CELTA / TEFL course provider - Vietnam OR Thailand

[ALEXCELTA]

Hello all,

This is Alex here – I’m a new poster.

Myself and a friend are going over to either Thailand or Vietnam to do a tefl course (CELTA backed by Cambridge) using either the international house of Bangkok (in Bangkok or Chiang Mai) or Discover ELT Vietnam (in Ho chi minh city). Both providers look very good but I wanted anyones advice on employability once out there and any recommendations or feedback if anyone had first hand experience on the two providers of CELTA (websites below).

http://www.ihbangkok.com/teachertraining.html

http://www.discovereltvietnam.com/page.php?p=20

Thanks,
Alex

[ICAL_Pete]

I don't know about your backgrounds, but personally I would not recommend a CELTA to anyone who has less than 2 years experience teaching English. It is an intensive and very heavy course which is extremely good but very demanding. You will struggle to pass unless you have a thorough grounding in the basics of teaching and some experience to back it up.

[ALEXCELTA]

Thanks for the prompt response Pete

I’m quite surprised - I thought it was a fairly standard route in if you want to teach English as a foreign language. Basically I graduated from Bristol uni 1 year ago & have spent a year in finance to raise cash for a year abroad and wanted to primarily teach English with a qualification backed by Cambridge or trinity (as im lead to believe employment opportunities are easier come by once these qualifications are obtained).

Basically I’m going to do my primary school PGCE in the UK September 2010 and thought this would be an ideal opportunity to get first hand teach experience (obviously not with primary school children in this instance), conduct some travel and earn some pocket money while out there.

Let me know if you can advise on how to move forwards. Appreciate your time.

- Alex

[ALEXCELTA]

any advice would be ace!

Thanks,
Alex

[Lucas]

You don't need to take a preliminary TESOL/TEFL to take a CELTA, Trinity, or TESL Canada course. People take the shorter courses because they can get a lot of jobs without going through an intensive course or paying almost $2,000. Here at Coventry House International and Ontesol we offer Trinity and TESL Canada (on-site and online) courses as well as a preliminary/basic 100-hour course online. There are many people who take the Trinity or TESL Canada courses and do not have any teaching experience or TESOL/TEFL training but do very well. That's because these courses, as well as the CELTA, are intensive so that the trainee receives all the necessary training right from the beginning. There are many people with teaching experience who then took our Trinity or TESL Canada courses because they either wanted to upgrade their qualifications or because they were coming back to Canada and over here teachers are required to have a TESL Canada certification, and they have expressed that they would have had a much better experience if they had the right training right from the beginning.
I don't suggest that you spend any time and money on a preliminary course if you will eventually take a more intensive one. Only those who don't know if teaching is the right career for them or who just want to travel around the world for a few years should take a preliminary course.

Cheers,
Lucas

[ICAL_Pete]

I’m quite surprised - I thought it was a fairly standard route in if you want to teach English as a foreign language. Basically I graduated from Bristol uni 1 year ago & have spent a year in finance to raise cash for a year abroad and wanted to primarily teach English with a qualification backed by Cambridge or trinity (as im lead to believe employment opportunities are easier come by once these qualifications are obtained).

Basically I’m going to do my primary school PGCE in the UK September 2010 and thought this would be an ideal opportunity to get first hand teach experience (obviously not with primary school children in this instance), conduct some travel and earn some pocket money while out there.

The standard entrance to teaching English is a degree plus an entry-level TEFL Certificate which can be obtained either online or by taking a short course in-house. This usually leads to an entry-level job abroad where you can get a couple of years' experience and learn the ropes (no course, no matter what it says, will prepare you for a year teaching English abroad!).

What happens then is that new teachers will

a) stay teaching at a small school somewhere where life is good and pressure is minimal
b) decide to pursue a career in teaching and want to move on to a better school so they will take a CELTA
c) go home and get a job in a call centre

If you are planning to teach for a year or so for pocket money then I would suggest that a CELTA is overkill; a basic course will suffice here.

[systematic]

I second the opinion that CELTA is overkill for anyone not intending to make a longer term career in TESOL. It is also overkill for anyone who has a degree in a linguistics related subject and/or a PGCE. Anyone who has completed a university degree will not find a CELTA course particularly challenging, but there will not be many free evenings...

[nallison]

Hi all,

I'm just beginning to research TEFL - reached the point I'm bored of the same old in the office and wnat to get out there and do something meaningful, and I've always wanted to work in a developing country

I've been looking at CELTA as I thought I should get the best training I could, but from what I've read it sounds horrific. Your advice seems to be that entry level is fine for initial work in Asia. When you say doing an entry level TEFL is fine, do you include the 120 hour non-CELTA courses in this, or do you mean the really short courses? I'm looking at the 120 hour non-CELTA courses as a slightly chepaer and less intimidating way of doing it, would these be a bit less intense?

For instance the bridgeTEFL course in Vietnam http://www.bridgetefl.com/tefl-vietnam.php which isn't CELTA. Any info/views on this? Or are the 120 hour courses just as hard as CELTA? i also read that CELTA is focussed purely on adults whereas TEFL courses tend to give more training on teaching children, is that right? I'm more keen to teach younger age groups so that would sappeal to me.

Really grateful for any advice, it's hard making sense of all the info out there! Many thanks in advance,

Neil

[Lucas]

Hi Neil,
That's an interesting question. A TEFL/TESOL course (CELTA included) mainly prepares you to teach English to adults at any level. If you want to teach English to children or teenagers, you should still take the TEFL/TESOL course because it provides you with the fundamental training for teaching English at any level but also obtain a TEYL (Teaching English to Young Learners) certificate so you can apply the lesson planning techniques you learn in the TEFL/TESOL course when teaching English to children or teenagers.

Ontesol offers a 50% discount on the TEYL course if you enroll in one of its online TEFL/TESOL courses. www.ontesol.com

The 100-hour TEFL/TESOL course, which is recognized by ACTDEC UK Level 1, is only $269 CDN or approximately US$ 249

The 250-hour Specialized TEFL/TESOL course, which is recognized by ACTDEC UK Level 3 and TESL Canada Professional Standard 2, is $975 CDN.

[nallison]

hi Lucas,

Thanks for the helpful advice. I think having done a lot of research, and looking at what you're say, I'll opt for a TEFL course, possibly the one at http://www.teflphuket.com/index.html as I've read a lot of good things about it and spoken to their staff and they seem impressive. I'd prefer to do an onsite one because with no experience of teaching, I'd be prefer to have a more comprehensive suppoort service, and this provides a lot of practice hours which I would like. I'm not entirely certain teaching is definitely for me so this will help me betetr assess whether it is and i can do justice to my students.

[Lucas]

You're welcome. Have a great time in Phuket!