Teaching ESL: getting the certificate for teaching in China

Some universities want to see a certificate regarding your ability to teach English as a foreign language.
The certifying organizations claim that teaching ESL requires skills beyond just fluency in English. It requires training in linguistics, second language acquisition, language pedagogy, methodology, materials development, assessment and evaluation, curriculum and syllabus design, and cross-cultural communication. The price ranges from less than 200 dollars to several thousand dollars.

The difference in price is correlated to face time with a teacher. If you are willing to take your classes online, you will get your certificate cheaper. The university of Berkeley in their extension program wants $ 4,000 for classes.

These certificates have various names: TESL, TEFL, TESOL which translates into Teaching English as a Second/Foreign Languge or Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages but mean all the same to your future employer. Since the Chinese employer does not care about the type of degree you obtained, get the cheapest one.

Before enrolling beware of the following scam. An institution will contact you (mostly via email) to apply for a job as a teacher. You send your resume and other documents and will get approval. However, before flying to China, Brazil etc. you need to get certified as a ESL, "We have listed three organizations with whom we have worked together in the past which are listed below, choose one that is most convenient for you." At the online price of $ 198 you will take and pass the class. Once you send your certification to your future employer, everything is dead. Your email bounces, the phone seems disconnected. The scammers have collected their commission from the certificate provider and have absconded. The prestigious school has never heard of the people that contacted you and you are the proud owner of a teaching certificate that makes the line in the unemployment line so much more fun.

Good advice is easy to dispense but difficult to follow. Dealing with foreign languages and cultures things do not go smoothly to start with. Finding out whether you are being scammed is even more difficult.
I have seen foreign schools be rather flexible. Only the most prestigious institutions may have stringent rules
for applications. In most cases you will be able to negotiate this requirement, e.g. having course work or practical experience be accepted as a substitute for the certificate or promising to take the exam once you have arrived at your destination and received the signed employment contract.

I have not taken any ESL classes, but my suspicion is that it is very difficult to teach how to be a good teacher.
Certain personality types are more conducive to eliciting responses, inspiring students, maintaining discipline.
Much of what teaching requires are soft skills that are close to impossible to convey.
If you hope that your teaching will go smoothly because you added another academic record to you resume,
you might be mistaken. If you think that it is another formalities, of which you have mastered so many already,
I am afraid you might be closer to the truth. But let me know how you fare.

Here you can see pictures of my experience as a teacher in China .