When you have completed one of our five-week intensive Certificate in TESOL courses, you'll be able to to work as a TEFL teacher anywhere in the world. Certificate Course Aims Key Certificate Course Content Success on the Course Dates and Prices 2008 Frequently Asked Questions Recommended Books Apply Now

The Certificate in TESOL Course

Our course leads to the internationally recognised Trinity Certificate in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (Cert TESOL). This is the first professional qualification for TEFL (teachers of English as a foreign language).

We have a great success rate on our programme: an amazing 100% of participants who have completed the course have passed and obtained this valuable professional qualification on our last 15 courses!

Previous participants have gone on to become TEFL teachers in countries as varied as:

• Argentina • China • the Czech Republic • France • Germany • Greece • Italy • Japan • Oman • Russia • Saudi Arabia • Spain • Switzerland • Turkey • the UK

No experience is required - the course is open to everyone with a degree-level education. Typical participants include:

• college graduates

• professional people looking for a career change

• teachers of other subjects

• people who see TEFL as a means of living and working abroad

• gap-year students.

Non-native English speakers and international applicants are also welcome.

If English is not your first language, you should have a level of proficiency in English equivalent to CPE, CAE or an IELTS score of 7.0, TOEFL 600.

Our Certificate in TESOL course will give you all the basic skills and the essential knowledge you need to find a good job as a TEFL teacher anywhere in the world.

In particular, you'll ...

• Understand and feel confident about the main features of grammar, phonology and vocabulary.

• Know how to assess the learning needs of your EFL students.

• Be able to design and evaluate TEFL materials.

• Know how to plan effective lessons.

• Be familiar with many leading published EFL titles.

• Be confident in using the main classroom aids such as whiteboards, OHPs, visual aids and dictionaries.

• Appreciate the needs and the problems of all sorts of EFL learners.

Here are the five units of our Trinity Cert TESOL:

Unit 1: Teaching skills

Teaching practice – you will learn about the main aspects of modern, communicative TEFL teaching, how to teach effectively with different materials and a variety of techniques. It’s also important to learn to assess the strengths and weaknesses of your lessons so you can build up a repertoire of successful activities for all EFL classes.

You'll have 6 hours of TEFL teaching practice, and you'll have the chance to observe our expert EFL teachers in their classes for at least 7 hours over the course. This will show you best TEFL practice in action, and give you lots of ideas for your own teaching.

Unit 2: Language Awareness

You will learn to analyse the relationship between linguistic form, function and meaning, so you can understand and explain this clearly to your students. You'll also study phonology, so you will have lots of techniques to help your EFL students sound more natural in English.

Most people are initially not very confident about their grammar awareness, so this is an important part of any TEFL programme. We've got lots of materials to help you get to grips with grammar.

Unit 3: The Learner Profile

Here you will work closely with one EFL student and learn all about his or her learning background, needs and interests, strengths and weaknesses. You will prepare and teach a one-to-one lesson - a very useful skill for today’s TEFL market.

Unit 4: the Materials Assignment

You will develop an extensive bank of your own TEFL materials from a variety of sources, so you create and assess classroom materials of all sorts. You'll also become familiar with some of the best TEFL materials available today, and learn to assess their strengths and weaknesses so you know how to adapt them for your classes.

Unit 5: The Unknown Language

This is always one of the fun elements of the course. You'll have a chance to learn a new language from scratch and think of the issues and challenges of being an adult beginner. It will also show you essential classroom techniques to use when teaching EFL to beginners.

Professional development – here we help you think and behave as a professional TEFL teacher, working as a member of a team in a communicative profession. You will learn to take more responsibility for your work in and outside the EFL classroom.

Our course is very practical.
We cover all the fundamental principals of teaching English. This will help you develop your confidence as you learn more useful TEFL classroom techniques, and cover all the fundamental principles of teaching English as a foreign language.

After the course you will be familiar with a range of task types for all sorts of lessons, and will feel confident about teaching in different circumstances anywhere in the world!

We believe our programme and our record of success will give you all you need to begin a successful career in TEFL anywhere in the world.

Every TEFL course provider is different. Our focus on quality, and the fact that we offer far more than the minimum requirements of a Certificate course, will help you become a confident EFL teacher able to teach in a variety of different circumstances.

That's why with our programme, you get FIVE weeks of training, not FOUR.

