Chapter 3: Examining Courses, Qualifications and Jobs 33
If a school trains staff to use its own teaching methods, you’ve a better chance
of finding work with them without a teaching qualification. Big chains like
Callan and Berlitz employ staff in this way, depending on the location.
On the other hand, if you’re travelling to a part of the world where there are
few native English speakers in residence, but the locals have some dispos-
able income, you’re more likely to be viewed as a great catch by schools and
individual students looking for a tutor, despite your lack of qualifications and
experience. Being a native speaker can be your USP (unique selling point),
but try not to be complacent.Many EFL teachers have no training whatsoever but still manage to find work
and develop their skills while in the job. If you won’t be relying on an income
from teaching and are unlikely to spend more than a few months in one place,
a short taster course is probably all you need. Various organisations offer
weekend and short courses in TEFL that give you a taste of what is involved in
the job and help you decide whether teaching is for you on a long-term basis.In the UK, for example, Berlitz (www.berlitz.com) won’t employ a teacher
who doesn’t have a degree and teaching certificate. However, if you apply to
one of their schools abroad, you may have the chance to prove yourself on
their unpaid training course which lasts one to two weeks.
Unfortunately, employers don’t view all native speakers as equal. UK, Australian
and other accents from economically strong nations are viewed as high status
and are more sought after. Students tend to mimic the pronunciation of their
teachers and many have distinct preferences about the accent they want to
acquire. Countries that use English as just one of their national languages
often bring influences from the other language (or languages) into the pronun-
ciation, grammar and vocabulary of their particular variety of English. Some
students find Asian and African varieties of English, for example, less desir-
able than those of the single-language nations. Whatever your accent, practise
speaking clearly and accurately.When you start approaching schools, project a professional attitude, a sense
of humour and an interest in meeting and helping people.Once you find work, you need more than a great accent to get through the
lessons. If a choice of work comes your way, teaching conversation lessons
is your best bet for easing yourself into TEFL. Teaching conversation is a
little easier because you can concentrate on teaching less technical areas
like fluency, vocabulary and pronunciation and avoid tricky grammar ques-
tions until you build up your experience. It’s inadvisable to advertise yourself
as merely a teacher of conversation lessons though, as this can limit your