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Read full storyHow Specialized TEFL Courses Help You Advance in Your EFL Career
This is a guest post by Linda Dunsmore of ITTT: International TEFL and TESOL training. In addition to offering online TEFL certification courses, ITTT also offers specialized TEFL Courses for Business English or Young Learners. In this post, you’ll learn how a specialized additional course can benefit you. Take it away, Linda!
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Introduction
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Teaching English as a foreign language abroad (or online) is a hugely popular industry – and it’s booming! It’s a fun career path to earn some extra money on the side, pay off your student loans and explore the world. However, with increasing interest comes increasing competition. If you want to be able to pick and choose the right job to suit you, it can be an advantage if you are qualified in as many areas as possible. In addition to a standard TEFL/TESOL certificate, having specialized TEFL certification on your CV/resume can really make you stand out from the crowd and give you access to the widest variety of interesting jobs.
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What Are Specialized TEFL Courses?
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Teaching English as a foreign language is a varied field and can take many forms. Most teachers will either be teaching young students (from kindergarten to high school), adult learners and even Business English students. In those cases, a standard TEFL certificate is sometimes insufficient. A specialized TEFL course can help you stand out from other applicants. The two most popular fields of specialized EFL teaching are teaching English to young learners and teaching business-related English.
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How a Specialized TEFL Course Can Help Your Career
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Most teachers pursuing a career in EFL abroad are already TEFL certified. It can make it difficult to stand out when applying for teaching jobs. This is where specialized TEFL courses come in. Not only do they help you in getting hired by better schools with better pay and benefits, they also allow you to take up more advanced teaching positions not open to those with a standard TEFL. Renowned schools and companies are looking to hire the best of the best — and what better way to make it clear you take the job seriously than having specialized TEFL certifications under your belt?
Specialized TEFL courses are typically additional qualifications that build upon the skills and knowledge from a standard TEFL course. Depending on the course, it might be offered in a single package with the TEFL course, or as an a-la-carte course that you can purchase anytime after getting TEFL certified.
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The Demand for Specialized English Teachers Is Strong
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Whether you want to teach English abroad, or simply online from anywhere you choose – you’ll find a strong demand for teaching young learners. In China and South Korea for instance, children start learning English as young as two years old. This means having a specialized qualification in this field will really be an advantage when applying for the best jobs.
At the same time, international trade has increased the need for English as a common language across borders. This resulted in thousands of teaching positions within private companies in many growing Asian countries all over the world. It’s also true that Business English tends to have a higher pay rate compared to other areas of EFL teaching.
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Conclusion
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Although a specialization is a nice feather in your cap, you shouldn’t assume that you must have one. Depending on your situation and teaching goals, it could be a nice way to complement your skills and CV.
In addition to the courses offered by ITTT and endorsed by Linda, the author of this post, You can also get similar certifications from companies such as Bridge TEFL and ONTESOL.
If you’ve got a specialized certification (or if you’ve thought about it), let us know in the comments below. If you have any specific questions about ITTT’s courses, Linda can answer them!
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15 Comments
Marcela says:
July 23, 2019 at 9:22 am
Thank you for your post. I am interested in getting a Business English Specialized Certificate to work mainly in the mining and information technnology industries.
Shanshan Deng says:
July 23, 2019 at 9:44 am
I’ve already got CELTA, and TESOL. I’m considering get a DELTA in the next one year or two. Saving money …
Chris says:
July 23, 2019 at 10:51 am
Very nice — what do you hope to do with a DELTA?
Flavien Ildevert Ama says:
July 23, 2019 at 10:53 am
Thank you very much for your post. I’m also interested in taking Business English Specialized Certificate for translation . Please let me know how much it will cost me, and how long it will last?
Linda says:
July 26, 2019 at 3:51 pm
Thanks for your interest, Flavien! We offer 2 options: tutored and non-tutored. The tutored version is $275 and the non-tutored version is $175.
Sinval Aragao says:
July 23, 2019 at 5:45 pm
I’d like to teach business English for the information technology area. Whah’s the cost of a training course?
Thanks
Linda says:
July 26, 2019 at 3:51 pm
Thanks for your interest, Sinval! We offer 2 options: tutored and non-tutored. The tutored version is $275 and the non-tutored version is $175.
Joanne Davidson says:
July 24, 2019 at 1:54 am
Good Day,
I am interested in the specialized course for young learners.
Please can you send me more information and the price for the course.
Chris says:
July 24, 2019 at 9:27 am
Hi Joanne, just click one of the links in the post to learn more about the specializations!
Pedro from Brazil says:
July 24, 2019 at 12:51 pm
Is TEFL for native speakers only?
I got the CELTA in 2013.
How can a TEFL certificate add up to a CELTA certificate?
Which one should I get first?
One cancels the other, or do they complement each other?
How do they complement each other?
Best regards,
Chris says:
July 24, 2019 at 1:19 pm
Hi Pedro,
Nice to hear from you.
TEFL is a very broad term. It covers the whole of Teaching English as a Foreign Language. There are many, many TEFL qualifications, of which CELTA is a well-known example.
CELTA is simply a kind of TEFL qualification. Currently, it’s the foremost TEFL qualification for teaching general English to adults, and it tends to be a minimum qualification required by many employers of ESL and EFL teachers.
It’s hard to answer your question with accuracy.
CELTA teaches you how to teach.
Other TEFL courses might teach you linguistics, phonetics, grammar, or some other area of the English language as well and how to teach.
You need to look at each TEFL course and see what it offers.
Regards,
James
Mrs Ambreen says:
September 6, 2020 at 6:28 am
As we all know that traveling is not as usual due to the troubled times of
covid 19. I strongly recommend TEFL teachers to teach online. I am teaching
two kids in Jinzhou ( China) and an adult in Osh ( Uzbekistan). I just placed
my CV on a few Teacher Boards and now I am lucky teaching from my home.
Chris says:
September 17, 2020 at 4:53 am
Glad you’re in a situation that works for you!
Zenda says:
December 14, 2020 at 4:52 am
Hello everyone,
I’m new to the career. I started a year ago by tutoring adults to learn conversation English. I really enjoy teaching them, so I’m looking for a way to buid my expertise around teaching English for adults and business people. I’m happy to read this post and see everyone’s comments. I definitely would try to get myself a certificate to qualify my teaching. But my question is Is there a special course/forum to guide us how to teach adults better? Before I get really good at teaching adults, I would like not teach kids yet.
Chris says:
December 14, 2020 at 2:50 pm
Hi Zenda,
Definitely there are! Check out the various specialization courses on ITTT or Bridge.edu to see what they have to offer!