Hello, my first post to this forum.... I am a 55 year old with a degree in Electrical Engineering about to take early retirement to live in a rural part of Normandy. I have many friends and family in Normandy and it seems that there would be a fair demand for English lessons to children, adults and specific for business. I have no teaching experience other than of technical subjects in-house to other engineers but my English is excellent and I have a fair knowledge of formal grammar.
I took a four week total immersion course in German with Berlitz (one to one), in Germany, some years ago, and last year I took a two week course in Italian at a language school in central Rome (around 10 in the class). I learnt Spanish entirely from books and CDs so I have some experience of being a language student. I also studied Latin for seven years and speak reasonably good French (but want to improve).
After online research it seems that my best first step is a Certificate TEFL or the Cambridge equivalent, with the early learners and business modules?
Due to my movements and circumstances it would be very difficult to take 4 weeks out for a classroom course so I am leaning towards a distance learning course with one week's classroom experience to qualify to Cert TEFL level.
There is a huge selection of courses online -- some don't seem to offer the classroom and teaching experience so presumably their certificates are not accepted equally with Cert TEFL?
a) Could anyone recommend one or more reputable courses?
b) I wish to improve my French; I would prefer to use one of the courses in French, for immigrants but I can't find any. When I learnt Spanish I used a course called Espanol 2000 which consisted of three books - Elementary, Intermediate and Advanced, with CDs for pronunciation. Espanol 2000 covered all of the grammar which set it apart from so many of the other courses. Can anyone recommend a suitable course?
Many thanks, David
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Did you get any replies to this? I have a similar query in relation to the courses - I've just taken voluntary redundancy and want to do a CertTEFL course but it's going to be difficult for me to do a 4-week full-time course, due to childcare committments (I could put the children into nursery and after school club, but then I'm going to have to pay for that, which if I'm already paying for a course and without any income, gets a bit expensive!). I live near Carlisle so I'm going to have to travel - I would guess to Newcastle - for the practical experience which will be an hour's journey. If you've come across any good courses I would be interested to know - I came across one online course but they never answered my question about where the practical experience would take place, which wasn't very encouraging!
All the best with your plans for Normandy - I'm hoping to do an extra degree sometime in French and Italian - been trying to find a native speaker up here but no joy yet (maybe not trying hard enough though!).
TE Team
Hi Sarah
Have a look at this for ideas about qualifications and courses (there are links through to the sites related to the most widely-recognised).
http://www.britishcouncil.org/teacherrecruitment-tefl-qualifications.htm
Good luck!
Rob
Hi David,
I'm working for a TEFL school and we are just starting a 2-week TEFL course. After doing a lot of research on the net, we noticed that there's a big gap between online courses, weekend courses and then the full 4 week course.
That was the basis for which we decided to write our own syllabus (based on the CELTA/Trinity courses) but with a restructuring of materials, so that the most important (ie. the practical elements on how to teach, not so much on theory) can be taught in 2 weeks.
Check out our website if you're interested in more info, or just email me! http://www.tefl-course.eu
Oliver
info@tefl-course.eu
The CELTA is better than the Trinity TESOL. Oxford TEFL, which is authorized to teach the Trinity course, falsely claims that both courses are "essentially the same and both are equally recognized."
This is not true! Although the British Council recognizes both, employers have come to realize that the CELTA better prepares the students to teach in real life scenarios while the Trinity Course at Oxford TEFL is done but eccentric artists that waste student’s time with nonrealistic methodologies such as teaching adults as if they were 5 year olds!
I took the Trinity with Oxford TEFl and it was a waste of both time and money. The CELTA is run by professionals that respect the students and give them more value for their money. Oxford TEFL's Trinity TESOl is more like an assembly line of students being rushed in and out.
I can recommend you DELF and DALF courses for French learning. DELF and DALF are official qualifications awarded by the French Ministry of Education to certify the competency of candidates from outside France in the French language. You can prepare for DELF and DALF through the National Centre for Distance Learning (CNED). Information through this web site:cned.fr
http://www.theonlineschools.net
Hi David,
With regard to your first question, you seem to be right when you say that there are quite a few providers out there claiming to be the best Online TEFL course providers.
While some are really good, there are a few others trying to make some quick bucks. There are quite a few good providers like i to i, Bridge TEFL, TEFL International etc., who have a good reputation for their online courses. However, if you wish to get some teaching practice, you'll have to speak to one of their representatives and express your desire to enroll for a teaching practice session as well. I am sure they'll arrange one such session for you at a desired location in France.
Some of the locations in France where the 4 week courses are held are: Rome, Paris, Brittnay, Modane, Montpellier, Nice etc., and usually the last week is when the teaching practice sessions are held. You may join the other group then by paying the additional fee for the teaching practice. You may also speak with them about your accommodation, which they can arrange.
