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Hi Joaquin, as I say these titles can mean different things in different places, but my guess would be that the Academic Specialists have a narrower range of functions than the manager, probably more related to course design and teacher training, while the manager might have some more HR, operations and staffing responsibilities.

Well all the students I met seemed happy enough with that. I guess by the time they are signed up to the platform, they have been told this and sold the benefits.

No, you don't need to speak the student's first language. It has long been argued by methodologists whether it is actually helpful or not, but the general consensus is that you don't need to speak a student's first language (although knowledge of their first language and how it is different to the target language is often helpful).

The speaking clubs I have been part of have generally been in the context of a language school, i.e. a commercial business. Therefore, they are usually quite reluctant to provide students with alcohol, since they are not licensed too and there could be all kinds of issues such as making sure any under 18s are not given alcohol. However, one thing that alcohol does is to lower our inhibitions and many people say that they are better at speaking a foreign language when they have had something to drink. That's probably in part because of the false confidence (or Dutch courage if that's not politically incorrect yet) we get, but probably also because of the relaxing surroundings people tend to like drinking in. So, in short, I think anything that helps students to relax and be more confident is worth exploring, providing it is appropriate for the context you work in (i.e. not with under-age students or where the majority of students might have a religious aversion to alcohol), and if done in the course of a business, legal requirements are followed.

You'd have to contact an IELTS centre, although I do believe they prefer a degree because the highest levels are typically awarded to university-educated speakers.

@@AlexWallsELT thanks a lot You responded right away You're so reliable!

@@eyyen8233 I try

Thanks for the comment. Hope it helps

Well as I say in the video, not something to replace your day job, but a decent side hustle because it's so flexible. Got a spare half hour? Do a class and make 6 euro. Better than doomscroll on your phone and make nothing.

How long ago?

It took about two weeks for me to hear back.

@@AlexWallsELT it's about a week now

@@dlswebsolutions let's hope they will reply

Would love to help, but it depends what you mean by a diploma, which would likely depend on which country's education system you studied in... generally you need a qualification that is equivalent to a degree in the UK (level 6 on the UK qualification framework). I assume that this is an undergraduate qualification and therefore is probably the equivalent to 2/3 of a UK degree, which would probably not be sufficient. If I'm right, which sometimes happens :), you'd need to either find a way to turn that advanced diploma into a full degree, start a full degree but see if you can get any credit for your existing qualification, or look for a country that doesn't require a degree to get a work visa (but not many such countries).

Thanks a lot, I'm from South Africa and Advanced diploma is equivalent to a degree but I'll check it that applies to the UK and other countries.

@@AlexWallsELTAdvanced diploma in Marketing

@@noxologcabashe4004 I had a look. This might help - www.skylinecollege.co.za/doc/UK%20-%20SA%20Level.pdf. It seems it probably is.

I don't think it's that big a deal. A lot of app based businesses require you to take photos of ID so they can confirm who you are, so this really isn't that uncommon. At least that might go a little way to confirming that it is the person answering the questions that gets the certificate.

@@AlexWallsELT Thank you for your answer. I appreciate your time.

The first question I would ask is whether you have a university degree in any field. If you don't, you will probably find it difficult to get a visa in any other country and so you'll probably be limited to working in South Africa. If you do have a degree, and as I say that can be any field at all, then I would recommend getting a CELTA or Trinity CertTESOL. IH in Jo'burg offer the CELTA - www.ihjohannesburg.co.za/celta/. There are also places you can study it online but that might not be great in SA if you have problems with load-shedding. Alternatively, you could save up the money, go do CELTA for a month somewhere and look for a job there at the end of it (although you will likely have to fly back to SA to get a work visa). Typically a CELTA is 4 weeks full time, but usually there is a part time option if you need to work full time doing something else. Once you have a CELTA, the world is your oyster as they say - you are unlikely to have problems finding a school somewhere that will give you a work visa. My advice though is deal with the schools directly - don't go through agents if you can help it. Big chains like International House or EF (English First) aren't bad places to get your first job and learn the ropes.

