TEFL/CELTA/CELT answers...

red_bairn

Did the Weekend Course in Dublin with i-to-i and currently studying the online work. Have arranged stuff with i-to-i to get a job placement in South Korea in May. Awaiting further details when I receive my contract in the next few weeks.

cloneslad

red_bairn wrote: »

Did the Weekend Course in Dublin with i-to-i and currently studying the online work. Have arranged stuff with i-to-i to get a job placement in South Korea in May. Awaiting further details when I receive my contract in the next few weeks.

you aren't paying them to find you a job are you? recruiters get paid from the school, you shouldn't have to pay them.

red_bairn

cloneslad wrote: »

you aren't paying them to find you a job are you? recruiters get paid from the school, you shouldn't have to pay them.

You pay for a 100/120hr course and get a free job placement setup If you wish (so it's included within the price).

cloneslad

red_bairn wrote: »

You pay for a 100/120hr course and get a free job placement setup If you wish (so it's included within the price).

That's nice of them, they charge you to do the course then they tell you they will find you a job, thus stopping you from looking elsewhere for one and making more money from you when they get you a job somewhere.

Don't just rely on them to find you one, try some of the other recruiters, tiger english, footprints, etc etcthe more recruiters you have looking for you the better chance of getting a job and a good one at that.

Oh but don't let several recruiters apply to smoe or epik for you or they will reject you for multiple applications!

red_bairn

cloneslad wrote: »

That's nice of them, they charge you to do the course then they tell you they will find you a job, thus stopping you from looking elsewhere for one and making more money from you when they get you a job somewhere.

Don't just rely on them to find you one, try some of the other recruiters, tiger english, footprints, etc etcthe more recruiters you have looking for you the better chance of getting a job and a good one at that.

Oh but don't let several recruiters apply to smoe or epik for you or they will reject you for multiple applications!

whoa! Whats the deal with boardsies hating i-to-i? No. I asked in Janurary ahd they any job placements in Japan for March, which they did not. They were very helpful in giving me a few websites where I could go job searching as I asked them for some directions.

I went and applied for a good few jobs. I applied to various jobs in about 4/5 websites but was getting worried as I wasn't getting any reply from them after a few weeks. I decided to contact i-to-i in regards to South Korea, Hong Kong and other places in that general direction for a placement much sooner than August.

I decided to go for South Korea in May of this year. I'm currently waiting for my transcript breakdown from college, which I will soon send on to the i-to-i representative in S.Korea and the vetting form which I received only less than a week after applying for it.

These will be sent from the rep on to the chosen school or institute that I will be placed with.

To be honest, I tried looking for money off the course or no payment by going through FAS as I'm only a casual worker as such. The guy there said, "nah, nothing in that line of biz" and shrugged it off, basically saying I wasn't getting a penny from FAS to do the course (d***s).

A friend from college had already got the course covered by FAS in the Kilkenny district. Pretty awesome that up in Wicklow they are keeping the money hidden...maybe saving up for another flight over to America for the auld FAS executives...

blackrovers

cloneslad wrote: »

what part of asia are you interested in?

I taught in Korea for 18months until july 2008 and I am going back out again on sunday for another 12 months.

My school pays for my flights to korea and also back home after my 12 month stint, they also pay for my accomodation, although I pay gas, elec, phone, internet.

After that I also receive my salary, even with going out nd enjoying myself, I should save around €10grand in the 12 months.

All schools will (should) offer to pay your flights and accomodation plus a one month bonus at the end of the 12 months. salary is dependent on the school plus your experience but I wouldn't work in a private school for less than 2.2 million won per month

ya korea is the place i was thinkin of. is there a difference in pay between teachin in a busy city to teachin on an island?! Also what hours would i be teachin per week.

lastly would my teachin experience over there be recognised when i come back to ireland on the incremental pay scale here?

what think of pay could i expect with a BA Degree and a Higher Diploma in Education?!

Thanks for all the info so far.

