 Hi, welcome. Linda here from ITTT back this week with another live session. And this week, as you can see, we are talking about how useful is a TEFL qualification and is it worth pursuing? So yeah, that's what we're going to talk about today. And I have to apologize in advance. I have a little bit of a cold, a little bit of a stuffy nose here. And I have some tea ready. So I might have to drink a little bit more tea today than usual. Please bear with me. I might have to cough sometimes. I apologize, but it just recently snowed in South Korea. It got really, really cold. And I went outside, of course, to take advantage of the beautiful snow. And now I have a bit of a cold. So that's just how it goes, usually. Thank you so much for joining. Thank you so much for being here with me today. Don't forget to like and subscribe, as always, so you never miss any of our upcoming live sessions. This is a weekly thing. We go live every week, same place, same time with different exciting topics all about teaching English abroad or online teaching tips, TEFL information, all that good stuff. So yeah, please guys, let me know if you have trouble hearing or seeing me. Let me know in the comments. And also just leave a high in the comments and let me know where you are watching from today. I am in South Korea and it is 1030 a.m. Friday morning. So a little bit early for me. Not too early. 1030 is still okay. But as I said, I'm a bit sick. So still, I'm a bit tired. So please bear with me. Let me know, guys, where are you watching from today? What time is it there? How's the weather? How are you doing? Just let me know a little bit about you. And we are live on Facebook and on YouTube at the same time as usual. So we have viewers from both platforms here. We have... Oh, I'm probably pronouncing this very wrong. I'm so sorry. Eir Eklovya Kumar. Hi. And with Amal Enterprises, you look gorgeous. Thank you. I don't feel so gorgeous today. So I appreciate that. Thank you so much. Let me know, guys, where are you watching from today? How are you doing? Don't forget to like and subscribe. And also don't forget, we do have a 30% off discount opportunity, as always, for these live sessions. So what that means is you can get 30% off your TEFL or TESOL course from ITTT. So what you can do is you can either scan this lovely QR code that you see here and also throw it the live session. This QR code will be here in the upper right-hand corner for you so you can scan it at any time. However, if you can't scan this QR code, no problem, you can also copy and paste the link that I'm sharing now in the comment section. So it looks like this. It ends with Facebook Live minus Linda and this code or link will get you 30% off your TEFL or TESOL course. Any of our TEFL courses, we have a lot of different options on teflcourse.net today. And I hope I can make it through this live session okay with my throat, but I think it will be okay if you bear with me and if you allow me to have some tea throughout the session. All right, good. Awesome. So yeah, please, guys, let me know where you're watching from right now. Where are you so that I can just, I know, I can see how many people are watching and how many people on Facebook are watching, how many people are watching on YouTube, but I cannot see obviously your names or where you're from unless you leave a comment. So that'd be really cool if you do so. So I know who I'm talking to today. All right, we have Dam Tin. It's probably wrong. I'm sorry. Vietnamese names are very hard to pronounce. I think that is a Vietnamese name because you guys also have tones like in Chinese. It's a really interesting language, but very hard. So Dam Tin from Canada, British Columbia. Very cool. Is it very cold up there? It's probably very cold already over there as well, right? Did you get a lot of snow as well? Korea, it's very cold. We still have a lot of snow here as well. So, well, not a lot of snow. We have snow, but it's not actually a lot of snow. So thank you so much for that, for leaving that comment. And yeah, like I said, this is what we're going to talk about today. How useful is a Tefl or Teesaw qualification and is it worth pursuing? Because we're at the end of 2022 now. A lot of people are thinking about what is my goal for 2023? What do I want to do? Do I want to get a Tefl or Teesaw certificate? Not quite sure. So this is why we're going to talk about this topic today to kind of maybe, I hope I will be able to kind of help you out a little bit in making that decision. So, okay, cool. We have Eric, Claudia, Kumar. I'm just going to call you Kumar. Is that okay? From India. Awesome. Whereabouts in India are you? Very nice. Very early still in India, isn't it? Thank you so much for tuning in. I appreciate that. All right. And then, if you're watching for the first time, a little bit, an introduction about me, who am I? So I'm going to make myself a little bit smaller and you can see me still here. But yeah. So my name is Linda. I'm a travel writer and content creator among many different things. I do a lot of different things. So if you're interested in coming to Asia, traveling around Asia, particularly East Asia, Southeast Asia, so countries like Korea, where I am, or Japan, China, Thailand, Vietnam, all of those places. I also recently had a beautiful trip in Cambodia. Yes, India. I would love to visit. I have not been yet. So maybe you can be my tour guide when I come to India. That'd be really cool. So if you're interested in all that stuff, go ahead and check out my website, lindegoseast.com. And also on Instagram, I share a lot of content on there. I love taking pictures and all that. So, at Linda Goes East, I would appreciate it if you would check it out and maybe give me a follow and some likes that'd be really cool. I'm originally from Germany at the US. My mom is German. My dad is American. And I am based in South Korea. I've been here for seven and a half years and before that, I also spent some time in China. I taught English there and also did online marketing work in China as well. And then I moved to South Korea and I've been here ever since for seven and a half years. And yeah, I think that's about it. Then the other side, why I'm here today, because of ITTT. And I am a Teflon TESOL marketing professional here for this company. And ITTT stands for International Teflon TESOL Training. You can find us on the web, of course, at TeflonTESOL.net. And ITTT is a leading Teflon TESOL course provider worldwide. So, if you are interested in teaching English, I'm sure you are because you're here and watching this live session. You might want to check this out if you haven't yet. I also know that many of you who are watching right now are already Teflon TESOL certified and many of you are certified with a certificate from ITTT. So, I appreciate that as