The Resume (ESL Teachers)   I've seen a lot of resumes from people looking for work in Taiwan, and there's a big problem with most of them. They're well-written, but they fail to show how excellent a teacher the writer really is. Many are from people I know, so I'm certain they are fantastic candidates; exactly what the market here is looking for. The problem is that their resume just doesn't show it. I suspect that in the competitive market that Taiwan is becoming, their excellence isn't showing through nearly as well as it will need to land the job they want. So rather than give up and settle for something less than you deserve, here are a few guidelines I've come up with to help you tell your prospective employer what a difference you can make for them     First, there are a couple of different kinds of candidates that have an advantage in this market. The most competitive kind is the person with significant teaching experience in another, higher status, place. If you have taught in Japan, Saudi Arabia, your home nation, or even Korea, make this clear. Particularly if the teaching was at a high school, college, or university; this is a serious plus.     The next most competitive candidate is the person who has lived and taught in Taiwan for a long time, then gone back home to do a master's degree before returning to Taiwan. A person with this sort of background can launch a very competitive application.     All of this leaves unmentioned candidates who have already been living and teaching in Taiwan with a master's degree. If you have a master's degree, and have been teaching for years at a bushiban, it's better not to say this. Unless you were teaching at a very high level or doing some other significant work, this is a very bad position to be in. If this is you, try your best to describe yourself some other way. I know; when I was looking for a job, I was repeatedly asked questions about why I did not already have a position like the one I was applying for, what had I had been doing all these years, and why I had been teaching illegally.     In addition to this fact, make your resume portray a positive picture of yourself. Some of the candidates whose resumes I have seen have written a lot of material. This is great stuff. Even if it's kid's books for a chain school, having been involved in this kind of work sets you apart from teachers who have never done this sort of thing. If you know the name of the material you wrote, put it on your resume. It may seem trivial to you, but it makes your resume look more complete. It makes you seem like a more serious educator. Besides, you never know who has been reading it. The person reviewing your resume may have seen your stuff or have children who have used it. Chances are that it's good material. You want these people to know it's yours. Anything that you have worked on that has a name that you can remember, put it down on your resume.     Mention the name of public or private primary, secondary, or tertiary schools that you have taught at legally or under the table. You don't have to get into your visa situation, but it's a positive thing to know that your candidate has taught at a place you can identify. It creates a better picture of their capability. If you have taught at major companies or have taught high-ranking officers in these companies or in the government make sure you mention this.     Finally, make sure that everything is spelled correctly. I know that there's no universally accepted Romanization system for Mandarin or Taiwanese, but there are standard spellings for schools and places. If you don't know it, look on a map or on the Web page. I'm the worst proofreader in the world, but I notice right away when someone's spelling of a name isn't standard. Another point is dates. Make sure that all the dates are standardized. For example, do you put the earliest date first (1999-2000), or the most recent first (2000-1999)? Which ever you use, do it the same every time. And which method do you use to order dates in a category? Is the top of the category the most recent, or the oldest? Pick one of these procedures and stick to it.     I know there are an enormous number of outstanding educators filling the classrooms of dead-end schools just because they lack the marketing to land a great job. Life's not fair, and not all of them will end up in the best possible job. On the other hand, every individual reader can make sure that at least one more of them is able to work in the kind of environment that they truly deserve.     From: Scott Sommers <sommersscott@yahoo.com>   Source: http://www.eslteachersboard.com/cgi-bin/resume-tips/index.pl?read=1068   January 23, 2005 Teaching English as a Career   Teaching English overseas is different from almost any other career that you're likely to become involved in. The complexities of life overseas make it an exciting choice, but they also create challenges that you're not likely to have experience dealing with. Whenever I talk to people entering the overseas English teaching industry, certain points keep coming up, and I have come to believe that recognizing a number of things about English teaching early on can make a big difference in how easy and successful your life teaching overseas can become.     The first point to recognize is that you will probably be teaching English for a long time. In this sense, teaching English is no different from other jobs, and as a result, it is just as easy to get caught in it as in any other line of work. Let's be realistic about it; if you have been teaching English (or working in any other kind of occupation) for 3 or more years, how easy will it be to go home and find a job in a completely different line of work? What's it going to be like after a few years and your friends are all in supervisory positions? It's not going to be so easy being in your late 20's starting all over. You may know lots of people who saved up some money and moved back into their old lifestyle without a seam, but having stayed in Asia for the past 15 years, I know all those people who didn't. And there's a lot of them! I'm not saying that you're going to end up in Asia teaching English until you die, but it's better to assume that you will be here longer than the year or so that you keep telling everyone.And if that's the case, start preparing for the long haul.     