10/22/2022
Hello! Hi, Linda here from ITTT. Back today with another live session. As you can see, this is today's topic: teaching English without a degree. Yes, you can. Yes, it's possible. Let's talk about it. So, we're going to talk about how to best prepare yourself for a teaching job abroad and online if you don't have a degree. And also, where the best places, countries, and regions are for teaching English abroad without a degree. And also, the best platforms for teaching English online without a degree. So, that's what we're going to talk about today. I'm also going to show you a little bit of a couple of the TEFL courses that we recommend for people without a degree if you want to teach English abroad or online. Yeah, so that's what's going to happen today. Thank you so much for tuning in.
Don't forget to like and subscribe, as always. And if you're new here, my name is Linda and we go live every week for ITTT. Here, we talk about all things TEFL, TESOL, teaching English abroad, all of that good stuff. And let me just ask you right off the bat: where are you right now? I always ask everybody watching the live stream where they are in the world.
So, where are you watching from right now? What time is it there? I always really like to know where you are. Just leave it in the comments. We are live on Facebook and on YouTube at the same time, so just leave a comment letting me know where you are in the world and what time it is there. I'm in South Korea. It is 10:30 a.m. Friday morning. Super excited to be here and also super excited to have you guys. So awesome.
We have Aksa from Pakistan. 6:33 a.m. Wow, that's so early. Thanks for joining us, Oxa. That's nice. And Antonia in Australia. Awesome! What time is it in Australia? I think we don't have that much of a different time difference, right? It's not that different to Australia. Cool. Then we have Asif in Maryland, USA. 9:30 p.m. Thursday. Awesome. Cool. Well, thank you for being here.
Already very international! We have somebody from Australia, from Pakistan, Maryland, USA, and Morocco. It's noon in Australia. 10:30 in Morocco. Awesome, thank you so much for being here today and for joining us for this topic that we're going to talk about today. I really appreciate you.
As always, if you've watched before, you know that we're working our way through this topic. It takes probably 30 minutes to 45 minutes, something like that. And then, at the end, there will be a Q&A where you can ask your questions. But as always, feel free also during the live session to ask your questions when it relates to today's topic. And then, at the end, in the official Q&A, you can ask any questions that don't relate to today's topic. Just to kind of stay on track and focused on today's topic. And then, at the end, you can ask anything else. All right?
All right, cool. Then we have Pretty from Sri Lanka. Nice. How are you doing? Thanks for joining us. Cool. So, we're live on Facebook and on YouTube at the same time today. Um, and just let me say this off the bat: maybe a quick introduction.
Oh, first we have this. Yes, first we also have 30% off. Before I introduce myself, I want to say this right off the bat: we have 30% off today off of any TEFL or TESOL course from ITTT. So, yeah, if you're not yet TEFL or TESOL certified, this is a great chance to do so with a hefty discount. So, we only share 30% off during our live sessions, right? This is very special. You will not find this anywhere else.
So, you can scan this QR code that you see right here or you can also copy paste the link that I'm gonna share with you in the comment section, which looks like this: it ends with "Facebook live minus Linda". So, you can use this code and it will take you to the application form. You fill out your application and then you will also get a 30% discount off of any TEFL or TESOL course from ITTT. So, that's right in the back. If you're already TEFL certified, you can also use this discount to get an additional specialized TEFL course.
For example, we have a couple of different options for people who are already certified. We also have the TESOL diploma course, which is great for people who are already TESOL certified. So, don't you worry. You also don't need to be certified from ITTT. If you have another TEFL certificate of at least 100 hours, that also counts. So, yeah, check it out and use this discount. It is a great deal. Hello, how are you doing, Ahmed? How are you doing? I'm good, I'm good.
Where are you watching from? All right. And then let me introduce myself. I think we have a lot of new faces here today, so maybe you're watching this for the first time. So, let me make this a little bit bigger so you can see. Yeah, my name is Linda and I am many different things. I do many different things, but these are like the two main things that I do. I'm a travel writer and content creator under the name Linda goes east. You can find my own website at lindagoseast.com if you're interested in, particularly, living in Asia, China, South Korea, East Asia, but really the whole of Asia in terms of traveling. Then I highly recommend you checking that out. I share travel content and also content about what it's like living in Korea, tips for traveling to Korea, and other Asian countries as well. I'm also very active on Instagram, so you can check me out there @lindagoeseast. I would appreciate it if you, you know, check it out and if you like it, give me a follow. And you can also DM me on there. I always want to say that because we're live here in front of many people. So, if there is a question that you have but you don't want to ask it here in front of everybody, you can just DM me on Instagram @lindagoeseast.
