TESOL (teaching english as a second or other language) questions

[Josh Davidson]

1. Has anyone on here completed a 100 or more hour TESOL program, and if so, which program and how many hours was it?
2. How long did you have to complete it?
3. What was your grade based on (written papers, multiple choice tests, et cetera)?
4. What was the minimum passing score (for example, 85% of the total points possible)?

 

[FuzzX]

1. Yes multiple - Global TESOL in 2004, CELTA - Did not complete, took it twice too...
2. TESOL took a weekend and was fun, the CELTAs took 1 month and 3 months, failed cause I wouldn't tow the PC line.
3. There is no grading for TESOL, you just attend and get a cert. CELTA is based on essays, teaching style and how quickly you spout off social justice talking points.
4. Not sure because I didn't pass

I've already told you about the Acadia one and for that one I've had a good experience so far, I believe its the LINC program. Although, my first instructor was a man, so there's that. The course consisted of me just talking about various teaching techniques, although I've had a lengthy career and lots of experience to pull from. The techniques they teach were mostly bs IMO. The problem with the certs is that they aren't realistic for the classroom and what little value they provide you can learn from a Michael Scrivner book [although most of those techniques are for generalist adult classrooms and not meant to be used in a corp school]... but they are the industry standard and most places will hire you on the spot if you have one beside your name.

Teaching English has VERY little to do with exams/essays or any of that bs. ESL is essentially a trade and you'll have to put hours into the job to improve your technique. No amount of studying beforehand qualifies you to be a good teacher and there aren't too many courses that will prepare you for the reality of the job. That said, for some reason, schools still want to see you have a TESOL. To become a better teacher you should really attend a 'bootcamp', the physical kind because that's the type of teaching which you'll be using in a kids class. To get good you need to learn the games and then just play them over and over until you've mastered the technique. The adult's classes are mostly reliant on YOU being an entertainer. Sometimes you'll get an English corner and that's where the TESOL group stuff shines. CELTA has a singular formula, which is essentially take the textbook, photocopy a page and make a bunch of stupid activities using the target language. Then you write an overly complicated lesson plan and attach a fkin essay to it as if teaching a lesson was some kind of rocket science. There is no way on god's green earth you would use a lesson plan with a tiny font and a ton of target language breakdowns. A lesson plan is usually just a piece of paper with a few activates, how long they take, what materials are req'd... and then a bunch of games to fill the rest of the time.

 

[Josh Davidson]

1. Yes multiple - Global TESOL in 2004, CELTA - Did not complete, took it twice too...
2. TESOL took a weekend and was fun, the CELTAs took 1 month and 3 months, failed cause I wouldn't tow the PC line.
3. There is no grading for TESOL, you just attend and get a cert. CELTA is based on essays, teaching style and how quickly you spout off social justice talking points.
4. Not sure because I didn't pass

I've already told you about the Acadia one and for that one I've had a good experience so far, I believe its the LINC program. Although, my first instructor was a man, so there's that. The course consisted of me just talking about various teaching techniques, although I've had a lengthy career and lots of experience to pull from. The techniques they teach were mostly bs IMO. The problem with the certs is that they aren't realistic for the classroom and what little value they provide you can learn from a Michael Scrivner book [although most of those techniques are for generalist adult classrooms and not meant to be used in a corp school]... but they are the industry standard and most places will hire you on the spot if you have one beside your name.

Teaching English has VERY little to do with exams/essays or any of that bs. ESL is essentially a trade and you'll have to put hours into the job to improve your technique. No amount of studying beforehand qualifies you to be a good teacher and there aren't too many courses that will prepare you for the reality of the job. That said, for some reason, schools still want to see you have a TESOL. To become a better teacher you should really attend a 'bootcamp', the physical kind because that's the type of teaching which you'll be using in a kids class. To get good you need to learn the games and then just play them over and over until you've mastered the technique. The adult's classes are mostly reliant on YOU being an entertainer. Sometimes you'll get an English corner and that's where the TESOL group stuff shines. CELTA has a singular formula, which is essentially take the textbook, photocopy a page and make a bunch of stupid activities using the target language. Then you write an overly complicated lesson plan and attach a fkin essay to it as if teaching a lesson was some kind of rocket science. There is no way on god's green earth you would use a lesson plan with a tiny font and a ton of target language breakdowns. A lesson plan is usually just a piece of paper with a few activates, how long they take, what materials are req'd... and then a bunch of games to fill the rest of the time.

