Wondering what type of work you can do with a degree or certificate-- or no formal education at all-- in teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages? Watch this video and find out!
Thank you for sharing Mary! I have graduated with BA English but working as a music teacher. And now I am trying to apply MA TESOL. I had 1 year experience teaching English to young learners after my graduation. The gap years are big between my BA and MA degree. I want to know that what do I need to prepare for this degree as I am a teacher who teaches different subjects?
I enjoyed reading your comment - how exciting for you! Personally, I think it is better to not accomplish those two degrees back to back. When you apply for your Masters program, all of your work experiences will only make your answers to classroom assignments better. Just think: you’ve already experienced how children learn best, and experience in music will help you to explain rhythm, intonation, and ways to position and use parts of the mouth and nasal cavity to better to produce sounds, words, phrases, and sentences in English (pronunciation lessons). To answer your question: to prepare for a degree in TESOL, just start by finding an accredited university with an accredited TESOL program. How active are the faculty members in research/publishing books or articles? Do they speak at professional organizations’ conferences? Go in for an interview and decide if you like them! My Masters is an equal split in Linguistics and Education, which I still find very valuable. Good luck with your search - it’s”sounds like” you have a lot to offer! 😄
Thank you for this video, Mary. I have a bachelor’s degree in English (not English education). I teach ESL/EFL part-time at a language school for adults. I’m interested in this profession and would like to earn a TESOL certificate. Although I want to give my students a good education, I cannot provide that yet because I’m still at an early stage in my career. What would you personally recommend for young professionals who are seeking to become more competent ESL teachers? I don’t want to go to graduate school until I pay off my undergraduate student loans, and right now I am looking for ways to learn independently.
Hi Jennica -- great question, and I am impressed with your desire to do the best teaching you can by doing some self-study. ESL/EFL adult students are a tough crowd; they have absolutely no problems calling out a teacher who appears to *not know what they are talking about. I strongly suggest that you study grammar and become as expert as you can. "Grammar" means both syntax (what we normally call "grammar" in a language arts class: nouns, verbs, adjectives, commas, spelling, etc.) but it also means pronunciation. I published a summary video of those two topics on my channel here. Your goal is to use correct terminology when you are teaching these topics AND to really know the rules. After that, become familiar with Stephen Krashen's 5 Hypotheses. Understanding what goes on in a language learner's brain helps you help your student have reasonable expectations (for example, a person will always have an accent if she begins learning a language after hitting puberty, so a goal of "I want to speak perfect English" is useless and unattainable). I've also cfeated a video about those hypotheses. Thank you for wanting to do your absolute best! My syntax video: ua-cam.com/video/2pbPiCMDxK8/v-deo.html My parts of speech video: ua-cam.com/video/0pEvOXy0tfE/v-deo.html My pronunciation video: ua-cam.com/video/TYHm82mw3Zo/v-deo.html My video about Stephen Krashen's hypotheses: ua-cam.com/video/jobpF4c-1NI/v-deo.html
Thanks Mary for the information but i still have one question.I have done bachelors in science then I completed bachelors in education now i am doing masters in TESOL.I haven’t done any bachelors in English language.Can i still teach English after doing TESOL?or it will help me teaching science in english language
Great question, @Sakshi Dhiman. First, you will be able to use the teaching techniques that you will learn as you train to be a TESOL in any field. Overall, to be a successful TESOL means that you are an expert communicator. You will be trained to listen well, and you will be trained to be able to explain a concept in a way that students understand. This is a skill set that is valuable in any classroom, including a science classroom where the students are not simultaneously learning a different language. Second, your degree in TESOL will of course qualify you to teach English, but even more, your combination of degrees will probably qualify you to teach science to two sets of students: you can teach science using English to foreign students in your country attending an international school (children) or a university (adults) that uses English as its language of instruction. Good luck!
Thank you Mary for giving such an informative career analysis in TESOL. As a student of Masters in English ( TESOL) from North South University in Bangladesh, I was wondering to start my career in TESOL. This video really helped me to understand the career path of TESOL. However, I am a non-native ESL teacher. Can you tell me that as a non-native ESL teacher what are the difficulties I might face to get a TESOL job?
