TEFL

Apologies if those of you have seen my subject and thought 'not another one'! and apologies again if I sound somewhat naive at points, I'm pretty new to the whole teaching english thing.

Myself and my girlfriend from the UK have both decided to take the plunge and take a TEFL cert - one of those 120-130 hours courses that offer part classroom/on-line lessons. We do not have degrees but have work experience in the sales field (I know not helpful!) and in our early thirties. My question is do these courses (either tefl england or i-t-i) genuinely offer you a chance to find a job abroad either in asia or latin america? I fully understand that it's not a very well paid industry and that it's a big change of lifestyle, but we are actually excited about this although both slightly scared. Another question is does anyone recommend a company that I should consider for this course?

I understand we are both somewhat hindered by the fact we do not have degrees, but we are both really passionate/hungry to teach english abroad and really want to make a go of it, we hope to be flying out by the end of the year. Hopefully in the next year or two after getting some experience we will go for a celta course (we do not have a month spare to do this now).

Any suggesstions/tips/advice is greatly appreciated. Happy travels wherever you may be.

I don't want to sound too negative but you will be at the bottom end of the job hunting market without degrees or experience. A degree + TWO YEARS teaching experience is supposedly the minimum requirement for getting a Z visa in China. Note I said "supposedly" because one hears of lots of shady employers, esp language mills that are not fussy & either employ people on tourist visas or obtain dodgy visas. Don't get your hopes up too high.

For Central America, you'll be lucky to find a job that pays anything You'll have to volunteer. If i were you, i'd definitely go for the "proper" certificate. CELTA or Trinity TESOL might snag you a job that pays $5-$6/hour in Latin America (that's without accommodation or flights and you'll have to sort out the visa by yourself)

Without a degree, you're limited as to where you can work in SE Asia. Basically that means Cambodia or China. But there are plenty of contracts in China. And even on $600-$700 a month (including flight and accommodation) you can live fairly well outside Beijing or Shanghai. Just research the school before agreeing to anything.

There are countless threads on this subject here on the TT robbie. Enter TEFL in the search box at the top right of this page and do some reading.