Return-Path: <nifl-esl@literacy.nifl.gov> Received: from literacy (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by literacy.nifl.gov (8.10.2/8.10.2) with SMTP id j1CAM0C07674; Sat, 12 Feb 2005 05:22:00 -0500 (EST) Date: Sat, 12 Feb 2005 05:22:00 -0500 (EST) Message-Id: <20050212101906.84435.qmail@web61103.mail.yahoo.com> Errors-To: listowner@literacy.nifl.gov Reply-To: nifl-esl@literacy.nifl.gov Originator: nifl-esl@literacy.nifl.gov Sender: nifl-esl@literacy.nifl.gov Precedence: bulk From: Eric Bestrom <erichmong@yahoo.com> To: Multiple recipients of list <nifl-esl@literacy.nifl.gov> Subject: [NIFL-ESL:10728] Teaching Certificates- TEFL, CELTA. etc X-Listprocessor-Version: 6.0c -- ListProcessor by Anastasios Kotsikonas Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Status: O Content-Length: 4818 Lines: 117 Dear Ms. Rasool, From what I know, RSA Dip-TEFLA, is a rigorous, standardized British advanced degree. I don't know for sure, but RSA stands for something like Royal Society of Anglia (of Anglophilia?). Don't quote me on that. "Dip" stands for "Diploma", and you can imagine how TEFLA is connected to teaching English as a Foreign Language. CELTA is a certificate showing that one has passed a basic training course to learn how to teach English to speakers of other languages. This course, its standards and its certificate were developed at Cambridge University. It can be used as an initial stepping stone to further study in British higher education in teaching English to speakers of other languages. CELTA used to be known as CTEFLA or the RSA Certificate. You can read one source about it at the link below: http://www.cambridgeesol.org/teaching/celta.htm Also offering a basic training in teaching English as a foreign language are schools which award TEFL Certificates. There is no universal accreditation and review board for TEFL Certificates. TEFL Certificates are not standardized in their requirements, hence there is a lot of variation in the quality of the schools which award them. TEFL certificate schools are often less expensive than schools which award CELTA and do usually do not have as strong an orientation toward British English. I recommend comparison of teacher training courses and schools in any case. A good place to start research into this is on the discussion boards at Dave's ESL Cafe- the URL is http://www.eslcafe.com. >From 1996 to the end of 1998, I was a teacher trainer for the ITC teacher-training school in Prague, Czech Republic. Full disclosure: I am going to describe my former employer in the next paragraph and I am going to praise them. I liked working for them in my time, and I have heard and read good things about them since. At any rate, the description of the program also gives you a sketch of similar TEFL certificate programs. Again, I advise you to compare many different schools of different types in different locations before making your choice. ITC offered a 120-hour intensive course. Trainees had to do about 4 contact hours of trainer- and peer-critiqued teaching practice with non-native English learners (mostly Czech volunteers, but some Chinese, Vietnamese, Ukrainians and Russians who lived in Prague). There was about 3 hours of observing and discussing notes taken on experienced teachers teaching live classes. Each trainee spent about 12 hours observing other trainees' practice lessons to the English learners and learning how to analyze and write standardized critique sheets to benefit these peers. Additionally, about 5 hours were spent analyzing and discussing each other's practice lessons after observation. Consistently, graduates of our program reported that the element they appreciated most in our program was this emphasis on critiqued teaching practice. The second most appreciated element of the program was language analysis- ie. a brush-up on the fundamentals of the structures and functions of English grammar, and the best practices for teaching these items to speakers of other languages most effectively. American trainees without previous English teaching experience often especially needed the grammar brush-up! The school also gained praise because of its job placement assistance for graduates. ITC has familiarity or working relationships with school directors in various countries who are keen to hire recommended ITC graduates. Some trainees enrolled in the program after having taught English abroad already for some time and saw the course as a way to add to their teaching "bag of tricks". Americans and British were the most common enrollees in the course and seemed to find the easiest employment with the TEFL Certificate, especially in Eastern Europe or East, West or South Asia. Canadians, Australians and New Zealanders also were frequent enrollees and when they graduated found relatively easy employment with a TEFL Cert in the same places. Western Europe offered easier employment for Brits (EU members) with CELTA certificates or advanced degrees. It was difficult to place our graduates in, e.g., the Netherlands. The address of my old employer follows: http://www.itc-training.com/ Well, I hope this helps you. Please feel free to e-mail me or post to the list if you have additional questions. ===== Eric Bestrom Functional Work English instructor Hmong-American Partnership 1121 Glenwood Avenue Minneapolis MN 55405 E-mail: erichmong@yahoo.com Telephone: 612-377-6482 Fax: 612-377-4633 __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around http://mail.yahoo.com
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