Hello,

From the start of the next school year I aim to be teaching at PRIMARY school level in a PRIVATE school in VAUD.

I am an English national, I have a degree and I am interested in taking the CELTA course with the YL add on option early next year. However I understand that maybe it is better to do a TEFL course.

I am unsure which certificates are the most recognised in Switzerland. For me the CELTYL appears to be better qualification, but maybe the TEFL / TEFYL is the most recognised?

I have emailed several schools to ask for their requirements already and await their responses. In the meantime I was eager to find out if anyone has any experience in the area in Switzerland.

Many thanks to all.

Alex

I have CELTA and I'm currently teaching in Zurich. My understanding is that in Switzerland, CELTA is the best certificate to have.

Let me know if you would like any more information.

CELTA is the standard.

I did the TEFL, and was not impressed AT ALL. I'd have better spent my time teaching a monkey to replace me for coffee breaks.

What's your Degree in? Is it in teaching / education?

Go for CELTA!

Really, with whom? What was so bad about it? I recently completed an intensive TEFL course and found it to be first class (Cambridge Board).

To the OP - I understand that CELTA (with our without the YL) is a more widely acknowledged certificate, particularly in Switzerland.

Will you be teaching the full primary curriculum to a whole class or just small groups as part of an English language support programme?

If the former, you really do need to get yourself a proper teaching qualification. If the latter, you can probably get away with just a TEFL certificate.

Good luck!

http://www.americantesol.com/ This was the place. The entire course consisted of putting a few lesson plans appropriate for children together. The material was full of both grammatical and spelling errors, and the topper was that my certification arrived with a spelling mistake on the Diploma!

That sounds very shoddy. I would make an official complaint if I were you.

This is one of the reasons I moved away from TEFL into school teaching - there are just too many cowboys, permanent tourists and rip-off merchants in the industry. Anyone can set up a school, and pretty much anyone can teach, even if he can hardly string a decent sentence together.

Just look at the state of some of the replies to anyone advertising an English teaching position on the English Forum and you'll see what I mean...

You're right, but by that point I felt a bit like DB, and I already had a teaching cert. It was just that I was trying to specialize it a bit. I'm glad you had a better experience than I did.

I would have to agree. Whilst I was taught by a highly professional and respected tutor, I was a bit surprised to see the level of spoken English of some of my fellow students. A lot of had them had very strong foreign accents. Obviously this is not a problem in itself, but I would be pretty hacked off if I paid good money for English language tuition, only to find myself going home with a non-English accent!

I know what you mean. They let a Scouser join our course!

It's funny you should say that. My husband used to joke when I first started teaching that all my students would be speaking with a broad yorkshire accent. One of my first group of students were on an intensive course organised by the ANPE in Lyon (French equivalent of RAV) which involved a month long trip to the UK (working). This lot were all sent to Bradford and my group were the only ones who could understand anything.

Most people don't even realise I'm from Yorkshire anymore and my family and friends think I've gone all 'posh'.

I did a TEFL course years ago and was very happy with it but I think CELTA is probably better for working in Switzerland.

I am an English native speaker just about to embark on the intensive CELTA course in Zürich having never taught before so am quite nervous about it. Any tips or advice from previous CELTA graduates would be appreciated.

Buy Michael Swan's Practical English Usage and keep it to hand at all times.

Buy Raymond Murphy's English Grammar in Use and try to work your way through most of the exercises before the course begins.

Michael Swan's Learner English is a good book to learn about language interference, but living in Zurich, you might get away with just photocopying the German chapter in the library...

A friend has just completed the course. Expect to work hard, very hard ... she actually found it quite gruelling, but it will be worth it. Good luck.

Oh yes Murphy is like a bible to most EFL teachers. You can't be without a copy of that.

My friend did it over the summer and she said exactly the same thing. Prepare yourself for lots of hard work and not a lot of sleep for the duration of the course.

The problem is I do not have time to do a PGCE. Taking 3 months out to do a CELTA is already enough as I have a family and we need the money!

My degree is in French and Tourism, but there are no need for French teachers in Vaud.

I have always wanted to teach, especially primary level and I have a small window of time next year...this is why I am going for it.

Thanks everyone for their responses, they are really helpful.

Alex