Maybe you can ask me a question just in private if you want. I'm originally from Germany and the US. So, my mom is German and my dad is American, and I'm based in South Korea. I've lived in South Korea for seven and a half years, and before that, I also lived in China. I have also been teaching English for a long time in China and also in Korea, and that's kind of how I got into TEFL, TESOL, and working for ITTT. So, ITTT, if you don't know, stands for International TEFL and TESOL Training, and you can find us on the web at teflcourse.net.
We are a leading TEFL and TESOL course provider worldwide. We have a lot of different courses. If you check out the website, you're going to notice so many different options. So, if you're also not sure about, you know, what course is right for you, I'm going to mention a couple of options in just a minute. But yeah, reach out to us. You can always reach out to us, obviously, to our course consultants. They will help you find the best course for you. You can also if you have any questions about ITTT or anything like that, email us at [email protected].
You can see it down here. Email us with any of your questions at any time, and my team will get back to you. All right, this is about me. Enough about me.
Let's see. Yes, so first, because we're gonna talk about destinations today, and I love traveling and all that, and I love living abroad and exploring new countries. So, I want to know from you guys: where would you like to teach? Where would you like to teach if, like, money didn't matter? If you know a degree or another degree if nothing mattered, if you could just pick and choose which country you wanted to teach in? Which one would it be, or which region, or maybe even a specific city you want to teach in and live in? Let me know in the comments: where would you like to teach? What would be your favorite place, your ideal place in the world, if there were no requirements or restrictions or anything like that, where would you like to teach? Thanks. Where would you like to teach?
Uh, for me, probably, I would, hmm. I would like to teach somewhere near the beach, just now because I don't have a beach here. Um, maybe just for a little bit, like a year or two, I would like to teach in hmm, probably somewhere really tropical at the beach with nice weather, with great food and beautiful, like, scenery and culture. I don't know what place would that be. I don't know. Um, great. We have Aksa here saying, "I want to teach English in Saudi Arabia." That's nice. Yeah, cool. Very, very cool.
That's a great place. The salaries are very, very high in this part of the world, and usually teachers even get paid a tax-free salary, so you don't even pay income tax on it, which is really, really awesome. So that's a great choice. You will need a degree for Saudi Arabia though, I'm gonna say that right away. This is not a country where you can teach without a degree. Usually, the Middle East is very strict. They have a lot of requirements. They want people to have degrees. Many of them even want their teachers to have a master's degree. So in a pre-thesis in South Korea? Amazing, awesome! Yes, please come to Korea. Korea is great. Lots of teaching opportunities.
That's a great place to start for teaching English abroad for sure. Cool. Then we have Access saying or asking what are you drinking. Okay, so yeah, I see this might look like it's whiskey or something, but it's not. It's 10:30 in the morning. I don't start that early with drinking, but this is actually a Korean kind of tea made from corn. It's yeah, it's like a corn tea. So it's very nice. It smells good. Some people love it. Some people hate it. So this is a Korean like corn tea. It's not alcohol. It looks like it, but it's not cool. And Accent, I have a degree in politics and education. Well, perfect. Then definitely Saudi Arabia is a great choice, and you can definitely go there. I would say you would have to know more about your background, but yeah. Hello, we have oh, I don't want to mispronounce your name. How do you say your name? Oh my gosh, I'm so sorry if I mispronounced that. Where are you from? That's an interesting name. Cool. T, yes it is. It's a Korean like corn tea. It's called Oksusu, so it's like a corn tea, but yeah, it's pretty good. All right, good.
So let's have a look further, continuing on about today's topic. So teaching English without a degree, yes it is possible. So we're gonna go over exactly which countries you can teach in, sort of like the best or recommended TEFL course that you can take if you don't have a degree, and also the best platforms for teaching English online if that's what you want to do without a degree. So let's jump in. Yes, Access, asking with TEFL, can we teach English online? Yes, you can. You can definitely, yes. All right, so I'm gonna make myself smaller so you can see the slides here.
So do I need a degree to teach English abroad?
The answer is no, for some countries. Yes, you do. There are some countries that only accept people with a degree, but there are still a lot of countries or a lot of places where you can teach without a degree. So there are three things you will need to teach English abroad if you don't have a degree, which is number one: A TEFL or TESOL certificate.
