Becoming an TEFL teacher is not the simplest thing on the planet. Sure, if you Google TEFL jobs without a degree or TEFL certification required, you'll find one, but it might not be the best experience. I would prefer to have my introduction into the world of TEFL be a little less stressful, though I am prepared to have it be a difficult-yet rewarding-experience.
In order to help me on that path to being more prepared and having a positive experience, I volunteer in an ESL class twice a week in a local school district. The department specialises in Family and Adult Education and the students are refugees. In the class I volunteer in, most of the students are from Mexico, though there are a few from Guatemala, Costa Rica, and Vietnam. It is very enjoyable to be in there with them and helping them learn functional English so that they can be successful.
Love it! Being in your 20s and trying to figure out the next step can be rather interesting. Anyway, I decided to pursue a career in TEFL/TESOL this past summer when I realised that intelligence positions and government careers just wouldn't do it for me. I looked at jobs and noticed that having some sort of TEFL certification would be a good idea. I researched for a few weeks and came across a CETLA course; however, it was $3,000, full-time, and in Denver.
Um, not going to work.
Finding a course that offered practical experience was difficult for me in Colorado Springs, so I looked into online only course. I ended up choosing the 120-hour online course through i-to-i TEFL, a company with a great reputation and housed in Leeds, England (which also was an attractive aspect to the company for no reason other than it was in Leeds and I have been there several times).
I will have a full review of my experience at a later date, but suffice it to say that it was a great experience and provided a wonderful taster of what a TEFL job entails. One of the last modules was on finding TEFL positions and I noticed a recurring theme: CELTA.
CELTA is the University of Cambridge (POSH!!) Certificate of English Language Teaching to Adults. It is the almost-the-top TEFL certification that you can get in the world! It is internationally-recognised and taken very seriously. However, it is a lot more expensive and is an in-class, pracitical learning process.
I currently work full-time in a position that I have for a year (yay for the first post-graduate job!) and had no way to participate in a CELTA course whilst I am working. That led me to think....well, my job is done in May-ish, June...why not do a CELTA course in June/July? That way I could have the CELTA certification and then apply for jobs in August/September.
Genius, right??
That led me to Teaching House, an absolutely fantastic company with a great reputation and an international company International House. After researching courses, I settled on Belfast.
Yep, Belfast in Northern Ireland...
And then a wonderful friend of mine told me about Greenheart Travel, which helps recruit (at no charge) teachers for EPIK, which has always been (well, in the last 4 months) a dream of mine.
So, I have a plan.
Step 1: IRELAND (I have been accepted into CELTA and I will write about that in another post...coming soon.)
Step 2: EPIK (I will be applying for fall 2015 and will know in April/May if I get to go)
Step 3: Work for 2-ish years
Step 4: Apply for an MSc in Applied Linguistics at the University of Edinburgh, Maybe Oxford. Or Newcastle. Somewhere in the UK, though.
Step 5: Be amazing!
That is the plan, folks. Tomorrow I am starting the process of getting documents together for the EPIK application, i.e. apostillised degree. I will have thoughts to share on that, too.
I have a lot of thoughts.
In order to help me on that path to being more prepared and having a positive experience, I volunteer in an ESL class twice a week in a local school district. The department specialises in Family and Adult Education and the students are refugees. In the class I volunteer in, most of the students are from Mexico, though there are a few from Guatemala, Costa Rica, and Vietnam. It is very enjoyable to be in there with them and helping them learn functional English so that they can be successful.
***Literal Right-Justified Side Note***
There is a slight difference between ESL and TEFL. ESL promotes
students learning functional English to help them in their jobs and communities
in an English-speaking country. TEFL, on the other hand, is Teaching English as a Foreign Language, meaning that the students are actually learning the grammar and formation of
the language, and are ultimately able to produce it fluently.
Since I am a volunteer under a teacher, I don't prepare any of the lessons, but I help in the class. I run the warmers and the lead-ins, as well as assist with the activities. The students' ages range from 17-45, so it is a broad range. It has been a positive experience for me, though 3 hours from one class is a little bit trying on the students, the teacher, and me too (sometimes).
But, I find myself getting off topic. The topic of today's post is...
THE PLAN!
Okay, it might not be a solid plan, a completely formulated plan, or even a good plan. But at least I have some sort of idea that resembles a plan. I read a funny quote once that went something like this:
"What is my five-year plan? To figure out my five-year plan."
Love it! Being in your 20s and trying to figure out the next step can be rather interesting. Anyway, I decided to pursue a career in TEFL/TESOL this past summer when I realised that intelligence positions and government careers just wouldn't do it for me. I looked at jobs and noticed that having some sort of TEFL certification would be a good idea. I researched for a few weeks and came across a CETLA course; however, it was $3,000, full-time, and in Denver.
Um, not going to work.
Finding a course that offered practical experience was difficult for me in Colorado Springs, so I looked into online only course. I ended up choosing the 120-hour online course through i-to-i TEFL, a company with a great reputation and housed in Leeds, England (which also was an attractive aspect to the company for no reason other than it was in Leeds and I have been there several times).
I will have a full review of my experience at a later date, but suffice it to say that it was a great experience and provided a wonderful taster of what a TEFL job entails. One of the last modules was on finding TEFL positions and I noticed a recurring theme: CELTA.
CELTA is the University of Cambridge (POSH!!) Certificate of English Language Teaching to Adults. It is the almost-the-top TEFL certification that you can get in the world! It is internationally-recognised and taken very seriously. However, it is a lot more expensive and is an in-class, pracitical learning process.
I currently work full-time in a position that I have for a year (yay for the first post-graduate job!) and had no way to participate in a CELTA course whilst I am working. That led me to think....well, my job is done in May-ish, June...why not do a CELTA course in June/July? That way I could have the CELTA certification and then apply for jobs in August/September.
Genius, right??
That led me to Teaching House, an absolutely fantastic company with a great reputation and an international company International House. After researching courses, I settled on Belfast.
Yep, Belfast in Northern Ireland...
And then a wonderful friend of mine told me about Greenheart Travel, which helps recruit (at no charge) teachers for EPIK, which has always been (well, in the last 4 months) a dream of mine.
So, I have a plan.
Step 1: IRELAND (I have been accepted into CELTA and I will write about that in another post...coming soon.)
Step 2: EPIK (I will be applying for fall 2015 and will know in April/May if I get to go)
Step 3: Work for 2-ish years
Step 4: Apply for an MSc in Applied Linguistics at the University of Edinburgh, Maybe Oxford. Or Newcastle. Somewhere in the UK, though.
Step 5: Be amazing!
That is the plan, folks. Tomorrow I am starting the process of getting documents together for the EPIK application, i.e. apostillised degree. I will have thoughts to share on that, too.
I have a lot of thoughts.
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