Hi All,

 

I know this question has been discussed in past forum threads, but I �m going to ask it again to get the most recent recommendations/information.

 

My boss is wanting to know which  ESL teaching certifications/exams are the most recognized/honored. I told him I would get with other professionals in the field (you guys ) to hear what you had to say and get your advise.

 

Being as how the company is Germany-based, it would probably be best to consider teaching certifications most commonly recognized/respected in Europe or the USA (a subsidiary). 

 

 In your experience/opinion:

 

What certificates have the most bang for the buck?  and what are the requirements? 

 

What are any personal experiences you have with them?

 

If you do hiring, which teaching certs do you tend to "a-list"?

 

Thanks for your help,

Douglas

Hi dear Douglas,

 

When I applied for a job in an English private School here in France I was not accepted because I am French and due to the specific English accent my oral registrations would have been too much French even if my spoken language is good. I was told that the mother nationality appears too much often and that it is a great inconvenient.

 

And the appliers were asked to have passed the Certificate of Proficiency (of Cambridge), or better the upper level with at least 1 year of training in a British - or a speaking-English country - school.

 

That �s what I can tell you with my humble experience.

 

Now if you want to work in a foreign business the BULATS (with both written and oral tests AND an interview) is the best way to be taken in account.

 

Hugs.

 

Maryse.

Hi Douglas,

 

The first questions to ask yourself are:

1) the level of the candidate

2) what do you need it for (university requirement, job, personal development, immigration etc.) 

 

I would say that in Europe Cambridge exams have the most recognition. If you were supposed to match it with the level: KET is A2, PET is B1, FCE/First - B2, CAE/Advanced - C1, CPE/ Proficiency - C2.

 

There are also professional - Business exams called BEC (Business English Certificate) positioned at 3 levels Preliminary (B1), Vantage (B2) and Higher (C1).

 

All these exams are recognized worldwide by all kinds of educational and professional institutions. You can check it at the website:                 www.cambridgeenglish.org

 

The advantage of these exams is that the certificate is valid for life.

 

There is also IELTS which is probably the fastest growing exam in the Cambridge bunch. It is not tied to any level, it can be taken both for immigration purposes (General version or IELTS Skills for Life - something a bit different) or as a university requirement (Academic). You get your results faster - in two weeks, but they are valid for 2 years. IELTS is also huge in Asia an Australia. The downside of teaching for it, however, is that you may get mixed ability groups - so make sure to design your placement test wisely.

 

I guess still the primary test to assess linguistic competence in the USA would be TOEFL. Whatever you do. It �s like IELTS - not tied to any level, you are just awarded a number of points corresponding to your language skills.

 

 

When we hire teachers, however, they need to have a University degree and a relevant English language teaching qualification (CELTA, DELTA or others) - for natives or English Department (B.A. or M.A. university degree) for locals :-)

 

When hiring others it all depends on the kind of job you are hiring people for, obviously e.g. for a cleaner at the airport KET will be perfectly sufficient, while for a company manager FCE or IELTS band 6,5 may not be enough.

 

let me know if I can give you a hand any further

 

best,

 

joanna 

 

 

Thank-you very much Maryse and Joanna!

 

To better-clarify. I �ve been teaching ESL here at a manufacturing company for about 8 years now. Being a native speaker (as Maryse mentions) got my foot in the door and over the years I �ve developed my position into being a staff "English expert" which means I also do translations, product training and other English related tasks that come up. The company is very happy with the job I �m doing and my success rate. I think my boss would like to add some credentials to my title to give it more "validity". So besides my degree, I am looking for one or two additional TEACHING Qualifications to "fatten my resume" so to say.

 

I �ve looked a little into  Cambrige �s CELTA  and DELTA (as Joanna mentioned), but am curious as to other possible options as well. My company is a world leader in it�s industry, so the qualifications need to have some prestige (you don �t know how much I hate using that word here, but facts are facts).

 

I need to provide my boss with a few different alternatives to choose from (taking into account time away from work, cost, potential applicability to the company, and potential for personal development). 

 

Anybody got anything more?

 

Douglas

Hey, Douglas,

I am a CTT+ Certified Technical Trainer, which might look better to your manufacturing employer than these other certifications. This certification is about teaching, adult learning styles, classroom set-up, etc., rather than about English. It is given by CompTIA, which mostly does computer/IT certifications. I got into it when I was unemployed in 2015 and learned that a local community college had a federal grant specifically for giving this training to unemployed people. Later that year, I also learned that Ohio has $5000 for each resident to use for education during a period of unemployment, so I took the training for the Lean Six-Sigma Black Belt. I haven �t had the opportunity to do the required project, so I don �t have the black belt, but I can still do that. I love to learn, and I especially love free stuff, so that 9 months of being unemployed was a special time for me.

 

Bruce 

Hi all,

 

Just to add variety... I am writing from Spain, where Cambridge exams are the most popular certificates, same as in many other EU countries. But... In the last few years Ive seen Trinity exams become more and more demanded. To give you an example, in March 2016 there were 28 candidates taking the B2 level at my local exam centre, March this year the number was 54!

 

This has to do probably with the fact that both are recognised & recommended by the Spanish CRUE -Conference of University Rectors

 

Hope that helps.

       

Thanks Bruce and Antonio!

 

 

This is exactly the kind of info I �m looking for. The CTT+ would go well with my MCSE cert. I �ll keep it in mind and teh growing popularity of Trinity is good to knwo.

 

Douglas,

Is that the Microsoft Certified Solutions Expert or the Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer? I was surprised to see that the initials (not an acronym, since it doesn �t form a word) can stand for either. I agree that the CTT+ would complement that nicely.

Bruce