If you don't have a degree, at least get a TEFL/TESOL certificate, and I'm going to show you a couple of options in a minute. But basically, the more hours you have for TEFL/TESOL training, the better, if you don't have a degree. Right, and then any experience that you have. If you already have some kind of teaching or tutoring experience, that is always really, really good. Even in your own hometown, you know, like a church if you did something like, and you tutored or you taught kids or you did like a summer camp or whatever it is that kind of stuff definitely also counts as experience.
And also, what a lot of people do before they want to teach English abroad actually, they teach English online to get experience. So that's another great idea, what you can do to kind of boost your resume if you don't have a degree. And then the third thing is, and I think that's one of the most important things actually, is flexibility. So flexibility, you need to be flexible in terms of location first of all. If you don't have a degree, like I mentioned, there are a lot of countries where you just cannot teach if you don't have a degree.
So, for example, here in South Korea, English teachers have to get an E2 visa, and one of the requirements for this visa is to have a degree. So if you don't have a degree, you just can't teach in South Korea. And if you don't have a degree, and your heart is really, really set on Korea, then that's just too bad, and you just should be a little bit more flexible and maybe you can find a place that better suits your qualifications. And maybe you just can't make it to Korea, for example, right? There's always other options.
For example, in Korea, there are also a lot of people who are on other visas. So if you are here on another visa that allows you to live and work here, then you can probably find a teaching position even if you don't have a degree. So it's not impossible, but through the normal route of applying for a job, getting an E-2 visa, a work visa for Korea, you cannot do that if you don't have a degree. So this just means if you don't have a degree, just be a little bit more flexible, more open-minded, you know, look at all the options you have, and then make a decision based on that.
Okay, Pedro says hello here. I am. Hi Pedro, how are you? I see you. Awesome. And Amitaba is also here. Hello. Hello. Amitaba, how are you faring now? I'm doing very good. How are you doing? Awesome. All right, so these are the three most important things to keep in mind what you kind of need to teach English abroad.
Okay, a TEFL certificate, experience if you can. If you don't, it's fine. You can always teach English online first to get experience, and again, flexibility. Don't be set in just one location. Kind of keep an open mind, and then you will surely find a T2 position abroad even if you don't have a degree. So these are the three most important things to keep in mind. So let's have a look at different TEFL course options that we recommend, or I would recommend, for someone who doesn't have a degree.
So, as I mentioned before, in previous sessions already, the minimum standard international TEFL certificate is the 120 hour one. So this is kind of like the industry standard nowadays. So this is like the minimum that you should have that everybody should have also, regardless of whether you have a degree or not. Right, so if you don't have a degree, you should aim a little bit higher. It's just better. You will have more opportunities. So that's why I highlighted these three options here in green. So I personally really liked the 220-hour Master package, and I think that's a great start also if you don't have a degree. That is, I think sufficient for the start.
So I also have this course package. I did that, and I really like it. Which is the 120 hour course, the standard course, plus two specializations. And as you can see on the slide, it says it is very beneficial to take extra specialized TEFL courses in teaching English online, for example, or if you want to teach English in an actual classroom, business English, or teaching English to Young Learners, which is children, so teaching children.
So the 220-hour Master package includes the standard 120 hour course, plus teaching business English, plus teaching children, teaching Young Learners, which are like the two most important or biggest fields in EFL, teaching English as a foreign language. So that's why I would personally recommend this course, and I actually recommend this course to anyone who's starting out because I just think it's a very good comprehensive course package, and I did that personally, and I just think it's a really good idea. So if you want to go with that, I think that's really great. You can also then go higher if you want. We have a 470-hour package, and the highest package that we offer is the 550-hour package. And those two, the last two, also include a diploma course. So this is a really high level.
These courses are really great if you're starting out. I think the 220-hour is really good and probably sufficient for the start. You can always get the TESOL diploma later on as well, so these are the options that I would recommend, especially if you don't have a degree and again just want to mention that we do have a 30% discount.
Right, so in the comments, you can copy and paste this code and apply for any of these courses and get a 30% discount. You can also scan this QR code here in the upper right-hand corner if that's more convenient for you and you also get the same 30% discount. So that is that. Okay, good.
Pretty has a question here. “Miss Linda, what are the steps we should take once we've finished the TEFL course to get an appropriate job?” Yeah, so actually, at ITT, every course graduate has access to Lifetime job support. So we will help you find a job in the country where you want to work and where you can work. So if you don't have a degree, we will not waste your time showing you job offers in places where degrees are required.
Right, so we will let you know from the start, hey based on your background, based on your experience, etc., this is where you can teach, and then we will help you find a job there. So we have a database of different schools and TEFL recruiters that we've partnered with that send us job offers every week. And we also help with resume writing and interview preparation and things like that.