Thanks for the reply! I think I'll do TESOL and not CELTA based on what you've told me. I think it's awesome that you just attend and get a certification!

 

[eli77]

ive worked as a translator more money in language instruction like mandarin

 

[FuzzX]

ive worked as a translator more money in language instruction like mandarin

Oh? My wife is Chinese. How can she get that job?

 

[eli77]

visit daves cafe try to get a job as an au pair easier now that everything is opening up

 

[eli77]

1. Yes multiple - Global TESOL in 2004, CELTA - Did not complete, took it twice too...
2. TESOL took a weekend and was fun, the CELTAs took 1 month and 3 months, failed cause I wouldn't tow the PC line.
3. There is no grading for TESOL, you just attend and get a cert. CELTA is based on essays, teaching style and how quickly you spout off social justice talking points.
4. Not sure because I didn't pass

I've already told you about the Acadia one and for that one I've had a good experience so far, I believe its the LINC program. Although, my first instructor was a man, so there's that. The course consisted of me just talking about various teaching techniques, although I've had a lengthy career and lots of experience to pull from. The techniques they teach were mostly bs IMO. The problem with the certs is that they aren't realistic for the classroom and what little value they provide you can learn from a Michael Scrivner book [although most of those techniques are for generalist adult classrooms and not meant to be used in a corp school]... but they are the industry standard and most places will hire you on the spot if you have one beside your name.

Teaching English has VERY little to do with exams/essays or any of that bs. ESL is essentially a trade and you'll have to put hours into the job to improve your technique. No amount of studying beforehand qualifies you to be a good teacher and there aren't too many courses that will prepare you for the reality of the job. That said, for some reason, schools still want to see you have a TESOL. To become a better teacher you should really attend a 'bootcamp', the physical kind because that's the type of teaching which you'll be using in a kids class. To get good you need to learn the games and then just play them over and over until you've mastered the technique. The adult's classes are mostly reliant on YOU being an entertainer. Sometimes you'll get an English corner and that's where the TESOL group stuff shines. CELTA has a singular formula, which is essentially take the textbook, photocopy a page and make a bunch of stupid activities using the target language. Then you write an overly complicated lesson plan and attach a fkin essay to it as if teaching a lesson was some kind of rocket science. There is no way on god's green earth you would use a lesson plan with a tiny font and a ton of target language breakdowns. A lesson plan is usually just a piece of paper with a few activates, how long they take, what materials are req'd... and then a bunch of games to fill the rest of the time.

here in florida huge market teaching mandarin/english/spanish so forth

 

[FuzzX]

here in florida huge market teaching mandarin/english/spanish so forth

Oh, well if I were an American I would definitely be heading out there. We used to live in a nice city (in the 80's) called Altamonte Springs. Apparently, its not doing so well anymore.

 

[eli77]

towns change what are you gonna do?

 

[FuzzX]

I would move to Rachel, Nevada but that's just me. However, I'm Canadian and there's not much we can do, we are all under lockdown, AGAIN.

 

[MatureDJ]

I did the Cambridge CELTA (it was rather quite a grind!) at Kiev. This is considered the "gold standard" certification, and while it might make a difference for local teachers, I think any TESOL certification would be fine for a native English speaker, as we are at the top of the food chain. I only do private lessons, which are really just conversational practice with answering any fine-tuning questions the student has, and correcting her mistakes as they come out. The economics of English teaching is that the locals are used for the lowest level students, but as students gain mastery, they want to learn from someone without the local accent. I have been told that I sound like a Hollywood actor, which is exactly what they want.

