TESOL Certificate and Diploma

[Julie 1]

In my last post, I talked about my master’s degree in TESOL (Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages). If you want to be an ESL/EFL teacher but do not plan to obtain a master’s degree, TESOL Certificate or TESOL Diploma is suitable for you! In Canada, private language institutes require ESL teachers to have the TESOL Certificate. The public education system (e.g., public high schools) requires ESL teachers to have the TESOL Diploma. Although I have a master’s degree in TESOL, I still need a TESOL Certificate or TESOL Diploma to work as an ESL teacher in Canada.

To obtain the TESOL Certificate, you could enroll in a TESOL Certificate Program. You could search for TESOL Certificate Programs online and find a local language institute to take the training. For example, London Language Institute offers the ACE TESOL Certificate Program (https://www.llinstitute.com/tesl-canada/).  The ESL teacher training course includes 100 hours of classroom instruction and a 20-hour supervised practicum. The topics covered in the course include Teaching and learning theory, Current methodology, Lesson and Unit Planning, Teaching Language Systems, Testing and Evaluation, etc. Applicants are recommended to possess an undergraduate degree.

London Language Institute also offers the TESOL Diploma Program (https://www.llinstitute.com/tesl-ontario/). The course contains 150 hours of online instruction and a 30-hour supervised practicum. The topics covered in the course include Language Learning and Society, Adult ESL in Canada Teaching, Teaching Methodologies, Introduction to Linguistics, Phonology, Morphology and Semantics, Pedagogical Grammar, etc.