So that is the next step. We will be there along the way and provide you with all the details once you finish your course. The next step is what you need to do after that. Okay, good. Let's have a look. So this is the TEFL course, and let's have a look at really where you can teach without a degree.
Where can you teach English without a Degree?
Let's look at the countries, let's look at the places where you can teach. So this is the map that I kind of made. These are the hot places for teaching English without a degree.
Right, they're not on fire or anything. These are the hot places for teaching English without a University degree. As you can see, we have Latin America there, we have Africa there, we have southeast Asia there, we have the Middle East a little bit and we also have Europe specifically eastern and southern Europe. All right, so let's have a look. Let's start off with Asia.
Where can you teach English without a University degree in Asia?
You should definitely look at southeast Asia. Okay, East Asia like the countries here on the right, South Korea, China, Japan, they all require their teachers to have University degrees and this is four year four year degree, a bachelor's degree in the U.S and in the UK it's a three-year degree. Right, the University Systems are different, just a University degree.
So these countries are not on our radar right now. Great countries to look at are Cambodia and Laos. They're very, very good to look at and then also Vietnam and Indonesia. However, they do prefer people with degrees. So definitely that's another thing.
So Cambodia and Laos are the best places in this region and then you also have options in Vietnam and Indonesia. What's great about this region also is that the cost of living is very low and the salaries are not too bad in these places.
So you can even earn up to a thousand five hundred U.S dollars but there are not that many extra benefits. If you're looking at South Korea, China, Japan, East Asia, there you will have a lot of really good benefits like end of contract bonuses, paid housing, paid airfare, all of these things that make this region very, very attractive. But in Southeast Asia, in countries like Cambodia or Laos, Vietnam, Indonesia, especially Cambodian laws, it's just not really happening these extra benefits, they do not really exist and the salary will be lower, obviously, compared to East Asia, Korea, China, Japan.
So up to a thousand five hundred, but again the cost of living is very low. Right, in Vietnam and Indonesia, you will find some paid housing, but again they do prefer people with a University degree. So what you can do is you can step up your tefl course hours.
Right, you can get more tefl hours, you can get additional experience and that will also look really, really good on your resume and you can also be considered for positions in these countries. All right. Pedro is asking a question, what are the chances for non-native English speakers to get a job as a tefl teacher?
So kind of the same thing and we did that before in the past, a live session about this topic. So I recommend you go to our playlist and check that out, teaching English abroad as a non-native English speaker, where can you go? Um, excuse me.
So we will have, we actually have a similar live session like this again, actually, similar. Southeast Asia is a great place to start also these same countries. So Cambodia allows, Vietnam, Indonesia and actually also non-native English speakers.
For Japan, they do not have any regulations in terms of nationality, so also Japan is an option for non-native English speakers, but you need to have a degree for Japan for example.
Okay, moving on. So this is Asia. Um, if I go too fast, let me know, and I can slow it down or we can go back to it.
Where can you teach English without a University degree in Europe?
Europe, let's talk about Europe. Europe without a University degree is also possible, especially when we look at Eastern Europe. Okay, so we want to look at places like the Czech Republic is great, also Poland, Hungary, I didn't mention that on here.
Turkey is also really, really good. Russia, maybe not right now, um, but then we also have Italy and Spain who don't really place too much emphasis on having a degree. However, the problem with teaching English in Europe, and this is not just if you don't have a degree, this is just in general, that the cost of living in these places is very, very high now. Czech Republic, Eastern Europe.
Turkey there, the cost of living is lower compared to places like Spain and Italy but still in general, Europe, the cost of living is much higher than what we just talked about in Southeast Asia for example, and the salaries unfortunately are actually also not that high.
So even sometimes you can find positions where they only pay 700 US dollars a month, so that is going to be very, very tough to actually make a living there. Right, so salaries ranging between 700 and 2400, I think, 2 400 probably in Spain or Italy, um, all the other regions is going to be lower, and again, extra benefits, you're not going to have that many extra benefits.
So you're not going to have paid housing there, you're not going to have paid airfare, you're not going to have any kind of bonuses or anything, most likely. That is one of the things to think about, very, very difficult in Europe in general, to kind of break even.
Right, so a lot of teachers teaching in Europe, they actually take on private students in their free time, for example, to kind of boost their income. So that's something that happens a lot. Um, but yeah, we definitely want to have Europe on the list here.