+Monabbir Johan Thank you for watching the video and for your interesting question. I think your greatest challenge will be job competition, competing with native speakers from Canada, the United States, Great Britain, Australia, and other places, whether you stay in your country or go abroad. In my experience, most employers want to hire the most qualified person, and so they hire the native speakers, equating "highly qualified" with "native speaker." This is the same in my country when employers need to hire teachers of French, Spanish, German, Chinese, and so on. Knowing this, however, you can prepare and compete well. Some of the native speakers of English who go abroad to your county and others to obtain a teaching position do not have the training you have. As I mentioned in the video, there are many tourists without any training or workers with Bachelor degrees/certificates who get teaching positions. So the first thing you can do in a job interview is emphasize your education and expertise to differentiate yourself. Another thing you can do is focus on your ability to empathize. You've had to learn English as a second (not first) language, so you know the challenges. You'll be able to share stories and tricks with your students. You also know what EFL/ESL students like: in my experience, they like teachers who know how to explain the rules of syntax and phonology, because those things do not come naturally. There are too many EFL/ESL teachers who do not know how to do this, and that slows the rate of language acquisition for language learners, causing frustration, causing students to withdraw from classes (which means the school loses money). Best of luck with starting your career as a TESOL!
Thank you Mary for your explaining...i want to ask you if I want to be a teacher in USA and I have only diploma in English language, and 3 experience in teaching in Arab country , and Tesol certificate from online......do you think if I can be a teacher here in America??? Thanks
That an important question, Taghreed Riyati. In the United States, there are 4 levels of government: national, state, county, and city. The federal (national) government does not write laws regarding teacher certification in this country; there is no one law here describing the qualifications required in order to be hired as a teacher. Each individual state government decides the educational requirements for the teachers of its citizens. Because there are 50 states in the United States, there are many variations. It's important to first know which state you want to live in. Then you will need to decide the level that you want to teach: do you want to teach the youngest students in elementary school? or the youths in middle school? or the teenagers in high school? or the adults in college or university? or maybe you want to work as a tutor rather than a teacher? After you decide those two things, you need to know the capital city for the state you want to teach in; this is important to know because this is where the state's Department of Education is located. You will then go to their website to find out what you need to do to be hired as a teacher in that state. For example, if you want to teach in California, you will need to contact the California Department of Education in Sacramento. When you get to that official government website, then you can find the requirements for the level you want to teach (elementary, middle, high, college, university). So in summary, I cannot tell you if your qualifications are enough to find a teaching position in America -- it really depends on where you want to go and who you want to teach!
Thanks a lot dear for you explaining ....it's my pleasure to hear from you .....actually I live in Virginia and I hope to teach in kindergarten or elementary.....and not mind to be teacher assistant....
I needed a video like this and it helped a lot. The only thing that I am curious about is the type of jobs I qualify for if I get a TESOL post graduate certificate.
Congratulations on your certificate, Evan! If you really have a graduate degree (Masters or higher) and a TESOL certificate, I think you should apply for the better jobs at universities and corporations. Your work will mostly be based on your your graduate degree. For example, If your graduate degree is in engineering, you could apply to a foreign university's engineering department and prepare the engineering students there for a year abroad in the engineering department in an English-speaking country. If your graduate degree is an MBA, you could apply to international companies headquartered in another country and work teaching English to upper-level management so that they can negotiate better. Can you see where I am going with this? This also works well within the medical profession. Best wishes, and let me know when you finally launch your new job!
@@MaryAcevedoTESOL I see what you are saying and thanks for the reply! I do plan on earning a masters in TESOL later in life. I was just curious if the post graduate certificate is going to help my career search before I obtain my masters as I do want to teach for awhile before I get it.
@@ebiisland1682 🤣 ok but cut me a break... that was a *PowerPoint, not really a video. 🤦 Plus, technology has changed so much in the past six years, right? 👍 You gotta agree that the information is still relevant and accurate, so it's still a win! 🙌 Best wishes in finding teaching work you enjoy!
Very insightful!
Go for it, Elliot!
Thank you for sharing Mary!
