What is TEFL?
TEFL or Teaching English as a Foreign Language refers to teaching English to students who are not native speakers. TEFL has no governing body so there are a number of interchangeable terms that all relate TEFL. Here are two of the more common examples:
- TESL - Teaching English as a Second Language
- ELT - English Language Teaching
Qualifications
It is important to sign up for the course that will help get you the best jobs. There are many organizations that run TEFL courses and offer various types of certification. Some are well known and have international recognition, but some lesser known courses can lack international recognition or credibility. Amongst others, some of the ever popular online courses fall into this category.
Two of the most recognized and well established courses are:
- UCLES CELTA - University of Cambridge Local Examinations Syndicate Certificate in English Language Teaching to Adults
- Trinity Cert TESOL - Trinity College Certificate in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages
There are many other well known courses to choose from, but as a general rule of thumb you should find a course that offers at least 100 hours of instruction and 6 hours of observed teaching practice.
Getting a recognized qualification greatly increases your chances of finding the best jobs. In a perfect world every TEFL teacher would be trained and hold a recognized certificate before they entered the classroom. However, in reality this is not always possible and many teachers actually prefer to get some real teaching experience under their belt before they embark on a TEFL course.
Many of the schools we work with are looking for teachers with potential (with or without a certificate) and offer in-house training to those that don't yet hold a recognized certificate. This offers new teachers an affordable way into the profession.
Teacher Training Centers
TEFLOne has a good working relationship with the following centers and they all offer 100+ hour on-site courses. NB: This list is not exhaustive.
China
- TEFL International (Zhuhai)
Egypt
- TEFL International (Alexandria)
England
- Universtity of Sussex (Brighton)
- Embassy CES (Hove)
Greece
- Via Lingua (Crete and Corinth): Via Lingua Greece offers internationally recognised TEFL training and extensive job guidance. Courses run year-round in two beautiful locations. Next Crete course date: May 21 - June 15. Next Corinth course date: May 14 - June 8.
- Intesol (Crete)
Hong Kong
- English for Asia (Hong Kong)
Ireland
- Atlantic S.E.A.L (Cork)
Italy
- Via Lingua (Florence)
New Zealand
- English Language Academy (Auckland)
- International Pacific College (Palmerston North)
South Africa
Spain
- International House (Barcelona)
- Intesol (Barcelona)
- TEFL International (Barcelona)
- TEFL Barcelona (Barcelona)
- Oxford TEFL (Barcelona)
Thailand
- Chichester College (Bangkok)
- ECC (Bangkok, Chiang Mai and Phuket): Courses are held all year round at all three centres. ECC offer other teacher training courses as well, including: a two week Introduction to TESOL course, a Teaching English to Young Learners course, a Teaching Business English course and the YL Extension to CELTA.
- Island TEFL (Koh Samui)
- SEE (Chiang Mai)
- TITC (Phuket)
- TEFL International (Ban Phe)
- The Language Institute (Chang Mai)
- Text and Talk (Bangkok)
- TEFL World (Koh Samui): TEFLworld runs Ministry of Education accredited Certificate and Diploma courses on the tropical Thai island of Koh Samui. Courses include up to 12 hours of observed teaching practice and on successful completion of the course, all students are given comprehensive assistance with finding teaching jobs. Courses run throughout the year.
USA
- Bridge Linguatec (Denver)
- Boston Language Institute (Boston)
- Transworld Schools (San Francisco)