Celta course £1500, TEFL course £49?

[bobbydavro]

I am seeing huge differences in prices and study time for the 'teaching English as a foreign language' courses. Do you need to spend £1500 to get the better paid/conditions jobs?

I have a HND, two honors degrees, a teaching degree at masters level (level 7 PGCE), a masters in education (MEd) and 14 years full time teaching experience - would the CELTA course be overkill?

Bobby

[Squeegee]

I suggest you find and join your local Academics Anonymous group. Apparently you'll be treated with a lot of understanding if you can admit you have a problem.

[Yooyung]

If I have ever seen a case for someone that needs a 4 week TEFL course by the beach........it's YOU!!!! Honestly buddy, how can you REALLY claim to know what you are doing untill you've done it. Yeah yeah yeah....Masters in Ed, teacing degree and 14 years experience????!!!! I mean, what the hell would you know???

No, sorry mate, its off to the beach for a 4 week TEFL bootcamp i'm afraid.........dont forget your toothbrush!!!

[angsta]

TEFL for you. Online if possible.

[Neeranam]

I did the best one - 4 week, London Trinity TESOL and nobody ever asked to see it.

If I were a recruiter, I wouldn't look at any Mickey Mouse TEFL paper from Thailand.

[Squeegee]

I did the best one - 4 week, London Trinity TESOL and nobody ever asked to see it.

If I were a recruiter, I wouldn't look at any Mickey Mouse TEFL paper from Thailand.

Nobody ever asked to see my Trinity Cert. TESOL from the UK either, though it got photocopied along with the degree certificate when offered, just for the sake of nicely stamped, signed papers.

[maidee]

I don't understand farangs landing here and doing 30k crappy jobs

chasing the dream, right ?

[Crocbait]

A CELTA/TEFL certificate is well worth getting even if you have a teaching degree. Many organisations want this peice of paper. But be aware that many employers (at least quality ones) won't usually accept online courses (£49). They want the 120hr (£1500) with supervised classroom assessment. There are some good courses offered in Thailand but you would need to do some research.

[strabel23]

Can't understand why anyone would spend years in University at a cost of upwards of $100,000 and then want to teach in Thailand for a salary of approx. $1,000.00.

With your education level and years of experience why is it that you are not working in your home country and earning a salary commensurate with your education and experience? You must be either a glutton for punishment or have no ambitions in your home country to come looking for a teaching position here. It's not as fantastic as you might imagine to live and teach here.

You will be lucky to find 4 students out of a class of 40 that will even have any desire or inclination to actually learn English.

[Briggsy]

I assume you plan to teach English as a foreign language in Thailand.

With your qualifications,

1) it is not necessary to have a TEFL qualification

2) your decision is difficult to fathom but you must have your reasons.

3) if you plan to continue TEFL teaching in the Middle East, you might want to go for the CELTA or Trinity.

4) I am surprised you find it necessary to ask regarding the difference between the 2 extremes of TEFL courses.

[advancebooking]

Can't understand why anyone would spend years in University at a cost of upwards of $100,000 and then want to teach in Thailand for a salary of approx. $1,000.00.

With your education level and years of experience why is it that you are not working in your home country and earning a salary commensurate with your education and experience? You must be either a glutton for punishment or have no ambitions in your home country to come looking for a teaching position here. It's not as fantastic as you might imagine to live and teach here.

You will be lucky to find 4 students out of a class of 40 that will even have any desire or inclination to actually learn English.

Sorry to state the obvious but some of us get married and have families here. Work options are limited and thus teaching is the only viable solution.

[lostinisaan]

Can't understand why anyone would spend years in University at a cost of upwards of $100,000 and then want to teach in Thailand for a salary of approx. $1,000.00.

With your education level and years of experience why is it that you are not working in your home country and earning a salary commensurate with your education and experience? You must be either a glutton for punishment or have no ambitions in your home country to come looking for a teaching position here. It's not as fantastic as you might imagine to live and teach here.

You will be lucky to find 4 students out of a class of 40 that will even have any desire or inclination to actually learn English.

Sorry to state the obvious but some of us get married and have families here. Work options are limited and thus teaching is the only viable solution.

+ 1

. Better to live on $ 1,100, having a great family and friends, than living in a cold country with a lot more restrictions and paying taxes up to 40 % of your salary.

I do have a TEFL and a TESOL, but they're pretty much useless. The OP might have his own personal reason(s) to ask such a question.

Go for it, but leave one door open in your country of origin. And there's no need to do such a course with your qualifications. -

[Neeranam]

Can't understand why anyone would spend years in University at a cost of upwards of $100,000 and then want to teach in Thailand for a salary of approx. $1,000.00.

With your education level and years of experience why is it that you are not working in your home country and earning a salary commensurate with your education and experience? You must be either a glutton for punishment or have no ambitions in your home country to come looking for a teaching position here. It's not as fantastic as you might imagine to live and teach here.