I have graduated with BA English but working as a music teacher. And now I am trying to apply MA TESOL. I had 1 year experience teaching English to young learners after my graduation. The gap years are big between my BA and MA degree.
I want to know that what do I need to prepare for this degree as I am a teacher who teaches different subjects?
I enjoyed reading your comment - how exciting for you! Personally, I think it is better to not accomplish those two degrees back to back. When you apply for your Masters program, all of your work experiences will only make your answers to classroom assignments better. Just think: you’ve already experienced how children learn best, and experience in music will help you to explain rhythm, intonation, and ways to position and use parts of the mouth and nasal cavity to better to produce sounds, words, phrases, and sentences in English (pronunciation lessons). To answer your question: to prepare for a degree in TESOL, just start by finding an accredited university with an accredited TESOL program. How active are the faculty members in research/publishing books or articles? Do they speak at professional organizations’ conferences? Go in for an interview and decide if you like them! My Masters is an equal split in Linguistics and Education, which I still find very valuable. Good luck with your search - it’s”sounds like” you have a lot to offer! 😄
Thank you for this video, Mary. I have a bachelor’s degree in English (not English education). I teach ESL/EFL part-time at a language school for adults. I’m interested in this profession and would like to earn a TESOL certificate. Although I want to give my students a good education, I cannot provide that yet because I’m still at an early stage in my career. What would you personally recommend for young professionals who are seeking to become more competent ESL teachers? I don’t want to go to graduate school until I pay off my undergraduate student loans, and right now I am looking for ways to learn independently.
Hi Jennica -- great question, and I am impressed with your desire to do the best teaching you can by doing some self-study. ESL/EFL adult students are a tough crowd; they have absolutely no problems calling out a teacher who appears to *not know what they are talking about. I strongly suggest that you study grammar and become as expert as you can. "Grammar" means both syntax (what we normally call "grammar" in a language arts class: nouns, verbs, adjectives, commas, spelling, etc.) but it also means pronunciation. I published a summary video of those two topics on my channel here. Your goal is to use correct terminology when you are teaching these topics AND to really know the rules. After that, become familiar with Stephen Krashen's 5 Hypotheses. Understanding what goes on in a language learner's brain helps you help your student have reasonable expectations (for example, a person will always have an accent if she begins learning a language after hitting puberty, so a goal of "I want to speak perfect English" is useless and unattainable). I've also cfeated a video about those hypotheses. Thank you for wanting to do your absolute best!
My syntax video: ua-cam.com/video/2pbPiCMDxK8/v-deo.html
My parts of speech video: ua-cam.com/video/0pEvOXy0tfE/v-deo.html
My pronunciation video: ua-cam.com/video/TYHm82mw3Zo/v-deo.html
My video about Stephen Krashen's hypotheses: ua-cam.com/video/jobpF4c-1NI/v-deo.html
Thanks Mary for the information but i still have one question.I have done bachelors in science then I completed bachelors in education now i am doing masters in TESOL.I haven’t done any bachelors in English language.Can i still teach English after doing TESOL?or it will help me teaching science in english language
Great question, @Sakshi Dhiman. First, you will be able to use the teaching techniques that you will learn as you train to be a TESOL in any field. Overall, to be a successful TESOL means that you are an expert communicator. You will be trained to listen well, and you will be trained to be able to explain a concept in a way that students understand. This is a skill set that is valuable in any classroom, including a science classroom where the students are not simultaneously learning a different language. Second, your degree in TESOL will of course qualify you to teach English, but even more, your combination of degrees will probably qualify you to teach science to two sets of students: you can teach science using English to foreign students in your country attending an international school (children) or a university (adults) that uses English as its language of instruction. Good luck!
Thank you Mary for giving such an informative career analysis in TESOL. As a student of Masters in English ( TESOL) from North South University in Bangladesh, I was wondering to start my career in TESOL. This video really helped me to understand the career path of TESOL. However, I am a non-native ESL teacher. Can you tell me that as a non-native ESL teacher what are the difficulties I might face to get a TESOL job?
