Speaking in professional or high-level English today is now more important than ever for effective communication and usage of media. Considered as the ‘universal’ and ‘official’ language in 70 countries, and utilized in many sectors of society – business, entertainment, employment, law, commerce, education and countless more, hallmarks our very need of it. Without it, we are hugely left behind in these aspects. Furthermore, Education First (n.d.) reported that 565 million use the internet, every day, while 52% of the world’s most visited websites are displayed in the English language.
This picture opens up a lot of opportunities for educators, especially those teaching the English language. How actually big is the market for aspiring educators? What will you be needing in order to be rightly equipped to teach? And what are the benefits you can gain when you become an online English teacher?
Why and How the Market is Big For English Teachers
The global job market for teaching English has three general aspects. These include:
- the demand for the English language is enormous;
- the demand for English speaking teachers is rapidly increasing from different parts of the world, especially in China;
- and third, opportunities are continuous for everyone.
The demand shall reach an enormous count in the following years. By 2020, approximately 2 billion English learners will come to the rise from 1.7 billion in 2015. One of the world’s leading ESL markets, China, has more than 300 million learners during 2015. This doesn’t count other countries in heavy need of English teachers, such as Japan, Vietnam, and Russia, the biggest country overall, among many others.
Furthermore, the demand for English speaking teachers, as enormous as it already is, will continue to grow rapidly. Forbes (2012) cited that 100,000 native English speakers are teaching English in Asia, and by this time that number has grown ever since.
The opportunities for teaching English is revolving. Turnovers are made each year in different institutions and platforms in English education, driving them to continuously look for new teachers. This means countless opportunities for teaching English for many aspiring teachers.
But if you’re now inspired or motivated to become an English teacher, how will you rise above the competition?
But don’t worry – having a TESOL Certificate will surely back you up. What is TESOL and why is it important? What are the processes involved to get one?
Why a TESOL Certification is needed for Aspiring English (Online and In-Person) Teachers
TESOL stands for Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages. It encompasses both terms, TEFL (Teaching English as a Foreign Language, applicable to countries like China and Russia who don’t directly use English) and TESL (Teaching English as a Second Language, for English-speaking countries but whose first language is not English).
Courtesy of TESOL Training International Cebu (2019.)
Before you can start teaching English to foreign students, a TESOL certification is usually required by various institutions and platforms. The certification will help you gain an essential understanding of how people learn, and how can you help them (English First, 2018). This will make it easier for you to teach English.
There are different TESOL certifications and training available. Generally, there are two ways you can about training. One is through online courses and the other through in-person courses. Both routes usually require a minimum of 120-hours to receive the certification.
In-person TESOL certifications will allow you to gain actual experience of teaching in an actual classroom setting. You will learn and communicate with your students in front of the class. Therefore, it will help you become more comfortable working with students. This certification can cost you up to a few thousand dollars. On the other hand, the online setting will give you the flexibility to complete the training anytime, anywhere. It’s also generally much more affordable (usually in several hundred) compared to in-person settings.
Reaping the Benefits of Becoming a TESOL-Certified Online English Teacher
The benefits of becoming a TESOL-certified teacher are indeed numerous in our current economic setting. The English language being highly spoken throughout the world, make English-speaking teachers very high in demand. On the other hand, there are three reasons that you should take an accredited TESOL certification course.
One is that it will help you break yourself out of the norm of teaching English in a traditional way. Just sitting in front of your class using a textbook, giving out boring quizzes like fill-in-the-blanks or word banks is not so popular today. Our world is evolving, and so our methods of instruction. A good TESOL certification can teach you to create lesson material using videos, comics, songs, and many more to make your vocabulary and grammar lessons never dull.
Second is that it will help your students become more motivated to learn English. And students will be more effective and faster in learning when motivated. In many ways, we can do this by giving out meaningful study material, where they can talk, play or interact with it.
Lastly, the certification will help you land a meaningful career. You can find different jobs from different countries like China, Japan, and other countries that can offer you good pay. But for many reasons where doing this can become difficult, don’t worry as there are online platforms you can use to get one while pursuing an equally fulfilling career as an ESL teacher.
We, at AcadSoc, value the choice of our employees to teach English online. We want to equip our ESL teachers to become the best ones in the industry by giving them free TESOL training and certification on-the-job – all at the comfort of their own chosen workplace.
