| > HOME |  |
> COURSE DETAILS | |
> TEFL WORK EXPERIENCE | |
> TEFL TESOL JOBS | |
> TEFL TUTORS | |
> FAQS |
| > COSTS | |
> BOOK ONLINE | |
> DATES, VENUES & TIMES | |
> PRINTED INFORMATION PACK | |
Call us 01993 891121 | ||
|
|
|||||
Contact Us
“Thank you for |
|
What’s the format of the weekend course? How do I work through the distance learning course? What is the TEFL Work Experience like? What qualifications do I need to do this course? Do you guarantee jobs afterwards? Why should foreign schools want me? But I can’t attend a weekend course… But I really don’t know whether I want to or not... What is meaning of TEFL and TESOL? More acronyms – EFL, ESL, ESOL, CELTA, DELTA, TOEFL etc
It’s a very practical course about teaching techniques and how to survive: not at all academic. It’s about the skills of planning lessons, carrying students with you and getting them thinking and functioning in English. It comes in three parts – Part 1 is a practical weekend course and Part 2 is 140 hours of guided distance learning. Part 3 gives a week of hands-on experience in a UK language school. What’s the format of the weekend course? The 20-hour weekend is very intensive - but don’t worry: there are regular breaks for you to get refreshment, recap and relax. You will be taken through the whole gamut of classroom techniques including communication and animation. It’s in 4 books, each of 5 units. It’s very chatty and interactive, helping you to realise what you already have in the way of knowledge and experience, giving you classroom ideas and dealing with technical areas like phonetics and grammar. Having received the first book; you write your work in the book and send it back; we return it to you marked, together with the next book, so you are getting feedback at regular steps on the way. How do I work through the distance learning course? It comes in a 4-book “conversation” where you fill in your responses, and leads you forward from one realisation to the next. As part of some units you study authentic classes on video (DVD) to learn classroom management, teaching techniques and lesson planning. You will also visit classes in a language school and observe experienced teachers in action while working on Book 2 and 3. In Book 4 you will make learner profiles based on the two interviews supplied on the DVD. - Tutor backup is available all the way through. What is the TEFL Work Experience like? You spend a full working week at the Avalon School of English. You prepare your own teaching practice with your mentor and teach foreign students. Observe a variety of different classes, levels and teachers, and get a great insight into the daily life of a language school. The reference and graded certificate will give a future employer a good picture of your potential and skills in the classroom. What qualifications do I need to do this course? Your English needs to be fluent, grammatically correct and your pronunciation must be understandable. That is, you must be a native speaker or an advanced non-native speaker. (I.e. at a standard required for entry to UK higher education; IELTS band 6 or above, Cambridge Certificate of Advanced English or equivalent.) You don’t have to have a degree to do our course, but be aware that some countries require a degree for working visas. The most important thing is to have a mind open for discovery. You’ll learn a lot about yourself, and gain a lot of confidence whilst improving your communication skills. Our students have ranged from 17 to 70. Each brings special qualities to the course: excitement, lack of inhibition, maturity and depth of experience and everyone shares the process of discovery. When you have completed our weekend course, you will be entitled to write “Cert. TEFL” after your name. You will have been introduced to what teaching requires and could throw yourself in at the deep end and start trying. However, with the 140 hour course you will be better prepared, and employers will recognise that. The Teaching Practice Certificate shows that you have already managed classes on your own. The reference you get, will give your first employers a fellow professional’s view of your skills and abilities. There are thousands of jobs in private language schools all over the world. Other opportunities include teaching English in businesses or to pre-school children; assisting refugees, immigrants or asylum seekers; informal conversation practice; private tuition one-to-one or in small groups; or having “home-stay” students offering full board and tuition in your own home: there are many ways of creating a niche for yourself. The easiest way to find paid work in the UK is to offer private tuition to individuals or small groups , or have “home-stay” students. TEFL is a useful additional skill for mainstream teachers, classroom assistants and HR staff in companies with immigrant workers. Abroad, the 20-hour Certificate is usually enough for work as a volunteer or an assistant in private schools. With the 140-hour certificate + our TEFL Work Experience Week you will have an in-depth assessment by an expert of your relevant life experience, academic background and course performance. This provides a job reference/recommendation, spotlighting your particular strengths. Remember, everything you have done before in your life has given you specific English language skills someone will value. Do you guarantee jobs afterwards? Obviously not. We couldn’t, without knowing how well you are going to do. It also depends on how determined you are to sell your services. But we do give you guidance, useful contacts, and information about past students’ successful experience. The Internet