Where to Take your TEFL Teacher Training?

Deciding where to take your teacher training for Teaching English Abroad

A reader contributed this question for a topic:

I think I’d like to try eastern Europe (maybe Czech, Poland, or Hungary), but I’m not totally opposed to Asia. I know there are TEFL schools in those countries, but would you recommend getting certified in the country I would want to teach in or here in the US, then moving to the country?

It is almost always better to take your TEFL training in the country in which you first intend to teach. Many reasons, but the most important ones are that you will do your observed teaching practice with students similar to those you will teach on the job.

It just gives you a leg up on the competition especially if you need to give a demonstration lesson. It also helps you solve some problems that are often unique to a specific country. I’ve taught EFL in four countries and each had its own unique grammar and pronunciation problems.

Once you have some experience it gets easier to solve them, but doing your training with students with those problems will help you get up to speed much faster.

TED’s Tips™ #1: If you have the time and money for a full out four to six week TEFL Course, it is usually better to take your TEFL Training in the country in which you first intend to teach.

TED’s Tips™ #2: Take a look at http:www.TEFLprogram.com/ to help you evaluate any in-class TEFL course that you are thinking about taking.

What’s up in China? Learn what kind of jobs are on offer if you would like to Teach English in China

Where to take your TEFL Training

Where is the best TEFL Certification program for you?

People frequently ask me where they should take their TEFL Training. They also ask if it is best to take their EFL teacher training in their home country or in the country in which they intend to teach.

First issue: I usually recommend a TEFL Certification school that I know well and I know the teacher-trainer(s) well. I know the primary trainer is very well educated and has extensive experience in two countries, teaching EFL abroad since 1992 to a wide variety of students.

When I was a teacher trainer I was awakened to just how little experience, training and education many trainers have. One teacher trainer was hired directly from my class to set up and teach a TEFL Cert course for another company.

He had ZERO experience teaching. Wow. I won’t go into any further details, but it wasn’t a pretty picture and that was not a purely unique situation.

Second issue: It is almost always better to take your TEFL Training in or near the country in which you wish to teach. There are many good reasons why.

First, taking your training in your new country gives you some time on the ground to adapt to the culture and get to know your way around, instead of just arriving cold and heading out to look for work.

Also helpful is that TEFL Certification schools usually know the best and biggest employers, who to try first and who to avoid (just as important!).

One of the most helpful aspects of taking your TEFL Training in your new setting is that your observed teaching practice will likely be with students that have similar grammar and pronunciation problems as those you will face on the job. This is important for several reasons.

Every country’s students have different issues with grammar and pronunciation and while this is not a big problem, even well-experienced teachers take some time to get a good grasp of exactly how to solve these problems when they arrive in a new country.

A new EFL teacher, of course, will take much longer. Getting that experience during your training, with an instructor who knows exactly what to do, will make you a much more effective teacher, right out of the box.

It is common in some countries to request a “demonstration lesson” as part of the interviewing process. Don’t you think that lesson will go much better if you already know what kinds of issues are common in the classrooms of that country? Of course!

In countries where demonstration lessons are common, you should have the opportunity to build that lesson and practice it as part of your TEFL Certification training course. You will have plenty of opportunity to build, practice and polish that lesson under the guidance of an experienced teacher-trainer.

How do you think that lesson might go if you are just off the plane and have no idea what the common issues are with local students?

Last but not least, you can job hunt while you are taking your TEFL Certification course and hopefully have something lined up about the time you complete your training.

If you are taking your training in the developing world, TEFL Certification courses are often much cheaper than in developed Western countries are as your accommodation and food costs.

TED’s Tips™ #1: Take your TEFL Certification course in the country where you first intend to teach.

TED’s Tips™ #2: Practice and polish your demonstration lesson during your training.

EFL Lesson Planning

Lesson Plans for ESL EFL

If we get past the mystery and mystique, a lesson plan is simply a step-by-step guide to what an EFL teacher plans to do in the classroom on a given day.

Lesson plans can scare rookie TEFL teachers but once you know what goes into one, no problem.

The more detailed the step-by-step directions of an EFL lesson plan, the better. Ideally, you could not go to work on a given day and another teacher could read your lesson plan and know exactly how to teach your class on that day.

And they could do it with minimum preparation as handouts and activity sheets would be attached and even boardwork planned out.

