europe tend to be familiar with the CELTA (and often require "CELTA or equivalent"), it is not so well-known in Asia.

As for you...there is no age limit on the CELTA, and if you are older and have real world experience you certainly bring more insight to it. So go for it! You do have to do an interview and such, but it's not so competitive so I don't think you have to worry whether they will take you - I got mine in 2002 and my feeling is as long as you can demonstrate that you can think for yourself and are prepared and able to do the work it's no problem.

Feel free to ask more questions here. Good luck to you and your friend both - let us know where you end up!

There are tons of jobs in Japan and they vary incredibly. There are a few things to look out for. How many hours do they want you to teach? Will you be teaching kids or adults? How much traveling is there in your job? Would you rather work for a big nationwide school, a mid-sized regional one, or a small one-school one? Is the management foreign or Japanese? Outside of the last question, which the better choice is foreign for a number of reasons, what is better for you is a matter of personal preference.

One more thing is salary. It's not as straightforward as how much they pay -- 250,000 yen goes a lot further in Hiroshima than in does in Tokyo, for example. Below are a couple more sites with job listings:
ETJ, Ohayo sensei

Bear in mind that CELTA is big business and being "accepted" for their course means only that you are probably not a raving idiot - and that they will be happy to take your money.

I've not yet met anyone who wasn't "accepted" for the course.

Other major TEFL courses often also have some sort of pre-course examination - more to let you know where you stand rather than to pretend at selective admission.

Just IMO/IME

I'm not sure why your friend would need a CELTA if he already has a TEFL certification. In most of the world (Europe excluded) one would pretty much be considered equivalent to the other.

As a teacher trainer I have had students as old as 63 in my classes - but the company I taught for had no age limit. I know they had one graduate (who got a job working for them!) who was 72. And one helluva teacher too!