well. We have Daniel here who says hello, Linda. Hello, hello. Hello is how you say hello in German if you didn't know. So, that's awesome. Thank you for that. Hola, Daniel. Then we have Kacen, maybe Kacen from Sri Lanka. Very cool. I really want to go to Sri Lanka so bad. I actually wanted to go with a friend of mine, but then COVID happened and we couldn't go. So, I hope maybe in the future I'll be able to go as well. And Daniel says the tea time was super cool. Hey, the tea time, my live session on Instagram, are you referring to that? Recently I've been drinking a lot of tea. I also drink tea right now. So, yeah, I enjoy tea a lot. Any tea time is super cool. English and tea for everybody. For everyone. Love it. Yes, absolutely. And we have Leturk also here. Hi, Leturk. Good to see you again. Awesome. Thank you so much for your comments. I love it. Okay, let me turn this banner off and this on. So, again, we have 30% off. Just want to say that again. So, you can say if taking a Teflor tea soul course is on your list for 2023 or still in 2022, you still have a couple of days left, right? So, if that's on your list, take advantage, take this discount code and save some money. And like I said in the beginning, I do have a bit of a cold. So, I have some issues with my throat today. That's why I'm going to be drinking a lot more tea and maybe I might have to cough sometimes. So, please bear with me so that I can make it through this session today. But I didn't want to, you know, I didn't want to abandon you. So, I'm still on. It's not too bad too. So, I'm okay. All right. I want to start off just with kind of the basics because I also think we have a lot of new viewers today. All right. Here we also have a comment before I'm jumping in from Samander. Peace be upon you, Linda. I'm so happy by watching YouTube videos and lessons that's very useful for us. I'm saying hello from Uzbekistan. Awesome. Great. I'm glad to have you here. Awesome, Samander. Great. We also have another comment and question here from Raya Maji, perhaps. I'm sorry if I'm mispronouncing that. That sounds like a really pretty name, though. I like it. Do non-native teachers have opportunities abroad? Most vacancies require native speakers. So, yes, there are a lot of opportunities also for non-native English speakers. And we're kind of going to talk a little bit about that in just a minute. So, please bear with me and then we can talk about it. Okay. That's a great question. But yes, there are also opportunities for non-native English speakers. Okay. Good question. All right. And I'm going to make myself small again. I'll still be here, but I just want you to be able to read the slides and one more sip of tea here for my throat. And yeah, let's just start with the basics. I think a couple of people who are tuning in today are new to this. So, let's start at the beginning. What is a Tefal qualification or a TESOL qualification? So, it is kind of what I, how I like to explain it. Hi, Amitava. How are you doing? So, how I like to explain it is that it's just kind of two things, right? On the one side, it is just this piece of paper like this girl's holding here. And I should have gotten mine out. It's in my, it's in my shelf over there. But it is this piece of paper, which just is a certification. It shows potential employers and schools that you are a teacher. And with this, it is basically like a ticket, right? A ticket to teaching positions in different countries. So, it is a required certification. For example, in China, in South Korea, in many other places, many teaching programs like the JET program, the Epic program in Korea, the JET program in Japan, all of these and many other places as well, they will only hire teachers with a Tefal certificate, all right? There are also places where you probably can find a teaching positions with a teaching position without a Tefal certificate, but it is going to be a lot harder because also, and that's one thing we're going to talk about, the competition is a lot harder as well. Hi, we have Chiyo here. Hi, Chiyo. Good to see you. So, that is one thing. It is a required piece of paper that enables you to do those things. But then also on the other side, it is so much more than that. It is the whole course experience is something you do for yourself. So, you learn teaching skills, right? If you want to be a teacher and you're completely new to this, you might be a native English speaker or you might be a very fluent English speaker, you understand English, you speak English, so how hard can it be to teach, right? Well, very hard. If you have no experience with that whatsoever, it can be very hard to teach, right? So, a Tefal course gives you all the skills you need to be a great teacher. You learn about teaching theories, excuse me, methods, techniques, classroom management, lesson planning, you learn about how to evaluate and how to test your students, all the equipment and the teaching aids that you can use in the classroom and how to use it for different activities. And also you learn about English grammar, right? And English grammar, this part is especially useful for native English speakers because native English speakers speak, they just speak English, right? We just speak English. We don't necessarily think about the grammar. We don't necessarily might know about all the tenses and all the parts of speech and all of this stuff. So, especially native English speakers really appreciate these grammar units. And these grammar units also explain the most common challenges that English learners have when it comes to grammar and how to effectively teach those things. So, that's what a Tefal certificate qualification and Tefal course is for. It is one for just having this piece of paper in your hand, your ticket to go abroad and get a visa in different countries, but also for yourself to have these skills to be able to be a great teacher and actually offer value to your students, valuable lessons, great lessons to your students, right? You don't want to stand in front of your students and be a bad teacher, right? That's not what we want. So, that's what a Tefal qualification is basically, right? And you might also want to know, hey, we talk about Tefal, we talk about TESOL. What's up with that? What's the difference? What's going on? So, very basic Tefal stands for teaching English as a foreign language and TESOL stands for teaching English to speakers of other languages. Those two things, so whether you take a Tefal course or whether you take a TESOL course, both are the same training, the same units are involved in this training. The only difference here is where you are in the world, basically. So, Tefal is most commonly used within the UK and Europe. People there just call it Tefal more, whereas TESOL is usually what people call this in Australia and the