[keith t]

Hi AloraAnn

It's true that you probably won't need a certificate unless you want to work in a school. So it depends on your aims and ambitions in your teaching career!

You'll find nowadays that the majority of schools and language centres require a qualification of some kind. The most internationally recognised and accepted are the Cambridge CELTA and Trinity Cert TESOL. Both these are 120 hour, classroom based courses, and include some observed teaching practice as part of the assessment. There are several other good quality courses of equivalent length and content, as well as some good quality shorter and online courses. Very generally speaking though, the shorter and less classroom based the course, the more limited your employment options will be if you choose to teach in schools.

You mentioned that the children you're teaching may benefit from you having a qualification. This could well be true - many teachers find that they are more confident and more aware of themselves as teachers after taking a TEFL course, which in turn benefits the students.

Good luck with whatever you decide to do!

Keith