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Table of Contents
WHAT’S A TEFL?
Before you start choosing what TEFL is going to be right for you so that you can teach ESL or English to foreign students, you need to fully understand what a TEFL is, so that you choose the right course for you.
In the industry of teaching English to foreign students, the industry standard is a TEFL which means teaching English as a foreign language.
Everyone from online schools and ESL platforms to traditional brick and mortar schools will enquire if you have a TEFL, it is the minimum qualification today. TEFL’s are today so easy to get that if you don’t have one, your chances of finding a job as an ESL teacher online of offline is going to be pretty slim. But the most important reason for getting a TEFL is that you will be a better teacher with one.
CHANGES TO THE LAW FOR ESL TEACHERS
As English continues to be a fast growing language, so too has the demand for ESL teachers. One of the biggest changes in the ESL industry is that today you don’t actually have to leave your home to teach it. You can make a full time income teaching English online.
However with the growth of the ESL industry changes in how ESL teachers are hired has also changed and it is important to know that in China, unless you have a TEFL as a minimum qualification you will not get hired to teach online as it is now illegal for ESL platforms to hire English teachers unless they have a TEFL.
Note also that your name on your TEFL certificate will also have to be the same name that is on your passport and the same name that you use or will use to apply for ESL jobs, be them online or offline.
WILL ANY TEFL QUALIFICATION DO?
In a nutshell no. Firstly, lots of employers will only accept what they consider to be a ‘verified’ TEFL. This basically means one from a regulated TEFL provider such as Ofqual.
In some cases, the provider of your TEFL qualification may even be contacted by your employer. So Digiteachonline has partnered with a verified TEFL provider, Premier TEFL, to offer you some great offers on either getting a TEFL to start with or by upgrading the one you have already if needed.
Secondly, different TEFL’s offer different study paths. For example, if you want to teach young learners such as children and older children to prepare them for exams such as IELTS and TOEIC (similar to IETLS, the test of English for International Communications – which is a global standard in English fluency) then you would need to complete a 240 hour TEFL course for certification.
If you wanted to also teach business English to adults on top of those and add extra TEFL training hours you will need the 290 TEFL qualification.
To teach just young learners for example, you could start your online ESL teaching career with a simple 168 hour TEFL.
WHAT ARE THE DIFFERENT TYPES OF TEFL?
There are six different types of TEFL but the higher the amount of hours on a course will qualify you to get a higher lesson rate or rate per hour.
ESL platforms in China in particular pay different rates to teachers dependent on their qualifications and experience. Preparing student for IETLS and TOEIC exams in particular are very much sought after as these are the exams that determine the level of fluency of foreign English speakers. In order for foreign, English speakers to apply for certain English speaking jobs and places of study such as University they need to prove that they have passed certain IELTS and TOEIC exams, so try to choose a course that includes this field of study as it would be worth every single cent or penny – depending on what part of the world you are reading this in right now.
Here are some courses that you can study complete online with Premier TEFL
WHAT DOES A TEFL QUALIFICATION EQUATE TO ACADEMICALLY?
Basically being certified in TEFL at 168 hours is the equivalent of an Ofqual regulated level 5. This is the equivalent to Higher National Diploma. Here is an infograph to illustrate that further.
HOW CAN I STUDY A TEFL?
You can study a TEFL face to face but Digiteachonline.com is all about earning and learning online. So naturally we have opted for the online version of the TEFL study which is also a cheaper option for you. Simply click the button below to profit from some great savings with our partner Premier TEFL and then pop back after to apply your first online ESL job from the best online ESL jobs found here.
