If you’re planning to teach English in Japan, or anywhere else for that matter, you basically just need to be a native speaker and have a college diploma, but it might be worth your while to get a TESL or TEFL certificate. What’s that? Well let’s go over some terminology.

l ESL- English as a Second Language

l TEFL - Teaching English as a Foreign Language. This term is predominantly used when English is being taught in a country where it isn’t the native language (for example teaching English to Spanish people in Spain).

l TESL - Teaching English as a Second Language. This is where English is being taught to non-native speakers of English in a country where it is the native language (for example teaching immigrants to the UK/USA).

l TESOL - Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages. This term theoretically encompasses both of the above.

There are many companies which offer courses to get a TESL/TEFL certificate. The terminology might vary from company to company, but they mean pretty much the same thing. Many of them can be completed online. But let’s say what it is not. It’s not a teacher’s degree or certifies you as a teacher. It simply is a certificate that shows you have completed an introductory course on ESL education. However, when looking or a job it can be a big advantage and looks great on a resume. To your potential employer and definitely to your potential students, it looks like a teacher’s degree. Many companies post a picture of their teacher’s certificates on the company’s homepage. I’ve been teaching English in Japan for 9 years. I don’t have a teacher’s degree or a degree in education. When I found out I was going to lose my job after several years, I decided I needed something else to improve my credentials. I had often heard of TEFL certificates and wanted one for myself.

 The first place I went was Dave’s ESL Café. They have a page with a wealth of information on TEFL Courses. You can check it out.

There is a bar right below the title banner. If you click the arrow, you get a long list of TESL company links. After checking all of them, I narrowed it down to a few choices.

Global Tesol College

INTESOL

The International TEFL Corporation

BridgeTEFL

In the end I went with Bridge TEFL. For course content, length, and price, they were the all around best choice for me. They weren’t the cheapest, but still affordable. It’s easy to sign up and can use a credit card. They have a variety of courses available, but I chose the 60-hour Educator course completed solely online for about $260. Like many companies, they offer additional real life teacher training workshops at one of their various locations. That would be ideal and if you are still in your home country, thinking about teaching English abroad, I would do that. However, in my case this was impossible as I have a family and very limited time. The course has 13 modules or units, the 13^th simply being information on job resources. Modules 1 through 12 are on a variety of ESL topics including teaching styles and theory, various skills such as vocabulary or grammar, and lesson planning. For each module, you must read several pages of text and then write and submit two short essays and/or lesson plans. You also have an online tutor, a real teacher who grades your assignments and gives you feedback. You have 6 months to complete the course and if necessary, can get an extension for an additional cost, but you won’t need to. If you’re teaching English already, it won’t be very difficult. The course can be completed in just a few weeks. I was working full time and studying on evenings and weekends. I got busy and took a break for several months, but was able to finish on time. After completing the course, you get the certificate. You can pay like $80 to have them send you an official one, but I just printed it out. I recommend printing several copies because after the deadline passes, you can’t go back and check your assignments or certificate.

Overall, I was very pleased with the course and the staff support was good.. Even though I had several years teaching experience, I didn’t know much of the theory behind it. Some parts were challenging, especially making formal lesson plans, which I wasn’t use to doing. But mostly, I liked it because I could finish it relatively quickly and then have a TEFL certificate in hand. I’m sure that certificate helped me secure my current job where I’m very happy. The ESL industry in Japan is pretty competitive and having a TEFL certificate can greatly improve your chances of getting a job. Good luck and feel free to ask me if you have any questions.