CELTA/TESOL vs. other tefl courses
After replying to a question asking about taking a tefl course that wasn't the celta or tesol, I decided I'd just write up my comments here in the hopes that they'll be of some interest to any other potential new teachers in the field who skim through the community. I'd be interested in hearing from others in the field regarding their opinions on the subject...
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Every time I type "if it's not the celta or tesol, don't waste your money" I squirm a bit because it comes off sounding horribly elitist to me. This bothers me, because I've always been annoyed by academic elitism. So I want to clarify why I say that.
First of all, the celta/tesol are NOT the only good tefl courses out there. I have no doubt whatsoever that there are other courses that are just as good and may even give better instruction in how to teach.
My point in advising against them isn't that I don't think they are necessarily good courses. My reasons for advising against them are, very simply, that they aren't the celta or tesol.
Unlike the native speaking English countries that have set certification requirements, there is obviously no universal worldwide set of certification standards. That means that schools have to use their own judgement in hiring and deciding if someone is certified or not. If you go to a school and say "I have the CELTA or TESOL," they will automatically know what that involves and generally accept it as a legitimate certification program and will review your application accordingly.
On the other hand, if you give them a certificate from some program that they've never heard of, they have no guarentee that you actually did a real program or what the program entails. They could possibly go look it up on the internet, but that takes time and effort... and making your future employer go research your qualifications on their own is never a good way to make them happy. Furthermore, if it's not well known, it's conceivable that you just printed the certificate out on your computer and set up a web page to make it look good.
So those are the reasons I recommend the CELTA or TESOL above other tefl certification courses. It's not that I think these courses are better than others... it's just that they are better recognized.
Now, to move to a slightly different topic, there are countries that don't require certification (some of eastern europe/asia, south america, etc.) If you're wanting to work in these countries, especially for the lower end jobs, you can often get by without a certification. So certification programs are entirely up to you. I would still recommend the celta/tesol, however, for the simple fact that you may one day want to go to another country that has higher requirements.
Enough of that.. My final comments on the celta vs. tesol...
I personally am strongly in favor of the celta. Although both are fairly universally accepted, from taking the celta and talking to people who have done the tesol, there doesn't seem to be much comparison between the two. The biggest asset to the celta is that you do some practice teaching. This is VERY beneficial!! Beyond that, the course simply seems to be more well-rounded.
If you plan to teach in the US (high schools, at least) at some later date, however, you'll need to do they only recognize the tesol.
The tesol vs. celta thing is just my own personal opinion, though, and like I said, those who have taken the tesol may prefer that one instead. Only having taken one, it's hard to give a good comparison.
Oh yeah, and one other thing. If you can get any sort of experience, that would help a lot. For Americans, check with the county/state basic ed dept. Most of the teaching you would do here would be volunteer, but it still looks good on a resume. Working with refugees is also a good source of experience (not to mention a very eye-opening experience) but I haven't done it personally and can't give you any specific details on how to get involved. Sorry. Maybe someone else here can chime in with more info.
And finally, take the above as all just my opinion. There are very few absolute facts in a field as unstandardized as the tefl industry. But the above seems to be the closest to general rules of thumb based on my own experience and talking to many other teachers/schools that I can come up with.
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Every time I type "if it's not the celta or tesol, don't waste your money" I squirm a bit because it comes off sounding horribly elitist to me. This bothers me, because I've always been annoyed by academic elitism. So I want to clarify why I say that.
First of all, the celta/tesol are NOT the only good tefl courses out there. I have no doubt whatsoever that there are other courses that are just as good and may even give better instruction in how to teach.
My point in advising against them isn't that I don't think they are necessarily good courses. My reasons for advising against them are, very simply, that they aren't the celta or tesol.
Unlike the native speaking English countries that have set certification requirements, there is obviously no universal worldwide set of certification standards. That means that schools have to use their own judgement in hiring and deciding if someone is certified or not. If you go to a school and say "I have the CELTA or TESOL," they will automatically know what that involves and generally accept it as a legitimate certification program and will review your application accordingly.
On the other hand, if you give them a certificate from some program that they've never heard of, they have no guarentee that you actually did a real program or what the program entails. They could possibly go look it up on the internet, but that takes time and effort... and making your future employer go research your qualifications on their own is never a good way to make them happy. Furthermore, if it's not well known, it's conceivable that you just printed the certificate out on your computer and set up a web page to make it look good.
So those are the reasons I recommend the CELTA or TESOL above other tefl certification courses. It's not that I think these courses are better than others... it's just that they are better recognized.
Now, to move to a slightly different topic, there are countries that don't require certification (some of eastern europe/asia, south america, etc.) If you're wanting to work in these countries, especially for the lower end jobs, you can often get by without a certification. So certification programs are entirely up to you. I would still recommend the celta/tesol, however, for the simple fact that you may one day want to go to another country that has higher requirements.
Enough of that.. My final comments on the celta vs. tesol...
I personally am strongly in favor of the celta. Although both are fairly universally accepted, from taking the celta and talking to people who have done the tesol, there doesn't seem to be much comparison between the two. The biggest asset to the celta is that you do some practice teaching. This is VERY beneficial!! Beyond that, the course simply seems to be more well-rounded.
If you plan to teach in the US (high schools, at least) at some later date, however, you'll need to do they only recognize the tesol.
The tesol vs. celta thing is just my own personal opinion, though, and like I said, those who have taken the tesol may prefer that one instead. Only having taken one, it's hard to give a good comparison.
Oh yeah, and one other thing. If you can get any sort of experience, that would help a lot. For Americans, check with the county/state basic ed dept. Most of the teaching you would do here would be volunteer, but it still looks good on a resume. Working with refugees is also a good source of experience (not to mention a very eye-opening experience) but I haven't done it personally and can't give you any specific details on how to get involved. Sorry. Maybe someone else here can chime in with more info.
And finally, take the above as all just my opinion. There are very few absolute facts in a field as unstandardized as the tefl industry. But the above seems to be the closest to general rules of thumb based on my own experience and talking to many other teachers/schools that I can come up with.