01/06/2021
hello everybody thanks for joining me i'm
just about to start and if you watch it please let me know that you
see me clearly and hear me clearly um for this purpose uh
use comments box um so that i can see you uh joining me
so if you are here and if you see me and hear me please let me know in the
comments okay there are some good mornings hello
nice to see you guys thanks for joining my name is lisa um i'm
an idt tefl expert and i'm also an online english teacher
i'm glad to welcome you um in today's session
uh it is devoted to um some ways
how to benefit from your tefl certification especially if you're a non-native
english teacher and right now i'm going to make my uh video a little bit smaller
so that you can see the presentation okay guys thanks for sharing that
everything works smooth that's really really uh important
for me because um i need to make sure everything is clear and you can hear me
well so that this session is useful and yeah
you can take the most out of it and right now um
yeah let me tell you a little bit about myself so my name is lisa uh this is my
um full name and i am a non-native
english teacher from russia uh i used to work in china
a couple of years ago but these days i uh switched to online teaching
and today i want to share my personal experience and of course i want to help you to
understand what uh is tefl certification in general so if you guys are
willing to learn about toefl t soul or uh english teaching in general
this session is for you and make sure that you stay by the end of
the session because i will share um our special offer with you
and um it can really help you to save up on
a tefl course of your choice okay so um
also i can't mention that itt has a wide range of social networks
and if you want uh to uh keep in contact please follow us on
any of your favorite networks and uh you will also get a lot of useful
materials uh because we share um useful stuff
on a daily basis all right and um i would like to talk
about tefl certification in general and maybe the main question
the main concern people have is is it worth it and here
i highlighted some benefits of becoming a tefl certified teacher so first of all
tefl is an internationally accredited certification so if you get
your TEFL certificate you will probably be able
not actually probably you will be able to show that uh you possess
an internationally accredited certificate
the reason i highlight this point is that it is usually
important for employers that uh their um teachers
uh have and meet this requirement of being um certified
with a certification with um um diploma from an accredited um
organization so uh here in ittt we provide you with
this kind of certification of course tefl is also worldwide record
world widely recognized uh so um if you
um really want to travel around the world and teach in different places
you can definitely do that with your TEFL certificate and uh i'm not sure if you uh
see this part clearly but i tried to show you
that um tefl is also really important for online
employers as well this is a screenshot from italki if you know this
online job provider you have probably
checked their requirements and here it is stated that a tefl
or t soul certificate is a possible way to show that you are a professional teacher
uh on italki uh they uh offer two different modes of teaching
the first one um is um community tutoring and the second one
is um the second one is professional teaching so if you
have a tefl certification uh it's a proof that you
are uh able to teach professionally not just as a community tutor
um i'm sorry guys that it is not clear i completely understand it but i
unfortunately i cannot change it right now um i will send you a link
to this um resource and you will be able to uh
read through the requirements on italki so that you um understand that
um tefl certification is one of the ways to show that
you are a professional teacher um and of course uh tefl is also
affordable it is rather cheap i should say uh compared to uh
some other uh ways of um improving your professional
experience uh for example there are uh different certifications
uh from cambridge they are quite pricey and it is impossible to uh
study online or self-paced uh if you want uh to possess such
degrees with tefl it's much more easier
because uh you can just apply online and study at your own pace
uh so there are still um an option uh to take a course with a
tutor uh so that uh you will be guided through every every stage of your certification
but it is still can be self-paced and it is super convenient because you don't need
to rely on uh any um special um occasions
like you don't need to schedule your lessons appointments and uh you just can
keep up with your ordinary life and do the course when you have time
so these are some benefits
and as for some drawbacks
is it worth it to take a tefl certification in terms of some disadvantages
i still think yes because um the only um con
i see here is that it doesn't work if you don't work uh it can sound
um it may sound uh like um a little bit um
silly probably but it is what it is so if you uh want uh to
uh make it work for you uh you have to start from your self
and it is yeah it is just pretty simple and i will show you why
so um if you got tefl search uh certified the next step will be make sure that
everyone knows about it uh sometimes um even many times usually we
don't um estimate our network and usually people
who surround us uh they are much more powerful than those
who you don't know and uh your closest friends can be actually
um um this help uh for you to find your first
students your first clients and this is what is
important um about tefl certification if you have it you can prove that
you are not just someone uh willing to teach uh and having
no credentials um in this case you will be able to tell everybody
that uh you grow and you develop your professional skills
especially in such cases when you are not
a professional teaching a teacher but you really want to change your career
and start teaching in this case tefl certification is just perfect for
you um so um i hope that uh this point is clear to you um
so if you want uh to make tefl certification work for you
so first of all work yourself and second try to tell uh
your friends and family that you are um a person who is
uh continuously working on your own professional skills
