Newbie
Is there an official website to take a TEFL certification course?
Also, what are the chances of being able to teach in Moscow with a TEFL certification and no prior teaching experience? I'm 18 and a native American. If I get a TEFL certification, would it be enough to get a job teaching? I have looked into CELTA as well, but there are no locations near me to take this course, so I'm asking only about TEFL. Thank you in advance for your help.
Contributing Member
I used teflexpress and did an online course (the link is below). I now work in Moscow as a native speaking efl teacher. I would say it is very possible to get a job here if you apply to the right job. Look on tefl.com as there are always jobs posted on there.
http://www.teflexpress.co.uk/buddy12...ed_TEFL_Course
Enter Buddy555696240 in the enter buddy code box
Good luck!
Contributing Member
The code will give you a large discount on the course fees
Jedi Knight
MOST schools will not hire an 18 year old. Those who do won't care if you have tefl certificate or not. especially an online one which is considered near useless. the real schools won't accept them and celta and trinity tesol are the gold standard. you can do celta in Moscow. more and more places are demanding university education and even Master degrees in tesol.but there are plenty of mickey mouse operations that require nothing. most of those are found by walking up to them and asking, not advertised online.Originally Posted by AmeriRussia
cured
Newbie
I moved here with just a TEFL and a uni degree, no teaching experience, and got hired fairly easily. I know someone who is only 19 and works as an English teacher. He only had a certificate, though I think he may have CELTA. Anyway, try something like BKC-IH. If you are good at what you do/prove yourself in your application, you can possibly get hired.
Contributing Member
I was teaching English whilst I was in Moscow. I used friends who were working as Au pairs and put up advertisements inside apartment buildings with my details etc. I had 4 families I taught regularly (twice a week) and a few others who were a bit more erratic. I only really needed the money so I could go out at night so wasn't too bothered about how much they paid me as long as it was fair. Most of them paid me 800p for 60 minutes, which for me being 19 and never having taught English before was awesome.
I also had no idea what I was doing most for the time, so when first meeting a student I told a few lies about my experience and just used my common sense and the internet for what to teach them. As long as it's correct and they learn something, the people will be happy.
I also tended to try and stick to teaching young children who were still learning to read and write in Russian themselves. There was no need to teach them grammar etc. but more just speak English to them and teach them words that were relevant to them (food they were eating, clothing etc.)
Plus I got friendly with one of the families so stopped charging them and instead went round to theirs for dinner a few nights a week and got to practice my Russian with the parents, which really helped a lot. Plus they have also said I can now stay in their apartment whenever I am in Moscow in the future (for free) so all worked out well in the end :P
Contributing Member
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Last edited by elliott1993; 12-05-2013 at 00:13. Reason: posted twice by mistake
Newbie
I plan to finish my TEFL course in a few months and need a list of reputable language schools/businesses in Moscow or nearby regions. I will also need to advertise so I could give private tuition. Any advice would be appreciated. My wife is Russian and lives in Ryazan but TEFL opportunities are nonexistent there.