The reality is that you may be an English teacher for a long time. What opportunities shouldn't you let slip past? For example, don't throw away all those books and materials because you think you'll never have to use them again. Keep track of lessons that went well. Develop a system to keep track of things that you are going to use again. Become a better teacher. Invest in things that will make you the best teacher you can be and will allow you as a better teacher to get better jobs. Don't let the idea of cost in money and time become a barrier because this is an investment in your future.     Start considering occupational mobility early on. What is the next thing you want to be doing in language teaching? Do you want to be running your own school? If so, there are things you will have to know about operations that are different from teaching skills. Start paying attention to how your boss runs his or her business, and instead of brushing off all those management problems as merely the inability of locals to manage foreigners properly, start thinking about how you would have handled it differently.     If you want to teach at a university, start preparing for that. Find out what universities in your area want from an instructor. There is a lot of grumbling on the Net over distance education, graduate degrees, and the recognition of certificates as qualification for teaching at the university level. Forget about it; do you want the job or not?     English teaching provides a good life. In fact, it can provide a life that's too good. You can slip into it even before you know you're stuck there. But what was comfortable when you were 25 isn't always so great when you're 40, so start now getting prepared for the move into something bigger and better.     Scott Sommers <sommersscott@yahoo.com>     Source: www.eslteachersboard.com   January 23, 2005 Tefl courses - a guide to what's available If you've ever typed "Tefl courses" into a search engine, you'll know that the results display a confusing range of options to gain qualifications as an English teacher. The main differences seem to boil down to four factors: course format, level of international recognition, course duration and price.     The big divide in courses is between face-to-face and distance or online courses. The former tend to be very hands-on, involved, and require varying amounts of teaching practice and observation.     For most of the longer courses (100 hours and above), the teaching practice is the central focus of the course, and most of the other sessions during the course are aimed at increasing your ability to 'perform' well in class. This means that you leave the course with the experience of having taught real language learners, at different levels and possibly teaching different styles of lesson.     Distance or online courses either omit teaching practice completely, or for the longer courses, require you to be observed at the end of the course by a member of staff in a designated school. These types of courses tend to be less practical and more theoretical. The better-structured courses do include CD-roms with excerpts of classroom teaching in action but you'll probably be itching to apply your knowledge by the end of the course. Having not been able to observe professionals in action or soak up the atmosphere of a language school, there can be more of a culture shock when you get into your Tefl job.     The most widely-accepted entry-level qualifications are the Cambridge Celta and Trinity CertTesol. These are both recognised by the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority (QCA) and are the minimum qualifications accepted by the British Council in the UK. Overseas these two have the widest possible appeal, and will be mentioned the most in job ads as something like "Celta, Trinity or equivalent".     There are many other course providers who have adapted their syllabus to meet local requirements and alternative methods such as an increase in the amount of teaching practice. These providers have adapted their courses without the rubber stamp and external assessment or moderation of Cambridge or Trinity and therefore fall into the category of "equivalent qualification".     The most 'significant other' is the course recognised by the Irish Ministry of Education, the Mei Relsa CertTefl, but a host of others exist as privately run courses requiring in the region of 100 to 160 hours' study compared to 120 and 130 hours for Cambridge and Trinity respectively.     Beyond these substantial qualifications come a plethora of shorter, lighter courses that suffice to introduce the subject of Tefl, though they may masquerade as "certificates in Tefl". These can be anything from a weekend to one or two weeks, or if online from around 40 hours of study time.     Short courses do have a number of advantages. They tend to skim off the juicy bits from the four-week courses, giving you a good insight into what it might be like to teach if you are still unsure. They are also generally impossible to fail. What's more, in some situations, they might be a sufficient Tefl certificate for you to find work abroad, and some schools guarantee paid or volunteer work on completion of a short course.     The main drawbacks are that it will be the lower quality schools that take on under-qualified teachers, they often pay less and offer less support, and you may not have enough of the basic techniques to make a good job of teaching and really get to enjoy it. Also, if you get to your school and find it's not at all how you imagined, you may have more problems jumping ship to another school.     The short online and weekend Tefl courses start at around £200, but pro-rata are actually more expensive than the 120 to 130-hour courses. There isn't any real comparison between a brief insight and a thorough, four-week intensive course, nor in the level of recognition these courses offer and the ability each one gives you to actually do the job in hand.     Copyright Guardian Newspapers Limited     Source: http://education.guardian.co.uk   January 9, 2005 Further Qualifications Part 1 Once you have had a few years experience (the usual minimum is about two years), it’s possible to take one of the two Diploma level courses. This might be the best option if you have already been teaching with a different qualification outside of the UK, and both courses are aimed at teachers with experience. Once again, the two diploma courses are run by Cambridge and Trinity, both are called diplomas, but the official titles are as follows:     · Diploma in English Language Teaching to Adults (Cambridge DELTA)   · Licentiate Diploma in TESOL (Trinity).     