TEFL & CELTA?

Discussion about courses, qualifications etc

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medlycott
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TEFL & CELTA?

Unread post by medlycott »

Hello,

This is my first forum post ever so please show mercy! My name is James and I am due to leave the British Army next year. After 8 years in the Army I want to travel and teach. Due to my length of service I will get a resettlement grant which will pay for courses to "re-trade" me. The grant will easily cover the cost of both courses. My question is is there any benefit of having both courses? Are there any other short training courses that could benefit me finding that first job and help a newbie teacher without a degree? I want to work and explore SE Asia especially Thailand.

Cheers

James
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Joe
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Re: TEFL & CELTA?

Unread post by Joe »

medlycott wrote:My question is is there any benefit of having both courses?
When you say "both courses" I presume you mean a TEFL course AND a CELTA course. Unfortunately that is a non-question :mrgreen: because a CELTA IS a TEFL, one of many TEFL courses and generally regarded as one of the best if not THE best. So no, you don't need "both courses". And you couldn't do better than getting a CELTA. You may like to read our FAQ to clear up any misunderstandings:
http://www.tefl.net/tefl-courses/faq.htm

Note that a university degree is often cited as a prerequisite to doing a CELTA, but this is not always true so it's still worth looking around.
medlycott wrote:Are there any other short training courses that could benefit me finding that first job and help a newbie teacher without a degree?
Nothing that would be better than a CELTA.
medlycott wrote:I want to work and explore SE Asia especially Thailand.
You may run into problems if you want to teach in Thailand without a degree because it's one of the countries that require a degree to get a work permit. You may do better to look elsewhere, including the EU (assuming you are British since that means you have the right to work in most EU countries regardless) or South America.
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Alex Case
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Re: TEFL & CELTA?

Unread post by Alex Case »

I have heard differing stories about whether it is practically possible to work in Thailand without a degree, but otherwise I'd agree with Matter.

If you can get more money than the CELTA would cost and want to spend it, the best choices are:
- Doing a specialist TEFL course straight after, e.g. a teaching young learners one like the Young Learner Extension to the CELTA (http://www.tefl.net/tefl-courses/faq-te ... arners.htm) or a teaching Business English one (http://www.tefl.net/tefl-courses/faq-te ... nglish.htm)
- Do a language course, preferably (but not necessarily) in the language of the country you will probably go to and preferably one with some kind of qualification at the end

If you haven't studied in a while and so are worried about the possibility of failing the course you could also do an online course to help you prepare for the CELTA (perhaps one to prepare for the lower-level TKT), but for most people just reading a book like How to Teach English by Jeremy Harmer is just as good. More tips on preparing here:
https://www.tefl.net/elt/articles/train ... for-celta/
rachelb
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Re: TEFL & CELTA?

Unread post by rachelb »

Hello,

Perhaps you were asking about the difference between the Trinity CertTESOL and the CELTA? If so, it definitely wouldn't be worth doing both of them - it would be like having 2 Maths A levels from 2 different exam boards. They each cover more or less the same ground and are (or should be) about equally highly regarded by reputable language schools, so just choose whichever one appeals more.

Other info / discussions here:
http://www.tefl.net/tefl-courses/faq-te ... .htm#celta
http://www.tefl.net/forums/viewtopic.php?f=11&t=4490
http://www.tefl.net/forums/viewtopic.php?f=11&t=3115
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