Preparation Course Before T.e.f.l.a Advice Please

[dmax]

i have posted a similar question before without much response, i need to know what is a good course i can do in preparation for tefla, the local college is enrolling now for january, i can do a full time or part time, i need advise please, i am not interested in home study books i would rather be in a classroom environment , i left school 27 yrs ago and i do not have an academic background but was quite good at engish and got a gse grade ( b ) . my spelling is above average but i need help with verbs, nouns, subject classifiers that kind of thing. i will call college today also for advise but i want some advice of you guys on here who have went down the tefla route.

thanks in advance . dmax

[PeaceBlondie]

A refresher course in grammar?

[SeanMoran]

It's home study sort of thing but it's most imperative. Nobody but Raymond A . Murphy can get you up to speed to teach. If I recall it's title is English Grammar in Usage, but I rely on my memory alone in typing here. The sixth edition is a blue book (A4 size) that you can buy for under 1,000 baht from Se-Ed.

---o0o---

Sorry. English Grammar in Use, by Raymond A. Murphy.

Edited February 4, 2010 by SeanMoran

[dmax]

i have spoken to a friend who is doing the online tefla now , he is really struggling with it even though he has a degree in social care , i on the other hand have a background in construction , i am unemployed at present and can afford 1 year of my time putting it into a short grammar course then embark on the tefla course in college then i will need to get employment but i do not want to start going down this route if there is no way i am going to pass, i mean the people that tend to go down this route have got gsce,s and an academic background , right ? i know i should be possitive but im also concerned that i could waste a whole year on this and end up failing. i just cannot think of any other way that enables me to live in thailand and work legally other than teaching english,my wife does not want to live in uk anymore and eventually wants to return to khon kaen to live with her family as her father is very ill and she cant stand the weather here so thats the position i am in. what are you views ?

thanks

[dmax]

thanks sean i will buy this book as and when i start a course to get my grammar up to scratch.

[SeanMoran]

i have spoken to a friend who is doing the online tefla now , he is really struggling with it even though he has a degree in social care , i on the other hand have a background in construction , i am unemployed at present and can afford 1 year of my time putting it into a short grammar course then embark on the tefla course in college then i will need to get employment but i do not want to start going down this route if there is no way i am going to pass, i mean the people that tend to go down this route have got gsce,s and an academic background , right ? i know i should be possitive but im also concerned that i could waste a whole year on this and end up failing. i just cannot think of any other way that enables me to live in thailand and work legally other than teaching english,my wife does not want to live in uk anymore and eventually wants to return to khon kaen to live with her family as her father is very ill and she cant stand the weather here so thats the position i am in. what are you views ?

thanks

More than 50% of the gainfully employed English teachers I read on this forum wouldn't have passed year 9 English in a Western Australian public high school, and yet they still get paid for their efforts towards the destruction of my native language.

Ask yourself one question. What is your objective here in Thailand?

If it's the money, then use your best smile and go with teaching English.

I just hope that you can manage to do it properly. That would be like a rainbow on a cloudy day.

If it's the truth, then think of something more realistic. Teaching English is a farce now.

[dmax]

i have spoken to a friend who is doing the online tefla now , he is really struggling with it even though he has a degree in social care , i on the other hand have a background in construction , i am unemployed at present and can afford 1 year of my time putting it into a short grammar course then embark on the tefla course in college then i will need to get employment but i do not want to start going down this route if there is no way i am going to pass, i mean the people that tend to go down this route have got gsce,s and an academic background , right ? i know i should be possitive but im also concerned that i could waste a whole year on this and end up failing. i just cannot think of any other way that enables me to live in thailand and work legally other than teaching english,my wife does not want to live in uk anymore and eventually wants to return to khon kaen to live with her family as her father is very ill and she cant stand the weather here so thats the position i am in. what are you views ?

thanks

More than 50% of the gainfully employed English teachers I read on this forum wouldn't have passed year 9 English in a Western Australian public high school, and yet they still get paid for their efforts towards the destruction of my native language.

Ask yourself one question. What is your objective here in Thailand?

If it's the money, then use your best smile and go with teaching English.

I just hope that you can manage to do it properly. That would be like a rainbow on a cloudy day.

If it's the truth, then think of something more realistic. Teaching English is a farce now.

hi sean , its for the money and its to enable me to stay legally as i said before, i have a beautifull house in kk and i have a nest egg off 2 mill thb, so if i can stay in my house with no rent to pay, have a few beer now and again, give the wife some money then if i need any extra,s i will dip into the nest egg now and again. basically i can live quite well in isaan on 1000 thb per day or less. so if i can earn 30,000 per mth and do some extra teaching then i will be content. that,s my thinking anyway time will tell. i really want to go down this route and am prepared to put time money and effort into it for the next year but as i also say im concerned i may be wasting my time because of my lack of english grammar and academic skills. anyone else any thoughts on this ? i will take everything on board as this is a major decision for me and i dont want to waste my time if i can do something else .

[marty147]

I know a small number of excellent expat' teachers but the very best tend to be employed in international schools. Of course, there are some exceptions.

As Sean has already stated with regards to standards, take a look at the grammar and spelling on this 'teaching' forum to gauge what level you would need to achieve in order to be an English teacher in Thailand.

Rest assured, the standards for entry are not that high so despite your understandable concerns, I very much doubt that you will have any problems passing your TEFL course and gaining suitable employment.

There are some excellent articles on ajarn.com that cover 'what makes a great teacher'.

Good luck

[Scott]

Further negative remarks about posters on the forum will earn some people a holiday from the forum. This forum is for and about teachers and teaching. It is an internet forum and since it's hard to distinguish between a spelling mistake and a typographical error, we won't discuss it. The same with grammar.

We have numerous posters here who teaching subjects, not English. Many are non-native speakers of English. So, 'let he who is without sin cast the first stone.' And let him do it on one of the many forums dedicated to things like grammar.

The OP is asking for suggestions about course work that might help him. Let's try and give him constructive advice.