@@AlexWallsELT hey, thanks for getting back to me. i do have a university degree and i don't live in joburg, i live in durban. so online courses are my best choice for any sort of takeoff. and why shouldn't i go through an agency? just curious as to why

@@siphesihlemosesmsimango6961 Ok, maybe try these guys then - durbanlanguage.com/. The issue with agents is that some (and it might well be a small minority) are actually just scammers or have practices that may be perfectly legal but cause you problems... a common one is that the agent or school keeps your passport and certificate to prevent you applying elsewhere.

@@AlexWallsELT so places like i to i, telf academy among others are a no go?🤷🏿‍♂️

@@siphesihlemosesmsimango6961 They are not places I would recommend. Firstly, they don't really prepare you to teach since they don't tend to include any assessed teaching practice with real students. At best you might 'teach' a class to the other participants on the course. The trainers on these courses can also be absolutely anybody - there is no minimum standard. If you're not properly prepared chances are you will do a TEFL job for six months, jack it in and do something else, or you might end up doing what I'm telling you to do now. Secondly, these certificates are not as recognised as CELTA. The difference is huge. If you apply for a job with a CELTA, more schools will be falling over each other to offer you an interview. You apply with some other TEFL, you'll be lucky to even get an acknowledgement of your application. The question is do you want to know how to do the job and have options about where you work?

Correct. I am back in the UK, but still very much involved in teaching English.

Sorry to hear you have had a negative experience of the CELTA. You should have been told that it really is an intensive course, regardless of your past experience teaching children. Its not uncommon to spend 8 hours planning one lesson... again something that should really be told to you before the course rather than coming as a surprise. Did you tell them about your disability? I think most tutors would do what they can to make reasonable adjustments.

Thanks for watching! Hope you found it interesting.

Been a while since I made this video, but perhaps I could do a guided example.

Thanks, hope you found the video useful!

You are right to be cautious, but I think you're probably ok. There doesn't seem to be any suspicion that this site is into identity fraud or anything like that. Be careful though... plenty of that about in this field.

Same to you. Is teachers record safe? I already sent my License id last night. I

EXACTLY .. I think the free TEFL is better than none / and I think even in Algeria the TEFLERS acadamy in Algies still sells that course online for 230Dollars

I don't know... I'd still say that's like saying a doctor whose only qualification is having watched medical dramas is better than no doctor. I believe it was Nelson Mandela who said "If you think education is expensive, try no education". But I'm sure in Algeria many teachers have actually been on some kind of pedagogy degree, so it's not a real comparison.

That is incredibly poor if they are selling a free course for money.

Hello Tha'ir. If you're trying to improve your English level then TEFL, TESOL, CELTA and Delta are all completely inappropriate choices as these are about teaching. If you need a certificate to prove you are C1, then you could consider Cambridge Advanced (CAE) or IELTS, but any course to prepare you for the exam will focus on exam skills rather than developing your English. If you need to raise your language level, Id recommend doing general English courses until you get to the right level.

@@AlexWallsELT thank you for your reply..one more question, when it comes to teaching certificate, which one of these you mentioned above is suitable for me as a teacher of English from Iraq and may want to teach abroad some day ???

I'm glad you found it useful. Make sure you check out the rest of the series.

Where are you from ??

@@yannickyehe1849 Algeria

I'm afraid I can't offer any opinion on this school as I don't know anything about them. But good luck with it.

Bro i applied for the same school. You got accepted?

