r/TEFL • u/GayAndNeedANewCareer • 5d ago

How are you using any English teaching certifications?

I work in hospitality, specifically in training and development and I heard there are business ESL classes etc. this is kind of my goal, I don’t know how realistic it is. I’m curious, what have you been able to do with your certs? I was looking into TESOL.

Also, in a relationship with someone from South America, part of me getting a cert for this would be to work internationally if I had to move there after we get married.

Tia!

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u/Cegaiga 5d ago

If you want to teach adults, CELTA is more beneficial.

Anything above should be looking at PG studies.

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u/panchovilla_ Vietnam 4d ago

"Business English" is such a broad catch all term that it really doesn't have much meaning outside of ESP.

You say business ESL classes are "kind of your goal". Can you be more specific? What exactly do you want to do?

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u/Independent_Page_986 5d ago

Most business English positions require previous ESL teaching experience, so if you are just looking into TESOL it means you need to begin as an entry-level teacher and grow into BE as you improve your teaching and lesson planning skills. BE is definitely a great career growth option, but you must become a good ESL teacher first.

That said, your experience in hospitality might help you teach hospitality ESL classes, which is common in many tourist destination.

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u/GayAndNeedANewCareer 4d ago

Got it, is independent teaching, or teaching internationally helpful at all?

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u/Odd-Fishing-3853 2d ago edited 2d ago

Depending on the place you plan on working on at, the cert means almost nothing. 

Treat the certification as your training/practice and making your resume look shiny. A lot of ESL/EFL places look at your experience, not qualifications unless they're absolutely mandatory.

Hundreds of ESL/EFL teachers I know just attend various kinds of cert training just to mingle, practice and exchange experience to get better but the certs themselves don't really help.

I'm a fully qualified teacher, BA,etc, with certs in almost everything. I've run two different resumes to test whether certs actually help. One of the resumes I only put on my 120hr cert but all of my experience (20 years), the other had my full range of certs and qualifications but less than a year of experience. The 120hr resume was picked alnost without fail. The full cert resume got some nibbles lol.

Do the cert training that pertains to the style of teaching you want to do but only use it to practice. Learn and get more experience in other ways as much as you can.