Make an informed and value-driven decision about which TEFL course to take.
First, you should know the difference between all the different acronyms:
- TEFL - Teaching English as a Foreign Language - refers to teaching English in a region or country where English is not regularly spoken outside of the classroom.
- TESL - Teaching English as a Second Language - refers to teaching English in a region or country where English is spoken regularly outside of the classroom.
Often these acronyms are used interchangeably - TESL is the older of the terms. TESOL is the newest of the terms and it refers to Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages. This term includes all TESL and TEFL classrooms.
In terms of getting TESL/TEFL/TESOL certification, in many cases, to work in your home country, it is a requirement to have some level of certification to be eligible for a full-time position, and the type of course you take will impact your eligibility. Yes, you can still teach in most countries without TESL/TEFL or TESOL certification.
So, when evaluating programs, how do you determine which course or school is the right one for you?
- Is the school recognized and by whom? What type of professional affiliations do they have?
- Is the program recognized and by whom? Ask, and check them out. Are they part of national organizations like TESL-Canada, BCTEAL or other professional affiliates relating to TESOL?
- This is perhaps the most important factor: if the professional bodies for TESL/TEFL recognize the course, then we should be able to assume that they did their homework to make sure the program has a good curriculum, trained instructors and that the program is worthy.
- Be careful! Some schools will offer several programs and it could be that only one of those programs is recognized.
- What are the qualifications of the teachers or instructors of the TESL/TEFL program?
- What are their credentials?
- How long have they been teaching?
- How many instructors will you have? It is good to have more than one to experience different teaching styles.
- How long is the program? Understand that at a minimum, the course should be at least 100 hours and should include a supervised practicum.
- Is there a practicum?
- Be aware that some programs may offer online courses and extra options like Practicum Upgrades where you come to the school or get a practicum proctored by a licensed or certified trainer somewhere else. These practicum options will often cost extra.
- Are there practice teaching sessions?
- Are there observation sessions?
- If there are practice teaching sessions, where are they run? Are they in the school? What ages are you going to be exposed to and will it relate to what you are going to be teaching? Are you in charge of the class or just an element of the class?
- Who will run the practicum evaluation?
- Are there limitations on the type of students accepted to take the course? There is nothing worse than getting into your TEFL/TESL/TESOL course and finding out that you are the only native English speaker enrolled in the course and worse yet, most of the students hardly speak English.
- Is there an actual assessment and what is it based on?
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