SELC Certificate IV in TESOL Course (Coming in May 2010)

The SELC Certificate IV in TESOL course will give you the skills, knowledge, experience and confidence to begin or further advance your English Language Teaching career in Australia or throughout the world.

Certificate IV means that this course has been accredited by VETAB (the NSW Government Vocational Education and Training Accreditation Board) and qualifies those students who complete the course to teach or train other individuals or classes.  TESOL (Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages) means exactly this, so when you have a Certificate IV in TESOL qualification you are qualified by the NSW and Australian government to teach English Language classes.

Levels

Strong Upper-intermediate to Advanced

Your Study

Course Length: 8 weeks

30 hours per week face-to-face including 6 hours observed teaching practice and observation of actual ESL lessons.

Sample Timetable

How is the course delivered?

The SELC Certificate IV in TESOL Course involves 240 face-to-face contact hours delivered over 8 weeks at our Bondi Junction campus.

In addition to the face-to-face sessions you will also be expected to complete study and assignment work on most nights.  It is a closed course, so no students can join the class once it has begun and there is a maximum of 12 students per class.

Where is the Certificate IV TESOL qualification recognised?Claire

This certification is recognised by all NEAS accredited language schools in Australia including TAFEs.  It is also recognised as an excellent qualification by many schools, colleges and universities throughout the world and will greatly improve your chances of employment.

Do I need other qualifications as well?

To be fully qualified to teach English as a Second Language (ESL) in Australia, a candidate must have a recognised degree or equivalent and a recognised TESOL qualification or equivalent.

What do I have to do to gain the qualification or pass the course?

To gain the Certificate IV in TESOL qualification you need to be judged competent in all seven of the integrated assessment tasks that run over the duration of the course.  These tasks have been designed to test and put into practice the new skills and knowledge you acquire over the six different units of competency you study.  There is no percentage score or grading system for each task; instead the assessor judges if the candidate is ‘competent’ or ‘not yet competent’.  If you only complete some units, you will be given a ‘statement of attainment’ for those particular units.

What is the course content?

The course focuses on equipping you with the practical skills and knowledge required to conduct professional and educative English language lessons in a confident, contemporary and dynamic manner.  Beyond this the SELC TESOL course will give you a first-hand insight into how a language school works and how to gain employment and pursue a career as a successful English Language teacher.

Five major strands of learning will direct the course content:

  1. The industry and context behind ESL teaching and learning
  2. English grammar – theory and practice applied to teaching and learning
  3. English language teaching skills and strategies (TESOL techniques/methodologies)
  4. Lesson and program planning, design and evaluation
  5. Classroom management and cultural awareness

The various components of the course curriculum are highly integrated and will therefore be presented in an integrated manner.  The mantra governing the course design and behind all the classroom activities is “How does this help to make our students and future ESL teachers more knowledgeable, skillful, versatile, dynamic and successful teachers?”

What are the assessment tasks?

The assessment tasks have been designed to test, in a practical and realistic manner, the skills and knowledge in the key areas that make a fully competent ESL teacher.

The specific tasks are as follows:

  1. Six hours of observed real teaching (2 x 15min, 2 x 30min, 4 x 45 and 1 x 90min sessions)
  2. Lesson plan creation and teaching resource development
  3. Grammar for ESL teaching test
  4. Learner case study
  5. Teacher Observation Reports x2 (observing SELC teachers in action)
  6. Learning strategy design for two different learning scenarios
  7. Focus Essay: TESOL methodologies and lessons from the classroom

Who are our trainers?John

As students on the course you will have two or three friendly, helpful, qualified and experienced trainers.  Our trainers have a minimum of 10 years’ experience in English Language Teaching around the globe and of course the required qualifications and expertise to train and assess on a Certificate IV in TESOL course.  Throughout SELC’s twenty-five year history our teachers have been our greatest strength and our teacher trainers are 100% dedicated to ensuring your TESOL course is an educative, memorable and highly practical experience that will give you the skills, knowledge, qualifications and confidence to pursue your English language teaching career.

What are the entry requirements for the course?

All applicants must demonstrate an acceptable level of English language competence, both written and spoken, to enable them to undertake the course.

Some measures of determining English language competence are:

  • Strong upper-intermediate level with a certificate from an accredited school
  • An overall score of 6.0 with no band score less than 5.5 on the (academic) International English Language Testing System (IELTS). The IELTS test should be taken no more than 12 months prior to a student undertaking the course.
  • Cambridge FCE certificate or above
  • SELC TESOL pre-enrolment English aptitude test and interview (see next section)

What is the application and testing process?

If you can’t make it to SELC in person, follow these enrolment steps:

Contact SELC directly or through your agent who will provide you with the ‘SELC TESOL Pre-enrolment English Aptitude Test’.  The test will challenge your English skills and knowledge in a variety of different ways.  The five sections of the test are:

  1. Multiple Choice
  2. Cloze
  3. Language Awareness
  4. Use of English
  5. Writing

Send the completed test to SELC.  We will mark the test and contact you to let you know if your English is strong enough to enrol in the TESOL course.  For some students SELC may decide a pre-enrolment interview is necessary to gain further knowledge of your English ability.  This interview can be done on Skype or by phone and SELC will contact you to arrange a date and time.

