Associateship in TESOL

Our TESOL teacher training certificate is accredited by the College of Teachers established by Royal Charter. This accreditation means that our courses have reached specific standards set by this long-established external validating body. You can be sure that your course materials are not only of the highest quality, but also that your certificate will be accepted worldwide. This is a well-respected body .

The British Council recognizes the College as a validating body, together with the University of Cambridge Local Examinations Syndicate of Teachers, Trinity College London and UK universities. Our TESOL course is accredited by the College of Teachers and is the higher level Associate of the College of Teachers’ certificate – ACoT (TESOL) - not the lower level College of Teachers’ Certificate of Educational Studies - COES (TESOL).

The TESOL-direct TESOL course is expected to provide 150 hours of study, but you can work at your own pace. There are no deadlines or time limits of any sort.

The Associateship in TESOL syllabus is outlined below; more detail can be found on our website:

TESOL Module 1 - The Fundamentals Language teaching, language learning: approaches to teaching English. Working in the classroom: the teacher, the classroom and teaching skills. Language awareness: the grammar of English and how to approach it. Issues in presenting new language: how to do it in a practical way.

TESOL Module 2 - Teaching the Four Language Skills How to teach speaking skills: teaching the sounds, stress and intonation of English. How to teach listening skills: practical approaches you can use in the classroom. How to teach reading skills: practical ideas in teaching intensive and extensive reading. How to teach writing skills: from individual sentences to descriptive passages.

TESOL Module 3 - Practical Skills for the TESOL teacher Lesson planning: a template for the preparation of your lessons.

Teaching vocabulary: how to teach new language quickly and clearly. Practical language activities: a collection of practical and enjoyable teaching activities. Testing in the classroom: a practical approach to assessing your students.

There are assignments at the end of each module. You will complete these and send them to your course tutor. The normal method is by email attachment, but you can also send them by post. Feedback from course tutors will normally be sent back as an email attachment in a maximum of 10 days, but often feedback is sent out significantly quicker than this. Tutors will provide you with full support. Feedback is comprehensive and will include careful comments on your work, together with suggestions and recommendations. If you send in eight pages of work in answer to the assignments for a module, we will probably send you back about eight pages of feedback on your work.

The assignments consist of a range of different tasks and include the following:

a 1000 word essay on:

a student’s own language learning experiences

suggestions on how to teach a new element of grammar

definitions of technical terms in TESOL

use of the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA)

multiple-choice questions defining new words suggestions on how to use a taped passage with a class analysis of classroom situations

suggestions on how to teach new words

analysis of a lesson plan

lesson plan preparation