How about teaching EFL? what's it like?

[guggenheim]

I'm a primary teacher who had enough* but loves teaching still- what's it like teaching EFL? I think I'd really enjoy it. I love working with people but don't have any sensible skills,so human resources etc are out. I only went into teaching because I like chatting and running about with kids.

I don't speak a foreign language fluently so would it be a good idea to take a CELTA course or the course for experienced teachers?

I live in a big university / tourism town - what do you think job prospects might be like?

I'd like something part time- is this a doable plan?

• I've had enough of school politics and Govian policies,hence career change.

I have just finished CELTA and am job hunting atm (second interview this afternoon)

I'm not in the UK though.

My background is secondary school teaching MFL (but I last stood in front of a class in 1996 (!) and I really have forgotten all my Languages as I never used them.
I was a Reg CM from 1996-2004, when we moved abroad and have been SAHM since then.

They say the CELTA course is tough, and it really is, but I did enjoy it (good group of trainees).

Not sure about the job opportunities in the UK, but being in a uni town will be a start.

There are dozens and dozens of language schools here (big Asian city) but the more reputable/well known ones want minimum two years experience.

I think after school teaching you would really enjoy it and would not find the CELTA too hard. I think you have to do the CELTA before the DELTA.
You would find summer work pretty easily I think if you live in EG Oxford, Brighton etc. The problem is finding ongoing work. DELTA is getting more essential. Most universities run summer courses as well as pre'sessional and year round English lessons, that is the one to go for. DELTA would be handy for that tbh. take a look at tefl.com

Hi thank you for the replies. There is a training centre locally so I shall go there & fid out a bit more.

How does tefl differ from the other courses? Which one would you recommend?

I'm still at the 'thank god I'm out of it' stage with jobs,so haven't made nay firm plans. It's so exciting to have the chance to re think and see what I can do next. now to find some money from somewhere...

I thought about this a while ago but found the courses hugely expensive-I was gobsmacked actually. It's a shame as I'd love to do it and have a decade's experience of teaching (first language) English.

guggenheim the two entry level quals that are recognised as useful are the RSA/Cambridge CELTA and the Trinity College TESOL cert

I did the CELTA before moving abroad. The Cambridge Certificate in English Language Teaching to Adults. I think it was a month's intensive course and cost about 1k ten years ago. There was an entry test too.

I worked a summer as slave labour in a UK language college first, just to get some experience. I enjoyed it but the summer school teachers usually got lumbered with groups of spoilt teenagers who really didn't want to be there, whilst the permanent teachers looked after the multi-lingual classes of older/adult students who were preparing for the toefl/ielts exams in order to go to university in the UK.

I remember one particularly evil group of Swiss German fourteen year olds and a class consisting of half Italian kids, half Japanese kids. Simultaneously trying to get the Italians to shut up and the Japanese to speak was an interesting challenge! There was no support from the senior staff or principal either - as long as the school made its money!

However, was a really fun experience and I ended up meeting one of my best friends there she had a particularly vile group of French teenagers and I still don't know how she managed not to yell some at them in their native language, in which she is bilingual. It was also good grounding for moving abroad and working.

I will say though, it is difficult to get a full time, permanent position in the UK (although if you're already a teacher that will probably go in your favour) as opposed to being paid by the hourly lesson.

Thank you, very interesting.

I need to go and get some real experience of this,so that's what I'll look at doing next. Thank you!

Nigella would you say the DELTA is more worthwhile than the CELTA? I have a PGCE, MA and ten years experience as an English teacher. I'm tutoring at the moment and have been thinking about branching out to EFL but have been put off by the cost of the DELTA.

yes absolutely antoinette it will really open doors but it is also a lot more demanding. However as you already have a PGCE and MA and all that experience I imagine you would not have a problem.

Hm, food for thought. I can see myself doing a CELTA just because it's so much cheaper but I think a DELTA is probably the way to go really...

with your quals antoinette i would say do the DELTA and you will be set up to work on pre-sessional uni courses

You need a celta and lots of experience in EFL before doing a delta.

I've been an efl teacher for 15 years, the last 5 at a UK university. It's pretty hard getting a decent job here when you first start out. Good fun but poor conditions unless you go abroad.

Sorry for lack of capitals!

Ok, so maybe it's a case of do CELTA, work for a few years in the field and then do the DELTA-gives me time to save up for it too! Funnily enough uni courses is exactly what I want to do. Our local (excellent) university runs English courses for overseas business students in the summer, which is exactly when tutoring dries up every year, so I'd love to get involved in that.

I love working at a university! Great working environment and good, flexible conditions. So many people work part time. And teaching hours can be daytime and/or evening so you can fit your hours around your life, to an extent.

It can be very difficult to get taken on by a university. The best way in is usually the summer presessional, after which we take on a few teachers who have done well. To get onto the precessional you usually need a DELTA and 3 years' experience, but sometimes we have to take less if we're desperate for teachers.

If you live somewhere touristy, e.g. Brighton, you will be able to get work quite easily at local language schools. It can be really good fun, vibrant, and teaching staff are real characters, but the conditions are terrible in terms of pay and hours. Most teachers would aim to move on ASAP!

A teaching background will help you immensely, but you will need to do the EFL qualifications as well. You will probably have to start at the bottom, but there is an element of luck too - you can write on spec to places and often get work that way. Just be aware that you will be hourly paid for a while, which means you have to factor in lesson planning and the unpaid holidays.

If you work for a good employer, they may pay for your DELTA in a few years.

Good tips, thank you! I'm tutoring at the moment so am used to hourly pay and unpaid holidays. Am a SAHM in the day and a tutor in the evenings but over the holidays have the evenings mostly free so could do an online course or part time evening course, with a view to eventually working more during the day again.