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When it comes to choosing a reputable course provider, it is essential that the following questions be given serious consideration:
* Has the company offering the course been in operation long?
* Are the course providers successful in placing and absorbing their graduates into the English Teaching industry?
* Do the trainers employ the communicative approach for teaching English?
* Is the course externally moderated?
* Do the experts endorse and support the curriculum?
* Does the course involve practice teaching classes?
* Is the course relevant and cater to the needs of the industry?
* Is it designed to teach adults and young learners?
* Does the company help in obtaining jobs?
* Will it be enough value for money?
* Is the certificate offered internationally recognized and accredited?
 Who teaches English anyway?
1. College Students and Recent College Graduates
A TESOL course can open the door to international travel and the ability to sustain oneself financially while abroad. If you have never lived overseas, the course itself is the perfect opportunity to acclimate to a foreign lifestyle during the four weeks of classroom time. From there you have the option of pursuing teaching jobs abroad or returning home. Keep in mind that you can use English teaching as a jumping off point for other international career options. And you can apply for and attend a course any time of the year, including summer or winter breaks.
2. Teachers
A TESOL Certificate course introduces unique skills applicable to teaching English as a foreign language that will thoroughly prepare you for this specialized form of teaching. Your previous experience in the education field will certainly be to your advantage and give you an edge over other applicants for teaching positions. Teaching English in an international setting will also boost your resume immensely if you plan to return to teaching at home.
3. Mid-life Career Changers
Many course participants are adults who need a break from their current professions or are ready to start a completely new life. Teaching English is an opportunity to break from the norm and experience the benefits of international living whether temporarily or permanently.
4. Retirees
Some employers prefer teachers with more life experience and maturity than our younger graduates (but with the same youthful enthusiasm). Spending retirement overseas is becoming very popular, and teaching English is an excellent way to make an impact on the local community while maintaining an income. Do not feel apprehensive about the prospects of teaching English abroad no matter what age you are.
What are the requirements?
Most TEFL and TESOL Courses are open to all native and fluent speakers of English – regardless of age, sex and nationality.
In Summary
An entry level TESOL certificate will really open new doors and will give you the chance to travel and see the world from a new perspective. You will have the opportunity to meet new people, experience pedagogical growth and explore fresh environments. English Teachers are in the unique position of being able to be part of a community and to make a valuable contribution to the lives and futures of others.
Wherever you decide to teach in the world it is sure to be an experience you will never forget. For however long you remain in the teaching profession a TESOL certificate will prove to be a valuable asset in the future.
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An article in which Tom Carter relates his experiences of teaching in Asia’s largest country
Having little luck finding an attractive job offer in the U.S. in 2004, I decided to take my skills where they were wanted – abroad.
Enticed by the “Teach English in China – No Experience Necessary” ads saturating the online classifieds, I emailed my resume with one hand and packed my bags with the other. I had no idea what to expect, but then, the great unknown can be what makes a job like teaching English in the People’s Republic so appealing.
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As the world’s largest economy opens to foreign investment, education has become one of China‘s thriving sectors. Confucius probably wouldn’t stand for it, but he wasn’t wearing pinstripe suits and driving a shiny black sedan. The country may be Communist in theory, but the renminbi – Chinese currency – is emperor.
 A Chinese adage says that the best advice is often born from the most challenging experiences. After three years helping the sons and daughters of Han learn English, I’ve had my share. Westerners looking to teach in China may want to consider the following before packing their bags.
Some foreign English teachers may be shanghaied at least once during their time in China. Baiting unsuspecting Westerners to China with false promises of a high salary, deluxe apartment, airfare reimbursement, visa or other incentives is a common online scam. Blame it on temptation. Often Chinese laws are too fluid and relationships (“guanxi” in Mandarin) with authorities too intimate, leaving some foreigners with little protection against scams.
The moment I arrived in the Middle Kingdom I had what some seasoned expatriates call “the complete Chinese experience.” The “school” that had accepted my application turned out to be a nickel-and-dime operation run out of an apartment by a guy in his bathrobe. I’d come half way around the world for a job and found myself out of work.
I was literally lost in translation. Despair and a desire to return home to Mom set in. But I quickly learned that, commensurate with its sizeable population, China has a profusion of kindergarten, primary, middle and high schools and universities in even the most remote cities. In short order, I wound up with a position and salary more attractive than the one I had originally accepted.
Chinese parents may work night and day to pay for pricey English lessons so that their child can get a head start in this competitive society of 1.3 billion. Unfortunately, academics are not an issue to many of China’s new educational entrepreneurs who put profit before curriculum and quality. Classroom experience and Teaching English as a Foreign Language (TEFL) certification is nice, but in many cases a Western face is all a native English speaker needs to land a teaching job in China.
