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Post by slim on Jul 28, 2004 23:14:33 GMT 7
I'm thinking about taking the TEFL international TESOL course in Zhuhai: www.teflcourse.netHas anyone heard anything about these people? Would I be wasting my 13,000RMB? |
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Post by Raoul Duke on Jul 29, 2004 2:24:00 GMT 7
Don't know much about this program. I DO know you can get a CELTA here in Shanghai for 15,000. A much more prestigious cert and a lot more bang for your buck.
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Post by loftus on Jul 29, 2004 5:23:19 GMT 7
15000 US.? CN? Canafian?
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Post by burlives on Jul 29, 2004 11:53:42 GMT 7
I completely forget where I read it (maybe it was even on the Zhuhai website) but isn't that tefl course one that was TRINITY-affiliated but now isn't? Shanghai CELTA: did Hans ever get a reasonable email address? For about a month when I was trying to contact him, sina.com was refusing outside mail. (I have heard of this electronic ear device with a speaking tube which will send voices through the ether, but that is the devil's work.) ECC's Thailand CELTA is about 11,000. (Plus transport and living costs, of course.) I made my application on Monday.  |
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Post by Raoul Duke on Jul 29, 2004 13:24:31 GMT 7
Sorry, Taipaishan....15000 RMB.
I have trouble getting e-mails to Hans too and usually just call him. I'll see if he has a working e-mail somewhere now. SILC's CELTA course is well under way as I write this, so it's too late for this year...but there are other courses around.
Not surprised SILC's CELTA is a bit more....so many pockets to line here, so many fingers in the pie.
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Post by burlives on Jul 29, 2004 13:45:54 GMT 7
Shanghai SILC does them once a year? I had the impression it was two or three a year. I also somehow had the impression that they were targetting Chinese nationals.
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Post by Raoul Duke on Jul 29, 2004 16:10:16 GMT 7
I'm only aware of one but I'll double-check. I could be wrong.
I stuck my head in yesterday, and all I saw was Whitey. They're targeting Chinese money....Red Flags....100 yuan notes. The color of the hands bearing them is irrelevant.
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Post by con's fly is open on Jul 29, 2004 21:05:45 GMT 7
Since I have no TESOL paper, I'll have to get one a'fore I come back. I have to choose between cheap and impressive (convenience being the trump).
CELTA's the big kahuna. Failing that, what are the famous ones?
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bill
Up And Coming
Posts: 38
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Post by bill on Jul 29, 2004 21:39:47 GMT 7
Slim,
If you're going to spend that kind of money you might want to consider the CELTA in Bangkok as Burl is.
Or even the TEFL IN'T course in Thailand. You get the same certificate/training as in China but I've heard it's a much happier environment there and you get some in class experience teaching Thai kids (and as you already have experience in China, this might add to your in't c.v.). I've also heard that the best TEFL IN'T trainers (some guy named Dave Hopkins) won't leave Thailand.
There's also a course run by Text and Talk in Bangkok that has a good reputation for quality of training. A lot of people choose it over the CELTA because this school can help you out re. jobs/visas, etc.
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Post by Raoul Duke on Jul 30, 2004 1:38:50 GMT 7
Con, the only other one I know of that truly has worldwide repute is the Trinity/RSA. There maybe other good programs, such as the one Bill refers to, but to my knowledge the Trinity and the CELTA are the only certificates readily and unquestionably accepted worldwide. I think Bill is right in asserting that getting these certs in Thailand would be one hell of a lot more fun than getting it in China.
Of course, a degree in TESOL from a decent uni will command some respect, as will the DELTA- the degree level CELTA.
Otherwise, I'm honestly not sure it makes much difference in terms of worldwide reputation. You may well be as well off with the place that I see in the banner ads here sometimes: for about $250 US or so, they'll tear a TESL cert off of a roll and mail it to you.
I sometimes think about getting something like a CELTA. I don't plan to teach English full-time again unless I need to keep the wolf from the door, but you never know what the future will bring. I see a lot of CELTAs-only jobs worldwide that offer the same poo wages we get without one of these shiny papers, and wonder "why bother?". But then once in a while I see one of those drop-dead-amazing, sell-your-soul-to-work-there-type jobs....and they ALWAYS specify a CELTA, Trinity, or degree. That's when it strikes me as to why.
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Post by George61 on Jul 30, 2004 4:10:03 GMT 7
How long are these courses, and should an old geezer like me really bother about one? Of course, doing a course in Thailand, for example, would require holidays, which I don't have. I can just see myself in Bangkok, pretending to be a sex-tourist, while in actual fact, I would be a serious student.
I don't wanna be a teacher forever, either, but it looks as though I am fated to be.
So, Burl, please report back on ALL aspects of the Thailand course......when you get finished, naturally.
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Post by burlives on Jul 30, 2004 9:08:21 GMT 7
I'm looking forward to Thailand a lot, but I won't be going for some months yet. Among other things I have to get this huge wad of pinkies onto my credit card and I've just changed schools. A quick check with the BoC reveals that one is legally supposed not to have changed earned money until one's given contract has given one enough time to have earned that money. It also revealled a handsome collection of sweaty men with dirty clothes and tea bottles standing around in the lobby and ocassionally squatting on the front steps to be the local huan qian brigade. Walking away from that bank a friend asked, but where do the illegal money-changers get their foreign currency?
I should have changed money at my other school but they were doing something illegal too -- it was written all over their mute appeal for me not to ask them about it again.
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Post by slim on Jul 30, 2004 12:30:47 GMT 7
How long are these courses... Four weeks intensive. The company in Thailand list their dates at their website... www.eccthai.com/ |
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Post by ilunga on Jul 30, 2004 14:15:59 GMT 7
Interesting reading guys. I've been thinking of doing one of these as well but the cost means it'll be next summer at the earliest. Thailand sounds good but Prague or Krakow would interest me as well as I'd likely be returning to England for a short time next year. The CELTA sounds a bit demanding though for a lazy barstool like me  |
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