What is TEFL?
TEFL or "Teaching English as a Foreign Language" refers to teaching English to students who are not native speakers.
TEFL has no governing body so there are a number of interchangeable terms that all relate TEFL. Here are two of the more common examples:
- TESL - Teaching English as a Second Language
- ELT - English Language Teaching
Qualifications
It is important to sign up for the course that will help get you the best jobs.
There are many organizations that run TEFL courses and offer various types of certification. Some are well known and have international recognition, but some lesser known courses can lack international recognition or credibility. Amongst others, some of the ever popular online courses fall into this category.
Best Types Of TEFL
Two of the most recognized and well established courses are:
- UCLES CELTA - University of Cambridge Local Examinations Syndicate Certificate in English Language Teaching to Adults
- Trinity Cert TESOL - Trinity College Certificate in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages
There are many other well known courses to choose from, but as a general rule of thumb you should find a course that offers at least 100 hours of instruction and 6 hours of observed teaching practice.
If you've already decided which country you'll go to, do some research and find out the standard TEFL requirements for teaching in that location. This will make choosing which course to study a lot easier.
Why Do You Need A TEFL?
Getting a recognized qualification greatly increases your chances of finding the best jobs. In a perfect world every TEFL teacher would be trained and hold a recognized certificate before they entered the classroom. However, in reality this is not always possible and many teachers actually prefer to get some real teaching experience under their belt before they embark on a TEFL course.
Many of the schools we work with are looking for teachers with potential (with or without a full TEFL qualification) and will consider applications from those that don't yet hold a full 100+ hour classroom based TEFL qualification. This offers new teachers an affordable way into the profession.
Teacher Training Centers
TEFLOne has a good working relationship with the following centers and most offer 100+ hour on-site courses.
Additionally, the jobs we can provide you with are perfect for newly qualified teachers as the majority of schools include one week initial training and orientation as well as ongoing training, academic and welfare support, professional development opportunities and career progression within the TEFL industry.
Make sure you follow our Twitter job alert so that once you're qualified you can find out about latest job opportunities around Asia.
Follow @TEFLOneJobAlertNB: This list is not exhaustive.
Got a TEFL training centre of your own and want it added to the list? Contact us here.
Australia
- Australian TESOL Training Centre (Brisbane and Sydney)
Canada
- LSC International College LTD (Toronto)
- ILSC (Montreal)
Czech Republic
- TEFL Worldwide (Prague)
- Oxford TEFL (Prague)
China
- TEFL International (Zhuhai)
Costa Rica
- Costa Rica TEFL (Playa Samara and Heredia)
Egypt
- TEFL International (Alexandria)
England
- Universtity of Sussex (Brighton)
- Embassy CES (Hove)
- TEFL England (many locations that offer both classroom and online based courses)
- Manchester Academy of English
- TEFL Express (London, accredited classroom, online and blended courses)
- TEFL Lab (London)
- Oxford TEFL (London)
- ITTC (Bournemouth)
- Action English Language Training (Leeds)
- Harrow College
- Global English TESOL (accredited online and class options)
France
- TEFL International (Plelauff)
Germany
Greece
- Via Lingua (Crete): Via Lingua Greece offers internationally recognised TEFL training and extensive job guidance. Courses run year-round.
- Intesol (Crete)
- TEFL Corinth
Hungary
- International TEFL Academy (Budapest)
Hong Kong
- English for Asia (Hong Kong)
Ireland
- Atlantic S.E.A.L (Cork)
- CES Dublin
- Language College Ireland (Bray)
- International House (Dublin)
Italy
- Teacher Training IT (Milan)
- Via Lingua (Florence)
New Zealand
- English Language Academy (Auckland)
- International Pacific College (Palmerston North)
- The University of Waikato
- Languages International (Auckland and Christchurch)
Poland
- British Council (Krakow)
Scotland
- TEFL Scotland (many locations that offer both classroom and online based courses)
- Randolph School of English
South Africa
- Langahead
- EC Capetown
- Wits Language School (Johannesburg)
Spain
- CLIC International House (Seville)
- International House (Barcelona)
- Intesol (Barcelona)
- TEFL International (Barcelona)
- TEFL International (Seville)
- TEFL Barcelona (Barcelona)
- Oxford TEFL (Barcelona and Cadiz)
- Active Language (Cadiz)
- EBC (Madrid)
- The British Language Centre (Madrid)
- TEFL Iberia (Barcelona)
- TEFL Course Seville (Seville)
Thailand
- Chichester College (Bangkok)
- ECC (Bangkok, Chiang Mai and Phuket)
- Island TEFL (Koh Samui)
- SEE (Chiang Mai)
- TEFL Campus (Phuket)
- TEFL International (Ban Phe)
- Chiang Mai University TEFL(Chiang Mai)
- Text and Talk (Bangkok)
- TEFL World (Koh Samui)
USA
- Bridge Linguatec (Denver)
- Boston Language Institute (Boston)
- Teaching House (New York)
- TEFL International (New York)
- Tennessee Foreign Language Institute (Tennessee)
- Transworld Schools (San Francisco)
- St Giles International (San Francisco)
- TESOL Training International (San Diego)