A really good and detailed lesson plan might even include specific gestures and cues used for various parts of the lesson. That’s how detailed your plan should be.

There are literally hundreds of types of lesson plans and no one format is used by all schools. Many schools have their own set format, others will let you use whatever format you like.

There is; however, some general agreement about what should be included in a good lesson plan and we will review those here.

Generally agreed components of a lesson plan include:

Day/Date:

Lesson Name: What will you call the lesson?

Class/Level: Age, topic, skill level, class name

Materials: List everything you need to teach this lesson. List every possible thing you will need to take to the classroom and/or obtain from the school to complete the lesson.

This list can help you make sure you don’t forget any handouts or special materials that you need to take to the class. I can’t tell you how many times I have had to walk back across a university campus to get a critical part of a lesson. Bad teacher!

Textbook/Course book name: From what book are you working or drawing the lesson from?

Unit—title—page number: Specifically where in that book?

Goal/Aim: What are we working toward today.

Describe the final result of the lesson in this format – The students will be able to (do what?)________.
Example: The students will be able to ask and answer questions about their hobbies and interests.

Grammar Structures Employed: (How are they formed?): Show the structures. Use a structure chart if needed.

Questions and Answers Relevant to your Lesson: To be asked during the warm-up to elicit from students what they may or may not know about the topic to be covered.

Read the page about English Teaching Methods to get a better idea about elicitation.

Lesson Begins Here

Warm-up: This includes a review (revision) of the previous lesson linked to this new lesson; questions and answers you have written above, used to elicit conversation using the new structures and function; to show examples of what your students will learn in this lesson.

In some countries and with some age groups this may come in the form of a specifically designed game.

Presentation (or ESA format or Ted’s GRO method):

Note the target language to be taught – and how you will teach it. Include how you will stimulate the student’s interest in the language and how you might elicit from the students the language you are planning to teach.

Include details as specific as when you might model structures and dialog and when you will require a repeated response (choral response) from the students. Include a structure chart for the grammar and/or the dialog you intend to teach.

Practice:

Include the specific activities and attach any handouts to the lesson plan. Include up to three practice activities sequencing them from most to least structured, slowly giving the students more freedom.

Production:

This is where students really learn and generalize a new language skill.

Allow/encourage the students to talk about themselves, their lives, or specific situations using their own information while focusing on the target language that was taught in the presentation and practiced in the previous activities.

Be sure to include exactly what you will ask the students to do and that you (as throughout the lesson) intend to monitor students and encourage and correct them as needed in their use of the target language.

Conclusion:

Discuss/recap what you have studied and learned during the lesson. In some countries and for some ages this will be followed by a game that uses the target language.

Easy enough?

TED’s Tips™ #1: Many experienced teachers, once they have methodology set in their mind, write only minimally structured lesson plans as they will have developed a set routine for how they approach each lesson.

New teachers should develop the habit though of rigidly following a detailed lesson plan they have written for at least the first six months to a year. This will require some real discipline, but it will pay off in terms of skill development over time.

TED’s Tips™ #2: Sit down after each class and take a few notes about what went great, what went wrong and how you might have done a better job. This will help you a lot in refining your skills. Even very experienced teachers put some serious thought into problems that occurred during class and how they might best be corrected.

TED’s Tips™ #3: Save every lesson plan you write. If you teach a certain book or certain topics repeatedly to students of similar levels (and you will), you’ll find you need only a little polish on the lesson drawing from your notes in Ted’s Tips #2.

English Teaching Methodology

How to Teach English as a Foreign Language

I can’t possibly teach you everything about teaching English as a foreign language in one post, so the goal here is just to introduce you to some of the basic ideas about the methods commonly used in the EFL classroom and I will give you links for several good resources.

One of the best resources around for good solid basics is: Basic Teacher Training for EFL Teachers. Some of the material here on TEFL Teacher Training is drawn and expanded upon from TEFL Boot Camp

There are two most commonly followed methods taught by TEFL Certification schools. They are PPP and ESA. Advocates of each often think that the method they know is the holy grail – but they are both quite similar (though some authors think not!).

If you take a relatively flexible approach to how you teach, as that is what your students really need, you will see there are benefits of both methods and you can use a bit of both in every lesson.

These methods and my explanations here are primarily for teaching speaking skills, though the methods can be adapted to teaching reading, writing and listening skills as well. But we will address how to teach those skills individually in future posts.

