ICAL Online Training Course

[Whoopie]

I'm just curious on "how" recognized ICAL is in other countries. The primary consideration of where I want to move and teach at is Japan but Taiwan is another option I'm looking at. Does anyone know how well ICAL is recognized in either of these places? Also, I know the TEFL is a high priority in Taiwan(from what I've read) but what about in Japan?

I'm currently in school for a degree in Computer Programming. I'm in my 5th quarter of receiving my Associate degree. I was considering getting my TEFL and then when I finish my Associate degree, moving to Japan or Taiwan and do my Bachelors online(which I know I can do because my college has that option).

On a side note, I came across this website: HESS

I was wondering if they are any good or if anyone has used them before. They require that you either have a Bachelor degree or an Associate Degree with a TEFL Certification.

[Daveon]

TEFL is pretty much recognized all over the world, but there really isn't an institution governing all the course providers.
I hear that another course is more popular in Japan (the acronym escapes me at the moment) but in Taiwan TEFL is recognized.

You may run into troubles with an associates degree, most asian countries seem to have a BA as a min requirement, better wait for someone more familiar with Japan.

I haven't come across that HESS website as TEFL International, the course provider I trained at, gives job placement assistance which has so far been pretty okay for me.

cheers!
Dave0n

[ICAL_Pete]

Degree:

If you want to teach in Japan or Taiwan then you will require a university degree in order to get a visa. In Japan, depending on what passport you hold, you can get a working holiday visa up until the age of 30 regardless of whether you have a degree or not.

ICAL Certificate:

The positive feedback we get from our ICAL graduates who have found employment in language schools not only in Asia but all over the world, in both the private and public sector, confirms that our Certificate is extremely well accepted. Specifically we have many graduates who have found employment in Japan thanks to their ICAL Certificate and related papers.

There is a thread on this in the ICAL Student Forum at http://www.icalweb.com/forums

We also cooperate with major recruitment agencies in Asia who ask us for our ICAL graduates on a regular basis as they know they can easily place them. Not only reputable placement agencies are happy to recruit our certified teachers but we also have schools from all over the world - from Turkey to Indonesia - that regularly contact us looking for well trained TEFL/TEFL teachers to employ.

We believe all this speaks volumes about the standing the ICAL certificate has in the ELT industry. However since rrequirements vary from school to school and country to country, if you are concerned about the validity of the certificate, then the only sure way to find out is to talk to the school(s) where you'd like to work. They will have their own preferences.