The CELTA and Trinity CertTESOL are equivalent qualifications. As are the DipTESOL and Delta. Both CELTA and Trinity CertTESOL are considered TEFL-I qualifications by the British Council, i.e. they mean the holder is TEFL initiated. While I haven't done or trained teachers on a Trinity CertTESOL, the content is very much the same. I don't think either delves deeper than the other, only in as much as the trainers in some centres are better than others (there is a minimum standard, but let's face it some are better because of experience, passion, organisation, etc.) and may therefore do more extra such as providing additional supporting reading, information, resources, etc. Unfortunately, since teacher trainers don't seem to be getting paid any more than they were 10 years ago, especially since these qualifications have gone online, there does seem to be a bit of a race to the bottom with both qualifications and trainers only willing to do what they are getting paid for.

I will just have to say that I worked there over a decade ago and it seems the country is very different now. I don't think it's so difficult to send money abroad now.

Too many Brits there for me. I'd rather be somewhere that I can break out of the ex pat bubble a little.

I don't use agencies... I would recommend researching who you can apply to and going direct.

I'm afraid I can't really advise as to any specific places for you to apply to.

I don't get your point. Cambridge do not offer this certificate. They offer the CELTA, which is a completely different course.

You're welcome

Let me know what other content you would find useful too!

I'd agree that PPP is actually not very good. It's place is definitely in teaching beginners that don't really know anything yet, but it's so rare that we teach beginners English (in other languages, it is not rare at all). ECRIF to me looks like what we often call a text-based lesson, which is generally half a reading or listening then into PPP. I guess the focus of it is to move away from teachers presenting de-contextualised language as a starting point, but then once context is established, it moves through those same steps. To be honest there are so many of these acronyms for lesson frameworks - PPP, TTT, TBL, ESA, ARC, ECRIF, OHE, etc. that I'm not surprised that any course doesn't mention all of them. Student-centredness doesn't magically just come from the framework though. All 5 stages of ECRIF could be done in a student or teacher-centred way, the same as PPP. If you want a framework that does tend to promote student-centredness, I'd point towards TBL and TTT, but again... these are only student-centred if the teacher actually understands this concept in the first place. So many teachers don't that you've convinced me... that needs to be the topic of a future video!

No problem, hope it was helpful

I'm afraid I can't really say what is a good move for you.

That's how it used to be, 10 years ago. I believe Uzbekistan has considerably upgraded their banking since then and so it is probably easier now. Even back then, I still managed to repatriate much of my money.

If you want to, I can't stop you

Well, Ive never had a group that didn't have mixed levels. I would try to limit the range of levels for the session if possible. Its easier to work with A2-B1 in one group and B2-C1 in another, but if you have to have them all in one session then you might like to divide them. I would probably still just put them in groups randomly. I think a speaking club should mimic real life at times and sometimes people are going to need to communicate with an imbalance of ability. What I think you really need to avoid is one strong student getting lumped with a weaker student for the whole session. The automatically assign breakout rooms in Zoom is great for this (and I have a video coming out in the next month on these).

You need "automatically" assign, not "manually"

@@AlexWallsELT oops yes, I meant "automatically". Thank you so much for the quick answer!! It's very helpful.

@@SwissGermanBeginners kein problem! Let us know how the speaking club goes!

@@AlexWallsELT will do 😁 it's a Swiss German Speaking Club. There aren't too many of those yet. Actually, I don't know of any other..

As mentioned in the video, the gulf countries are quite competitive, often requiring a masters in English or linguistics. If you are a qualified school teacher, Id suggest looking for positions at international schools there. Being a qualified teacher in your own country often tends to be enough and then it is down to the qualities you show at interview. Familiarity with a British or American curriculum is usually helpful too.