You will be lucky to find 4 students out of a class of 40 that will even have any desire or inclination to actually learn English.

I spent nothing to get my degree and masters as I got a student grant, one as a mature(23) student.

I sent 3 years working in the oil business earning a lot of money and had the need to spend it t justify being stuck in the middle of the North Sea for sometimes 5 weeks at a time. I hated the UK and still do. I came here over 20 years ago and loved the lifestyle. I really can't understand why some of my friends are still doing that kind of work when they could have retired to somewhere like here already under 50 years old.

I worked in a language school and 90+% of them wanted to be there.

[Squeegee]

Will he even be back to his topic?

[SheungWan]

Some people are somewhat short-sighted and if the dream melts away they are sort of stuck with no decent career development and even less money. But hey they have the 'lifestyle' and a lots of Facebook friends, so that's alright then. So....back to the question. If say someone does have their head firmly on their shoulders then the International House qualification together with say 2 years experience doing TEFL will look like a solid and progressive development of their CV if considering a return to the real world. The other thing to bear in mind is that whether or not the employing institution looks at the qualification, you yourself know that you have undertaken a proper professional qualification and will have more confidence compared to the person who has only the ducking and diving piece of paper. It is not just about the piece of paper, the formal qualification, it is also about the process and the study. Actually those who are just interested in the piece of paper put themselves on the same level as maybe some of their students who are not interested in the study process either. Both wallowing in the mud. I am reminded of those who wear a fake watch and proudly say that no one can tell. There's always one person who can tell I say. 'Who's that?' is the retort. You.

[SlyAnimal]

You shouldn't need a certificate from either in order to teach English in Thailand, and I don't necessarily think a certificate from either will necessarily assist you with getting work either, as you're already overqualified to teach English.

I definitely wouldn't bother with the TESOL course which you linked, as if it's only 49 GBP, then it's probably online and thus not worth the paper it's printed on. Since you won't learn anything, and even if someone were interested in seeing whether you have a TESOL qualification, in addition to your other qualifications, then they'd likely see it was an online course and disregard it anyway.

A CELTA course, or a good TESOL course (Minimum 1 week in class), would however assist you with becoming a better teacher. As they'll teach you how to get around the communication barriers which you'll face while teaching EFL, a lot of it will be simple stuff, but it might be things which you maybe wouldn't have thought of otherwise. Also if you do the CELTA course, I think that they help you to sharpen up on your grammar jargon etc as well. When I did my TESOL course in NZ, we had a high school teacher in with us as well, as she wanted to teach ESL in NZ, so any qualification you do may also assist you when you return to the UK as well.

(Also in general, CELTA has a significantly better reputation than any TESOL course, primarily because the quality is meant to be consistently excellent, whereas a lot of TESOL courses vary in the quality of their teaching).

[SheungWan]

Re: I have a HND, two honors degrees, a teaching degree at masters level (level 7 PGCE), a masters in education (MEd) and 14 years full time teaching experience

Sometimes a paper trail looks somewhat odd and might add up to less than the sum of the parts. One question is where was all this education conducted and over what period of time of the person's lifetime. A second question is why there are presumably 4 degrees listed here. The third is what is meant by a teaching degree at masters level which is not a masters degree presumably? Sometimes it is better for a CV to lose some of the record as a potential employer might wonder whether the applicant's head just wonders around too much, never quite able to decide what they want to do in life, though the saving grace might be the 14 years teaching experience. I say might be as we don't know whether all in one place or drifting from job to job. Something for a short-lister to examine. Well maybe not in Thailand where teachers are pretty much disposable on 1500 baht or so a day. If one adds up the above listings sequentially then it totals to around about 25 years? worth of stuff, so the applicant might be in their 40s at least. No promotions? no managerial responsibilities? Just always at the lowest rung of the ladder? and now wanting to start another career in Thailand? Is this a pattern? It is no wonder sometimes that an employer would rather take on a new post-graduate fresh out of college than more mature individuals who appear to be carrying around a strange trail of baggage.

Edited January 28, 2015 by SheungWan

[kingalfred]

To the OP . Dont waste your money! If you have the qualifications you say you have s simple tefl or tesol for 50 hours will do in Thailsnd.

Edited January 28, 2015 by kingalfred

[aarontendo]

Eh some employers, it seems more in the Middle East, will certainly prefer a CELTA. I think International House as well from my understanding.

I can also say that when I worked in Korea neither of my immediate supervisors knew what it was, and I just told them it's a TEFL "Oh, ok".

Take from that what you will.

[Kf6vci]

Errm, are there genuine 49 pounds online courses out there? Sometimes, it's just to appease an employer outside Thailand...

[Briggsy]

OP seems to have left the building. Perhaps he was just being a comedian.