US. So, depending on where you're from, you might just call it TESOL, right? It's like tomato, tomato. They're the same thing, just pronounced differently. That's what Tefal and TESOL is. So, it is basically one thing today. It has merged into one and just depending on whichever word you prefer, that's which one you choose, right? So, they are the same course units. Everything's the same. And at ITTT, if you take your course, you can choose whether you want it to say Tefal or TESOL on your certificate. So, it's really up to you. There's no disadvantage for one over the other. No. So, it's all okay. Hi, we have Anna Karina. How are you doing? Thanks for joining. All right. So, that's the difference between Tefal and TESOL. Really up to you and your preference. So, also a little bit about the teaching English timeline, how long everything takes. That's also a big consideration. The time, usually what we recommend is kind of starting with the whole journey about a year before your desired start date if you're teaching English abroad. Okay? So, if your goal is, hey, I want to teach English, you can do it faster as well, but especially in teaching programs, so like the JEP program or the EPIC program in Korea, the JEP program in Japan, they hire very early in advance. So, one year before your desired start date, you're definitely being able to make it. Also, six months is also possible, but the earlier you start, the better. So, if you choose a Tefal course from ITTT, for example, the 120-hour course, you have up to six months to complete the course. So, this is usually the step-by-step process, what you would do. All right? I'm just going to give you a second to look at it. So, number one, you would choose a Tefal or TESOL course, right? There are many different options. So, you need to browse through them. You can ask us questions. You can email us to figure out which course is the best for you. But generally speaking, most people take a 120-hour Tefal course. You start with that. You choose your course. You submit the payment and everything and then you are able to log in. You work through the units and you have up to six months to do that. So, up to six months to work through all the units and completed. A lot of people finish it much faster. When I took this 120-hour course, I was working full-time already, teaching in China and it took me between three and four months to complete the course. If you're really in a hurry and you have a lot of time, you can complete it much faster than that as well. So, it's really up to you, basically, how much time you have, which is great. That's also one huge advantage of this course is the huge flexibility. Even if you're working, even if you are very busy, you can still fit it into your schedule because you have six months to complete the course. So, that's why a lot of people also really love this course. All right. So, now you work through all the units. You completed everything. You passed and then you will receive your hard copy certificate. You will also, as soon as you pass your course, receive a PDF version of your certificate and with that, you can already start applying. You do not necessarily need your hard copy certificate to start applying for jobs because nowadays we all apply online anyway. So, the hard copy one you will really only need if the employer wants to see it or if you need to take it to like an embassy to get the visa, for example. But that's not even the case for all of the countries. So, you're fine with just the PDF in general. And yeah, then number four, you would apply for jobs and you would do interviews and then you would pick a school that you like and you would start teaching. So, usually this is how it goes. And like I said, it takes around six months, the whole process. But if you have your hard set on like a specific place, you want to join the specific teaching program, one year in advance is a good time to start. All right, Daniel says, is it like cat sub and cat sub? I've never known what the difference between those are. Yeah, just pronunciation. I actually heard, and I think that's true, the term ketchup comes from China originally from a, I think a southern province in China. They use the sauce. And of course, they had a Chinese name for it, which is kind of similar to ketchup, ketchup, I don't know. And then because it was a port city, it kind of got distributed throughout the world and it became super popular everywhere. So that's, that's kind of, yeah, tomato, tomato, Tefal, Teasel, kind of similar. Yes. And then we have Pedro, Pedro again. Hi, Pedro from Costa Rica. And Ana is from Brazil. Cool. How is the weather in Brazil? And in Costa Rica, I'm sure it's amazing. Kind of jealous. All right, I've always wanted to celebrate New Year's Eve in Brazil. I heard they all, you guys all dress up like in all white and you go to the beach. It just looks super amazing. And any place where I usually celebrate New Year's Eve, it's cold and it's not very pleasant. So that would be just so cool. Pedro says, yeah, it is great. The weather here is great. Ana too. It is beautiful. Yeah, I bet I'm so jealous. I want to come visit you guys over there. Pedro has a question. So let me just take this question and then we'll move on. So Pedro says, I do have a question. I'm not a native speaker, but I major BA in teaching English. And if I get a 220 hour training course from ITTT, may I have a chance to teach English in China? So with China, and I recommend you check out one of our previous live sessions about teaching English in China, they have changed things where they now also only accept people from those seven English speaking countries we talked about before. However, I remember Dan, who we did the live session with, saying, and he's a Tefal recruiter for China. If you go, for example, to a smaller city, not one of the major cities like Beijing or Shanghai, a smaller city, then they also hire non native English speakers with really good qualifications like what you have. So it's not impossible, but it might be a little bit harder. So if you don't have, no, you have a degree. I'm sorry. If you're a non native English speaker, China, I think nowadays is a little bit more tricky, but it's not impossible. All right. Pedro, what I would recommend is reaching out to Dan. You can do that via, hold on, I can get you the email address. You can email Dan and see what he says. There is, especially since COVID, there have been a lot of changes with things in China. Let me get this email. Okay, here. I found it. So this is a recruitment partner for ITTT, and we recently did a live session about teaching English in China. His name is Dan, so you can email him and ask about teaching jobs in China. He also does teaching jobs for Korea or in Korea, recruiting for Korea. Okay, good. So let's jump in. How useful