TheColl

Hi...

Does anyone have an answer for me...

I'm a fully qualified Primary School Teacher with experience and I'm considering doing a 100 hour weekend TEFL course.

My question is will the 100 hour course be enough, along with my teaching qualification and experience, to get summer work in Ireland and/or abroad?

Any answers you might have are appreciated, thanks!

cloneslad

blackrovers wrote: »

ya korea is the place i was thinkin of. is there a difference in pay between teachin in a busy city to teachin on an island?! .

Public schools pay more for living away from the city, you don't get a 'city allowance' like you would get for working in Dublin or London where expenses are greater, rather you lose money as more people want to work in the cities than away from them.

blackrovers wrote: »

Also what hours would i be teachin per week.

It's all dependant on what gig you get! Public schools are usually 9:00 till 4:00 or 4:30, private schools (hagwons) vary in opening times, some places will be 9 - 6 (teaching kindergarten till 12 or 1 with a 60-90 minute break until the elementary school kids come in.)

My hours are as follows: 3:45 - 9:00 mon/wed/fri and 3:30-7:10 tues/thurs

I have 40 minute classes with 5 minute breaks in between.

blackrovers wrote: »

lastly would my teachin experience over there be recognised when i come back to ireland on the incremental pay scale here?

what think of pay could i expect with a BA Degree and a Higher Diploma in Education?!

Thanks for all the info so far.

If you go to a public school then the hours may count towards it, I honestly have no idea. The pay scale in public schools follows a list of criteria you must match to move up their payment scale. you will have to check that out to find out what you will be likely to earn.

As far as hagwons are concerned, they don't really care too much what you have as long as you have your degree, you might be able to negotiate slightly higher wages but it's down to your negotiating skills and your potential boss.

Honestly, if I was you, I wouldn't settle for any less than 2.3 million won a month.

cloneslad

TheColl wrote: »

Hi...

Does anyone have an answer for me...

I'm a fully qualified Primary School Teacher with experience and I'm considering doing a 100 hour weekend TEFL course.

My question is will the 100 hour course be enough, along with my teaching qualification and experience, to get summer work in Ireland and/or abroad?

Any answers you might have are appreciated, thanks!

AFAIK you need to have the one month qualification to be qualified to teach esl in Ireland. My mate had the 120 hour but was made do the one month course to get work in the cork / kerry area even though he had a year's experience teaching over here in korea.

TheColl

cloneslad wrote: »

AFAIK you need to have the one month qualification to be qualified to teach esl in Ireland. My mate had the 120 hour but was made do the one month course to get work in the cork / kerry area even though he had a year's experience teaching over here in korea.

Thanks for the info, appreciate it.

clarelad

Would the CELT course be good enough to teach in Australia or NZ does anyone know or would the CELTA be better?

dapto1

clarelad wrote: »

Would the CELT course be good enough to teach in Australia or NZ does anyone know or would the CELTA be better?

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055885364

cloneslad

dapto1 wrote: »

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055885364

i hope the person who posted the question doesn't think you are taking the pi$$ when they see it is about tefl / celta in austria rather than australia

The thread linked does provide lots of information about the diff kinds of certification available.

clarelad

nah it still answers the question,cheers:)

Essexboy

Can someone tell me what is wrong with i-to-i, please?

A friend recently obtained a TEFL certificate from them, fees paid by FÁS, but says that the qualification is recognised in the UK but not in Ireland. Why?

Is it an inferior qualification or is this some form of academic closed shop? If FÁS are prepared to send people on the course, I would have assumed that i-to-i was a reputable organisation but I know nothing about EFL or ESOL (never understood the difference between the two!).

Thanks.

red_bairn

Essexboy wrote: »

Can someone tell me what is wrong with i-to-i, please?

A friend recently obtained a TEFL certificate from them, fees paid by FÁS, but says that the qualification is recognised in the UK but not in Ireland. Why?

