TEFL courses

[DriftingDora]

Hi,

I'm sorry if this question's been asked on here before. I'm looking at possibly doing a TEFL course, preferably in order to teach business English online, but not exclusively, as I'd also welcome the opportunity to teach young adults. My background is teaching in post-16 years education and I'm already a qualified tutor, currently teaching in adult education - which I love - but considering branching out and trying a new subject!

I've been looking around at some advertisements offering courses, and one I've seen is for the TEFL Academy, which looks quite good on paper. I've heard that CELTA is the preferred TEFL teaching qualification: TEFL Academy say their Level 5 qualification is of the same standard, but not sure how up to date this information is.

If there's anyone out there who works as a TEFL tutor or who has trained with TEFL Academy or any other organisation offering courses I'd be very grateful for any information and insights into what's involved, and any tips on the courses themselves and the preferred qualification to take.

Many thanks for your time.

Don't know if you found your answer to this, but Celta/Trinity (or an equivalent= at least 120 hours course with teaching practice) is the only really recognised qualification at entry level.
It doesn't, however, include any business teaching element and most business English teachers have already amassed substantial experience in General English and then moved on.

Thank you for the info.

Jumping on to watch with interest

You already have teaching qualifications so I’d suggest having a chat with IH. They have online top up qualifications in Business English, Teaching Online, Young Learners and a pre- Delta course that might suit you better than a CELTA.

https://ihworld.com/teach/ih-online-teacher-training/

Do you know where you want to go ? Some places give no stuffs about TEFL specific qualifications as long as you have a degree, other places are more “CELTA/Trinity or get stuffed”.

The British Council also have some free taster courses. Worth showing your face on them if you want to apply for an online position with them. I’ll go and dig up their current desired quals. Again worth a chat direct. My friend started working for them the same time I did (a long time ago). I had the CTEFLA (old style CELTA) and she was a British trained secondary school teacher. She was working for the them while doing the DTEFLA (old style DELTA) on the side.

https://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/training

Still CELTA/Trinity for the BC for their online positions.
https://careers.britishcouncil.org/job/London-Hourly-Paid-Teacher-UKM/687957101/

@DriftingDora I think the TEFL Academy course is a level 5 TEFLI (Introductory TEFL recognised equivalent)
We were inspected by the British Council this summer and for any alternative or "equivalent" qualification we had to write a rationale as to why the teacher was employed and what support scaffolding from management they received. Iirc one teacher had the TEFL Academy qualification.

So, it's a bit of a grey area qualification. It's recognised and accepted as an equivalent to CELTA, but in an accredited school, they would need a rationale explaining why they employ you, and not someone else. (in fairness, all that means is they would write that you hold an equivalent qualification)

@AlienatedChildGrown
says, there are other ways in, including a DELTA (lots of these are part time while working) as you already have teaching experience. Tbf, your teaching qualification also comes under an Alternative Qualification for any accredited school and will undoubtedly get you work at least in summer when everyone is crying out for teachers.

Good luck!

Thanks for all the information, everyone, this is much appreciated. I am a fully qualified tutor/lecturer and have taught for a number of years, including some work in mainstream education, although I much prefer post-16 and adult teaching. But I'm the first to confess I was hazy about the qualifications required for TEFL. There seems to be so much information out there, some of the places offering courses are saying one thing, and some saying something completely different.

As Solinvictus and AlienatedChildGrown have mentioned, teaching business English appeals to me, so the information given is great. Thanks for taking the time to reply, everyone!

PS: I've just had the chance to read all your posts in more depth, and am so grateful for the huge amount of detail and links posters have provided.

If you need any more help navigating just shout.

Are you up against the wall time-wise to get a Cert. ? Because if not, take a look at The Distance DELTA. And Sandy Millen’s (not sure I’ve got her name right, but I’m close) slow boat DELTA for module 1 might be right up your street as a starting point. I’ll go grab a link for her. I think it’s on facebook.

The benefit of a slow boat route is you’ll be ahead of the pack in terms of qualifications, you can spread the cost and not frazzle your brain/body with the pace.

I did my CTEFLA in a month. I was in my early 20s and I loved it. But it damn near killed me. (At my now 55, it would kill me 😂)

I was close !

https://sandymillin.wordpress.com/delta/

I’m 99% sure I just saw a post from her on Facebook about her next offering. Worth a search. I’m useless at finding things again on facebook.

No, I'm not up against any timeframes, so could quite happily take my time over this. The CTEFLA in a month sounds a killer, so kudos to you for achieving it and yes, as you've mentioned, I think it would fry my brain to do it so quickly, especially as I've other teaching commitments. I'd much prefer to take things at a slower pace rather than go the intensive route and then find I can't cope.

Thanks also for the Sandy Millin information, which is definitely worth considering.