What you can also always do, and I always kind of recommend this, you know, if you have your heart set unlike the specific destination, um, what you can do is you can just go somewhere else, like for a year or even two, and get experience, and then you will go, you and then you can go to your dream destination, and you can get a higher salary because you have extra experience and all of that. So that's always an option, and a year or even two years is really not that long. Time goes by really, really fast, especially if you live abroad and you have a great time. Time goes by really fast. That's why I've been living in Korea for seven and a half years. It doesn't feel like seven and a half years. It feels much shorter because time just goes by so fast. But anyway, we're digressing. So yeah, this is Europe, and Asia, and then just want to mention one more time, I just wanted to put this in here because we have people coming in and out, that we do have this 30% off code. Um, and this means you can have 30% off any TEFL or TESOL course from ITTT.
Where can you teach English without a University degree in Latin America?
All right, awesome. So we talked about Asia, we talked about Europe. Now let's move on to our next region for today, which is Latin America. All right, Latin America is really, really great for people who don't have a degree and want to teach English abroad. A degree is actually not a requirement in many of these countries.
Some countries prefer a degree, but you can still find positions in many of these countries without a degree. So we have Argentina, we have Brazil, we have Chile, we have Mexico, Colombia, Ecuador, Uruguay. So all of these places are a really great place to start.
Again, also what's great about this region is that the cost of living is very, very low. However, the not so great part about it is that the salaries are also quite low. So between 500 and 1,200 US dollars and also the extra benefits are not so great, not so great.
And what we always say about Latin America is that Latin America is not a region where you want to go if you want to make a lot of money. Unfortunately, those regions are mostly East Asia where you can make a lot of money and also the Middle East. Those are very good, but again they most of the time require a degree, a university degree. So here you have it, Latin America. Again, this is Argentina and Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Uruguay, Mexico also and Costa Rica, according to Pedro here. So thank you for that. And yeah, the cost of living is low, but the salaries are also not so high in this region. However, it is great as a start, and sometimes I mean it really depends on what you're looking for. Maybe you're not just looking for the most money. Right? You're looking for a beautiful place, a great culture, a new and exciting place to explore. That's for many people. This is like what they're looking for and money is just not that important.
Where can you teach English without a University degree in the Middle East?
All right then, next let's talk about the Middle East. So the Middle East is actually one of the regions with the highest salaries and also the strictest requirements and regulations. But there are actually three countries in this region that are suitable for people without a university degree, and this is Egypt, Jordan, and Lebanon.
So those three countries actually also hire teachers without a university degree. If your heart is set on the Middle East, these are three great countries to look for. And also, in all of these countries, the cost of living is relatively low. The salaries range from 300, I believe this is in Egypt, and then up to 1,500. I think the best salaries are actually in Jordan.
So this is the salary range, a big range. So it really depends on the country. I remember for my research that Egypt was on the lower side, and I believe Jordan was the higher range. In Lebanon, I believe was in the middle. Again, extra benefits you're not going to get that many extra benefits in this region either, unfortunately.
Let's have a look, Daniel says there's no wonder that you're living it up there in South Korea, Linda. That's inspiring. All right, Preethi says can we teach in South Korea without a university degree. So I mentioned this in the beginning, unfortunately you cannot teach English in South Korea without a degree through the normal pathway. The normal pathway is you apply for a job in Korea and then you apply for the E2 English teaching visa. This is the normal pathway, and for the E-2 visa you need a university, a bachelor's degree, a four-year or UK three-year university degree. That's how you get this English teacher visa for English teaching in Korea.
However, what I mentioned also is that if you have another visa and you're already living in Korea, right? For example, me, I don't have an English teacher visa. Right, I have because my husband is actually Korean, so I have a spousal visa. And this spousal visa for Korea allows me to live and work in Korea. So with this, if you have something like that, like a resident permit or a resident visa, which allows you to work, then it is up to the school, right, if they hire you or not because you're already in the country.
So it doesn't matter. So then the school can decide whether or not they want to hire you if you have a degree or if you don't have a degree. So there are ways, obviously you can do this, but you already need to be in Korea. So generally, yes, you will need to have a degree. Okay, good. This is the Middle East.
Where can you teach English without a University degree in Africa?
So generally, yes, you will need to have a degree. Okay, good. This is the Middle East. Let's move on. I think we have two more regions, yes.
So this is Africa. Africa you can also teach English there without a degree in many, many countries. These are like the top five where it is possible or where there is a demand. So with Ghana, Kenya, Tanzania, Madagascar, South Africa. So those are like the big five there, where also the demand for English teachers is quite high, and you can teach without a university degree. Now, the cost of living is also very low in this region, however, this is a region also again where you want to go for the experience rather than the money, because actually most of these positions in Africa are unpaid volunteer positions. So you're not going to make anything in most cases. You go there, you volunteer for a few weeks or a few months or a year, but you're not going to make any money. So this region is not for everyone, obviously, if you want to make money. If you need to make money, not the best place to go. If you love Africa, you want to live in Africa, and you want to do something good, you want to teach children, you know, and you want to do some volunteer work, great. Right, great. You don't need a degree to do that. So this is yeah Africa.