Is it an inferior qualification or is this some form of academic closed shop? If FÁS are prepared to send people on the course, I would have assumed that i-to-i was a reputable organisation but I know nothing about EFL or ESOL (never understood the difference between the two!).

Thanks.

Nothing. Nothing is wrong with them as far as I know.

I tried to get the fees paid for by FÁS but a guy in Bray said they don't pay for them anymore as they see that i-to-i doesn't get you jobs anymore...funny that...me typing this message in South Korea...(there's FÁS for ya...going off on world trips and the executives getting away with **** and here I am looking for a small amount off the course).

In regards to it not being recognised in Ireland is another laughable thing. My friend was working in a language school in Kilkenny during our final year of college. She was using the i-to-i certificate as her path to that job.

john-joe

Hi, I recently lost my job and am looking at doing a TEFL course in order to teach abroad.

I am a little confused by which course to take??

I have no degree or leaving cert (only the junior cert) but I am willing to work hard and don't mind putting in the hours etc..

Can anybody advise me as to what is the difference is between ; TEFL/CELTA/CELT please?

Is it possible to get funding for any of the courses?

Please & Thanks,

JJ

Morzadec

john-joe wrote: »

Hi, I recently lost my job and am looking at doing a TEFL course in order to teach abroad.

I am a little confused by which course to take??

I have no degree or leaving cert (only the junior cert) but I am willing to work hard and don't mind putting in the hours etc..

Can anybody advise me as to what is the difference is between ; TEFL/CELTA/CELT please?

Is it possible to get funding for any of the courses?

Please & Thanks,

JJ

Where you planning on teaching? Not to be the bearer of bad news but you will find it pretty much impossible to get a TEFL job in Ireland without a degree. The Department of Education won't award a proper CELT qualification if you don't have a degree, and any recognised language school in Ireland will only hire those with this qualification afaik.

I also think you will find this problem in most of the EU.

Outside the EU they will be less fussy and you could easily get a job in Korea for example.

I'm no expert and I'm open to correction but this is the situation as far as I know it.

Deadsnott

Hi JJ,

I just finished the CELT course last week and there was someone on the course like yourself (that didn't have a degree). I think they take into account your age and life experience when accepting people onto the course.

There are certain countries that it will be more difficult to find work in without a degree but the CELT is recognised in a lot of places. I can only speak from my own experience but I would definitely go for the CELT over a weekend TEFL course. It includes 6 hours of teaching practice (with actual foriegn students in the place I did it) and one-on-one tutor feedback and guidance.

I think CELTA is pretty much the same but more expensive and less places actually run it in Ireland.

Hope this helps.

Ponster

john-joe wrote: »

I have no degree or leaving cert (only the junior cert) but I am willing to work hard and don't mind putting in the hours etc..

Can I direct you to my wife's reply in this same thread from 2008 (she's a CELTA tutor)?

http://boards.ie/vbulletin/showpost.php?p=56726802&postcount=21

john-joe

Ponster wrote: »

Can I direct you to my wife's reply in this same thread from 2008 (she's a CELTA tutor)?

http://boards.ie/vbulletin/showpost.php?p=56726802&postcount=21

Most helpful,

Thank you

Carlos_Ray

red_bairn wrote: »

Nothing. Nothing is wrong with them as far as I know.

I tried to get the fees paid for by FÁS but a guy in Bray said they don't pay for them anymore as they see that i-to-i doesn't get you jobs anymore...funny that...me typing this message in South Korea...(there's FÁS for ya...going off on world trips and the executives getting away with **** and here I am looking for a small amount off the course).

In regards to it not being recognised in Ireland is another laughable thing. My friend was working in a language school in Kilkenny during our final year of college. She was using the i-to-i certificate as her path to that job.

Any genuine English language school (one that is regulated) will require its teaching staff to hold an ACELS accrdited qualification. This is 120 hour course with (I think) 7 hours of observed teaching practice. Any of the one off weekend/online courses etc are fine if you only intend to teach abroad, but not in Ireland.

cloneslad

Morzadec wrote: »

Outside the EU they will be less fussy and you could easily get a job in Korea for example.