We will start with PPP.

“PPP” – means Presentation, Practice, and Production

“Presentation” is where the target language, the language to be taught to the students, is “presented” to the students.

This is generally done through eliciting language from and cueing the students to see if they know it or how much of it they might know (often someone in the class knows some or all of it). The teacher provides the language if no one knows it. Usually a good portion of the target language can be obtained from the students.

The purpose of the elicitation and cueing is to get the students involved in the class and to increase the relevancy of the lesson – which in turn increases student motivation (the topic for another post).

The target language is usually put on the marker board either in structure, grammar-type, charts or in dialogs. The presentation stage of a lesson features more “teacher talk” than the other stages of the lesson – generally as much as 65-90% of the time. The presentation portion of the lesson may take as much as 20-40% of the total lesson time.

Less teacher talk in any part of the lesson, is better. Our goal is to have the students talk, not the teacher. You already have plenty of practice speaking and they don’t. So don’t hog the lesson – it is the classic symptom of a poor language teacher.

Next comes “Practice” stage of the lesson where the students practice the target language in one to three activities that progress from very structured, where students are given activities that provide little possibility for error, to less-structured as they master the material.

These activities should include as much “student talk” as possible and not focus on written activities, although written activities can sometimes provide a structure for the verbal practices.

Practice activities should have the “student talk time” range from 60-80 percent of the time – with teacher talk time being as little as possible. This portion of the total lesson can take from 30-50% of the total lesson time.

“Production” is the stage of the lesson where the students take the target language and use it in conversations that they create and structure (ideally) and use it to talk about themselves or their daily lives or situations.

The production stage of the lesson should involve “student talk” as much as 90% of the time – and this component of the lesson can/should take as much as 20-30% of the total lesson time.

As you can see, the general structure of a PPP lesson is flexible. An important feature is the movement from controlled and structured speech to less-controlled and more freely used and created speech.

Another important feature of PPP, and other methods, is the rapid reduction of teacher talk time and the increase in student talk time as you move through the lesson.

As mentioned earlier, one of the most common errors untrained teachers make is that they talk too much. EFL students get very little chance to actually use the language they learn and the EFL classroom must be structured to create that opportunity.

“ESA” – means Engage, Study, and Activate

The stages of ESA are roughly equivalent to PPP, though ESA is slightly different in that it is designed to and allows movement back and forth between the stages. However, each stage is similar to the PPP stages in the same order.

Proponents of the ESA method stress its flexibility compared to PPP. The ESA method as defined by Jeremy Harmer, its primary advocate, uses more elicitation and stresses more “Engagement” of students in the early stages of the lesson.

Both elicitation (drawing out the language from the students by use of questions, prompts and cueing) and Engagement are important in raising student motivation, but both tactics can just as easily, and should, be used in the Presentation stage of PPP.

ESA is superior method to PPP when both are looked at from a rigid point of view.

But, EFL is not rigid and you should not adhere to any one viewpoint or method. PPP is often an easier method for teacher-trainees to get a handle on.

TED’s Tips™ #1: Study and learn one method well – branch out to other methods as you increase your experience and skill level.

TED’s Tips™ #2: Don’t get hung up on terminology or too married to any one method. There are many ways to approach language instruction and PPP and ESA are used primarily as they are easy to teach in the relatively short four-week TEFL Certification or CELTA courses.

PS: I have developed the GRO method – just like but different from PPP and ESA – for helping my students improve. The GRO Method is more student focused, even in its description. “G” is for Growing student knowledge by Getting new information and Grasping the function of the target language of the lesson. “R” is the portion of the lesson for student Reaction to and Rehearsal or practice with the target language. And the “O” is for the students to Optimize their use of the language by making it more personal and relevant.

I know my method is effective and no other method is nearly as flexible. So there! Please allow my “tongue in cheek” approach.

And now a super special offer:

Free TEFL eBooks – Guides to Success Abroad

TEFL eBooks is offering a free download of their new publication Seven Secrets of Success Abroad - and along with it comes a bi-weekly installment and revision of their eBook called How to Teach English Overseas.

Great reviews for the Secrets of Success eBook – in spite of the hokey name – and the How to Teach English eBook is being updated and rewritten and sent out in installments as it is ready.

Here they are – click on the eBooks to get your FREE copies! Great information and the price is right, from our friends at TEFLeBooks.

