| The benefits of a TEFL, TESL or TESOL certificate | | | | of the job. In most cases, an actual face to face |
| when searching for an ESL teaching job cannot be | | | | interview with your employer is not practical. They will |
| overstated. Although it may technically be possible to | | | | have little to go on before making a decision about |
| get an ESL teaching job without the traditional | | | | whether or not to hire you, and the confidence that |
| certification, you will likely find that the types of jobs | | | | comes along with selecting from among TESOL |
| available to you will be severely limited. For instance, if | | | | certified teachers offers employers some amount of |
| you hope to one day be able to teach English in any | | | | peace of mind. |
| of the more popular European countries such as | | | | However, as I said earlier, it is possible to get an ESL |
| France, Germany, Italy, or Spain then you will find your | | | | teaching job without TESOL certification. In some rare |
| chances to be nearly non-existent without a TESOL | | | | cases, there may be little or no difference between a |
| or equivalent certificate. However, you may wonder | | | | job offered to an uncertified teacher and one offered |
| why you need a certificate in order to teach English | | | | to a certified teacher. In the vast majority of cases, |
| abroad. There are many reasons, but perhaps the | | | | however, the uncertified teacher will be offered a job |
| most important is that it demonstrates a level of | | | | that pays less and includes fewer benefits than the job |
| competence in a very specialized field. | | | | offered to a certified teacher. |
| ESL teaching is not like all other forms of teaching. | | | | Aside from these practical concerns, there is the |
| There are many unique challenges and techniques that | | | | advantage of making connections with other people in |
| an ESL teacher will need to draw upon in order to be | | | | the ESL field. When you take a certification course, |
| effective, and many of these are taught in TESOL | | | | you are often connected with people whose job it is |
| certificate programs. A potential employer can rest | | | | to help you find a position that suits your desires and |
| assured that certain standards will be met by certified | | | | abilities. Finally, most TESOL certificate programs will |
| teachers, and they can also be sure that the teachers | | | | give you access to boards and job lists that would |
| they hire will be equipped for the more unique aspects | | | | otherwise be unavailable to you. |