TEFL/TESOL courses

I thought I would bring this up simply because it was one of the more stressful decisions I made for myself once my decision to move to Chile was made. 

There are two main types of certifications to get if your college degree is not already related to Teaching English as a second/foreign language.  The TEFL (Teaching English as a Foreign Language) and the TESOL (Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages).  There are a lot of different paths to take to get one of these certifications-- you can go to a ton of different websites and complete a course that is completely online, some companies offer a weekend seminar, some offer a weekend seminar along with online coursework, and some are 9-week (or of similar length) programs that actually take place in an institution.  One of the most reputable certificates you can get is the CELTA, which is offered through Cambridge.  Mind you, it's expensive, and unless you live in a major city (and I mean seriously major), you're going to have to travel and arrange a living situation throughout the course.  Had I extra money, the CELTA would've been my choice;  However, I believe the course would've run me between $2000-$3000, not to mention travel to the city is was being offered and living arrangements for the duration of the course.  Another thing I have noticed (or seem to have noticed-- correct me if I'm wrong) is that a lot of English teacher jobs in Asia seem to ask for a TESOL certification, while a lot of jobs in Latin America seem to seek a TEFL certification.  I don't suggest you make a decision on something this important based solely on my own observations and decisions, but I do want to post my own experience finding the course that worked best for me, since the only other experiences regarding this online that I have been able to find were written by people who didn't seem to be on a very strict timetable or budget, and I have the strictest of both :(

I began with a lot of research online-- I really would have liked to take a course in person because they guarantee you supervised teaching hours, which would look super nice on a resume.  However, I decided to forgo those courses because: 1) Time; 2) Money; 3) My degree is already in education, and I have already served a ton of supervised teaching hours-- they just weren't relating specifically to ESL.

I chose an online course which I will explain in a minute, but let me warn you-- when you begin searching for courses online, spend at least a week looking into different courses.  I felt immediately overwhelmed at the sheer amount of different online programs there were.  Many of them seemed suspicious and looked like scams.  One website that I found that really helped me a lot was http://www.teflcoursereview.com 
That site was wonderful, because I wrote down all the information I could find about 5 or 6 programs I was considering, and was able to find all of them on there-- while no one can completely guarantee the reviews to be reliable or honest or even written by actual customers and not the program itself, they did provide more detailed information and likes/dislikes about many different programs that you won't necessarily find on the programs' official websites.  Take each review with a grain of salt, but for the most part, I found this resource to be very helpful.

I will say that if you don't already have an idea of the country or city you want to teach in, look for a course that guarantees to provide you with a job placement.  Some courses offer assistance, and others guarantee it.  I have known since day 1 of planning that I want to teach in the Valpo area in Chile, and sadly, a lot of jobs there are not exactly advertised online.  That said, if I hadn't already chosen where to live, I would view the job placement programs as a great stepping stone to finding work.

While I'm sure others will have plenty to offer up, the one program I found to be supremely shady was Oxford Seminars.  I can't guarantee to you that they are a scam;  I'll just say that the reviews I read for them seemed like all of their students were very displeased;  On top of that, the course lasts a total of one weekend, so a lot of material may be covered, but it just doesn't seem like a very comprehensive learning experience, especially if you don't already have a background in pedagogy.

My final choice was the i-to-i program.  The reasons are very simple-- you can choose a course to fit your needs.  They offer courses completely online, or online and in-person combos.  You can elect to take a 20 hours course, 40 hours course, and increasing amounts all the way up to something like 120 hours.  This program seemed reputable and reasonably priced (they constantly have specials going-- if you miss the first advertised special you see for them, don't freak out, another one will be offered at the end of the one you saw, probably within a few days) and the reviews were good.  The tutor feedback sometimes seemed really helpful, and sometimes seemed really petty.  Regardless, I did learn a lot of techniques to teaching English to all levels and ages of learners, and I feel like even someone without pedagogy study experience would learn quite a bit about education as a whole, not just aspects that pertain to teaching a foreign language.  On top of that, they offer some really awesome-looking internships and jobs to really popular destinations like the Czech Republic, China, etc.  They also offer teacher kits, if you have absolutely no idea by the end of the course how to put together a lesson plan (or even if you do) so that you can take a binder full of lessons and teaching materials with you to wherever your new career choice leads you!

Basically, my biggest advice is to take your time and perform thorough research on the programs you find, as well as the general requirements to be a teacher in the country you may already have in mind.  I chose to complete the i-to-i TEFL 40 hour course.  My next biggest advice is not to take it too lightly;  I began this course during a 20 hour senior semester in college-- 20 credit hours of school per week, 20 hours of work per week, and 50 field hours in schools for my coursework.  Needless to say, my TEFL work did not initially get the attention it deserved, and I had to work it all out on a pretty tight schedule over the winter break to get it all completed in time.  Some of the chapters/modules were fairly short and simple, while others took quite a bit of time to get through.  I suggest you take detailed notes and give yourself about an hour for each official assignment, if not more.  Save your work as you go, because nothing will piss you off more than losing it when you click submit because the session expired... experience here!

I hope this information helps someone make a decision on a course.  I take forever with those kind of decisions, and basically stressed myself out a lot.  While I'm not guaranteed a job with this TEFL degree (I mean let's be honest, you get what you pay for), I will let you all know as soon as I hear what potential employers say about my certification.  I would love to hear from others about the courses they chose, and why they chose them.  If you want to check out the i-to-i program that I took, click here

Chile Rising

This is a short documentary about Chile's student protests.  The students were protesting about the profiteering that occurs within the education system, as well as the lack of high-quality institutions, low level of monitoring by accreditors, and the fact that almost everyone goes into debt to pay for their secondary education and higher education.  The students began with protests and ended up occupying the schools, causing classes to be postponed for months.  Students were joined in the protest by their parents, grandparents, professors, and fellow citizens.  The demand is for state-funded, high-quality education, and even led to the demand for a new constitution (the constitution in place now was designed during the dictatorship). A very comprehensive article about what the movement stood for can be found here.  At this point now, the movement seems to have hit a lull, but the youth of the country seem as inspired as ever.  As said in the video, this generation is the first generation with no personal memory of the dictatorship.  The students are an inspiration to me and I can't wait to see the direction in which they go on to steer their country.

The Flikr is Go!!

Alright soooo... I uploaded a lot of pictures to my new flikr account that are from my last trip to Chile, which was in May of 2011.  I'll link you guys to that set here, not because I expect you to be especially curious, but more because I want to see if I do it correctly.  Besides, I'm about to put up a few much more interesting posts, so don't wet your pants over anything just yet.

Technology is Hard!!

With the beginning of my final "serious" semester, I thought I should add to my "preparations to move" list the whole internet communications setup I'll be using to keep in touch with everyone.  This includes this blog, a flikr account, and god knows what else at this point, but I will post updates here as soon as I figure it all out!