No, no he couldn't.

To get a job in korea you need to obtain an E2 visa. To obtain an E2 visa you need to have a bachelors degree from an accredited university / college. You must also have completed your high school / secondary school education. (although if you have a degree this will be assumed to have been completed)

When obtaining your degree you will have to submit your degree or a notarized copy of it, criminal background check, transcripts of your yearly results throughout your degree (all stamped and sealed by your college / uni).

No school will pay your flight to come over to Korea to work without the certainty of providing you with an E2 visa, why would they take the risk when they can hire people with proper qualifications to obtain one?

If you made your way over to korea on your own, then you might be able to apply to work in some dodgy schools, but you would be illegal, have no visa, your boss could make you work and then just not pay you......who can you complain to? you shouldn't be working anyway!!

If you want to get a good job in ESl then you really need to go back to education, some colleges may allow you to enrol in their degree courses based on experience, even though you don't have a leaving certificate.

El2010

Hi,
I'm 23 and have a psych degree. I'm thinking of doing a tefl qualification. I am interested in working in Europe. I would also be interested in working in China or South Korea. I was looking at a course with tefl ireland. They have a China internship option for little over 1,000 euro. You complete a 120 hour tefl course and are then placed in China for 4.5 months. With some say over where and what age range you teach. There is no criteria for going to China e.g you don't have to get a certain grade in the course or anything. I was told that the working week is 35 hours average inc lesson planningThey look after everything and you earn 1,200 in return. I know this isn't much compared to what you can get independently. However not sure if tefl is totally for me and don't want to be up the creek without a paddle so to speak. Although to me it sounds a bit fishy but is this type of internship common?.

Has anyone heard/done/doing this option? would it be a good idea compared to other tefl courses?

I know that CELTA or CELT are needed for Ireland and U.K jobs but could I work in Italy, France etc with a 120 hour tefl qualification from tefl ireland? Similarly what are job opportunities like in these countries compared to Asia?

Thank you in advance. Apologies for long winded post

See Ye

Once you've got a good chunk of teaching experience under your belt finding work will be easier however in most places (Europe & elsewhere) the more reputable, established schools will want a CELTA. It's an easy way for them to sort CVs tbh. In addition some people may assume that China being desperate for ELT teachers the quailty of your certificate isn't guaranteed.

I don't think it's "fishy" exactly. When I did my, non-CELTA, certificate I got a 3 month job out in Estonia through them - the school in Estonia accepted teachers with no experience and the university dept. running the teaching courses sent out books and helped in other ways. Double check the contract details - what happens if you had to leave early etc. and think about yourself, how much culture shock could you put up with for 4.5 months ?

amz5

TheColl wrote: »

Thanks for the info, appreciate it.

Hi thecoll,
There are one week ACELS courses for qualified teachers (primary or secondary) that qualify you to teach English at summer camps in Ireland. You can teach teenagers with that qualification. I'm not sure how easy it is to use it abroad, but I used it in my CV when I applied to teach at a summer camp in Spain one year, however, I think they'd have accepted me even if I hadn't done that course. I did the course in Bray (think it was Bray language centre) over Easter, but I think a few places do the course during the summer. It mightn't do you much good abroad, but it definitely qualifies you to teach in the language schools in Ireland and they pretty much give you a job if you do the course. Good for your CV too if you want to get into language support.

nayroul

Anyone know what are the job prospects are like in Saudi at the moment?

RecentGrad2010

I know this is a few months late, but for anyone who's still interested, IH Krakow is no longer running. Their teacher trainers, Magda Markiewicz, Declan Cooley and Basia have moved on to British Council (BC) in Krakow. I really can't sing their praises enough. These individuals are completely committed to their work: training teachers to be the best possible versions of themselves. I learned more in one month under their tutelage than I could have possibly anticipated. They were supportive, insightful and so very considerate. I would take a course with them regardless of the centre that's offering it.