is a Tefl qualification and is it worth pursuing? Let's focus on that. And what I want to do is talk a little bit, have a look a little bit at the benefits and then also the challenges or the drawbacks, if you will. And then we're going to figure out what outweighs what and is it really worth pursuing? Okay. So first up, we're going to look at the benefits of having a Tefl and T-cell qualification. So I picked five main benefits here. As you can see, I hope it's not too small. Number one is obviously access to job opportunities abroad. If you really want to go abroad, if you really want to teach English abroad, if you really want to go abroad and live abroad, teaching English might be a good opportunity to do so. It's an easy way to kind of get access to job opportunities abroad. Number two, you have, if you already know you want to be an English teacher and you have a Tefl or a T-cell qualification, you have better job prospects and usually teachers with a Tefl or a T-cell certificate also earn higher salaries. That's one benefit definitely. Then if you are an English teacher, and I think this is especially for people who have already been teaching for a long time or people who want to perhaps teach English, not sorry, who have been teaching English already for a long time or people who want to teach English online, it just increases your credibility and recognition as an English teacher. So maybe you've been already teaching English for a couple of years, 10 years, or 20 years, God knows, where at a time when a Tefl or a T-cell was not yet the standard qualification, now is a good time to add that to your portfolio to just have that additional credibility and recognition as a teacher. Number four, of course, the opportunity to travel and experience different cultures. That's always, I think, what a lot of people are also looking for. And then number five, that it is a valuable addition to your resume and it helps to stand out from other job applicants. This is kind of for people who perhaps want to take a break fresh out of college or at any time in life, oh, I just want to take a year or two and live abroad and then come back home and pursue another job. So teaching English can really enhance your resume and it can just stand, make you stand out from other job applicants, right? If you're applying for any kind of different job that's not related to teaching and people see, oh, this person spent two years teaching English in Korea. Cool, let me get to know this person better. It just, you stand out, basically. Okay, then Casey here asks, could you please tell us the level of English we should have in order to follow the Tefl, yeah, you need to be a fluent English speaker in order to take the Tefl course. So yeah, as long as you can check out our website, if you can read and understand the information presented on our website, you should be okay. So yeah, I would just say fluent, fluent in English, a good level of understanding. Okay, so let's have a look at this more in detail, some of these benefits. So number one, as we said, access to job opportunities abroad. So someone, that's the general rule, what a Tefl certificate is for. Someone with a Tefl certificate can find work teaching English as a second language, typically in a country where English is not the primary language, right? For example, a lot of people go and teach English in China. English is not a primary language in China. So that's why English education is very popular there, right? Everybody wants to learn English. So that's why there's a huge demand. Other hot spots for teaching English, again, Asia is huge, really most countries in Asia, East Asia, China, South Korea, Japan, Taiwan, then you also have Southeast Asia, Thailand, Vietnam, all of these places, excuse me. Then we also have Europe, of course, which is popular. And then also the Middle East is a popular area, Saudi Arabia or United Arab Emirates, Oman, Qatar also, and South America, South America. So those are kind of like the hot spots. Dam Tin is asking, what are the requirements to teach in Vietnam? Great question. I do not know by heart at the moment. Let me check. So we do have a very extensive FAQ page and I'm going to share that with you and you can check out, it outlines all of the requirements for all of the countries. So I don't want to say anything wrong. So please go ahead and check this out. I just pasted it FAQ. How do I get a job teaching English in Vietnam? And it outlines all of the requirements. So check that out. Yeah. Okay, nice. And then we have number two, like we talked about improved job prospects and higher salaries if you have a TEFL. So teachers with a TEFL certificate typically just have higher salaries compared to those who don't. And that was definitely the case for me when I came to Korea after I spent some time in China and I completed my TEFL course while I was working in China. And then I came to Korea. I actually, I found out when we were talking, when I was talking with my colleagues that I actually have a higher salary because I have a TEFL compared to my other colleagues. So that was also good. So that's true. That's so many true. And then yes, again, about the point with the increased credibility. So just adding a TEFL or a TSOL qualification to your portfolio really enhances your professionalism as a teacher. If you want to be a serious English teacher, having a TEFL or a TSOL certificate is just a no brainer. It's a must, right? To be taken seriously also. Also, if you this also applies for people who want to teach English online, if you want to showcase your qualifications on your online profile, having a TEFL there is definitely going to up the game and really enhance your profile over there. It just looks great. All right. Then the opportunity to travel, of course, and experience different cultures living in a foreign country just promotes also personal growth. You learn a lot about yourself, personal growth and development. And it also fosters a great understanding and appreciation of other people and their way of life. And this in turn leads to more tolerance and empathy. And it also provides opportunities for personal and professional networking, especially this last part with networking is very important. So if you're completely new to teaching English, and I've said this many times before, you might end up at a school. It's maybe, you know, not the best, but then after you are there and after you build these connections and you build your network of other schools and other teachers, you also have access to a lot more opportunities after that. So a lot of teachers kind of the first year of teaching English abroad is your opportunity to kind of build these connections, and then maybe find a better school, find a higher paying job, better position in a better city that you like, and