Also just looking at these pictures, so beautiful. All of these places, I just want to go everywhere. If I could, I would just go everywhere and stay for six months and teach everywhere for six months and then move on to a new place. Good question. So Sydney asks, are there still plenty of online English teaching opportunities post-pandemic?
That's a good keyword, because we are moving into online teaching right now.
Where can you teach English without a University degree online?
So, yes, even post-pandemic, online teaching is still booming. Right?
I actually personally started teaching English online during the pandemic. I didn't actually consider it before, but it just made so much sense during the pandemic. I had a lot of English teaching opportunities that I had before the pandemic just stopped because of Covid. So I was like, you know what, let me just try this online teaching thing. And yeah, I really enjoyed it, and I am still doing it today. And a lot of these platforms are still hiring. They're very successful. They are always looking for new teachers.
So online teaching is still very much a thing even post-pandemic, because it's just so convenient for many people, especially English online teaching, because you have a lot of people in many different countries around the world who are learning English and they just don't have an opportunity to speak with native speakers. So this is where online teaching just comes in and is so great, because they don't even have to leave their house, but they have a chance to speak with native speakers or fluent English speakers from around the world. So this is why it is still very, very popular. Good. Make me let me make this bigger again.
So where can you teach online without a university degree? These are like the top four.
There are more platforms than this, obviously, but these are like the top four that hire teachers without a degree. So we have Cambly. For Cambly, you do need to be a native English speaker, but it doesn't matter if you have a degree or not. Right?
Then we also have Skima Talk. Again, you need to be a native English speaker for Skima Talk, but you don't need to have a degree. Then we have Lingoda and Palfish, where there are no rules regarding nationality.
Oh no, Lingoda says you need to be a native English speaker. My apologies. Palfish is the one that has no rules regarding nationality. So all applicants can apply here. So as you can see, there are different things that are required. So some also require a TEFL or TESOL, as you can see. Lingoda and Palfish, you need to also have a TEFL or TESOL certificate, and Lingoda you also need to have two years of teaching experience in a classroom. So it really varies from platform to platform.
There's another platform I just want to quickly mention because I know about this one and I really like it. It's called Cafe Talk, and this is basically one of those platforms where it's like a teaching marketplace. So you create a profile and you create lessons that you offer. You put the price on there, and then students can book these lessons. They can browse the profiles. So this is what we call a teaching marketplace versus a teaching platform, where basically the platform matches you with students.
So marketplaces in general also don't care if you have a degree or not. They don't care if you're a native speaker or not. You can add all of these things to your profile, like you can add your degree or you can add if you have a TEFL certificate, but it's not a requirement. So when the students browse the profiles, they can make the decision whether or not they want you to teach them based on your profile. Right, so it doesn't matter. So that's another one, Cafe Talk, which is really good.
Yeah, there you have it. This is that for online teaching. There are more platforms out there than this, but these are the top four that I picked for people without a University degree. All right, here we have M Tennessee. I started teaching online online as CoveX and I believe being a tutor there is a promising digital convenience. Right, yes, I mean it's very convenient for teachers as well, right? I talked about how teaching online is convenient for the student, but it's also extremely convenient for the teacher. I personally love teaching online because I can do this from my home. Like you're doing a live session, I literally just five minutes before class, I sit down, I turn on the program and I teach. Obviously, I also do some prep, depending on the lesson. Some lessons you can literally just do conversation. Free conversation, so that's what some students want. They just want to talk about their day for 15 minutes, which is cool. So then there's no prep time. Obviously, usually these conversation classes are a little bit lower priced, but I also prepare material. But I can do this all from my home. I don't need there's a commuting time or anything like that. I don't lose any time, so I can be productive after and before class as well. So cool. Oh, Daniel says fortunately nowadays there are a few options for us non-native English speakers to go over. Yes, absolutely, absolutely. All right, let's move on from this online and I just want to quickly share with you guys before I look at more comments how you can find ITT before we go into Q&A. So this is how you can find ITT online. Again, just teflcourse.net or our socials, and also for any additional questions, please don't hesitate to email us at [email protected]. Email us at any time and we will get back to you.
