My Online TESOL Course Prologue

Two weeks ago...

I was sitting with some friends at a bar in Kyoto. The four of them had their post-grad degrees and were all working at the university level here in Japan teaching English. I have an undergrad degree. Currently, I am enrolled to start a Master of Applied Linguistics program next year, but currently I don't have a TESL/TESOL/CELTA etc certificate.

Why do I bring this up you ask? Well, when I came to Japan to teach English over a year ago, I had landed a one year contract while I was still finishing my degree. I submitted my resume, went for an interview, showed enough personality and I was in Japan two months after graduating. I thought my undergrad degree would suffice. For some this might be ok, but for me it wasn't. I struggled a lot during my first year teaching in Japan. Im sure I could write another article about how terrible my supervisor was to me, or how I lived in a shoebox and cockroaches were my best friends, and perhaps I will, but for now, for the sake of this article I must admit that I had no teaching experience before I came to Japan. I am very outgoing, generally happy and it is because I am not shy and also because of my humorous attitude that I made it through year one. Looking back, if I would have had taken a TESL course before I came here, it would have benefited me in the classroom, outside of the classroom however, well, thats the way it goes sometimes. That being said, I am still here, I have learned alot, but I do think I can learn alot more from taking a TESL course even though im comfortable teaching English now.

So why take an online TESL course?

I'll bring you back to the evening at that bar in Kyoto again. One of guys told me to literally go out the next day, search the internet and get a TESL certificate! All the other teachers agreed, bobbing their heads up and down in unison. Now, I've heard this before, and I remember friends of mine who actually have their TESL (when i say TESL, again I mean TESL, TEFL, CELTA etc) here in Japan and elsewhere. I began to ask around, and indeed many of my English teacher friends had one! I began to think about how this would put me under par when I have to look for a new job this March!

As for Japan in my opinion, many employers do ask for a TESL certificate, or if they dont, they might look your resume over until they find someone who has. Many prospective employers here do ask for it as they would your resume, a copy of your diploma, cover letter, etc. From what I gather you should just get your TESL and add it to your portfolio. Im sure I will learn alot more about teaching and grammar when i take mine too or at least Its always nice to have one more thing in your achievements/education section of your resume!

There are many sites that offer advice regarding TESL information. I would recommend you start searching via a search engine. These are a few handy phrases to use "AET forums," "daves esl cafe," "'name of a tesol website or company' spam," "TESOL + online + forums." There are many AET (Assistant English Teacher) forums out there so take your time and read through peoples various comments, for me they are mostly hilarious, people get so heated and the discussions sometimes get out of control and off track. I highly recommend googling AET forums.

If you have no idea what TESL, TOFL, CELTA stand for then this is a great webpage:

http://www.teflearth.com/blog/tefl-tesol-esl-meaning

100 hour or 60 hour TESL course?

On we go. I narrowed my choices down and today I made my choice, and choose ONTESOL. I choose the 100 hour program. I choose it because I found that the overall response online was quite negative to anything under 100 hours. I dont really agree with this. But there was some research to show that potential employers might like to see a minimum 100 hour TESL certificate. I really wanted to take the 60 hour course but if you do your research you will find that the payment difference between 60 and 100 hours is not much. I dont have alot of time as I am working full time and im generally busy, and im sure i could use the 300$ on clothes etc.

In my opinion most Asian countries outside of Japan will be happy with any TESL certificate im sure, but here in Japan, sometimes employers, board of educations, teachers and parents for that matter can be fickle and many times people here take stock in what they see on paper. Do I have to remind you that many Japanese people will never tell you whats on their mind? All that prospective employer might be looking for is a TESL certificate on your resume, and perhaps if he or she doesnt find it, im sure he or she will look at you, smile, and carry on the rest of the one hour interview without saying how disappointed he/she is that you didnt do your TESL! As long as they see that you have a TESL certificate, under grad degree, masters etc then their happy, they wont give a hoot about the fact that you went to the University of Nowheresville, Yukon!

So think what you want to think. Finally for me, I guess I decided on the 100 hours because many Canadian ESL websites on the matter said it is the standard or minimum requirement. I took heed of this because what if I need a job teaching English in Vancouver to foreigners for example, I dont want some guy telling me my 60 hour TESL is below par for Canada. I know what your thinking...just do your research, pick one, pay for it, and start the darn thing!

Finally, why did I make the choice to go with ONTESOL?

1] From the research I've done, I agree with the thought that the online course you choose should have an actual real campus/business what have you, where TESL certificate/diploma students can take their various courses in person.

2] I am Canadian. I preferred to take a TESOL program from a Canadian institution or company. This might sound patriotic or what not, and might be, but, I like supporting Canada's economy as much as possible.

3] The website is direct but not flashy. Yet its neat, colorful and gave me what i needed to see.

4] The price was bang on. 300$ Canadian for a 100 hour course seems great.

5] Lastly, I emailed questions to about 5-10 websites which offered TESL related courses. Someone from ONTESOL got back to me first before anyone else did ;)

Cheers,

Matt