then you move on from that. So there's just many different great things about that, or some people also kind of slide into other jobs away from teaching as well, that can also happen. And then the fifth point, what we talked about that the experience of teaching English abroad and having a Tefal qualification on your resume really just helps to stand out from other job applicants. So this is for people mostly who spend some time abroad teaching English and they have a Tefal and a TESOL and then they come back home and are looking for a regular job basically back home. And then when during an interview or in your application, when the HR department or the hiring team, they see that on your resume that just really looks great and it enhances your resume and it shows your willingness to take on new challenges, which is very important. It showcases that you have obviously experience working in a foreign country and potentially you have proficiency in a foreign language. And this just all makes you a more attractive individual to potential employers. All of these things are very highly sought after qualities nowadays, especially in big international companies. So this can really make a big difference for your job search later on. So these are five benefits of having a Tefal or a TESOL qualification. Now, of course, I also want to look a little bit at the challenges that all of this kind of brings with it so we can compare. Is it really worth it? Is it worth pursuing? So let's have a look. These are the challenges. And again, I've picked out five challenges of obtaining a Tefal or TESOL qualification. Number one, of course, the cost, right? It's not for free Tefal training. So you always have to consider the cost, right? Also, it requires some time and effort, right? Not everybody has time to do that. So that's another thing to consider. Is it a waste of time? You know, you're giving some hours of your day for that. Is it worth it? Then the third challenge I want to mention is that finding a reputable and accredited Tefal and TESOL course provider is not that easy. So it also takes time. Because again, I've said this many times before, you type in Tefal course or TESOL course into Google and there's literally hundreds, if not thousands of options out there. So how do you know which one to choose? It can be difficult. There are a lot of not so great providers out there. So you really want to find someone who's accredited, who's reputable, has a good reputation, all of those things. So that's a challenge. Then number four, obviously also consider that teaching English abroad is super popular, right? A lot of people are doing it, especially now that countries are open again. Most countries are hiring. It's almost like pre-COVID. So the competition from other English teachers is definitely a challenge. There are more and more teachers again moving abroad to teach. So you have to consider that. And then the fifth point, there are specific requirements and regulations in foreign countries when it comes to English teachers. So this is kind of something I touched on earlier with some countries only hire people from specific English speaking countries. So if you are not from one of those countries, you might not be able to go or some countries only hire people who have a bachelor's degree as English teachers. Some countries only hire English teachers who have a TEFL certificate. So you need to understand and every country has different regulations. So you need to really do your research and figure out, oh, what do I need to be able to teach in that country where I want to go to? And if I don't have that, how can I get it? Or is there a great alternative place where I can go to that fits my profile? So those are some of the challenges. And let's have a closer look into these. So the cost of obtaining a TEFL or TESOL qualification and I should have probably put our prices up here. Of course, ITTT is also not for free. So let me maybe check. So I don't say anything wrong. But basically, cheap, what this is something to take away, cheap and free TEFL courses, they really aren't going to get you the desired teaching job abroad. Okay, you probably Google TEFL before and then you've seen $20 Groupon TEFL courses and all that. They do exist, of course, very tempting. Oh, this is a $20 TEFL course. Why should I pay $200 if there's a $20 one? And I always like to compare these super cheap or almost free TEFL courses with budget airlines. The ticket is very cheap, but then you've got to pay for your seat, you've got to pay for your luggage, you've got to pay for your food, you've even got to pay for water sometimes, you have to pay all these additional things and this is kind of what a cheap TEFL course also will do. You have to pay to get your certificate afterwards and of course you have to do that because you want your certificate. You have to pay to get any kind of consultations, any kind of support, you have to pay somebody for them to review your applications and all of these things. So it adds up with these free things and suddenly free is actually not free and it turns out to be a lot more expensive than maybe a TEFL course that already costs a little bit of money is. So at ITTT and this popular course that we have the 120 hour course, for example, costs $249 US dollars and again we have 30% off. I just want to mention that again, 30% discount. So maybe you can do the math. I can't. I'm a language person. I'm very bad at math. But 30% is a lot. You will save a lot of money. That's for sure. So let me just share this discount code one more time for you guys so you can take advantage if you're just tuning in and you didn't hear me mention that earlier. This is the discount code. You can copy, paste this link and if you fill out your application, you actually get 30% off your TEFL course from ITTT. All right, then we talked about the time and the effort required to take a TEFL course and this is something I said in the beginning. So depending on the type of TEFL course you choose and also how much time you have, it might take between six and 12 months to complete the course. So with the 120 hour course you have up to six months. We also have a TESOL diploma course where you have up to 12 months to complete the course. So it's up to you. Like I said, depending on how much time you have, how busy you are in your study style, how ambitious you are, you can finish it much faster of course. A lot of people finish it in one month, two months, even two weeks. I wouldn't recommend going too fast of course, but it is possible if you are in a real rush. And then we talked about the challenge number three here that finding a reputable and accredited TEFL TESOL course provider can be very difficult. So you want to choose a provider that is well established, has been around for many years, has a