Thread: Hello! Greenhorn here!

Welcome. You might want to come in September if you're planning to do a TEFL first. You'll need October to look for work and the second semester starts at the end of October.

I haven't yet registered for a TEFL/CELTA course, but I've been looking at IH Bangkok and Chiang Mai. IH has a nice website and I found positive reviews on the Lonely Planet forums, but it is more expensive than most.

Also, I'll be traveling with my girlfriend who already has her TEFL and some language teaching experience, so we'd like to be in a place where she can find work while I'm going to school. Any suggestions on where to look?Accommodation for two is a must. If theres other similar threads like this one, please pass them along. Thanks!

Originally Posted by Chase

I've been searching the ajar job listings and they all ask for it

Not really. Unless you're referring to the bottom of all the ads that says they "recognize all major full time TESOL/TEFL courses....etc." Even the non-ESL jobs have this listed for some reason (advertisement for the courses, apparently). If you look at the actual qualifications required for a lot of these jobs, they don't include TEFL certification as a criterion. I'm not in Bangkok yet (I'm leaving in about 2 weeks), but from most people I've talked to it depends on how long you plan to teach in Thailand or in general regarding whether you need TEFL certification or not. If it's not a career choice or you don't plan to do it for several years at least (especially in other countries), then it may not be a smart investment unless you've never taught before and need some observed classroom experience before you actually start on the job. I don't plan on getting one since a) I have classroom teaching experience, and b) I plan to look for teaching jobs outside EFL.

If you've never taught before, I guess it would be worth it. If you want to teach a subject in English or do test prep work then I definitely wouldn't get one. If you want to teach primary school then I definitely wouldn't get one.

As far as entry level jobs are concerned, I honestly don't know if you would get anymore money than someone without one. I doubt there would be much difference from everyone I've talked to. I'd be willing to guess most people take CELTA/TEFL/equivalent to better prepare themselves to lead a classroom or lesson, not for an entry-level bump in salary. If you've got ample savings, just fly to Bangkok, put on a suit and tie, schedule some interviews, and talk intelligently to some potential employers. What's the harm in seeing what you can find without a TEFL cert.? If you can't find much due to either no experience and/or no TEFL certificate, then you can always take a course and try again.

Keep in mind, I'm not on the ground there so I don't know how much weight my opinion has...