If you are accepted then read fully and complete the SELC TESOL Enrolment Form (see further instructions on the form).  You should also read the description of the Education Services for Overseas Students (ESOS) Framework before enrolling.  This can be found at www.aei.gov.au/AEI/ESOS/QuickInfo.  Scroll down until you find the link to ESOS_FrameWork.pdf

Please also send

  • A copy of your high school certificate and any other certificates or degrees
  • Your current resume (optional)

SELC will contact you on receipt of your application.

Important: Please complete the pre-enrolment test honestly.  You will only be sacrificing your time and money if the work you submit is not a reflection of your true English ability.

Once you have arrived at SELC, entry into the TESOL course is subject to successful completion of an onsite English aptitude test and face-to-face interview.  The duration of the English aptitude test is 45 minutes and the interview is approximately 25 minutes.

If you are applying at SELC in person then you only need to do the onsite English aptitude test and face-to-face interview.  The aim of the interview is to inform you about the course and to assess both your suitability for the course and the suitability of the course for your career plans.

SELC reserves the right to refuse entry to the Certificate IV in TESOL course at any stage of the application process, even after you have paid your tuition fee, if it is judged that your English is not yet strong enough.  Final judgement will be made in person at SELC by our course coordinator once they have interviewed you.  Please remember that if you have completed the pre-enrolment task honestly and SELC has offered you a place on the course based on your results on this task (and possibly the phone interview) then you will be able to join the course without any problems.

If upon arrival at SELC your level is judged not high enough for the course, you will have several options to choose from:

  1. You can take a place in another ESL course at SELC, subject to visa requirements, until you are judged strong enough to take the TESOL course.  It is usual practice that you pay your new course fees up front, while your original TESOL course tuition fee will be held aside until you are accepted into the course.  If this arrangement doesn’t suit your particular needs an alternative arrangement can be organised in person at SELC.
  2. You can defer your enrolment in the TESOL course, pursue you own studies subject to visa requirements, and attempt to re-enter the course at the next commencement date.  Please read the rules about deferring the start date of your course in the Conditions of Enrolment section of the SELC TESOL Enrolment Form
  3. You can choose to not undertake the TESOL course at any stage.  In this case the decision regarding a possible refund will be decided in accordance with the Conditions of Enrolment stated on the SELC TESOL Enrolment Form.

A note on visa requirements:

It is your responsibility to check the regulations for your specific visa type (student, working holiday, tourist) and nationality (category 1, 2, 3, 4, 5) and ensure that you are allowed to study in Australia under a VET or ELICOS visa and also make changes to your study plans.  Some nationalities are required to do a pre-visa assessment before being granted a visa to study in Australia (See the Visas section below).

Finally, please remember that this is a challenging course for serious students with a strong level of English.  You will only end up sacrificing your time and money if you attempt to enrol in this course before you are ready and SELC does not want this to happen to you.  What we do want is to provide you with a memorable educational experience and a qualification and skills that will benefit you in your future career and life in general.

Can you tell me more about Visas?

If you are from a country in Category 1 or 2 you can take the course on any one of the following visas:

  • Visitors visa
  • Working holiday visa
  • Student visa (VET – Vocational Education and Training)

For student visa applicants, you need a SELC ‘letter of offer’ as part of your visa application.  If you want to study in a SELC General English program as preparation for your TESOL course you still need to apply for a VET visa as this is your principal course of study.

If you are in a category 3, 4 or 5 country you may need to provide an IELTS test score and undergo a pre-visa assessment (PVA) before any visa will be granted.  You will need to use your ‘letter of offer’ from SELC when you lodge your application for PVA at the Australian Embassy or Consulate in your country.  Further details are available at www.immi.gov.au

Do you recognise course credit and/or prior learning for this course?

Due to the integrated syllabus, short length, intensive nature and need to work in teams throughout the course we do not recognise course credit or prior learning for the Certificate IV in TESOL course.

What are the differences or similarities to the CELTA Course?

The courses are quite similar as they both focus on practical classroom skills and providing you with genuine teaching practice opportunities.  Both are excellent and necessary qualifications in beginning or furthering your career as an ESL teacher.  Some differences are that the CELTA course is generally targeted at native speakers, is usually run over four weeks and its assessment system is not competency based as in the Certificate IV in TESOL course.

Why choose the SELC Certificate IV in TESOL Course?

There are many reasons why students have been choosing SELC for 25 years, but here are some key points that we feel distinguish our TESOL course from others on the market.

  • It is a serious, highly practical course that has been fine-tuned in house by our experienced teaching and teacher training staff.
  • It is a closed course, so you are with the same class mates and tutors for the full 8 weeks.  This means the course is designed and run to maximise your learning.
  • It is a maximum of 12 students per class with a minimum of 2 tutors.
  • Our course is run onsite at our English language school so you will be part of a genuine language school atmosphere and gain first-hand knowledge of how a language school and language classes operate.

If you have any more questions please contact us by calling (61 2) 8305 5600 or email info@selc.com.au.  We hope to hear from you soon.