good reputation. You can check this on sites like reviews.io, Google reviews, also platforms like goabroad.com and gooversees.com. All of those TEFL course companies listed there are usually a reputable. And up here above me you can see these badges that we received. So we are go abroad verified, which means we fulfill all of the requirements for a good reputable established TEFL course provider. And also here next to it is the go overseas community choice award. And we were voted best TEFL provider. And this was 2021. So we're waiting to see the results for 2022. We're hoping also that we will win that again. So that will come out very soon, I believe, and I will let you know. But yeah, so these are some things how you can check what is a good TEFL course provider. You should look out for things like this. And of course that they should have meaningful affiliations and accreditations. And if they have one badges like this and awards like this, you can be sure that this is a good TEFL course provider. Okay. Next up, we have challenge four and five. So number four, the competition from other English teachers. So the competition from other English teachers in the English teaching abroad industry can be intense. This can make it difficult for those with a TEFL qualification to find a job as they may be competing with others who have a similar qualification and experience. So you need to stand out. And I know I talked a lot about the 120 hour course and it is the standard course. But the problem with that is that it is the standard course, which means everyone will have it almost everyone. So what you can do, for example, in ITTT, we have courses, we have the 220 hour course, which is the 120 hour plus two extra specializations in teaching business English and teaching English to young learners. So you can take these additional niche specialization courses to further up your game and add them to your portfolio to further stand out and have better training, more hours compared to the competition. So those are some things you can do. You could also get some experience. You can either teach in your local community, local community, before you leave your country, or you could teach English online before you leave the country and get experience. So all of those things will kind of boost your resume. And I did a live session before about this topic, how you can boost your resume. So just browse our live session playlist and you can find it there and you can find out more about that. And then again, talking about specific requirements and regulations in foreign countries. So these requirements, they really vary from country to country, but they may include things like the educational and experience requirements. So like I said, some countries only hire people with a bachelor's degree, a university degree. Some countries might even look for master's degrees, but that's kind of rare. Usually it's a master's degree, a bachelor's degree. So that can happen. And then it's just important for you to research the specific requirements of the foreign country where you wish to work. So one useful place to go to do that is our FAQ section. So FAQ, you can just literally go to teffelcourse.net slash FAQ. And there's literally a post for every country and their regulations. So you can go there. And you can also, for example, contact embassies for that country in your home country and ask them for specific details, you know, what requirements are there to obtain this English teaching visa and they will let you know. Or you can also browse our job section, which is teffelcourse.net slash teffelminusjobs, for example. And you can have a look at what are the requirements stated in job offers for the country where I want to go to. So that's another good way to research this. And we have a questionnaire from Anna Carina who says, I paid for the 120 hour course. Is it okay to pay the difference to get the 220 hour course? Yeah, great. So the 170 hour course is also great. This is especially good if you want to teach English online, right? The 170 hour course is the 120 hour course plus 50 hours for teaching English online. So if you want to teach English online, I think this is the great course for you. But if you want to maybe go abroad or you just want to get more additional training, then definitely the 220 hour course is good. And I recommend you can definitely do that and pay the difference. But you need to speak with one of my colleagues. And I would recommend just emailing them. You can just email, maybe you already have someone you were in contact with, you can just email that person. Or if you don't email courses at tesolminusteffel.com. And then just let them know your name and maybe you have a student ID. And then we can definitely figure that out. Then you can pay the difference and upgrade your course. That's totally possible. You're welcome. Good. So those were, oh, it says the benefits. This is the challenges. Oh, I forgot to update that. So this is part of the challenges. I'm sorry. This should say challenges like on this one, not benefits, of course, I just realized that. Okay, so those were now the benefits and challenges. Now, I also want to talk a little bit about what can you do with a TEFL certificate. So now we've listened to both. What can we do with a TEFL certificate? Like we already said, and like we all know, it opens doors to exciting opportunities. So most people either teach abroad or teach online, right? If you teach abroad, there are certain hot spots that I already mentioned a little bit in the beginning, like Asia, the Middle East and Latin America, but places like Europe are also popular, but they're not considered hot spots because it is a little bit more tricky to get into there. And also the cost of living is very high and it can be challenging to actually live there decently. So typically Asia, the Middle East, have super high salaries and great benefits. So you have a salary range between literally $1,000 to more than $5,000. It depends where you go. And a lot of places also offer additional perks like paid airfare, paid housing, health insurance, pension plan, and all kinds of bonuses, contract completion bonus. You might also get like a vacation bonus, all of these things. And if you want to teach English online, you can also do that with a TEFL course and you can either work for teaching platforms or independently. So a lot of people also start their own teaching business. You can create your own website and offer your courses there or classes, lessons. And then if you do that, obviously, your salary, your pay, your rate is up to you. Typically, online teachers make between $10 and $30 and more per hour. Usually with online teaching, it is calculated by hour. So this is what you can do with a TEFL. You can also do a lot more. I have a lot of people