36 Part I: Getting Started in TEFL
In most cases, courses have a minimum age requirement of 17 or 18. To be
honest, you need to have an A-level standard education or similar to get your
head around it all, but more importantly, you should have the confidence to
manage people, which is something teenagers may struggle with unless they
restrict themselves to teaching small children.
There’s no upper age limit, but once again, the pace is rather hectic on these
courses. Be honest with yourself as you need to be the kind of person who
can absorb knowledge quickly and put it into practice to get the most benefit
out of these TEFL weekend programmes. Trainees sometimes underestimate
what is required of them and end up a little discouraged. So be warned.
Weekend courses are fast and furious!
If you’re not a native speaker, you usually need to show that you’ve achieved
an advanced level of English by passing an exam such as IELTS (International
English Language Testing System) with a minimum band score of 7. However,
even if you’re a native speaker, your grammar should be of a reasonably high
standard or else you can find yourself doubting your English and losing the
confidence of your students. You should know that your English is correct
even if you cannot explain why yet.
What you can do with this certificate
A certificate from a weekend course tells employers that you’re responsible
enough to undergo basic training before applying for a job. It doesn’t mean that
you’re now a qualified EFL teacher, regardless of what the advertisement says.
In fact, after a training weekend, you’re likely to feel a lot more enthusiastic
and aware of what the job entails. You won’t feel ready to go anywhere and
teach anyone but at least you know a bit more about how to put a lesson
together and the kind of the information students need. View the course as a
taster and tell employers that you’re keen to develop your skills on the job.
What the course covers
A weekend TEFL course follows similar lines as a full TEFL certificate because
it touches on most of the same course components but in a very brief way.
A weekend course should include:
✓ Basic grammar: There’s far too much grammar in the English language
to teach everything in such a short time, but the course should make
you aware of different tenses (you may think that there’s a past, present
and future tense and that’s it, but believe me, the truth is a little more
complicated). You usually touch on the different kinds of words you use
in a sentence too – nouns, verbs, adverbs and adjectives.
