If you are thinking about teaching English as a foreign language, but are still in the research stage, then you might be a bit confused by all of the jargon you keep reading. The world of English teaching is awash with acronyms - EFL, TEFL, TESOL, CELTA, DELTA - the list is endless. Here we will help you sift through them and make sense of the mumbo jumbo...
If you've made it far enough to read this blog then you probably know what TEFL stands for - Teaching English as a Foreign Language. In essence this means that you are teaching English to people who don't speak it as a first language. It is a generic 'catch-all' term used in the industry and if you want to get yourself a job doing this then your first port of call would be to get a TEFL certificate. Using your powers of deduction you can probably figure out from there that EFL is just English as a Foreign Language, which simply refers to the study of English by non-native speakers. EAL (English as an Additional Language) is another term that is used in this way. All fairly straight forward so far.
When people hear TESOL (Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages) that's when the bemusement usually starts. It is often used interchangeably with TEFL and broadly they do mean the same thing - that is teaching people for whom English is not their mother tongue. However TESOL is usually used in the context of teaching in an English speaking country, for example to economic migrants who have come to settle there, whereas TEFL will refer to teaching English abroad. To add to the confusion, like TEFL, TESOL can be used to refer to a certificate as well as just the act of teaching.
The Trinity Cert TESOL is a high level English teaching qualification. It is very intensive
and is taken by people who have already taught overseas and plan on committing themselves to a life-long career in English teaching. For example, the trainers on UK-TEFL courses will possess this qualification or a CELTA (Certificate in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages, previously known as Certificate in English Language Teaching to Adults) which is an equivalent certificate. It should be remembered that the CELTA and Trinity Cert TESOL courses can be very challenging for students with little or no experience in the field. Furthermore it is a large outlay of time and money if you are unsure that you will be suited to the work. Should you wish to progress further then you may eventually move on to taking a DELTA (Diploma in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages) but that's probably not something you should be thinking about just yet...
To summarise, if you have never done any teaching before, but are thinking about doing it, then your first step is to get a TEFL certificate under your belt. Once you have this then you can worry about all the other acronyms later!
If you've made it far enough to read this blog then you probably know what TEFL stands for - Teaching English as a Foreign Language. In essence this means that you are teaching English to people who don't speak it as a first language. It is a generic 'catch-all' term used in the industry and if you want to get yourself a job doing this then your first port of call would be to get a TEFL certificate. Using your powers of deduction you can probably figure out from there that EFL is just English as a Foreign Language, which simply refers to the study of English by non-native speakers. EAL (English as an Additional Language) is another term that is used in this way. All fairly straight forward so far.
When people hear TESOL (Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages) that's when the bemusement usually starts. It is often used interchangeably with TEFL and broadly they do mean the same thing - that is teaching people for whom English is not their mother tongue. However TESOL is usually used in the context of teaching in an English speaking country, for example to economic migrants who have come to settle there, whereas TEFL will refer to teaching English abroad. To add to the confusion, like TEFL, TESOL can be used to refer to a certificate as well as just the act of teaching.
The Trinity Cert TESOL is a high level English teaching qualification. It is very intensive
and is taken by people who have already taught overseas and plan on committing themselves to a life-long career in English teaching. For example, the trainers on UK-TEFL courses will possess this qualification or a CELTA (Certificate in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages, previously known as Certificate in English Language Teaching to Adults) which is an equivalent certificate. It should be remembered that the CELTA and Trinity Cert TESOL courses can be very challenging for students with little or no experience in the field. Furthermore it is a large outlay of time and money if you are unsure that you will be suited to the work. Should you wish to progress further then you may eventually move on to taking a DELTA (Diploma in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages) but that's probably not something you should be thinking about just yet...
To summarise, if you have never done any teaching before, but are thinking about doing it, then your first step is to get a TEFL certificate under your belt. Once you have this then you can worry about all the other acronyms later!
I completed the online TEFL course and then decided to go straight for a Cert-TESOL with no teaching experience. I was then fortunate enough to get offered a teaching job at the school I studied in but I put so much pressure on myself that I recently gave up (after 8 months teaching adults). Would you say that teaching adults in the UK (ie. TESOL) is harder than teaching abroad (ie. TEFL)?
ReplyDeleteHi Angelina!
DeleteEvery teaching job brings with it different pressures and perks but if you didn't enjoy teaching adults here in the UK there's still a chance you would like doing it overseas. Learners in other countries are more likely to have a lower level of English as they haven't been exposed to the language on a day-to-day basis, so you may find it less stressful to teach them. There's also more scope to teach young learners abroad if you like the idea of working with children. Either way there are lots of options open to you!