is a good source of jobs; but most will want you to commit for 6 or 12 months. A typical working situation abroad is in a private language school. The students come there after their state school lessons or work. Your job is to teach them to write and speak correct English for their exams and for communicating internationally. (Our job is to train you how to do this including mastering English grammar.) You will be handling reading and listening comprehensions, and leading discussions, all of which we will train you to do. Your students come because they want to learn, and because English is so useful to their futures. Many schools are also sending staff out to business clients. Typically it will demand 25-30 hours a week, usually between 4.00 p.m. (when state school lessons finish) and 9.00 p.m. The jobs usually start in October, and finish in mid-June, so you can return to the U.K. if you wish and work, say, for 2 months in summer language schools here; or stay and travel. The schools normally provide accommodation or help you find it, and your pay is enough to have an attractive lifestyle while you are there, but not enough to save up a great deal to bring back to the U.K. You can often supplement your pay by taking private students outside your working hours. If you want to work outside schools on your own initiative, start gathering private pupils from acquaintances; or offer special services, based on your own past work experience, to individuals or companies. (However, do check local tax and immigration regulations.) Why should foreign schools want me? It is forecast that by 2010, half the world’s population will be speaking English. There are already as many people learning English in China as the entire population of the United States. It is used by every pilot and air traffic controller in the world, by two-thirds of the world’s scientists, in 75 per cent of the world’s mail and in 80 per cent of the world’s electronic information systems. English radio programmes are received by 150 million people in 120 countries. There are thousands of jobs on the Internet; and with this you can find out what specific schools are asking for. But it is often better actually to go and explore the situation on the ground before committing yourself, because each will want different things, and be offering different terms. “Teaching English Abroad” by Susan Griffith is the TEFLer’s best handbook. It is the most comprehensive listing of workplaces, wage rates, accommodation costs, favoured qualifications, visa and work permit requirements in many countries. We supply our students with a list of job contacts plus useful websites for jobs and lesson plans. But I can’t attend a weekend course… If you are not able to attend a weekend, Part 2 can also be done as a freestanding distance learning course. But I really don’t know whether I want to or not...” Don’t worry! That’s why we’ve designed the weekend course to give you a definite and clear idea of what the job and the lifestyle are like. When you have completed the weekend, you don’t have to go abroad to teach. You will have enjoyed the course and made friends, and the skills and insights you will have gained will be useful in other fields. You can then consider your options, and decide to take further stages if you wish. What is meaning of TEFL and TESOL? These are not qualifications in themselves: they are simply acronyms for basically the same thing: Teaching English as a Foreign Language or Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages. TEFL was English in origin, and refers more to going abroad to teach; TESOL was American, and applied to teaching students who had come there from other countries. Both are equally valid. What matters is the quality of the specific course you are taking. The state system in many countries is closed to foreigners, or will require a relevant degree and full teaching qualification. You will often hear academic courses spoken of, such as the Cambridge CELTA. This is a 4-week full time course costing around £1,000, which includes 6 hours of observing and teaching foreign students. Otherwise, before schools will take you on, they will still want to see actual experience on your c.v. This is where you will benefit from completing our TEFL Work Experience Week. Some acronyms – EFL, ESL, ESOL, TEFL, TESL, TESOL etc., etc.: EFL: General UK term for English as a Foreign Language. ESL: English as a Second Language. ESOL: English for Speakers of Other Languages. TEFL: Teaching English as a Foreign Language; English is learned as a foreign language by people who may need English for certain purposes such as business and tourism but who live in countries where English is not an official language. TESL: Teaching English as a Second Language; English is learned as a second language by people who will need the language for every day life, for example as emigrants to the UK, US or Other English speaking countries. TESOL: Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages; covers both the above situations, but is mainly favoured by certain UK academic institutions. TESOL Inc. is also the name of the largest English teachers’ organisations. CELTA: Certificate in English Language Teaching for Adults. Administered by University of Cambridge Local Examinations Syndicate (UCLES). DELTA: Diploma in English Language Teaching to Adults. EAP: English for Academic Purposes. ESP: English for Specific Purposes. IELTS: International English Language Testing System. Exam for non-native speakers of English developed by UCLES and the British Council. TOEFL: Test of English as a Foreign Language. Key US exam for students of English. |
