Celta Vs Tefl Certificate

[bungalowbill]

What is the difference between Celta and Tefl training? Is one course more challenging then the other?

Why do some ESL job postings list one instead of the other as a qualification requirement?

If you you hire ESL teachers do you prefer one over the other?

Thanks

BB

[FatBoyEric]

Celta's are aimed at teaching adults. Tefl's are more generic, all ages catered for.

Imo, the CELTA is more challenging.

[PeaceBlondie]

Hey buddy, you open bucket of worms. TEFL certs in this country work fine, you do not find postings tht...well, the first letter of the -lph-bet on my keybo-rd does not work now, or some other keys, but we will let this topic run for some posts.....

In some countries, they only know CELT- Those who h-ve the CELT- cert will tell you it w-s much more difficult th-n course in rocket science or Ph.D. in chemistry. To be professor of linguistics in Oxford, the mere TEFL cert is not s-tis-ftory. To te-ch here, TEFL cert is good enough unless the guy hiring you thinks the sun rises/sets on CELT- certs. Not multitudes of such guys here.

On the other hnd, if you cn type on broken keybord nd still mke yourself obvious, even TEFL cert might be worth something.

[FatBoyEric]

Those who h-ve the CELT- cert will tell you it w-s much more difficult th-n course in rocket science or Ph.D. in chemistry.

I've a CELTA & a TEFL. IMO, the TEFL was less of a challenge. I've not taken a course in rocket science or Ph.D. in chemistry, so I can't comment on the relative difficulty between these and an ELT course, but I'd be surprised if the rocket science course was less challenging. I believe the OP merely asked for clarification of the differences between the two qualifications, rather than which one is best.

Edited August 10, 2007 by FatBoyEric

[eek]

To the best of my knowledge:

The CELTA is a Cambridge accredited qualification whereas TEFL's are not.

The CELTA is marked externally by a recognised education board, TEFL's are not.

The CELTA is accepted globabally. Many TEFL's are only considered useful in the country the course was taken in.

The CELTA is definately more intensive than TEFL courses.

The CELTA when combined with your degree, will generally help you gain access to better teaching openings.

Edited August 10, 2007 by eek

[PeaceBlondie]

I did not check the rules for this forum, but we do not permit full fledged TEFL cert fights.

[Ijustwannateach]

^Yup.... and show me someone who's done BOTH courses and really knows how they differ in content. I'm going to be watching this thread very closely (there's a high chance it will simply be quickly closed), and things I would really welcome seeing are:

1. Posts by those in charge of hiring teachers in Thailand pertaining to Bill's questions.

2. Posts by those who have various TEFL qualifications to let us know how things have gone applying for jobs.

I do not want to see generalisations and shooting from the hip in the sense that "CELTA is better! TEFL is better! Joe's TEFL is crap! Tony's TEFL is better than all others!" If you have a personal experience to share which will illustrate your point, then please do so.

My own opinion: it doesn't matter which TEFL you have after your first few years on the job, except for the most hardcore jobs. At that point, your resume is the important point (assuming you can talk the talk and walk the walk). Until that time, the CELTA is a more difficult (than most TEFL) qualification which will lower the entry bar a bit for you MOSTLY OUTSIDE OF THAILAND, and MOSTLY FOR ADULT CLASSES. It has been repeated many times on these types of threads that neither advantage pertains particularly to Thailand, where non-CELTA qualifications are freely accepted and often focus on the children's classes you will most likely be teaching. And I've never heard any first person testimony that many of the other TEFL certs here in Thailand were rejected outside of the country, so I'm going to delete any assertions of the kind unless the poster is willing to back this up personally and give me schools I can contact to verify this claim (by PM, please).

"Steven"

[Ijustwannateach]

Those who h-ve the CELT- cert will tell you it w-s much more difficult th-n course in rocket science or Ph.D. in chemistry.

I've a CELTA & a TEFL. IMO, the TEFL was less of a challenge. I've not taken a course in rocket science or Ph.D. in chemistry, so I can't comment on the relative difficulty between these and an ELT course, but I'd be surprised if the rocket science course was less challenging. I believe the OP merely asked for clarification of the differences between the two qualifications, rather than which one is best.

You're one of the very few persons I've ever heard making this claim. You'd do a service to the forum if you'd give us a lot more detail about your experiences in both training courses, where you studied them, and how you feel they affected your ability to be hired (as well as the reason you studied for both).

[eek]

er...were any of the admin comments directed at my post?

If so, I do not see how anything that i posted could be construed as some kind of CELTA /Tefl war or a biased comment.

I was stating information that i hoped would help the OP, all the info given was to the best of my knowledge.

[Ijustwannateach]

I'm sure you posted with the best intentions, Eek, but here in the teacher's forum (and in other teaching forums related to Thailand) there's a tendency for course providers and their underlings to get into very nasty low-stakes battles online about the respective virtues of their courses. If we allow generalisations without hard data to go unchallenged, we're forced either to have those battles resume or be accused of standing in for one side or the other unfairly. I would prefer if you gave specific (personal) examples which illustrate your generalisations. From where I stand, it's hard to know statements of the type you have made are true unless you have taken several courses yourself or are very familiar with the industry from the inside. If you have this familiarity, some specific information comparing the courses would be helpful and would also justify your prior message.

[withnail]

I have only one of the two certificates but have spoken to people with both who have all said that both courses have pros and cons but are essentially the same.

In my experience people with only a CELTA always sing its praises. It is obvious though that if you are prepared to pay twice as much for a course you have already bought into the idea that it is superior before even doing it.

I certainly value the CELTA and I do go along with the idea that by being externally examined it is more likely to be consistent. However, A four-week course is a four-week course and I don't believe that any four-week course produces good teachers. This comes with training and experience.

I have personal experience of seeing both TEFL and CELTA trained teachers who have been equally good or awful. If I was employing a new teacher I would (in an ideal world) demand a certificate and experience. If I was then presented with two equally experienced teachers but with different certificates I would go for the one with the best attitude.

The benefit with doing a CELTA is that there is obviously a percentage of people (usually CELTA holders) that value it over a TEFL and by having one you can therefore satisfy these people. However, there are other considerations to make when choosing a course.

Edited August 10, 2007 by withnail

[eek]

Oh, i see.

I did post with the best intentions and was not aware of there are battles of this sort on the forum.

Thank you for your response ijustwannateach.

Apologies for this offtopic post.

[FatBoyEric]

Those who h-ve the CELT- cert will tell you it w-s much more difficult th-n course in rocket science or Ph.D. in chemistry.

I've a CELTA & a TEFL. IMO, the TEFL was less of a challenge. I've not taken a course in rocket science or Ph.D. in chemistry, so I can't comment on the relative difficulty between these and an ELT course, but I'd be surprised if the rocket science course was less challenging. I believe the OP merely asked for clarification of the differences between the two qualifications, rather than which one is best.

You're one of the very few persons I've ever heard making this claim. You'd do a service to the forum if you'd give us a lot more detail about your experiences in both training courses, where you studied them, and how you feel they affected your ability to be hired (as well as the reason you studied for both).

CELTA in the UK, TEFL in Thailand. CELTA was more difficult, i.e they didn't help us to pass the course. I don't think anyone really cares in Thailand, as long as you've got one or the other. It's all about showing bits of paper. I did them both because I believed in preparing myself.

Edited August 10, 2007 by FatBoyEric