TEFL & TESOL Q&A
All right, then let's do this Q&A. I see there are a lot of questions coming in, so let me take that from pretty here. I'm a 19-year-old girl from Sri Lanka and waiting to my university entrance next year. Can you please tell me now what are the steps I should take to finish this Tefl course? Give me your advice, miss. Yeah, um, so you are entering University soon. Um, yeah, what you can do is you can register for the TEFL course right and I would either go for the 120-hour course or the 220-hour Master package.
You can use the code that I shared, and you can save 30% which will help you out, and you take the course. So literally, when you sign up for the course and then you complete the payment for the course, you get your login details and then you can just start working through the units. It is all 100% online, you can work at your own pace whenever you want, so you don't need to be online at like a specific time or anything like that. You can do this all whenever you feel like it and you complete the units.
To be online at like a specific time or anything like that, you can do this all whenever you feel like it and you complete the units. You work through the units for some people. So basically, you have up to six months to complete this course, but most people complete it much faster.
So depending on how much time you have right, for example, in my case I took the course when I was working full-time and it took me about three to four months to complete it at that time. Some people can also do it much faster if they have more time or they just study more. I just did a couple of units per week. You can do a couple of units per day then it's much faster, depends on you. So yeah, you work through the units, you finish the course, then you get your certificate. You get a pdf version of your certificate right away, and you also get a actual hard copy certificate mailed to you wherever you are in the world.
Okay, and as soon as you have this pdf version, you can basically apply for jobs right now. In your case, you're going to university. If you do this course now, you could actually start teaching online with this TEFL certificate during your university. You can get teaching experience while being in a university and you can make some money. So I think maybe that would be a really good opportunity for you while you're in university to get experience and to also make some extra money. So maybe that would be a good way, Preethi. All right then we have English studies here. What are the minimum or what minimum requirements are needed for TEFL? Yes for TEFL at ITT, you need to be over 18 years old and you need to be a fluent English speaker or a native English speaker. That's basically it. So we really are strong believers of giving everybody the chance to pursue this dream of teaching English abroad or online professionally. That's why we really consider everybody. We accept everybody onto our program as long as you're over 18 and fluent in English, so you understand the course content right. That's the main thing. These are the requirements for TEFL.
Then for a teaching job afterwards, it really varies from country to country or place to place. Some countries, like we talked about today, require university degrees. Some countries don't. Some countries even want teaching experience, but this is kind of rare. Some countries need you to be a native speaker, some countries don't. So it depends on where you want to teach. I would if you're really at the beginning of this journey, kind of think about where you want to teach in the future, and look at the requirements. If it is 100% impossible for you to go there because maybe they need to be a native speaker, but you are not a native speaker. They need you to be from a certain country, but you're not from the country. Then you know, look for another place, look for where can you go.
So start there and then see what the requirements are for this place and then go from there. Again, in general, the 120 hour course is the standard course. So you want to have that for teaching anywhere. And my recommendation for today for people without a degree is to go a little bit higher than that. So the 220 hour Master package would be great, would be my recommendation for people without a degree.
Also for non-native English teachers, you want to just have a little bit more TEFL training. That just looks better, will help you out to kind of compensate for that. The other things you might be lacking.
All right, Cindy has another question here. What is your advice on the minimum fluency among non-native English speakers to teach? Yeah, to teach definitely depends. I mean it depends on the school you apply for, whatever they want or whatever they accept. Obviously, again, the higher the better, you want to aim. I think for at least a C1, C2 if you have B2 you can try applying right, but C1 would be ideal. Ideal would be C2, but like C1 C-level would be good. And actually, saying this for any non-native English speakers, having an English proficiency certificate like an IELTS, a TOEFL, or any kind of Cambridge certificate is always a good idea to have if you are a non-native English speaker to show your ability, to show your English skills.
Yeah, you're welcome. Frankie says, "What if we are not that fluent in English?" You know, you can always try. You can have a look. I believe we have some trial units on our website. You can have a look at the material and if you think it's too difficult for you, then maybe this course might not be for you. Awesome, thank you guys. You're welcome, Cindy. Thank you for all the questions. I'm still going to stay on a couple more minutes. If there is somebody who has more questions, feel free to ask. I'm going to stay on a couple more minutes. I want to make sure everybody has the chance to ask their question. I always say there are no stupid questions, so feel free to ask whatever's on your mind.
Okay, you can ask away, but also if you're watching this later as a replay and you have a question, leave it in the comments. We will get back to you later on as well. Nice. Pedro says, "Great advice, thank you." Thank you. I'm glad you appreciate it. That makes me appreciate it as well. Awesome.