In more reputable schools, most prospective English teachers don’t have it so easy. I endured a weeklong interview process, including a series of teaching demonstrations before 300 stern-looking parents, all while I was still jetlagged and suffering from culture shock. I must have done something right, because I was chosen to teach at a top school in the province.
Being rice-wined and dined by my prospective employer over 30-course banquet dinners did not distract me from negotiating a fair salary. Many foreigners (“laowai”) prefer to live in a cosmopolitan city like Beijing or Shanghai than a small town such as the one I had chosen, and I was able to use this preference as leverage during contract discussions. All deals in China, like the price of fruit at the marketplace, can be negotiated.
Most English teachers in China needn’t speak Mandarin in the classroom. Instead, we instruct students through a process of language immersion and simulation, which in time invariably leads to proficiency. Diligence and a little creativity are all that are really needed, but like performing on stage five times a day, it takes its toll.
Over the next few years, I would meet a number of disappointed young Westerners who came overseas as English teachers expecting to party all night and spend their free time pursuing adventures in the countryside. That, I would tell them, is a lifestyle for tourists, exchange students and embassy brats, not the hardworking teacher.
As a foreign expert English instructor, I’m scheduled for up to 30 classes a week and spend most of my free time planning lessons. I’m up at dawn with the older folks practicing their Tai Chi and not back home until after 10 p.m., about when the migrant construction workers also are getting off work.
I never thought I’d be an educator. I didn’t like most of my teachers when I was a kid. Teachers the world over are typically low paid, overworked and underappreciated. But the fatigue and the hit on my income – compared to what I might earn in the U.S. – are what I pay for being part of a rapidly-changing China. As it turned out, I’m not so bad in front of the chalkboard – I actually like it.
About the author
TOM CARTER is the author of CHINA: Portrait of a People, a definitive 600-page book of photography published in 2007 from Hong Kong publisher Blacksmith Books.
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If you’ve had enough of TEFL and have decided it’s time to get out, don’t worry too much. There are many alternatives; one of the many alternative career paths that people can take is a move into the field of physical therapy. As soon as you’ve attained a fitting level of physical therapy education, you can move into professions such as therapist, clinician, administrator, educational consultant or even researcher.
 Depending on how you choose to progress through your career change into physical therapy education, you might reasonably expect to work in any number of facilities, including clinics, hospitals, nursing homes and private homes, not to mention other medical healthcare facilities. What many of us unhappy with our current lot fail to realize is that you can start your studying now with an online physical therapy degree.
There are several diverse types of therapists who come under the umbrella term, such as physical therapists, including physiotherapists, chiropractors, osteopaths, masseurs and this also includes certain areas of occupational therapy. All of these professionals aim to have an effect on joints, muscles, tendons and ligaments; although where they vary is in the philosophies and techniques they employ to achieve this aim. All these things you can start to learn from the act of initiating your education with an online physical therapy degree.
Physical therapy educational programs, in North America for example, offer the disillusioned English teacher many varied opportunities to get started, so you’re bound to find something that suits you. If you’ve already gained a particular level of education from an accredited physical therapy program in the United States, for instance you will notice that that many educational institution offer extended career training up to and including a doctorate of physical therapy. Accreditation is the important thing to look for when making your choice of which institution to study with, because graduates have to attain this formal education in order to become eligible to take the national licensing examination.
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by David Cox
Six o’clock on a winter morning. The temperature bottoming out at around -20 C. A tall, not altogether awake Englishman makes his way to work through the dawn streets of Seoul; just another chancer wanting to teach English and taste a bit more of what the world’s got to offer. The tall Englishman trudges on. He walks past a pile of vomit. A little further on, there’s a drunken man peeing in the street. A wolf howls in the distance. Okay, forget the last part; I made that up. To be honest, teaching English in Korea isn’t that bad. There will be trials, though, of patience and endurance. So be warned. And be prepared. And you might just be pleased you came.
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You will chose between teaching kids or adults. I chose adults. Either way, most of the work is with private institutes called hogwans. They don’t enjoy a great reputation. Most of the hogwans offer similar deals. I chose to work for ELS who, together with Pagoda, rank as the largest and longest established institute chains in Korea. The pay and conditions aren’t any better than those offered by smaller hogwans, but they do have a track record of keeping their promises.
A lot of fresh young graduates come to Seoul with no previous job experience in their own countries, let alone abroad, and certainly not much idea of how to teach. My advice is do yourself a big favour by taking a TESOL certificate course. There are so many things to get used to when you come to Korea. Having taken a teaching course, at least the classroom won’t seem such an unfamiliar place.