Please let me know what you think of the ebooks – use the comments section below.

I confess both eBooks are written by yours truly – hoping to inspire others to head overseas and live life BIG out in the real world. I would value your feedback!

International Standards for TEFL Certification

Standards for TEFL Certification Courses

I am going to say something that is true, but that some people don’t want to hear.

There is not ONE organization or ONE standard in the world for TEFL programs. Period.

So . . . what does it really mean then when TEFL programs say they are “Internationally Recognized”? As we know most do, right there on their websites.

Generally, it means they belong to an organization or two, often just a paid membership. Other than that – don’t read too much into it. There are a few that belong to organizations that will check their course content and maybe even come by to see if it is done well. But don’t read too much into that either. Large fees are paid and well . . . one hates to bite the hand that feeds them.

Bottom Line:

What new teachers usually really want to know is this: If I take that course, will it help me get a job? Will it meet the standards of employers? Will it meet the standards of the Ministries of Education in countries where a TEFL Certification of some sort is required?

Employers and Departments of Education requiring TEFL certification are generally looking for a fairly standardized requirement: a minimum of 100 hours of in-classroom training and at least six hours of observed teaching practice (OTP).

The OTP must be with real students, not other teacher-trainees, not as demonstration lessons in the classroom, and must be observed by an experienced EFL teacher who will give you detailed feedback after each lesson.

Observed teaching practice is a critical part of the training and assures that you will have some real practice with real students and will provide you with some confidence the first time you are on your own in front of a classroom.

Is there one set international agency that has set this standard?

No, it just seems to be what is considered the minimum acceptable training for developing good basic EFL teaching skills. Will you be an excellent teacher by the time you finish such training? No, but you should have the knowledge you need to further develop your skills as a teacher.

What types of TEFL Certificates are out there?

You will see many types of certifications out there – but look for a good basic one that meets the above standards. Some organizations will add on a module for Business English or will give you a concentration in Young Learners – and those are generally helpful if those are areas in which you wish to teach.

In terms of terminology there are really only two types of programs out there that tend to meet the standards mentioned earlier on this page.

One is a TEFL Certification or “TEFL Cert” – more of a generic term meaning “Teaching English as a Foreign Language Certification”, and the other is the CELTA, the Certificate in English Language Teaching to Adults. Some years back there was the Trinity RSA. Generally all of these can be considered equivalent and will have roughly similar content.

One important note – if you intend to teach in Europe of the UK there is strong preference there for the CELTA name brand. In most of the rest of the world employers don’t generally have a preference. Know that schools that sell CELTA or even their own name brand, often prefer to hire students who have taken their course.

TED’s Tips™ #1: If you spend the money and time to get a TEFL Certification (or CELTA) be sure it is one that meets the generally accepted international standards reviewed on this page. Otherwise you may find someday that you will need to take another course to meet the requirements of a job that you really want.

TED’s Tips™ #2: If you intend to work in Europe, the UK and/or for schools that sell the CELTA course, get a CELTA.

TED’s Tips™ #3: If you have the opportunity, there are many reasons why it might be best to take your TEFL course in the country in which you first wish to teach. Experience with the problems specific to that country is very helpful on your first job. I’ve taught in five countries and each one has their own unique problems. As you develop your skills you will get better at quickly finding solutions, but a newbie teacher fresh out of the box will often struggle with solving pronunciation issues and explaining common problems that their students have.

TED’s Tips™ #4: Check out TEFL Program dot com for the five checklists the website provides to help you select the BEST training for you.

Alternatives for TEFL Teacher Training

As we mentioned in the previous post, not everyone can afford to take four to six weeks away from work and pay the costs for a full blown TEFL certification or CELTA.

Following are some options to help you get a better idea about what to do in the classroom – without the “Full Monty” of a TEFL Certification.

First, any kind of training is better than no training. You can often find some free training as a volunteer from organizations like Literacy Volunteers of America [now known as ProLiteracy and working internationally].

There are online courses that are inexpensive. All of them will provide you with some beginnings of the knowledge and skill you need to do a decent job. Will you become a seasoned “pro” with such a class? No, but you will have a good idea of what needs to be done and how to continue to improve.

A free online TEFL course that I wrote is here: TEFL Boot Camp. The course is self study, roughly equivalent to the content for a full course – but no observed teaching practice is offered – nor is a certificate on offer.

What kind of training do employers look for?