and there are some other ways how you can use your tefl certification
right after you get certified so uh basically um this certificate
uh this paper actually let me show you mine because i also have it
so yeah this is how the hard copy looks like
so yeah right after you get tefl certified
you you get this hard copy
and you also get a pdf copy so first you get a pdf copy and then it
takes like a couple of weeks to receive your hard copy but still right after you get tefl
certified and you really have this paper you can enhance your resume
with this certificate i i uh
edit mine on linkedin and i also edit attached it
uh to my um pdf resume so uh whenever i wanted to
distribute my resume send it to a potential employer
i attached the pdf copy and it was just quite um all right yeah
and yeah uh don't wait uh for um
like any experience or something uh start applying for jobs
right after being tefl certified or even a little bit before that
um for example uh when i was studying for tefl
i started looking for job offers um and right after
i finished the certification um i uh found um an employer
who um accepted uh myself based on uh the tefl certification
uh i possessed the other way to
work on your experience is sharing with other people that you
started this career [Music] and in this way um the word of mouth
works just great i also have my personal example
i found a lot of students around my friends and
their friends so i just shared that i am a teacher
and uh i look for students uh then we started like discussing all
the details and if there was a match i was able to start teaching
asap and again tefl certification uh is really helpful
to show that you are um uh
that you are uh eligible to do this kind of job uh you are not just someone
from the street uh speaking english fluently uh you are serious about your career
uh and uh don't forget about your social networks
this thing is extremely powerful um for example here in russia
uh we have a very uh white uh teaching community on the uh on
instagram um i'm not sure about other countries i know that uh
in some other places uh facebook is more popular so um you can
also check uh some teaching groups and uh also uh start your
personal blog there and see how it works for you as well because
uh this year actually the previous year uh
showed that uh online community is powerful in terms of giving you
opportunities and the last point i want to highlight here is volunteer teaching um it is
something many people uh dislike but i uh personally sometimes
uh take uh students for free and help them to work uh on their
weak areas uh just in exchange of their feedback
um for example right now i coach my friend in ielts
because um i um have this skill in teaching ielts and i
also passed ielts myself and i found it really um
cool for myself as a teacher uh to um to find
students uh in ielts teaching this way because when she passes
ielts she will give me this free feedback feedback and i will be able to
uh show that i can coach other people
um in this exam preparation so um bear it in mind uh
these uh five points from this slide uh and make sure that you stay proactive
uh after your tefl certification because um i um met so many people
who um continue just groaning that they don't know what
it is for and they don't know how to use it and it was just a waste of uh time and
money um from my point of view um it is completely different uh if you
took uh this course it was um for some reason and you need to uh
work even harder having that because it's not uh just uh
something that will happen uh out of the blue like there
won't be a bag full of money after the tefl certification just
because you got it so and um
the last thing i would like to mention um is that uh having a tefl
certification doesn't mean that you need to limit yourself
with uh with a teaching career uh you can think of some other um
fields some other areas related to teaching career so for example
some people start their teaching blocks or write for some other
uh resources as uh private authors so tefl certification provides you with
uh uh with the basis um in lesson planning
methodology um what else um with um
structuring your classes working with different groups of efl students
and it's so uh cool that you uh learn all of these things because you
uh in future you can use it um as a basis to work
in some other fields from time to time i work as a copywriter
um i of course i write for our tefl blog uh on the
itt website and um sometimes i also uh write
articles for my personal social media and it is also helpful because i
know the subject for sure so uh you can also try it and by the way
you can contact us you can contact um our support
if you um have any ideas um related to uh tefl teaching
and if you are willing to get this um
experience in writing professional articles so um
you can try to work with us and another way uh to use your uh
knowledge from your tefl certification is uh start creating your uh personal
materials uh there is such a resource called uh teachers paid teachers uh
it's uh probably the biggest platform for sharing
and selling stuff related to teaching many tefl teachers
make their own worksheets curriculums lesson plans
and sell on this website and it's another way to make
money using your efl experience and tefl um and the last point
is um actually related to the previous two because um it is also a
kind of business when you run your blog or create materials and
sell them but um anyways you can try to start your
own business related to uh tefl uh for example my friend
uh started uh his um um school um he
um founded um a real um efl
school uh related to uh early um childhood education
and uh well it's almost a year probably since he started
and uh even um considering the whole situation with this quarantine
uh he still succeeded because he found um different ways to promote
uh his school and he also added some online uh components uh to his
services so you can think um of such idea as well and use your
TEFL certificate for that and right now
um i would like to uh switch to the comments box because there are so
many um so many feedback uh yeah so
so much feedback right now i would like to check it and then i will come back
to the presentation um okay so yeah there are so many things
and um thanks for um coming today um
here is the first question was your classes online or in class uh if you talk