 

[MatureDJ]

I would move to Rachel, Nevada but that's just me. However, I'm Canadian and there's not much we can do, we are all under lockdown, AGAIN.

Is there a brothel there?

 

[MatureDJ]

1. Yes multiple - Global TESOL in 2004, CELTA - Did not complete, took it twice too...
2. TESOL took a weekend and was fun, the CELTAs took 1 month and 3 months, failed cause I wouldn't tow the PC line.
3. There is no grading for TESOL, you just attend and get a cert. CELTA is based on essays, teaching style and how quickly you spout off social justice talking points.
4. Not sure because I didn't pass

I didn't detect any social justice BS with my CELTA training; of course, it was pre-2014-invasion Ukraine, where the men act like men.

 

[MatureDJ]

CELTA has a singular formula, which is essentially take the textbook, photocopy a page and make a bunch of stupid activities using the target language. Then you write an overly complicated lesson plan and attach a fkin essay to it as if teaching a lesson was some kind of rocket science. There is no way on god's green earth you would use a lesson plan with a tiny font and a ton of target language breakdowns. A lesson plan is usually just a piece of paper with a few activates, how long they take, what materials are req'd... and then a bunch of games to fill the rest of the time.

The last time I did a lesson plan was for the CELTA certification itself. I spoke to someone that had done the certification and got a regular teaching job, and he said that he doesn't do any fancy plans like in the training, and just goes by the book with ad hoc additions. I've gotten a few substitution jobs (I really should do that more often as the classes are mostly chicks), and I just go in and ask the students where they had ended last time in the book, and just go on from there.

 

[FuzzX]

I did my CELTAs in Toronto and it was a fvckin nightmare both times. Super duper triple whopper helping of political correctness. I pulled a broad from one of the CELTA courses and even ended up banging her in her country for awhile. The other 'candidates', none of them became teachers later [they all passed, only I failed]. They consisted of a black chick who drank a lot of starbucks, a short haired librarian who wore all brown slacks and sweater, a guy who called himself a director, a ginormous fat broad who ratted on me when I showed her a pic of some girl with her head in Ronald McDonald's lap, a guy who called himself a 'grammarian', a guy who could hardly speak English, a fat woman with glasses who pissed herself on the first class and ran out. The instructors were two borderline lesbos who thought I was 'inappropriate'. Second time it was a fat chick and a dude that looked like a child. Neither had been overseas... For me CELTA is all about people that want to teach 'in theory' but don't have the balls to actually leave the country. They all act the same, have the same faggish mannerisms and ram grammar up student's arseholes because they don't know how to teach without a fkin textbook.

'Communicative Activies' = Boring Games / Cut & Paste.
Teacher Talk Time <-- Reducing this in Asia/South America will get you fired.
'Listening's' = The most low effort teaching technique I've ever seen.
The Classical Music method = The second worst and most pretentious thing I've ever seen in my entire life.
ESL Rods <-- LOL... honestly, I've NEVER seen this used outside of a CELTA class.

I used to think this was the gold standard in training until I took the Global TESOL. Holy sh1t, talk about a high energy and totally relevant course. The games that they taught and I came up with in that 2 day course, I've used for 13+ years in almost every single classroom. Lined me up with a job in Korea the week after.

I've only seen a 'grammar technique' once, used in Brazil and the chick was being paid $300/month.

 

[FuzzX]

Is there a brothel there?

an interstellar one.

 

[davidsonj73]

here in florida huge market teaching mandarin/english/spanish so forth

@eli77 Is a 120 hour TESOL/TEFL certificate enough to get one of these jobs? What is the average pay?

@MatureDJ How much of a wage premium is there for earning a CELTA vs a TESOL/TEFL 120 hour certificate if someone owns their own small business teaching English? What is the pass rate and passing score to earn a CELTA?

 

[eli77]

Oh, well if I were an American I would definitely be heading out there. We used to live in a nice city (in the 80's) called Altamonte Springs. Apparently, its not doing so well anymore.

Elaborate