who after a couple of years of teaching English, maybe moved on to work for a company that produces English teaching material. So like textbooks and all other kind of teaching material and they help with creating that material. A lot of people have moved on and opened up their own schools, physical schools. I have a friend here in Korea who recently just opened up his own school. A lot of people do that. A lot of people also just kind of slide into other jobs. After a couple of years of living, maybe abroad, you pick up, you learn the local language and you find a job at a local company, an international company, where people who can speak English and other languages are sought after. So there are really a lot of opportunities with TEFL. And even if you come back, we talked about all the benefits that has for your resume and for your job search back home as well. So now is a TEFL qualification worth pursuing? These are, I think, the three main things that you should consider. And what we talked about is time and money. So what we learned was that improved job prospects and higher salaries for English teachers, they really outweigh the cost and time investment, in my opinion. Like we said, a TEFL course costs around $200, but a teaching salary is maybe more than a starting salary in most places, more than $2,000 or more. So you easily get that $200 of money investment back. Also, the time investment, the flexibility of our TEFL courses allows you to also work while you're taking a TEFL course. So I think that really those benefits really outweigh the challenges. Then we have the international experience that you will gain from that. So I think the opportunity to travel and to experience different cultures and as well as the personal and professional growth and development you get from that experience really outweigh any challenges or obstacles in finding a job with a TEFL qualification. So that I think really outweighs the challenges and then also the personal growth. Just kind of the satisfaction of helping others learn a new language. So just the satisfaction you get from being a teacher and seeing your students grow and making a positive impact on this new local community or just a single person really outweighs any drawbacks of obtaining a TEFL certificate. Like that's literally the best feeling in the world for a teacher. If you teach something, you teach your students and then you can just follow and see their progress. That's just a great feeling and that is just priceless, really priceless. So okay, so at the end of the day, oh I also want to mention that we do have a blog. So if you're struggling still with this question, oh should I take a TEFL, should I go abroad to teach? Go to our blog. We have so many inspiration for you about where to teach, why to teach in Buenos Aires for example, why to teach in Korea, the benefits of teaching here and there. So if you're still not sure about where you should go or if this is right for you, just go to our blog again that is teflacourse.net slash blog and you can have a look at this very extensive blog library here. Yeah, and so let's recap. A TEFL TESOL certificate gives you access to job opportunities abroad. So if you want to go abroad, live abroad, a TEFL might be the ticket to do so. Also keep in mind, teachers with a TEFL or a TESOL have access to even more job opportunities and also earn higher salaries. So therefore a TEFL and a TESOL course also makes sense from a financial standpoint. It's a very small investment compared to the salary that you will make afterwards and also considering if you go to a country with all the perks, you get your airplane ticket paid for, you get your housing paid for. So you really don't have a lot of startup costs and then just the opportunity to travel and experience different cultures has so many valuable benefits like we talked about, your networking, personal growth, also for if you go back home, you have this international working experience which is super valuable. Yeah, it's a valuable addition to your resume and helps you stand out from other job applicants. So that's just a quick recap. So now with all of this information, it's really up to you to figure out if a TEFL or a TESOL qualification is worth pursuing for you at the end of the day. This is your decision. Considering all of this information, considering the benefits, considering the challenges, considering your own personal goals and what you want to do with your life and where you want to, where you see yourself. The only person who can answer this question is you. So yeah, ask yourself, is a TEFL qualification worth pursuing for you? If it is, great. And if it is not, also great. It's not for everyone. And yeah, I just hope maybe the decision to answer it or the opportunity, the, how can you say, you're answering this question? I hope maybe today I made that a little bit easier for you to find an answer to this question for you. So that's all I wanted to do today to kind of maybe help you get a little bit closer to your answer to this question, because only you can answer this question. All right. Good. And that is the end now of my presentation, my lecture, if you will, for today. This is how you can find ITTT online. And now I'm going to be answering some questions that you might have about today's topic or just some other questions. And I see Kason here has a question. So I'm going to take that first. And I'm going to make myself bigger again, because I want to see you better. So Kason says, do you have any accredited center in Sri Lanka? Okay, I think let me double check. We have so many different centers. Sometimes it can be hard to keep up. But I don't think we have Sri Lanka, unfortunately, Sri Lanka. Now, we don't have Sri Lanka. All right, let me triple check. Now, no Sri Lanka, unfortunately, we do have India. We have Nepal. So if you want to browse our locations for in class locations, have a look here. Here, we do have a center in Brazil. Yes, we have a center in Brazil in Natal. Let's see, we do have Brazil. So check it out, you can find all of the core states on this site. But also, if there's no center near you, because this is for in the class courses, so the in class courses are different to the online courses. In class courses, they last four whole weeks that you need to be at that center. And after that, you get your certificate for weeks. It is the same exact certificate that you get after our 120-hour online course. So it's the same. What you get, obviously, with an in class course is also teaching practice. You get to teach real students at the center that you don't have with an online course. But the certificate that you get from both is the same. So if there's no center near you, you can take an online course and you have the same exact certificate. So really, whether or not you want