about my tefl if you ask about my tefl certification uh i took uh an online course
uh four years ago uh it was really convenient for me because uh i
had my job at that time and uh i needed to make money for for a living
and i was able to um to study and work simultaneously
so it was like evenings for study and morning and afternoons
for my work uh for how long this certificate will be
valid it is a lifelong certification so
when you get tefl certified it won't expire compared to some other certifications
so um tefl certification is uh is an investment
for life for good so uh don't worry that um something will be
finished something will get expired it is for good uh
and there is another question
so there are several questions uh in one and the same question
um so uh i want to start with accreditation yes
uh itttttt tefl certification is accredited uh and you can check
uh our credentials on the tefl course website uh teflcourse.net
uh i will share uh the links a little bit later so uh
yeah you will be able to find our credentials
and yes uh there are some organizations some course tefl course
providers who are uh that are not accredited uh you need to make sure that you find
um any words on their websites related to accreditation um there are such
uh tefl courses that are distributed via uh coursera or
um edx platforms uh i am like 99
sure uh those tefl certifications are not accredited but uh
if you uh take them uh it is still um it is still
a way to show that you develop your skills so um but
if you take um a course that is not accredited your employer
will probably uh not accept it because it is important for them
that this certification uh is accredited and the second question was about uh
job search uh the whole presentation was um devoted to your uh to some ways
how to benefit from the tefl certification and job search is something that is
absolutely like almost 100 percent on you uh at itt we help
to find jobs we
guarantee some job assistance but um like 98
it depends on you uh on our website there is um a section
related to jobs and you can see job offers there and try to uh apply
this way but there is still other ways to look for jobs and tefl
certification is just a proof that you are eligible to teach professionally
so um it's it doesn't work um solely you need to um
make sure that uh you uh invest your time and energy on looking for
jobs and only this way it will work i hope that i answered
this question fully so if you have any other concerns you can
ask um in the comments as well
um yeah and there are some um thoughts about volunteer teaching that's
right volunteer teaching is a win-win so if you want uh to gain some experience
you can coach someone you can teach someone for free and ask them to give you a feedback
this will help you to grow as a teacher and this will help you to develop your
teaching skills all right let's see what's next
uh so as for my previous experience i have already mentioned that i
worked in china i worked in china as an esl teacher in a
bilingual kindergarten and it was after my tefl certification before that
i was studying at a university um in a linguistic department
and uh while i was studying i tutored some uh people privately
um mostly i worked with uh school kids like uh maybe from seven
years to twelve years or so so with younger uh students
but at that time i had no idea how how to teach um exactly how to teach
properly i didn't know how to plan lessons and that's what i learned um
during the tefl certification during the tefl course because um
when i was uh studying um linguistics it was just about the
language itself it was not about teaching unfortunately and when i finished the university i was
like so who i am now what should i do and um yeah
the first choice was like start teaching and you'll figure it out but
i knew that i was lacking some professional skills that's why i decided
to further my education okay uh is there an exam
uh in the end of the course uh so there are some assignments during the
whole course some modules are related to
some modules are related to things like grammar methodology
so uh they are related to uh theory in general uh after such
modules you need to uh pass tests and uh the final task will be to make
a lesson plan or to write um your like
assignment related to teaching so it varies uh it and
it depends on the course you take so um as for the course
uh validity um it is valid it is accredited um
and um it is absolutely valuable to invest your time money and energy
um so if you have any further questions let me know
okay there is an interesting question uh how do we start a teaching blog do we
have to pay for it uh so it depends on the blog you want to run uh there are two
general options uh you start your blog on a social network in this
case you don't need to pay anything you just need to write and create your own content
or maybe make videos like uh with the case of [Music]
youtube so um you don't need to pay anything you just need to
spend time and energy on it um and as for um
your web blog in this case you will probably need to pay for
uh placement um because you will need to uh buy a domain
and you will need to synchronize it with all the um engines and so on
so it will take some time to figure out how to do that first
and then it will require some investment
yep and the next question
uh is there a difference in tefl and t soul courses uh generally speaking there are no um
there are no different differences uh tefl uh stands for teaching
english as a foreign language and t soul stands for teaching english as a second
language so you can basically um
take tefl or tesol and it will be the same but as for your uh hard copy
of the certificate you will be able to choose between um one or another
title for example for my certificate i chose a certificate in teaching english to
speakers of other languages so it means that i can work with students worldwide
i can teach chinese students or vietnamese students or russian
students because i took this
option but in general there is no difference uh tassel is equal to
tefl okay um which course is worldwide accredited
all courses provided by itt are accredited uh they
are worldwide recognized as well so uh if you want to work
um i don't know in korea for example or in brazil
you will be able to do that because uh this tefl certification is recognized
around the world
is there a required level to start tefl uh thanks for this question
