Getting certified: Part I

Even if you don’t technically need TEFL certification where you’re going, you may want it anyway. First, it can help you prepare and justify yourself as a teacher. An article from the Christian Science Monitor quotes Dorothea Heberle: “A lot of people think that if you speak English, you can teach it, which really isn’t true” (14).

Also, with an increasing number of graduates and retirees opting to teach abroad, the competition is getting tougher. In the CSM article mentioned above, Kim Campbell writes that “getting a job is often no longer simply a matter of showing up and proving conversational ability” (14). And that was in ’96.

More recently,Susan Griffith warns that "even Certificate-holders are having to struggle to find a decent job, mainly because so many more people now have the qualification than five or ten years ago" (20).

But the overwhelming consensus is still that certification will increase your odds of getting a good job. The less qualified you are, the more likely you are to be hired by cowboy operations, which tend to have poorer working conditions.

You can get certified in the U.S. or abroad, onsite or online, in a weekend or in a month, by Cambridge or Trinity, Bridge-Linguatec or i-to-i . . . the options seem endless.

I feel overwhelmed by all that’s available, and by reading forum posts from sites like Dave’s ESL Cafe, I know lots of other people feel the same.

In forthcoming blogs, I’m going to try my best to provide a comprehensive and helpful overview for you and myself. Hopefully then we’ll both feel confident enough to take the plunge and sign up for a program that can prepare us for a successful future abroad.

Print Sources

Campbell, Kim. “Teaching English abroad gets harder.” Christian Science Monitor 88.84 (1996): 14.

Griffith, Susan. Teaching English Abroad: Teach Your Way Around the World. 8th Edition. Oxford: Vacation Work, 2006.