to take an online course or whether you want to take an in class course, it's really up to you and what you prefer. Some people just study better in a classroom with other students and you get to teach real students so that sometimes works better for other people. Other people might prefer just taking the course online because of flexibility. You can take this at home whenever you want. There are also no times where you need to be online. So you basically work through all the material on your own. We also have a tutor support option. So you have a tutor and you can ask this tutor at any time if you have any questions or if you just need a little bit of extra clarification. But yeah, that's a little bit of the difference between those two course options. And yeah, let me know if you have any other questions today. I'm going to be able to maybe answer one or two more questions and then I have to say goodbye. I wish I could stay on longer, but I can feel my throat kind of giving up soon. So also if you don't want to say, if you don't want to ask anything here in front of everybody, you can always DM me on DM me on Instagram or email us at courses. The email address I shared before courses at tsolminusteffel.com. All right, we have Raya Maji. I hope I'm saying is right. I'm so sorry. Asking which destinations are better for non-native teachers in terms of demand? Okay. Yeah, so non-native English teachers, if you have a degree and you have everything, you can find positions, for example, in Europe, you can also find positions in Latin America, pretty much, I think anywhere in Latin America. And a really good destination is Southeast Asia. So countries like Vietnam and Thailand, Cambodia, Laos, those places are really good for non-native English teachers. Also some parts of China, like we talked about. Also the JET program, what is it called again? JET, Japan Exchange, I forget what it's called, JET. JET program in Japan, Japan Exchange and Teaching program. There we go. The JET program is also open to non-native English teachers. So thank you. Not a problem. You pronounce it wonderfully. Oh, I love from Nepal. Oh, I love Nepal. I visited in 2019 and it was amazing. I really want to go back to Nepal. I really enjoyed it there. Everything is so colorful. I love that about Nepal. And the food was amazing. I miss my momos. I love the momos and the chai tea and everything. Great. Good question. All right. Good. I have time for maybe one more question and then I'm going to have to say goodbye. But I hope you guys enjoyed today's live session. I hope maybe you learned something. And like I said, maybe you are a little bit closer to your own personal answer, whether or not a TEFL or TESOL qualification is worth pursuing for you. That is my only goal. If I maybe helped, at least, even if it was just one person that I helped kind of making a decision, then I'm already happy. So yeah, definitely for me, living abroad, teaching abroad, I feel like everyone should do that at least once in their life. It's just, yeah, like we said, there's so many benefits to it. There's also challenges. Obviously, if you live in a different place in a different culture, it is challenging. But I think all of those challenges that come with it make you who you are and make you just a better person. You learn from your challenges and you turn them into positives. So I think there's really only benefits to going abroad and spending some time in a different country, really. And if teaching English is a way to do that, then why not? Pedro says, I enjoy your session. Thank you. I appreciate you being here, Pedro. I like seeing you. Awesome. All right. Well, I think this is it then. If nobody has a question anymore, again, even if you're watching this after the live session is over and you leave a comment in the comment section, we will still get back to you. Okay, Amitava has a question. I wonder whether there will be any more live sessions for the next two Fridays just before Christmas Eve and New Year's Eve this year. Yeah, I'm planning to do that still because, yeah, New Year's Eve, it all falls on a Saturday, doesn't it? Yeah, so next week and the week after still okay. I will still do the live sessions. Don't worry. It's going to be fun. Maybe next week we're going to have like a Christmas themed live session. So feel free to wear like a Christmas sweater. That'd be cute. I'll be here. Don't worry. Good question. Great. So next week I will definitely be here and the week after I will also be here. So don't you worry. Live sessions will be held. Maybe, I hope maybe some of you will join me. I know it's a busy time of the year but if you have some time, you know, I would love to see you there. So yeah. All right. Then thank you for asking that and thank you so much for all of your comments today and your questions. That was really, really great. I appreciate you. And thank you for bearing with me with my throat. I had to drink a little bit more tea today and cough a little bit in between. I hope it wasn't too annoying. And I'm looking forward to hopefully seeing you again next week or the week after or any time you have time. I will be here. Thanks so much Amitabh as well. Thanks for being here and leaving comments. Danielle says that's for sure, Linda. These live sessions have been of great help for me so far. I really appreciate that. Thank you. I also appreciate you tuning in and you always kind of making funny comments. I really enjoy that. I was like, wow, what's then you're going to say today? So it's really funny. You put a smile on my face. I appreciate it. Yifeng Huang says thanks. Thank you Yifeng Huang for being here. Thank you so much. All right then. I hope to see you all again next week. If I don't see you, if you don't have time, I just want to wish you Merry Christmas already. If you're not going to be here next week, I know some of you maybe have plans. So yeah. Oh, quick question here from Anna. Tefal tests. Do you have this? No, we do not have a Tefal. So those are different things. Tefal is a English proficiency test. So we do not do English proficiency tests. You have to go to the official Tefal on place. We do Tefal and TESOL for teaching English. All right. But they can be confusing. So I get it. All right. Thank you. Same. Happy weekend and Merry Christmas for anybody that I might not see again. So thank you so much. Amitabha says, best wishes and for your sore throat to improve on an SP basis. Yeah, I hope so. I hope it will improve. Thank you guys. Thank you so much. Okay, Samadu says, what about TESOL do you have? Yes, we have TESOL. Tefal and TESOL. We have both. We have both. Thank you. All right. Merry Christmas guys and goodbye. Have a good one. See you next week. Hopefully I will be here. I'll be waiting for you. Thank you. All right. I'm gonna go now. Bye bye. Bye.