As with the initial certificate courses, these represent the main upper level teaching qualifications, and, as with the certificates, the Cambridge Diploma is more established, having been around in various guises for some time (the DTEFLA, as it was until a few years ago). However, as a rule they are equally well-recognised and cost about the same to do (around 1000GBP). Again, they can be taken in two ways – the full time intensive course, which lasts nine weeks, and is, by all accounts, very, very hard work; and the part time course which lasts a year. The courses are more demanding generally, even the part time course, as you have to be working to be able to do aspects of the course (the majority of the coursework is based on teaching). One advantage of the part time option is that you learn about an idea or a technique in the input sessions, then you have the opportunity to go away and find out a bit more before actually using it in a lesson.  There is also much, much more time to do things, especially the long and messy parts of the coursework – such as the Student profile and course planning elements of the course.   Unlike the Certificate course, you are expected to know certain things about not only teaching, but also language. It is always assumed that you have some idea about what makes a good lesson and a bad lesson, that you have at least heard of some of the main methodologies and approaches to language teaching. But it is ultimately an interesting and invigorating course, which can re-inject a bit of life into your teaching and attitudes towards it.   May 21, 2003 Career Development - Moving On As you gain more experience and skills in teaching you become potentially more employable. Remember, as with any job, experience is the key, as well as having further qualifications. Therefore, in your first few years as a teacher, try and get as much varied experience as possible, for example, teaching exam classes, one-to-one teaching, English for Specific Purposes (e.g. business and academic studies) and special interest groups. You may find yourself being drawn to one aspect of teaching which is of personal interest to you, for example, using movies, in which case learn about it. A popular phrase in ELT at the moment is CPD – Continuing Professional Development – which means to explore different ideas and concepts and apply them in your every day classroom practice. There are various ways of doing this:     Training Courses     There are a number of extra training courses available to help improve your skills as a teacher, and form a good background before considering a higher level qualification. Many of these are offered by schools in the UK and can be found by visiting the BC Teacher Training website where you can organise and book a place on one of these courses. If you are from within the EU, you may be able to get funding from the Comenius programme to help pay for these courses – again visit the BC Teacher Training website to find out more.     Reading     Reading is the simplest and cheapest method, especially if the place where you are teaching has an interest in CPD, or runs some kind of training course. Take a look around the various dusty bookshelves – you may find a real gem. You could consider subscribing, or getting your school to subscribe, to one of the ELT journals. These include Modern English Teacher, English Teaching Professional and the ELT Journal. MET & ETP are quite similar in style and the ELTJ is more serious and sombre! Don’t forget to look at the Journals section of the Inforteach Links Page!     Conferences & Seminars     This can be expensive, but you might find that the school you are working at will help. A list of forthcoming events can be found on the inforteach site.     Organisations & Associations     You could also consider joining one of the organisations that exist for English language teachers, for example IATEFL (the International Association of Teachers of English as a Foreign Language) which has a series of special interest groups such as CALL, pronunciation, teacher development and many others which distribute papers and hold meetings and conferences for its members. There is a list of all such organisations at the Internet TESL Journal.     May 8, 2003 ELT - Starting Out     There are two main initial qualifications for teachers of English:   · The Cambridge Certificate in English teaching to Adults (CELTA)   · The Trinity College Certificate in TESOL. (CertTESOL)     These can be taken either as a full time intensive courses over four or five weeks, or as part time courses over a year (CertTESOL). They are the basic qualification for teachers, often as well as a first degree, and give you training in basic teaching skills. Typically a Certificate course will cover the following areas:   · Basic teaching techniques (Skills & Grammar/Vocabulary)   · Introduction to Grammar   · Lesson Planning   · Case Study (one student is studied in detail)   · Observing lessons   · Teaching Practice.     Both courses are similarly priced and equally well-recognised internationally, although the CELTA seems to be the most common and popular choice. Both courses are also very practical, So that, by the end of the course, you should be able to go into a classroom and teach. The full details of the syllabus for each course are available on the relevant websites. These are Cambridge ESOL and Trinity College. Go to the links page to visit these sites.     There are also other courses available. Cambridge, for example, offer the Certficate in English Language Teaching to Young Learners (CELTYL) which is roughly equivalent to the CELTA, but is obviously more specialised. Again this is a four week course. Cambridge also offer a Young Learners (YL) course to teachers who already have the CELTA or higher and would like to focus on this. This course takes two weeks, assuming you have the CELTA. There is also a Young Learners program from Trinity College, although this is currently only available in Portugal.   May 8, 2003