 As a rule, Korean adult students are respectful and quite responsive. Having worked with teenagers in Europe, I’m certainly not complaining. Some teachers have a problem with their students’ opinions, and class dynamics (especially male / female relationships) that seem dictated by Korea’s own idiosyncratic version of Confucianism – but these are merely elements of the culture you’ve come to explore in the first place. An open mind and the willingness to accept other viewpoints will not only help you survive, they’ll enable you to get the most out of your experience.
Your salary will be about 2 million won (£1000) a month. Some kind of help – depending on the type of contract – is usually given in finding and subsidising accommodation. Most teachers need to borrow key money (a large refundable deposit) from their employers. Flats in Korea are typically a lot smaller than most Westerners are used to. As a single person, you should be able to find a place for about 600,000 won a month (excluding key money). You ought to be able to live reasonably well and still save money.
A meal in a cheap Korean restaurant will cost around 4000 won. There’s also plenty of Western food available, but you’ll pay more for it: for example, 17,000 won for a large pizza, or around 30,000 won for a two course meal in a TGI Fridays style restaurant. Working in Seoul, you’ll find plenty of bars and clubs, catering to all tastes and pockets. Expect to pay upwards of 2000 won for a glass of beer. Public transport – trains and buses – are cheap and efficient. Don’t bother buying a car; there’s no point.
The cities themselves, by Western standards, don’t have much to offer in terms of aesthetic beauty or personal space. If it’s fresh air, and room to swing a cat, you’re after, you’ll have to get out into the countryside which, as far as Korea is concerned, means hiking up a mountain. Korea is brimful of mountains. Most areas are accessible by public transport. One problem you might encounter, even in the countryside, is heavy traffic. On certain weekends and public holidays, it seems as if the whole nation has the same collective idea of getting away from it all.
You’ll soon discover, in your role of teacher, there’s little point bringing up the question: What do you do in your free time? Sleeping is the most common reply; time being the rarest of all commodities in Korea. You’ll quickly learn to empathise with the locals, especially when required to work early mornings or late evenings, or both. If your employer gives you more than 10 days holiday a year, think yourself lucky. If he (bosses are invariably men) gives you more than three days in a row, you might even want to consider saying thank you. It’s a good idea to choose a contract with the option of a month’s unpaid leave.
If you’re after an easy life, don’t bother coming to Korea. You’ll hate it. And it will end up hating you. What you’ll discover, if you arrive with that open mind I mentioned earlier, is something more difficult to pin down. You’ll live through something you’ve never experienced before. You’ll make the kind of friends, have the kind of conversations, stumble upon the kind of ideas, eat the kind of food, drink the kind of drinks, even get pissed off for the kind of reasons. you’ve never come across before. Character building is how my dad would describe it.
Six o’clock on a summer evening. The temperature slipping from its afternoon peak of 35 C. The tall, weary Englishman heaves his bags onto the conveyor, picks up his boarding card, and walks away towards passport control; just another chancer heading home, having tasted a bit more of what the world’s got to offer. The tall Englishman sits down in the air-conditioned departure lounge, suddenly cool, comfortable and with time on his hands. He thinks of the past year, of what he’s done, of all the people he’s promised to keep in touch with. Let’s just say that he neither planned nor imagined beforehand most of what actually happened during his stay in Seoul. But he wouldn’t change it now. Not for the world.
About the Author
David Cox has worked as a teacher and Academic director for around three years for ELS and is currently employed as a teacher by the British Council in Seoul.
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The CAT, GRE and GMAT tests are a cause of anxiety and concern for many, many people around the world who are striving to pass these tests and further their careers. Many companies and businesses now require that their employees have professional qualifications and have these tests under their belts, so it is natural that the people taking them should want to have as much chance of passing as possible.
 Standardized tests such as the GRE are used as an entry requirement for many graduate schools throughout the United States and one way in which many test takers choose to prepare is with practice tests.
What people want from a practice test, such as an online GMAT test, is for the data to give a reliable picture of how well the candidate might do on the real test. With this in mind, the CAT Prep Simulators website stands out as an outstanding resource for those taking the test. Indeed, Catprepsim’s Journal notes how useful CATPrep Simulators is in terms of offering adaptive online practice tests. In fact, their tests have aided thousands of students in their quest to score higher on the GRE and GMAT. The realism of the practice test is perhaps what distinguishes the service provided by CATPrep Simulators from other such test preparation websites and applications.
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Who teaches English anyway?
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