TEFL...CELTA...TESOL...which one??

WanderlustQueen

Hello,
I'm planning on relocating to Spain after the summer, and everyone is telling me to get a teaching english certification.

I've seen ads for weekend 20-hour TEFL courses for 350euro, and month-long CELTA courses for 1000euro...and all sorts in between.

I'm wondering has anyone done any of these courses and what were your experiences? I get the impression some of them will teach you the basics and you won't be able to get a job out of them because everyone and their mother has done the course...

Have you a better chance of getting a job the more expensive your course was or how long it was? And teaching english, is it any fun? Difficult?

Anyway any advice would be very much appreciated. :pac:

biko

I was looking at this earlier but have put it off for now.

Did collect some info though:
http://www.tefldaddy.com/Local_Language.htm
http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2000/may/11/tefl
http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055273849
http://madridteacher.com/english_teaching_madrid.htm
http://www.pageflakes.com/info42.ashx?page=1653333
http://www.vaughanteacher.com/

Cliona99

Hi WanderlustQueen (I love your name:) I did a month long TEFL course in Drogheda last October. It was intense. Four weeks, Monday to Friday, 9-5pm. Practice teaching with real students from the very first week. And a lot of written assignments. It cost close to a thousand euro but it was definitely worth it. Learned so much about the English language, about grammar, and about teaching. And felt so much more confident by the end of it about getting up and teaching a class.

I'd say take some kind of class before you move but the month long course is not worth your while, if teaching is just a fall-back option. But if it's what you plan to do, then take the best course you can afford because it'll help you get a good job, it'll help you do that job well and because it's not fair to the students if you don't know what you're doing.

Oh, and if you want to teach in this country, (even just to get some experience, and be well-paid, before moving abroad), you need a course that's accredited by the Department of Education. The weekend courses aren't enough.

As for teaching English...difficult and fun. The fun kinda depends on what your students are like, and the difficult depends on how well you prepare for each class.

Hope this helps, and good luck in Spain.

WanderlustQueen

Ah! Thank you so much for that info Magnus, even though one article about the UK residents coming over here to teach is dated from 9 years ago! And Cliona, how long have you been teaching for? A mate of mine went over to Australia to try get a teaching job but no-one would hire her because she didn't have much experience. Would I be better off getting experience in Ireland before setting off?

I heard about language schools here in Ireland that people only attend so they can work on a student visa, are there many of those abroad? They seem like a bit of a swizz but thats why they're so popular...

illiop

Where abouts in Spain are you planning on going? I'm in Madrid at the mo. i'm not teaching, i'm au pairing, but the vast majority of my friends are teachers. They all seem to say that it doesn't matter what you have, there is such a demand for native teachers that some schools don't require anything (though obviously you would want to be weary working somewhere like that). As for the rest of Spain I don't know but i don't think the demand is so high.

Ponster

Wanderlust, we have a lot of advse available over at the teaching forum...