TESL as an option between undergrad/gradschool?

Graduate School
1

<p>Man, those abbreviations are annoying!</p>

<p>Anyway, as I am completing the gradschool admissions process, I am trying to look at alternatives in case none of my choices pan out. </p>

<p>Now…those of you who may be familiar with my thread know that I am not really interested in teaching (as a professor at a university) but I am thinking about pursuing TESL in Europe for a while after graduating (if gradschool prospects don’t turn out) because it would allow for the following:</p>

<li> live in Europe for a while and getting paid…albeit, not much, but enough to get by</li>
<li> put into practice some of the things I’ve learned with my BA in Linguistics</li>
<li> I am particularly interested in Italy…the South in particular, but I’ll take what I can get! Thus, I would be surrounded by Italians and would be able to use my italian skills when outside the classroom (and inside to clarify things)</li>
<li> I would get some kind of true work experience and I would be allowing myself time to figure out what I want to do with my life…I may LIKE TESL and want to do that for a living…or I may end up otherwise figuring out my proper path.</li>
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<p>There are just a few things I am concerned about. i’ve heard conflicting stories in regards to official certification requirements. Is official certification required…whats the definitive answer, for those of you who have TESL’d in Italy?</p>

<p>Also, one thing’s for sure, I do NOT want to deal with children…I am totally aiming for adult learners here. If I am more interested in adult learners, is there something I should do in particular to make sure I would deal with adult learners? Would I look only at private langauge schools and are those jobs harder to come by than teaching children in public schools?</p>

<p>Lastly, if official certification is NOT ultimately required, would you reccomend it anyway for the purpose of training and would it even be worth the $$$? Are there any ones that are particularly good? </p>

<p>For those that do this for a year or two and have student loans, are they able to get their loans deferred or would they still need to pay during that time? How would that be done when You’re getting paid in euros at your teaching job?..lol, my loans would be my entire teaching salary…lol.</p>

<p>Okay thats it. Thanks for any input…I am considering this as an option in addition to applyign to gradschools because if I don’t get in anywhere or whatever, this, I think would be the “easiest” job to get with my degree…unfortunately, my linguistics major gets puzzled looks from employers (and this was just from applying to part-time jobs) :/</p>

2

<p>The few things I have heard amount to this:</p>

<ol>
<li><p>Certification is important, since there are lots of certified people who want to live in Italy. Cause, well, it's Italy.</p></li>
<li><p>There's a tremendous bias for British English speakers as opposed to American English speakers. I believe there is a UK-based TEFL program you can do online, however, which may give you a bit of an in.</p></li>
<li><p>I assume you know how to speak Italian, because that is also important. Some countries not so much, but Italy definitely wants people fluent in Italian.</p></li>
<li><p>There's a ton of paperwork you'll have to do with the area you're teaching - start it early.</p></li>
<li><p>If you have or can get EU citizenship, do it. For example, my grandma was born in Italy and never applied for US citizenship, so I can get dual citizenship for US-Italy. If you can do something like this, I highly recommend it.</p></li>
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