+Monabbir Johan Thank you for watching the video and for your interesting question. I think your greatest challenge will be job competition, competing with native speakers from Canada, the United States, Great Britain, Australia, and other places, whether you stay in your country or go abroad. In my experience, most employers want to hire the most qualified person, and so they hire the native speakers, equating "highly qualified" with "native speaker." This is the same in my country when employers need to hire teachers of French, Spanish, German, Chinese, and so on.
Knowing this, however, you can prepare and compete well. Some of the native speakers of English who go abroad to your county and others to obtain a teaching position do not have the training you have. As I mentioned in the video, there are many tourists without any training or workers with Bachelor degrees/certificates who get teaching positions. So the first thing you can do in a job interview is emphasize your education and expertise to differentiate yourself.
Another thing you can do is focus on your ability to empathize. You've had to learn English as a second (not first) language, so you know the challenges. You'll be able to share stories and tricks with your students. You also know what EFL/ESL students like: in my experience, they like teachers who know how to explain the rules of syntax and phonology, because those things do not come naturally. There are too many EFL/ESL teachers who do not know how to do this, and that slows the rate of language acquisition for language learners, causing frustration, causing students to withdraw from classes (which means the school loses money).
Best of luck with starting your career as a TESOL!
+Mary Acevedo Thank you Mary for replying my comment with your thoughtful suggestions. I am feeling motivated.
Thank you Mary for your explaining...i want to ask you if I want to be a teacher in USA and I have only diploma in English language, and 3 experience in teaching in Arab country , and Tesol certificate from online......do you think if I can be a teacher here in America??? Thanks
That an important question, Taghreed Riyati. In the United States, there are 4 levels of government: national, state, county, and city. The federal (national) government does not write laws regarding teacher certification in this country; there is no one law here describing the qualifications required in order to be hired as a teacher. Each individual state government decides the educational requirements for the teachers of its citizens. Because there are 50 states in the United States, there are many variations. It's important to first know which state you want to live in. Then you will need to decide the level that you want to teach: do you want to teach the youngest students in elementary school? or the youths in middle school? or the teenagers in high school? or the adults in college or university? or maybe you want to work as a tutor rather than a teacher? After you decide those two things, you need to know the capital city for the state you want to teach in; this is important to know because this is where the state's Department of Education is located. You will then go to their website to find out what you need to do to be hired as a teacher in that state. For example, if you want to teach in California, you will need to contact the California Department of Education in Sacramento. When you get to that official government website, then you can find the requirements for the level you want to teach (elementary, middle, high, college, university). So in summary, I cannot tell you if your qualifications are enough to find a teaching position in America -- it really depends on where you want to go and who you want to teach!
Thanks a lot dear for you explaining ....it's my pleasure to hear from you .....actually I live in Virginia and I hope to teach in kindergarten or elementary.....and not mind to be teacher assistant....
Best wishes as your training and your career develop!
I needed a video like this and it helped a lot. The only thing that I am curious about is the type of jobs I qualify for if I get a TESOL post graduate certificate.
Congratulations on your certificate, Evan! If you really have a graduate degree (Masters or higher) and a TESOL certificate, I think you should apply for the better jobs at universities and corporations. Your work will mostly be based on your your graduate degree. For example, If your graduate degree is in engineering, you could apply to a foreign university's engineering department and prepare the engineering students there for a year abroad in the engineering department in an English-speaking country. If your graduate degree is an MBA, you could apply to international companies headquartered in another country and work teaching English to upper-level management so that they can negotiate better. Can you see where I am going with this? This also works well within the medical profession. Best wishes, and let me know when you finally launch your new job!
@@MaryAcevedoTESOL I see what you are saying and thanks for the reply! I do plan on earning a masters in TESOL later in life. I was just curious if the post graduate certificate is going to help my career search before I obtain my masters as I do want to teach for awhile before I get it.
@@ekrueger26 Yes, it will help. Go for it!
@@MaryAcevedoTESOL Thank you very much for the advice!
Man this did not age well lol
👀
@@MaryAcevedoTESOL You're welcome
@@ebiisland1682 🤣 ok but cut me a break... that was a *PowerPoint, not really a video. 🤦 Plus, technology has changed so much in the past six years, right? 👍 You gotta agree that the information is still relevant and accurate, so it's still a win! 🙌 Best wishes in finding teaching work you enjoy!