Got a full weeks work next but after that will be treating it as a full time job, 8 hours a day kind of thing! Fully expecting it to be pretty intense but im hoping the end result will be worth it!
You will also have plenty of homework, so be prepared to put your life on hold. I think I said this to AshTray many moons ago, If you want to experience living in another country, travelling around a bit and having a good laugh TEFL is perfect. Salary is generally OK for most countries, hours are longish (and usually unsociable), a lot of schools that will employ you (particularly for your first job) will purely be in the business of getting money in. The lessons and students come thick and fast, and you will work an extra 50% of your contartced hours on preperation. Having said all that I would do it in a shot and head for China.
While TEFL and TESOL are decent qualifications for the part time traveller/part time worker, they will not be able to get you employment in the top International Schools, where you can earn money well above any UK standard, tax free, with housing allowance, maid and drivers chucked in. My advice would always be to suck it up and do the year PGCE in EAL (you can do it at accredited International Schools). Gives you access to many more jobs and opportunities. Try uni of Sunderland for the PGCE. I've recently mentored a teacher through the course here in Bangkok.
If you have a professional qualification and / or a degree then you get a PGCE or Cert Ed and next get a TEFL / TESOL you will earn at least £30 an hour in one of London's colleges. If you really are any good at all and teach a subject at BA or BSc level you'll make £50 and hour and with a masters qualification teaching at Master's level you will be offered over £70 an hour. Of course you won't be teaching 35 hours a week and you'll need to spend hours in preparation but you should be able to teach 20 hours a week at probably about £50 an hour and that's £1,000 a week from which as a self-employed teacher you can deduct certain costs and then pay your tax 18 months later. So yes Stu, it's pretty enjoyable.Whern abroad; Europe pays even more; paris colleges pay €80 an hour but far east colleges pay lower rates.
If you have a professional qualification and / or a degree then you get a PGCE or Cert Ed and next get a TEFL / TESOL you will earn at least £30 an hour in one of London's colleges. If you really are any good at all and teach a subject at BA or BSc level you'll make £50 and hour and with a masters qualification teaching at Master's level you will be offered over £70 an hour. Of course you won't be teaching 35 hours a week and you'll need to spend hours in preparation but you should be able to teach 20 hours a week at probably about £50 an hour and that's £1,000 a week from which as a self-employed teacher you can deduct certain costs and then pay your tax 18 months later. So yes Stu, it's pretty enjoyable.Whern abroad; Europe pays even more; paris colleges pay €80 an hour but far east colleges pay lower rates.
But in Asia the cost of living is that much lower and teaching English is basically funding your holiday if yiu intend to travel.
Doing a PGCE might be an option - there are quite a few schools in Asia, particularly Japan that like to hire English language teachers.
Sorry but these online tefl courses really aren't the best way to go. You need to be observed in the classroom, get the feedback and act on it. I'm afraid the 4 week CELTA course is the best option. Yes, it's intense and really hard work but it's only 4 weeks and will certainly open up a lot of doors for you. I was no youngster when I did my CELTA and had a lot of pre- study to do regarding grammar, as I'd forgotten a lot of the rules regarding why and when we use certain tenses. But, hey, if I managed it I'm sure a lot of you younger ones out there can. Anyway, best of luck.
Oh almost forgot, I would recommend the book "Teaching English Grammar" by Jim Scrivener. It's for teachers and full of ideas on easy ways to get grammar points across as well as useful concept questions, meaning and use etc. I always carry it with me whenever teaching.
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Fun times.
Got a full weeks work next but after that will be treating it as a full time job, 8 hours a day kind of thing! Fully expecting it to be pretty intense but im hoping the end result will be worth it!
Stu of Hu, you will aways have a Charlton Life.
> vomits <
But in Asia the cost of living is that much lower and teaching English is basically funding your holiday if yiu intend to travel.
Doing a PGCE might be an option - there are quite a few schools in Asia, particularly Japan that like to hire English language teachers.
As BFR says, this is more a way to finance seeing some fantastic parts of the world, rather than what I plan on doing forever.
Hopefully I'll have my final grade tomorrow morning and can start sending the CV out!
They've got a TEFL Express course on Groupon today, £65 down from £369:
http://www.groupon.co.uk/deals/london/tefl-express/679270?nlp=&CID=UK_CRM_1_0_0_228&a=9