metaTESOL

Dave's ESL Cafe is and for the foreseeable future likely will be the go-to website for ESL/EFL teachers around the world.  That doesn't mean it is still the best.  metaTESOL presents three contenders to the crown which in the opinion of this blog are already better TESOL portal sites:

1) TEFL.net:  In the opinion of metaTESOL, this site is the heir apparent to the ESL Cafe crown.  The has everything ESL Cafe does and then some including blogs (like TEFLtastic and Talkin' Proper) and an ESL links section that is actually active and up-to-date.   It is also much easier to navigate and more contemporary in design. 

2) eslbase:  This site has HUGE potential, some of which has already been realized.  It's well-organized, easy to navigate and professionally presented.  A thumb up from both meta and TESOL.  ;)  

3) UsingEnglish.com:  This site is low-profile but high-volume.  More students than teachers seem to use it but that could and should change.  It well-designed and state-of-the-art in terms of functionality. 

While we're at it, here are three pretenders to the crown that, in the opinion of metaTESOL, lost themselves in the pursuit of ESL Cafe and ultimately became pale imitations, not legitimate alternatives:

1) ESL Teachers Board:  This site seems to do okay in its own right but it relies heavily on all the same scripts Dave runs, some of which he has been using since 1995.  It looks, feels and navigates almost exactly like ESL Cafe.

2) Mark's ESL World:  Same as above only more so.  It is almost impossible to navigate and horrible to look at. 

3) Free-ESL:  This site tries too hard not to be ESL Cafe.  It still has potential but has languished of late.  The colors, logo and site design, while different, are weird. 

Is it all over for Nova?  The Japan Times is asking.  Hundreds if not thousands of unpaid foreign English teachers are waiting for the answer. 

Global TESOL College has had its registration suspended and subsequently cancelled by the Private Career Training Institute Agency (PCTIA) of British Columbia.  According to this page of PCTIA website, Global TESOL was suspended on June 11, 2007 for "failure to submit required documents and/or fees by a due date".   That suspension was upgraded to a full-scale cancellation of registration on August 16, 2007. 

What does that mean?  Evidently very little.  As of September 10, Global TESOL was still advertising courses for British Columbia and as of September 17, the Edmonton-based TESOL course provider was still displaying the PCTIA's logo on the main page of its website.  

That is the headline of a thread on ESL Cafe's Teacher Training Forum which mercifully seems to have finally run its course.  Look for the following headlines from the same poster on other other forums:  Hamburger vs. Prime Rib,  George Bush vs. George Washington and Yugo vs. Mercedes Benz.   

Just in case you missed out on recent TEFL job opportunities in Iraq and Afghanistan, here's one for North Korea. 

Alex Case is a prolific and insightful TEFL commentator.  I still haven't caught up on everything he has written over at TEFLtastic during the past month.  What I have had time to read I have for the most part liked, particularly his idea of an upgraded CELTA certification:

The Super CELTA (although Advanced CELTA might be a better name!) will be a combination of the CELTA just as it stands now and in-service training once you start your first job, which will be set by Cambridge and admininstered and run by the employers.

Many CELTA/DELTA proponents take the position that UCLES' two primary credentials are perfect as they are.  I can even recall a thread on ESL Cafe where one made the case that PGCEs could and should be more like the CELTA (in terms of format and length), not vice-versa.   

Alex's proposal is a breath of fresh air.  While current market realities likely wouldn't be very accommodating to an Advanced CELTA, proposing and discussing new ideas is vital to elevating and expanding a TESOL training debate which at present is limited to promoting variations on an arbitrary theme. 

While we are on the topic of teacher training and course promotion (see this post), metaTESOL would like to its two bits on the TESOL certificate course thresholds of 100 in-class hours of study combined with six hours of supervised practice teaching. 

Firstly, there is no problem with these numbers.  They evidently work very well for Cambridge and they apparently produce new teachers who are ready to begin teaching and, more importantly, continue learning.  That is the key:  teaching is a process, not a product.  Professional bodies in the field of public education seem more willing and/or able to recognize this reality.  Bachelor of Education programs in North America vary in length and format and yet result in credentials with - give or take - equal recognition.  TESOL could and should be the same.  Whether a course is 80 hours or 800 hours should not matter so long as the teacher it produces is classroom ready and professional development able. 

That's it and that's all. 

Alex Case of TEFLtastic is all over this one:  apparently there is a CELTA course provider out there charging applicants 50 pounds for an interview.  For the whole story, check out this thread from ESL Cafe's Teacher Training Forum.

Noteworthy aside:  it is interesting that a CELTA trainer who comments in the ESL Cafe thread is worried that this practice reflects badly on the entire profession of English-language teaching.  With no mention of Trinity, TEFL International or any other major TESOL course provider permitting the same practice on their courses, this seemingly innocuous statement speaks volumes in a professoin-cum-industry beseiged by rhetoric and beholden to (sometimes) shameless promotion.

This practice reflects badly on Cambridge, not ELT.