Teaching in Language Schools for the summer

elgan2002

Hi everyone,
Am currently doing the PGDE for secondary school teaching and was looking for summer work. Have been looking at language schools but they require teachers to have an ACELS accredited TEFL cert.

There are two options I could take, the ACELS CELT cert or the one for state qualified teachers. Has anyone any idea about which one I should go for? Which one gives me more options? Id like to maybe get into learning support or resource teaching so which one would stand to me?

Also, has anyone out there any experience in working in a language school for the summer?

I just realised I asked a lot of questions there! Thanks for taking the time to read this!!

peanuthead

Hi there

Well, I'm not sure what the TEFL CERT for state qualified teachers is, who runs it and who accredits it?

I would say ACELS or CELTA definitely, most summer schools will require this, whether you are already a fully qualified teacher or not.

As I said, I'm not familiar with this state cert, so I would be inclined to say that the ACELS one would stand to you more. From someone who did one, personally I feel that they are brilliant, and in a lot of ways, athough TEFL can be the same as teaching secondary, it is also quite different in ways.

I have experience teaching in summer schools, is there anything in particular you want to know?

elgan2002

Thanks a mill for your reply,

The course for the state qualified teachers is ACELS accredited, its a lot cheaper to do than the ACELS CELT one cos I guess its for people who have teacher training already.

The only downside to the course tho is that you can only teach to the junior ELT sector in Ireland and is not recognised abroad, whereas the CELT one you can teach adults and go abroad with it. Do you know if there's much demand for teaching English as a foreign language to adults in Ireland?

About working in the summer schools,what do they look for when you are applying/interviewing?
I understand you can do 3 hours classes in the morning and then excursions during the day, it sounds pretty intense, is there a lot of preparation involved for your classes?
Ill only be newly qualified as well so are there supports in place to help people out?
Also,I no the contract is for like 4 weeks in one school during the summer but could you work in other schools for another 4 weeks? Its just I have no other work lined up and would love to get the experience!!!

I no there's a lot of questions there!!! but any help at all would be great

peanuthead

elgan2002 wrote: »

Thanks a mill for your reply,

The course for the state qualified teachers is ACELS accredited, its a lot cheaper to do than the ACELS CELT one cos I guess its for people who have teacher training already.

The only downside to the course tho is that you can only teach to the junior ELT sector in Ireland and is not recognised abroad, whereas the CELT one you can teach adults and go abroad with it. Do you know if there's much demand for teaching English as a foreign language to adults in Ireland?

About working in the summer schools,what do they look for when you are applying/interviewing?
I understand you can do 3 hours classes in the morning and then excursions during the day, it sounds pretty intense, is there a lot of preparation involved for your classes?
Ill only be newly qualified as well so are there supports in place to help people out?
Also,I no the contract is for like 4 weeks in one school during the summer but could you work in other schools for another 4 weeks? Its just I have no other work lined up and would love to get the experience!!!

I no there's a lot of questions there!!! but any help at all would be great

Lol, okay, not being smart, but first thing is first, if you're to be an English teacher it's 'know' and not 'no' !!!!

Em, well the language school I taught in was three hours teaching and trips in the afternoon.

However, you were paired up with another teacher so you taught your lesson for 1.5 hours to one class and then you taught the same lesson for 1.5 hours to a second class of the same level.

The afternoon trips were optional and we were paid extra for them so it could really be as intense or as relaxed as you wanted it to be.

I know there is a language school in Bray that operates in June and the one I worked in was for July but don't know about August.

Though if you're worried about it being too intense, maybe the one school is enough for you for the first time.

amz5

I did the ACELS course for fully qualified teachers a few years ago - well I did the theory part, but I didn't do the teaching practice as I got a job in Spain teaching for the summer and chose to head abroad rather than do the teaching practice and work in Ireland for the summer! It takes a week to do the course (I did it during the Easter break). It was for 6 full days 9-5 and very intense. I must find out if I can still do my teaching practice and get the qualification as I am pretty interested in working this summer as my wages have diminished so dramatically in the last 2 years.

It suited me as I just wanted to teach during the summer, so I didn't mind that the qualification was limited to teaching children. It was much cheaper than doing the other course too...as well as taking a lot less time. If I wanted to go into that area in a serious manner, of course I'd do the longer course though.

Just wondering, what was the pay like (sorry - I'm very nosy!). I did the course in Bray, probably in the same language school as the one you're talking about peanuthead.