I personally didn't realize when I signed up for the course how the entire program relied on the command of exemplary tutors. In hindsight I can easily say 95% of your CELTA experience is who your tutors are. The price is right, the location is fabulous, and the people are so thoughtful and fun. These are tutors who could make learning about phonemes and "guided discovery" enjoyable! Everyone I knew from other centres talked about the stresses of a CELTA course, but I can honestly say I had a terrific time and was heartbroken to see it end!

From what I've read BC's facilities are much better than IH's were, their accommodations are much more taken care of, and the admin is more responsive. So, anything you've probably read that was negative about IH Krakow has been changed, but the positives (the tutors, the course itself) remain the same. Not to mention that BC has the best location in Krakow (in the gorgeous, main square). Here's the info: http://www.britishcouncil.org/poland-celta-krakow.htm

I know everyone's talking about what's cheapest, and the cost of living in Krakow is tough to beat! Every time I went grocery shopping or out to lunch, I was surprised how low the prices were.

cloneslad

RecentGrad2010 wrote: »

I know this is a few months late, but for anyone who's still interested, IH Krakow is no longer running. Their teacher trainers, Magda Markiewicz, Declan Cooley and Basia have moved on to British Council (BC) in Krakow. I really can't sing their praises enough. These individuals are completely committed to their work: training teachers to be the best possible versions of themselves. I learned more in one month under their tutelage than I could have possibly anticipated. They were supportive, insightful and so very considerate. I would take a course with them regardless of the centre that's offering it.

I personally didn't realize when I signed up for the course how the entire program relied on the command of exemplary tutors. In hindsight I can easily say 95% of your CELTA experience is who your tutors are. The price is right, the location is fabulous, and the people are so thoughtful and fun. These are tutors who could make learning about phonemes and "guided discovery" enjoyable! Everyone I knew from other centres talked about the stresses of a CELTA course, but I can honestly say I had a terrific time and was heartbroken to see it end!

From what I've read BC's facilities are much better than IH's were, their accommodations are much more taken care of, and the admin is more responsive. So, anything you've probably read that was negative about IH Krakow has been changed, but the positives (the tutors, the course itself) remain the same. Not to mention that BC has the best location in Krakow (in the gorgeous, main square). Here's the info: http://www.britishcouncil.org/poland-celta-krakow.htm

I know everyone's talking about what's cheapest, and the cost of living in Krakow is tough to beat! Every time I went grocery shopping or out to lunch, I was surprised how low the prices were.

only one post and you are advertising a site, as a user of their services?

I find it highly suspicious to be honeest

RecentGrad2010

cloneslad wrote: »

only one post and you are advertising a site, as a user of their services?

I find it highly suspicious to be honeest

Hahaha, I understand your suspicion, but to be honest, IH Krakow was torn to shreds on all the forums I saw before going. In fact, several close friends and my parents warned me that it was probably a scam since it was handled so poorly, and the pre-course admin was unresponsive. I was pleasantly surprised with the experience.

And to be fair, I'm not really a "user of their services" because I went to IH Krakow, which has been disaffiliated and no longer exists, and I'm recommending people use British Council Krakow (the thread between the two being the tutors and the course).

I felt like someone needed to explain that the course itself, that is the teacher training, was incredible. The administration... was another issue-- one that no longer exists! In all seriousness, if the course was bad in any way, I'm the kind of person who would whip up a PR maelstrom the likes of which they could not fathom. But I had such a good time, and I really want others to receive the benefits I gained from enrolling. Now that the tutors have moved to a brand new and properly run school, there's nothing negative that can be said. It doesn't seem right that people only think to comment when they're aggravated, and not when they are gratified! If you still think I'm suspicious, I'm not sure what the remedy is. I don't see the point in going on about all the challenges I encountered with IH Krakow admin because its been dissolved. Am I not supposed to rave about happy memories?