Okay, maybe now is a good time to say, don't forget to like and subscribe to our YouTube, to our Facebook. We share a lot of content, especially on Facebook and on YouTube. If you take a look at our Facebook page, we share a lot of content on there, teach material, but also job offers, teaching job offers, and just in general, TEFL information, anything related to teaching and TEFLs. So check it out. Also, our YouTube channel has a lot of videos covering a lot of different topics, teaching ideas, TEFL course information, all of that good stuff. Do you only teach online now? No, I don't only teach online. I teach mostly online, but I also have in-class students as well. I mostly teach private students. I don't teach like in a school anymore.
I usually teach one-on-one training. That's usually what I do. I used to teach business English as well in a company, but that was before COVID. So due to COVID, that kind of stopped and then everything went online. Yeah, a lot of online is going on. People really like online. Okay, Preethi says, "Can I contact you personally?" Yes, you can. So if you have Instagram, all you need to do is just look for Linda Goes East, and you just message me on there. If you don't have Instagram, let me know, and I will give you another way of contacting. All right, we have Catalina here who says, "Do this course offer TOEFL courses?" No, we do not have TOEFL courses.
Do not have TEFL courses, so TEFL course is a English proficiency course, right? For your English level we have TEFL and TESOL courses, which is for people who want to teach English, so this is something different. All right, I mean Tava says, "well Linda, exactly two weeks ago specifically on the seventh instant, you had kindly suggested to me to go in for a four-year online degree course, since I am a two-year associate degree holder in Commerce.
May I know if this facility is available for ITT? Please suggest." Yeah, I believe when we talked about that two weeks ago, I talked to you email my team because they know more about the university stuff than I do. So again, I'm going to say the same thing: please email [email protected] and my colleagues. They will get back to you with the options. All right, because I was saying that might be an option, it might be an option to do through ITT. So please contact my team, the consultants, and they will let you know. With Oka here, who says hello from Bali, Indonesia to everyone. Oh hello, hello back to Bali. That's so sweet. All right, okay, one more last question, and then I'm gonna sign off for today.
All right, who will be the last question for today, and if you have any additional questions, you can feel free to leave a comment and we'll get back to you or email us again at courses at Tesla men's TEFL. All right, Daniel, have you worked with English teachers that don't have a University degree? If so, how was it? That's a good question. You know, normally when you work with teachers, you don't necessarily ask them, "Hey, do you have a degree, do you have a TEFL, do you have a driver's license?" It's not really part of the conversation. Right, so I don't know to be honest, because I'm not an employer of a school. The employers would know right who they hire if they have a degree or not. But if it's a co-teacher, I probably won't necessarily know if that person has a degree or not because I don't work in HR in that school. I might have. I don't know. I know that well. I guess all the people, well okay, so in my school in Korea, where I work full time my first year in Korea, most of the people there had University degrees, because they came in through the normal way with the E-2 Visa.
There were also other teachers who taught there who were already in Korea, so those might come in for a different way and they might not have University degrees, but sometimes you don't know your co-workers credentials. Right? Hey, thousand, nice to see you. We're at the end already though. All right, guys, thank you so much for joining today and for all of your great questions. This was really, really good, really helpful also for me for learning more about you guys and I hope that I was able to answer some of you guys questions. And yeah, we go live every week, so next week there will be another live session of another topic, so please do join us again. And yeah, I really appreciate it all you guys, all of the all of you guys's questions and that you stayed on for here so long. Um, yeah, okay. Ami Thomas says, "Okay, Linda, thanks a lot for your kind help and suggestions. In fact, I had previously contacted that email and got immediate help from Tanya regarding job prospects in five countries in Europe as well as writing a resume.” That's awesome, great congratulations. You can email again, and we will help you with your University question.
Pedro says, "Thank you, it really was helpful." Thank you, I'm glad, Pedro. Thanks for asking all of your questions. That was great. Thank you, Pedro. Have a nice day, everybody.
Have a nice weekend, stay safe out there, and I can't wait to see you all again, hopefully, next week. And don't forget the 30% off discount. Right? I'm just gonna share that one more time so you, if you want to take another TEFL course or if you don't have a TEFL certificate yet, don't pay full-time a full price, just use this code to save 30%.
You don't want to pay the full price, right? Daniel says, "Thank you so very much for today's live session, Linda." Oh, thank you, thank you, too, for all your questions, Daniel, and for sure funny comments that always make me smile, too. All right, guys, thank you so much, and then see you all again, hopefully, next week. All right, same place, same time.
Thank you all, and see you later. Bye.
