Description
Teaching English as a second language—sometimes called TESL (Teaching English as a Second Language), sometimes called TEFL (Teaching English as a Foreign Language)—can be the most rewarding experience of your lifetime. Whether you are looking for adventure, a way to support yourself while traveling the world, a path to helping others, or all three, learning to teach people how to speak English is a kind of open sesame. And the TESL—Teaching English as a Second Language—certification program offered by the Tennessee Language Center will give you the training, the confidence and the credential to make magic in your life and that of others.
The TESL program is designed for adults who are interested in a career change, searching for a new vocation, interested in switching from teaching other subjects into English language training, now teaching English but with no formal training, or who have training but would like to further their professional development through continuing education in TESL. The techniques you’ll learn can be used to teach a foreign language as well. We have had students from their late teens all the way into their 80s, with a wide variety of backgrounds and motivations.
Our graduates are helping out here at home teaching immigrants and refugees as well as working all over the world. Our 150-hour certification program will give you all the tools, skills and confidence you need to be a successful teacher of English as a second language.
Courses
Course Types
Course Lengths
Certifications
Additional Features
Locations
USA
It feels good to be able to submit a review for a “product” I was completely satisfied with. Since completing TESL at TFLI, I have gone on to research and secure various opportunities – both ESL and non-ESL teaching experiences that were enhanced by my TESL training. TESL at TFLI provided me with knowledge and skills that served me in the following settings:
-Teaching ESL classes in paid and volunteer opportunities in Nashville
-Teaching 5th grade Language Arts as a long-term substitute for most of the year in a Nashville charter school
-Teaching junior high Literature and English in a bilingual school in Central America
-Teaching private ESL classes in Central America
The TESL course improved my ability to approach different aspects of teaching such as planning quality lessons from scratch, creating learning experiences that engage students every day, understanding realities of various methods of language instruction, and using a teaching method that is communicative – which means students learn to actually communicate in the language (instead of being unable to communicate after years of study, like the learning experience I had personally with studying Spanish in high school and college). In addition, the program helped prepare me for realities of teaching abroad, including careful consideration of work contracts, issues of safety in-country, and the cycle of cultural adjustment.
*For the course review you are reading, I gave a rating of “Fair” for TESL in the Job Placement category. TFLI will definitely help you with advice and information about a variety of teaching opportunities you may apply for, but “Job Placement” is a different thing than what they provide (and to my knowledge, they don’t advertise job placement). This felt unfortunate during the time that I had difficulty finding the right opportunity to teach abroad in Central America, but I eventually found exactly what I needed on my own.
If you would like to become a better teacher in general, consider TESL at TFLI. And if you would like to set yourself apart as an ESL teacher, sign up for TESL at TFLI right away.