All the best !
Joe
Actually, there is no reliable criteria available that can lead us to rate CELTA higher than TESOL or vice versa. I have researched extensively about the both and in my view decision about which pre-qualification certificate to chose should depend upon personal traits of the aspirants. For those who the want to be interviewed by a panel should opt TESOL and those want to be assessed in simulated environment by the professional may take CELTA.
One more distinction between both that one must take into account is that CELTA certificate grades student and explicitly tells about the level where as TRINITY just approve students irrespective of their level of command in the said course. From that, perspective one should seriously consider CELTA.
Although not many people prefer to differentiate both, there are significant differences in content. Reading course outline before the final decision may also help in making sure that you study material, which helps you the most in your teaching profession.
Background / Basis for comparisons:
I have experience as a CELTA Tutor, and my initial certification was the CELTA.
I have a friend who was also a CELTA Tutor, and his initial certification was the Trinity Cert TESOL.
My wife has a Bridge TEFL Cert (online).
CELTA vs Trinity Cert TESOL
While working with that friend we frequently had reason to discuss our initial certification in quite a bit of detail and there were no meaningful differences in either the content or the style of assessment. There were a number of differences, but only in the same ways that two different CELTA courses could also differ (* examples below).
CELTA/Trinity Cert TESOL vs Bridge TEFL online
The Bridge TEFL was made up of 12 units, each of which was based around reading 1-2 pages of 'instruction' then writing a 1-2 page essay and completing a multiple choice test based on that instruction. The course takes approximately 3 months with 3-5 hours of study per week during that time (approx 60 hours overall).
The CELTA is made up of 120 contact hours and 80-120 hours of self-study, includes workshops (a mix of guided discovery, observe & reflect, discussion, lecture, practical tasks, Q&A, mock teaching, and more), assessed teaching practice and reflection on practice (both your own teaching & peers' teaching), guided/assisted lesson planning, observation of experienced teachers, readings, assignments, and working as a team.
The differences are apparent. The online TEFL would be comparable to reading 12 articles from the Articles section here, and then answering questions about them. Relevant, meaningful ideas. Nonetheless, it's just ideas on paper. You get no input on how to actually use those ideas in real life, no guidance, no peers to discuss them with, no-one to observe you and provide feedback, etc.
CELTA/Trinity Cert TESOL vs other 4 week face-to-face TEFLS:
Here is where I don't have any relevant experience for comparison. But, one thing to consider:
The CELTA & Trinity have very detailed assessment criteria and it is possible to fail - so employers know that people have met those criteria if they have the relevant certification. If you look into other 4 week TEFL or TESOL courses, check to see if its assessment criteria are strict enough to be evidence of good teaching when it comes to job hunting - and job satisfaction. ;)
Hi jenn.imme
We are sorry to read that you were disappointed with the course. We have been running Trinity College CertTESOL courses since 1998, and around 350 people graduate from our four centres every year, having had a very positive experience. You can read their testimonials on our website and find some of their reviews on teflcoursereview.com.
It is correct to say that both qualifications are "essentially the same and both are equally recognized." As you yourself state, the Trinity CertTESOL is recognised as equal to the CELTA by the British Council, for teachers in its accredited teaching organisations in the UK and in its own teaching operations overseas. The CertTESOL also gains you credits towards degree programmes offered by the Open University in the UK. Moreover, the UK Qualifications and Examinations Regulator (Ofqual) recognises both certificates as level 5 qualifications. Partly as a result of this, but also because of their own experience in working with CertTESOL graduates, employers around the world recognise and value the CertTESOL as a excellent quality TEFL qualification.
The course content of the CELTA and Trinity courses is very similar. Both emphasise observed teaching practice as a key element in preparing people to teach. You can read more about the course content on the Trinity website.
Hi jenn.imme
We are sorry to read that you were disappointed with the course. We have been running Trinity College CertTESOL courses since 1998, and around 350 people graduate from our four centres every year, having had a very positive experience. You can read their testimonials on our website and find some of their reviews on teflcoursereview.com.
It is correct to say that both qualifications are "essentially the same and both are equally recognized." As you yourself state, the Trinity CertTESOL is recognised as equal to the CELTA by the British Council, for teachers in its accredited teaching organisations in the UK and in its own teaching operations overseas. The CertTESOL also gains you credits towards degree programmes offered by the Open University in the UK. Moreover, the UK Qualifications and Examinations Regulator (Ofqual) recognises both certificates as level 5 qualifications. Partly as a result of this, but also because of their own experience in working with CertTESOL graduates, employers around the world recognise and value the CertTESOL as a excellent quality TEFL qualification.
The course content of the CELTA and Trinity courses is very similar. Both emphasise observed teaching practice as a key element in preparing people to teach. You can read more about the course content on the Trinity website.