CELTA equal to Bachelor's degree?

[5jj]

I have been looking back through the thread. I may be wrong, and I intend no offence, but it appears to me that you are trying to find the easiest possible way to the highst possible qualification. There is nothing inherently wrong about that but, as a non-native speaker in their early 20s, you will not be accepted directly into any DELTA, DipTESOL or ESL Master's course. If you gain a CELTA or CertTESOL you will not be granted any exemptions on a Master's course, you will almost certainly not be granted any exemptions on a Bachelor's course, and you will have to teach full-time for a year before you can be considered for a DELTA or DipTESOL course.

The range of opportunities for non-graduate teachers is shrinking all the time, and for a non-native speaker jobs are virtually non-existent outside their own country. If you are considering a long-term career, then you should be thinking of going to university for a Bachelor's degree in English/ESL or, possibly, linguistics. If the course itself does not include a teaching qualification, then take a CELTA/CertTESOL in one of the long vacations. When you have your Bachelor's degreee and initial teaching qualification, you can worry about jobs, Master's degrees and Diplomas.

If you decide to skip the degree, I must warn you that you will find it difficult to get a job outside Spanish-speaking countries. It may not be easy in those countries.

I must also warn you that CELTA and the CertTESOL are not recognised in Britain, or indeed in most countries, as a teaching qualification for state schools. To teach in those, you need a recognised teaching degree or a Bachelor's degree plus a post-graduate Certificate in Education (a one-year course).

[bbq99]

No I'm not offended, you are right it's exactly what I'm trying to do, the thing is I'm in a really complicated situation right now and this way would be more convenient to me, by the way I think that there is nothing wrong with trying to find the quickest, easiest way possible even in an ideal situation. I already knew that before DELTA one has to gain the CELTA and at least one year of teaching experience, I also knew that being a non native English speaker surely doesn't help. I know that the range of opportunities for non-graduate teachers is shrinking (see Thailand) and that's why I'm asking, my intention was to teach in countries where it's still possible to do it without a degree and then get a degree that way in order to teach in countries where a degree is needed, like my country for example. Obviously being a native Spanish speaker Latin America is the first area that comes to my mind when I think of relocating. Thank you so much with your replies you really cleared my doubts.

[al-anwaar]

Is it possible for an ESL teacher working full time, to make other commitments such as studying in the evening to gain a degree, or would he be bombarded with lesson planning and homework/classroom activities marking that it may make it impossible to commit to other things ?

[5jj]

Is it possible for an ESL teacher working full time, to make other commitments such as studying in the evening to gain a degree, or would he be bombarded with lesson planning and homework/classroom activities marking that it may make it impossible to commit to other things ?

It depends on the job. You may find a job with 25 classroom hours in one location, teaching from a well-known coursebook. Unless you are straight out of a Cert course, you are likely to find yourself with plenty of time for study in the evening. If, however, you are tavelling from one side of the city to the other between classes ranging from complete beginners to CAE, as not infrequently happens in the early days of your TEFL course, you may not even have time to contemplate suicide.