@@AlexWallsELT thank you so much

I don't know what a Pyp teacher is. If they are asking for an introductory video, I would assume that they want you to include who you are, what you teach, why you like teaching, maybe something interesting about you. I would suggest asking what they are looking for - maybe even asking if they can direct you to a good example of what they are looking for. As for moving to Uzbekistan as a muslim - I am not a muslim, so I certainly do not know the ins and outs of celebrating your faith. However, Uzbekistan is, at least theoretically, a muslim country. There are certainly mosques there. However, because there are a few groups over the border in Afghanistan (such as the IMU) that have threatened the peace in Uzbekistan in the past, security forces are often wary of people that dress in the way that more traditional muslims do... i.e. I heard about girls who wear headscarves and an abaya, or men who sport beards getting stopped on the metro. As I say though, that is second-hand experience. If you dress in western style clothing, my experience is no-one really cares what religious ideas (or others) you have as long as you're not too fanatical about it.

Thanks for watching

Still not really the profile of a teacher that most schools will want. A degree is often needed just for visa purposes. BAs and MAs don't usually require you to do any teaching. And ive said the issues with this certificate in my review. Even if someone does really read it closely, reading about teaching is not as effective as actually doing it and having someone experienced telling you how to improve. Experience alone doesn't cut it... ive met many teachers with 10-40 years experience, who have really just got one year of experience repeated 10 to 40 times.

@@AlexWallsELT well you know better, and i totally agree with the fact that a lot of experiences a repeated ones and sometimes ppl do it because that's what they can do , but let's embrace the fact that teaching and being a teacher means creativity in every aspect whether it is with training or without one , and one thing that you should rethink about is the part related to MA degree because some degrees really give u the chance to teach classes as a practice for example in my case applied linguistics, we do teaching sessions every week, we are the ones delivering courses and the main teacher is only there to assist us and give feedback when needed or fill the gaps (sometimes)

Im not saying all masters are not worth it, but if you try to get a job with it, the onus is on you to show that you had actual teaching practice on the course with real students and assessed by qualified teachers. MAs are not created equally and on many MAs you will not do any teaching at all. CELTA and Delta and their equivalents all include real teaching practice. If I needed a linguist, Id hire someone with an MA, but for teaching, I need a teacher, and someone who has done CELTA or Delta or equivalent is not only likely to be better equipped, they're also likely to have a lower salary expectation because they don't need to repay the costs of a masters. But Im sure if you have a masters you'll find somewhere to hire you. If you just have this free certificate from teacher record, you'll probably find someone, but Id bet they have a high staff turnover.

@@AlexWallsELT exactly so , I totally agree At the end of the day , we get what we paid for xd Thank you for the video 😊 Really appreciate it

Thanks, much appreciated. Good luck with the M1. I guess that's Wednesday?

@@AlexWallsELT Yes it was today.

1. I think that probably depends on the centre. The centre I was going to work for I believe paid about 6 GBP per speaking test and you can do 3-4 in an hour. That's about 5 years ago now though, and was in Russia. 2. Sure, call up a centre and ask if they are recruiting IELTS examiners at the moment. They might say yes, they might say that they tend to recruit at a particular time of year but that they'll stick you on a list or they might say no. No harm in asking. Good luck.

Thanks

No problem - hope it helps you to map out your future career.

I'm not aware that the exams can be done online. Where are you based? I think most countries will have a centre that runs the exam for module 1.

It's not an exam as such. As I say in the video, after the training you have to listen to six speaking tests and grade them. And then you do something like this every two years for standardisation.

@@AlexWallsELT THANK YOU for clarifying this, Alex!! I was not sure if I was understanding correctly :))

I can't really tell any individual whether this or another course is right for you. I don't know enough about you or what you envision doing. If you want to be taken seriously as a teacher, I can tell you this won't even get you close to being taken seriously. It's about as good as making your own TEFL certificate in word, only at least then you've shown some creative flair. I don't believe any course that is just reading and multiple choice quizzes is going to help you do anything practical - which teaching is. Maybe there is a place for unqualified workers within teaching English... conversation partners, tutors, etc. Maybe that is a route to dipping your toes into the water and eventually doing a decent qualification and becoming a fully-fledged teacher. I'm much more interested in the professional side of teaching English, and raising standards rather than lowering them.