Sadly, some employers in some countries, have no expectations that you have any training at all. Others, will have some very specific ideas about what training they would like you to have had. You won’t be able to please everyone in every country, but with a good TEFL training course you will have what 95% of employers will be satisfied with. And, enough training to feel like you are doing a good job and have some real satisfaction about the work you are doing. It’s a great feeling!

On-Line Training versus Full-Blown TEFL Courses

As mentioned above, any training is better than no training. If you don’t have the time or money to do a full course, or if you just want to experiment and see if it might interest you – consider a an online course. They are a good introduction to teaching and can tide you over until you get into a full program with observed teaching practice.

Free TEFL Certification Training?

There are some TEFL certification schools around the world that will offer you “free” certification training if you will work for them for a specified period of time. Approach these programs with caution as things that look too good to be true, often are.

Now . . . to protect myself from liability I am going to say that not all schools do what I am going to suggest – but know that some do.

Some TEFL Cert schools happily enroll you into their certification program and then place you in a job in which you are usually paid less than the going rate. The difference between the wages other people on the job are getting and your wage – will go to the TEFL school.

They, unfortunately, rarely tell you about this little “arrangement” they have going. And month after month, for as long as you work there, you are literally paying for your TEFL course. So . . . know that free things are rarely free.

If you stay at a job for a couple years you will have paid for the certification a couple times over or more.

No free time and no money?

TEFL Boot Camp is as good as it gets online – and it really is free.

Have a little money and want to study on your own? Check out TEFL eBooks for some options.

TED’s Tips™ #1: Get the full four to six week TEFL Training in residence if you have the time and money to do so.
The full course is worth your time, money and effort.

TED’s Tips™ #2: Get some training. Any kind of training to help you along.
You will enjoy yourself more and do a better job. Study a book, take an online course, sit in on classes somewhere.

Take an interest in becoming a quality teacher.

Do I Need TEFL Training?

English teaching wannabes and newbies usually ask several questions here:

Is TEFL training required to get the job I want? Do I have to have it?

Would it make a difference if I had it?

. . . and the answers are: sometimes, sometimes and yes.

Some countries require a TEFL certification before they will approve your legal working papers. Thus – before you can work in Thailand, Indonesia and a few other places, you need to complete a good TEFL course.

Most countries don’t require any TEFL training at all, but the better employers will prefer their new hires to have had some training. So, in fact, TEFL training may be required for a move up the food chain or even give you the ability to start out in a preferred position.

And while many countries and some jobs that don’t require any training at all, it shouldn’t be about just getting by with the minimum and, if you are lucky, just doing a mediocre job.

Will TEFL training really make a difference?

You bet! There are several ways in which you may benefit from TEFL training. First is that many employers will pay a small premium to teachers that have some good training. While often not much on a monthly basis, it adds up across a year and tends to easily pay for itself in only one or two years. Add that to the idea that you can probably land a better job than the one you would get without training and you might be seeing an even better return on your investment.

Those are the good practical reasons for getting yourself some training. There are also some ethical, moral and emotional issues to consider.

The first is that you owe it to your students to get yourself some training. Students, in most foreign countries, pay a lot of money to sit in your class. Wouldn’t it just be fair to know what you are doing?

While teaching English overseas is not “brain surgery” or “rocket science”, it does require some skill to do it well. And as long as you are changing your life and heading overseas – why not do it right and feel good or even GREAT about the service you provide to your students?

The days of just showing up at a TEFL job and “chatting with the students for an hour” are long gone. Language schools these days would like you to provide some real teaching in their classrooms. And students almost intuitively know when a teacher knows what they are doing – or not.

One of the best reasons for getting yourself some training is that you will find preparing your classes much easier and you will enjoy your work more knowing that you are providing a quality service and not just skating by on someone else’s money. Best of all, you will sleep better at night.

It’s about doing it right – and feeling good about it.

Now . . . not everyone can afford four to six weeks of not working and the costs of a full blown TEFL certification program. In the following post we will talk about some good alternatives to the commercially available courses.

TED’s Tips™ #1: Get some training. You will enjoy yourself more and do a better job.
Remember how lousy teachers really turned you off when you were still in school? Yeah, don’t be one of those.

TED’s Tips™ #2: If you can’t afford the “Full Monty” of a four-to-six-week course, check out some of the alternatives we will talk about tomorrow.