it's really um it's a good one uh the general requirement is you
is that you are fluent in english so uh basically if you have um
an upper intermediate level it's um enough to start the course but um
as nominate as a non-native teacher i suggest you to uh continue uh working on your
own english skills as well because in some countries
if you prob if you if you have heard about it
it is it is judged when you are not from a native country
just because your english skills are limited but we all know that uh it is
quite um normal for non-native uh english speakers
uh to uh possess the highest level of uh english ability
and it is just a matter of time and practice for example um i knew
that i was a little bit limited when i finished university and when i got tefl certified so i decided to
upper my level and i started preparing for ielts uh last year
no actually two years ago uh i passed ielts and i scored
a c1 level right now i'm working for up uppering
it to c2 so uh at the end of this year i'm planning to
take cpe which provides with the highest level
um of english and um yeah this is the only way to
make sure your english grows and this is the only way to make sure
you are um eligible as a teacher as an english
teacher i mean is it valid is it valid for for
north american schools and universities so uh talking about uh native
uh speaking countries i should say that uh having tefl certification is still
valid uh you still can uh find a job there as a non-native teacher
but uh it will take a little bit more time and effort i should say because
uh they basically have um their own employees there uh who
um can uh teach english as well um
but you need to make sure that uh you look for a job and you uh
uh and you um create um your resume uh
this the way that uh is completely clear um what's your purpose
um if you know what i get what i mean like um
uh i still know uh many people who work um as non-native
english uh teachers uh in um in the us for example but they uh
primarily work with um foreign students uh or with
students who migrated from other countries so so they they don't teach uh americans
they teach uh second uh language students
and it's a possible uh way to uh implement your tefl skills
as well okay i'm an upper intermediate level and
continue to work and enhance my career skills yes uh it means that uh with tefl
certification you will be able to uh expand your
cv and show that you are a professional that's the best uh way i think
uh is there a way to have a speaking partner easily
so um basically yes you can find a speaking partner
online um it's uh it's not a big deal i suppose
there are special um placements for finding language exchange
or language partnering uh you can check it on italki
and you can check it on some other um platforms related to tutoring
why not um and if for example you want to find a partner a language partner you can
also uh write about it on our itt group
so um yeah feel free to do that why not it's a great idea though
all right and uh let me see what's next okay um
i've mentioned that i need to share um
a special offer with you and uh it's the time actually uh
so um right now i'm going to send a coupon
link uh to the comments box and uh today you will be able to
get a 30 discount on any of our tefl courses
make sure you copy it and use it during the day uh if you still
have any questions related to tefl uh english teaching in general
or you have any other concerns please let me know in the comments box
right now and i will be i will try my best to help you
and by the way guys thank you so much for joining me today
uh i really appreciate it especially concerning the
time of the year um in most of the countries uh it's the holiday season and many
people are still somewhere um are still on their
vacation and uh i really really appreciate that you joined
um because you you probably need it and you probably want to change your
life this year or maybe you want to change your career so uh i hope that uh the whole
presentation and the whole session was useful and
the special offer will be valuable for you um
yes if you still have any questions write them on the comments box i will
answer them and we will finish here okay so
um and if you have any questions related to maybe
uh working abroad um it's also something to discuss
yeah why not and there is a question from ahmed i want to
answer it of course
so as for teaching uh special groups um we provide uh different
types of tefl certification there is um the general tefl course
uh which is um 120 hours uh there are um other types of courses
as well but uh 120 hours is the minimum requirement
in almost every job so make sure when you
take a tefl uh course you take at least 120 hours uh as for teaching
other groups of students there are options and there are
separate courses related to it so you can choose between uh teaching young students uh business
english students and online teaching for example so we uh have these different
tefl certifications tefl courses so make sure you follow
this link it will provide you with a 30 discount
on any course first of all and second uh you will be able to
uh see what courses we have and choose the one
which is best for you
thank you teacher thank you teachers for joining me today or future teachers
perspective teachers um i'm really glad to have such
a great audience today your guys absolutely friendly um i i really really like it and
uh this is my probably sixth uh session i am still
uh quite nervous before it uh because i have to speak english during the whole
session and um i don't see um other faces you know so it's quite uh
complicated to uh speak to myself basically and when you're so active
on the comments box it is so so cool because i can relax and feel like i
talk to my friends so uh thank you guys for joining me
if you don't have any further questions related to tefl um we will
finish uh this session and i hope to see you next week
uh because next week we will um um have um the same life um
not the same actually a different life and you will probably um find it
interesting as well and as for language partners uh as for speaking
bodies if you need one um
try to look for them on our tefl group and
i hope uh to see you next time thank you guys and um
yeah see you uh next week hopefully and bye bye uh enjoy your
week enjoy your weekends it was a great session bye bye