In addition, you will have all these advantages:

• Our excellent range of TEFL materials; we have a well-stocked study room with over 5000 hours of materials, a library full of pedagogical videos, and a vast range of TEFL resources
• Life in a busy language school, where you can get to know all the EFL students personally
• Daily contact with foreign students ..from all over the world (We generally have 10-15 different nationalities in school at one time.)
• Top quality teaching from experienced EFL teachers ..who are also examiners, exam writers, moderators and published TEFL authors
• Our tradition of success: We have an unbeatable pass rate. Since 2000, every candidate has managed to pass the programme. Not many TEFL course providers can say the same!
• Career guidance: Very practical advice about traps to avoid and how to ensure you have the best chance of getting the TEFL job you want in the school you choose

Q: What's the difference between TESOL and TEFL?
A: None, really. They are both ways of talking about teaching English. One reason for the two different names is that the two different exam boards, UCLES/RSA and Trinity use different names to distinguish their exams. We work with the Trinity exams, so we call the course TESOL but in practice the two can be used interchangeably.

Q: Are there differences between the UCLES / RSA Certificate and your Trinity Certificate?
A: Yes and no. Both Certificates teach the same basic TEFL/TESOL skills and require the same number of hours of teaching practice and observation, for example. Both lead to the same level of professional competence, and the qualifications have equal status on the TEFL job market.

There are some elements of the Trinity syllabus that we think are particularly interesting, though. With the Trinity Certificate in TESOL, for example:

You must study a foreign language from scratch for a number of hours to appreciate what it's like being an adult beginner again.

You have to do some one-to-one teaching, which is a valuable skill when you are a TEFL teacher abroad.

You have to create a materials project, so you get a lot of practice finding and making your own EFL materials.

All your teaching practices are observed by our teachers, not outsiders.

What's more, if anything goes wrong with the final marks - Trinity has some in-built flexibility so you can retake parts of the course by an agreed deadline. We like that flexibility.

In addition, Trinity have given us scope to teach to our specific strengths. That means that on our programme, you get these benefits:

You'll learn how to use phonology as an active part of your teaching.
You'll know more about how to use computers in TEFL teaching.
You'll find out more about how to use learning aids such as dictionaries.
You'll see our special innovative methods and TEFL materials in action.
You'll learn more about business English and tests for EFL students.

Q: I never studied English grammar. I'm worried I won't understand how to teach it. Is that a problem?
A: Don't worry. Many, many participants say this. On the course we'll help you understand how grammar works, what the key terms mean, and how to teach it effectively. There are lots of books to help you, too.

Q: What nationalities are in the school?
A: We have students from all over the world. Our classes are always mixed. At any one time there could be up to 15 different nationalities in the school. This is of particular benefit to you: you'll experience the learning problems of students from as far afield as Korea and South America.

Q: Do I need to do an 'Intro course' to get on a Certificate course?
A: No, but you will find the experience of an intro course will be invaluable. In particular, your familiarity with much of the essential terminology and basic classroom skills will give you a huge advantage. On our courses there are two additional benefits; namely priority booking and a special reduction for our Certificate courses.

Q: I don't live in Bristol. Can you help me with accommodation?
A: Of course, we have about 50 host families in Bristol and can easily arrange half-board accommodation for around £106 a week or self-catering. Contact us for details.

Q: Will I be able to continue with my part-time job during the course?
A: No. It's not a good idea. You'll have a lot of reading and preparing to do after classes in the evenings. You'll probably want to organise your notes and catch up on some reading during the week-end, too. You need to be giving 100% to the programme. After all, it's the start of a new career. Don't jeopardise it before it's even started.

These are the books on our required reading list. You must buy your copies and read through them before your course starts. Don't worry if you don't understand everything - much of the material in the books is covered in input sessions on the course. We want to be sure that you know your way around the books, and you should be familiar with the basic ideas before starting.

Learning Teaching - Jim Scrivener
(New Edition 2005)

This is a methodology book. It will give you lots of very useful information about how to make your lessons a success. You'll also learn how to approach different types of lessons - grammar lessons, speaking lessons, vocabulary lessons and so on. The style is approachable, and you'll find many practical ideas that you can use from your first lesson. You'll also see many of the ideas in action when you observe our teachers, too.
To buy "Learning Teaching", click on the image on the left, which will take you to Amazon.com.

Sound Foundation - Adrian Underhill

The other aspect of the course that trainees often worry about is phonology. What is phonology? Why do I have to learn it? How can I teach it? These are common questions. The good news is that this book takes you through the whole phonology syllabus step-by-step. It's clear, concise and full of lots of practical activities that will help you get to grips with every aspect of the sound system of English and how to teach it. We'll use the book for input throughout the programme.
To buy "Sound Foundation", click on the image on the left, which will take you to Amazon.com.

Practical English Usage - Michael Swan
(New Edition 2005)

This book is a classic. It gives you great explanations in clear English of every aspect of grammar - and more - that students can have problems with. It also gives examples of typical student problems and says why. It's organised alphabetically, so it's easy to find your way round the book. Basically, this is the TEFL teacher's Bible ... which is why every TEFL teacher we know has a copy.
To buy "Practical English Usage", click on the image on the left, which will take you to Amazon.com.