IELTS teacher training - a new option?

Work Teaching English in Taiwan
#21

[quote=“moomoojuice”]You don’t get what I’m saying. Previously you needed to have a CELTA certificate to become an IELTS examiner. Now anyone who does the short First Certificate course can become an IELTS examiner.

Of course the courses are completely different. That’s my point. People with CELTA probably feel a bit cheesed off that unqualified teachers can now take the easy, cheap route to becoming an examiner, whereas they had to take the difficult and expensive route. Are CELTA qualified IELTS examiners going to get paid more than examiners with the First Certificate? What advantage is there now in terms of job seeking in having CELTA?[/quote]

No, you are the one who is mistaken. You can not become an examiner with the First Certificate Course! Whatever gave you that idea?

The “First Certificate” course isn’t a recognized qualification. It is simply a means to prepare people to teach IELTS preparation courses. It has nothing at all to do with examining.

To be an IELTS examiner, you need to be well qualified.

#22

Ah. What gave me that idea? I was erroneously equating teaching IELTS preparation with IELTS examining. ‘My bad’ as a TOEFL examiner might say!

#23

No worries, all of it can be rather confusing! :slight_smile:

#24

Sorry about the hiatus, everybody.

We’ve been focusing on the educational aspect, and to be honest none of us are marketing or website experts. Perhaps we should charge more and hire someone to present/sell this for us?

To answer moomoo’s question: this course in no way enables you to become an IELTS examiner. To become an IELTS examiner you need a CELTA qualification plus three years teaching experience. (This doesn’t have to be IELTS teaching.)

The CELTA is a teaching qualification, but it doesn’t tell you about the specifics of IELTS. So even with the CELTA certificate it’s still hard to find work teaching IELTS. There is no qualification available for a moderately experienced teacher who wants to get into IELTS work.

Now that that’s all sorted out… The December date is not feasible due to the number of people taking long breaks. We’ve settled for 8 and 15 January, two Sundays, and have already started interviewing candidates.

Interest has been fairly high, just from this thread, and we don’t anticipate a problem filling the seats. I must say that the quality of the applicants so far has been reassuringly high. Our intention is to produce good IELTS teachers to meet the needs of students and schools, and we seem to have all the right ingredients. (Except for marketing.)

Anybody interested in doing this course should send a CV and covering letter to IELTSfirst.com

Thanks

PS Only one person spotted the deliberate mistake in the ‘jobs’ section. Congratulations! You know who you are.

#25

Update: We have a couple of places remaining on the course for 8th and 15th January. If interested please contact us ASAP.

Thanks

#26

Umm,

I actually caught 2 mistakes.

  1. The first one appears twice, on the [/b]How to apply and the Jobs[b] pages.

It should be “cover letter” not “covering letter”.

  1. The second one, on the [/b] about IELTS[b] page, paragraph 2

It comprises numerous reading, writing, listening and speaking tasks designed to simulate commonly-encountered situations.

Shouldn’t it be , “It is comprised of…” ?

Do I get a star, teacher :wink:

However, it does sound like a really good course, and something I would definitely get into, except I live down south and my weekends are given over to family stuff.

Any plans to offer courses for us “Southerners”?

Happy New Year!

Jamie

[/b]

#27

:laughing: Questions of style don’t count as ‘mistakes’. If you missed ‘profeesionalism’ then you don’t get a star.

Down south later, maybe. Let’s get the first one over with first.

2 places remaining, but we have enough to run the first one starting this weekend. Any last-minute entries?

#28

Let me see if I understand this. You are in no way affiliated with IDP, Cambridge ESOL or British Council. Unfortunately, your website leads one to believe you are (I think you may have some intellectual property rights issues).

Next, you haven

#29

had a room mate who was into IELTS - seemed to think it was a cushy number, but requied good grammar knowledge. Dont know if this is true. But if you only like teaching adults it sounds like a good option.