Comments on: Understanding English Language Teaching: TEFL, TESL, TESOL, TEAL

By: Matt Narciso | ESL Teacher Online

Matt Narciso | ESL Teacher Online — Fri, 24 Sep 2010 02:45:35 +0000

You have opted for the rewarding career of teaching English to speakers of other languages, and now need to consider a higher qualification in order to develop as a teacher and be eligible for new roles. In relation to this, you may want to visit our online English academy is bases in Cebu City, Philippines. It is an institution with competent, effective, and efficient ESL teachers well-equipped to provide easy and fun way of learning English at a minimum amount of time per session.

By: Heather Carreiro

Heather Carreiro — Sun, 25 Jul 2010 17:42:38 +0000

Feel free to quote the post on your blog – just link it back to this post so that your readers can get to the whole article if they’d like to. I’m at on Twitter @expatheather.

By: nemtyrev

nemtyrev — Sat, 24 Jul 2010 04:49:46 +0000

it was very interesting to read.
I want to quote your post in my blog. It can?
And you et an account on Twitter?

By: Where’s a good place for me to teach English abroad? | teach chinese

Where’s a good place for me to teach English abroad? | teach chinese — Tue, 20 Jul 2010 11:27:31 +0000

[...] teaching-english [...]

By: Heather Carreiro

Heather Carreiro — Tue, 06 Jul 2010 15:31:49 +0000

MaryAnne’s advice is spot on. A speech-language pathology degree won’t necessarily open any doors for English teaching positions, although it will certainly be a useful background for some aspects of language teaching. CELTA is much more of an investment (time and money) than a basic TEFL, but a basic TEFL will only get you so far. You may want to be for an MA TESOL or simply get experience. TEFLJobs.net is another good place to look for entry-level jobs.

By: Heather Carreiro

Heather Carreiro — Tue, 06 Jul 2010 13:52:53 +0000

That’s really interesting about the situation in China – it seems they’ve actually managed to maintain the distinction where other countries may not have! I prefer ESOL or EAL as a term, as generally ESL ends up being a misnomer since it’s not a ‘second’ second but a third, fourth, fifth or sixth for many of our students.

By: MaryAnne Oxendale

MaryAnne Oxendale — Tue, 06 Jul 2010 00:11:54 +0000

Another thought on the acronym confusion: maybe ESL is used in countries where an official language is English, even if people there don’t often count it as their native language, like Pakistan? And the same for International schools, where the language of instruction frequently is English. I know that in Shanghai, there are ESL positions within the British and American International Schools, whereas all positions in the actual Chinese schools are EFL. It’s a strange distinction but it is there.

I prefer ESOL- because really, it is English for speakers of other languages, and that’s all!!!

By: MaryAnne Oxendale

MaryAnne Oxendale — Tue, 06 Jul 2010 00:06:45 +0000

You’re right- they are used confusingly interchangeably!

I don’t know if chi girl (above) will notice this as I’m not replying specifically to her but I wanted to add that the CELTA (or equivalent- meaning at least 120 hours in class plus observations plus observed teaching practice, not online) is the minimum requirement for the Middle East but you’re unlikely to get a job there without a master’s degree in a related subject (i.e. MA Applied Linguistics or MA TESOL). If you have several years of experience and a CELTA (or equivalent, like I do- I have a 240 hour TEFL cert from a Canadian college) you can get your foot in the door in Oman and maybe Saudi (if you aren’t a woman).

A Master’s in Speech Language Pathology, unfortunately, is unlikely to be of much use in getting an EFL job if you don’t have any actual TEFL/TESL/TESOL etc certification. A lot of employers, I’ve found, are looking for specific acronyms when hiring (MA TESOL, CELTA, DELTA, etc). In Istanbul I worked with a woman with the same MA as you and she had to get her CELTA before the Ministry of Education would give her a work permit.

By: Heather Carreiro

Heather Carreiro — Mon, 05 Jul 2010 14:47:00 +0000

Thanks for adding that info MaryAnne. I’ve found that although in theory that should be the ESL/EFL difference, “ESL” is still used in many non-English speaking countries. In Morocco the norm was ESOL while in Pakistan (which does have English as an official language, but it not the native language of anyone but a small minority) it was ESL, ESOL and ELT (English language teaching). Also, most international school positions are listed as ESL (through Search and ISS) although many technically should be EFL because they are in non-English speaking countries. It further adds to the confusion….

By: Tweets that mention teaching-english -- Topsy.com

Tweets that mention teaching-english -- Topsy.com — Mon, 05 Jul 2010 11:05:54 +0000

[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Nemes Mária, William Bradridge and others. William Bradridge said: teaching-english http://bit.ly/8Xzm6N really nice and simple definition of #TEFL #TESOL # EAL acronyms for new English Language Teachers [...]