Is anyone here certified to teach ESL?

[Sanity Claws]

I am one of the well-educate unemployed and have been thinking about thing I could do to make money.

Does anyone here know how one gets certified to teach ESL? I've done some googling but just find sites that want to teach me to get certified. Can one take the certification test without enrolling in one of the ESL certification classes? Can one find a book that prepares one to take the certification test?

I appreciate whatever information you can provide.
Thanks, guys!

[JCMach1]

1. Hmm, not as simple as a test... ESL is an actual field that requires coursework

You can take a certificate, however, without taking a degree.

It is not necessarily the deal it once once. 10-20yrs. ago even with little experience people could get jobs across Asia. Most of those type have disappeared, or are run by fly-by-night organizations.

The decent jobs that are out there typically want a degree in ESL.

I have been an English Prof and Administrator for many years in the UAE. I took some ESL coursework when doing Ph.D. work, but never took a certificate. My English degree has been much more valuable than an ESL one.

[Sanity Claws]

8. Thanks for the response

[wickerwoman]

2. I would go for CELTA certification if I was to do it over.

I got a TEFL certificate from a 6 week course in Prague (mostly as an excuse to travel to Prague) and it was good enough to get a decent job in the big Asian markets (China, Taiwan, Korea and Japan) but not to get a real job when I went back to the US. Commonwealth country schools have no idea what a TEFL certificate is- they prefer CELTA.

You need to take a course because a reputable one will include practice teaching. I've never heard of a "certification test"- not sure where you're seeing that. Usually you can get a CELTA certificate from a 6-8 week class. Your local community college probably has one, or you can do a travel/study kind of thing if you have the time and money.

You don't *need* a certificate to teach in China, but you can get a much more stable and better paying job if you have one. And it is pretty useful. Even though you've spoken English all your life, teaching it isn't as easy as stumbling into a classroom.

On edit: I'd approach teaching ESL with a bit of caution. Yes, you can get a good job with a steady income and a high standard of living especially in any of the hardship markets (China and the Middle East) but re-entry can be very, very hard. There are almost no ESL jobs in the US (like 12 in my entire home state) and few paid tutoring opportunities because so many volunteer organisations offer free tutoring. All your job and home rental references will be in another country, putting you at the bottom of the list for many employers and landlords who can't be bothered to figure out how to call them. I would only recommend getting into ESL if you plan to spend the rest of your life in a place like China or the UAE (pretty much the only places you can make a decent amount of money teaching- you're not getting into Europe because EU regulations put all the British and Irish teachers ahead of you) or if you save every penny to get another degree when you get back to the US and then use that to launch in a new career direction.

[pitohui]

4. as per wickerwoman "re entry is hard"

the friend i mentioned has never held a job in the usa for more than a few months, his plan now is to be a professional poker player so my guess is, yah, eventually he'll be back in china...

but he just got here so time will tell the tale

if you're a pretty good con artist, seems like these days there are better cons than ESL but maybe not better cons that are legal for the money

[Sanity Claws]

9. Thanks for the response

[pitohui]

3. friend taught in china, he had no qualifications whatsoever

he just returned to america w. enough $$$ to buy his own condo so i don't know if he had something else going on, as a sideline, because we're talking rural china here

his only qualifier to teach english was that he was white and an american so he must speak english!!!

[old mark]

5. My SIL teaches it at a local community college - she is great with languages,

and has a PhD in anthropology, though...


mark

[Sanity Claws]

10. I'm curious

How did she end up teaching ESL at a community college, even though she has a Ph.D. in anthropology? Was she part of the well-educated unemployed?
Did she take any specific training in order to teach ESL?

[raccoon]

6. Seems like there are lots of places around trying to get you to sign up for classes to get

I think it's a "TESOL" certificate, something like that.

Whether it actually helps you very much, if any, is the question.

The course costs about $1000, and they are always sending me emails. But, again, whether it would actually help much in job-hunting is the $64,000 question.

As someone else has already posted, many ESL positions are filled by volunteers, at least that's how it is in my neck of the woods.

I wish I had an ESL degree, but having gone to mucho school in my life, not sure if I want to mess with it. Plus I am practically a senior citizen.

There's some good stuff already posted in this thread.

[i-to-i TEFL]

7. Teaching ESL

Hey,

To get qualified to teach ESL, you need to do a TEFL/TESOL course. These courses can be taken either online or in a classroom. There isn't just one test that you need to get the qualification. The courses are made up of lots of different modules then you complete lots of mini assignments, after completing and passing them all you will receive your certificate. TEFL/TESOL courses are fully accredidated to qualify you to teach ESL. To get more information on courses you may want to take a look here - http://www.onlinetefl.com/tefl-course

Also to get more information on teaching ESL you might want to download you free guide here: http://www.onlinetefl.com/contact-tefl-team/tefl-ebook.html - This will give you the lowdown on ESL and how you can get qualified.

Hope this has helped!

[Sanity Claws]

11. Thank you for the response

These links look very helpful.