Hi, I’m currently taking gap years and teaching English abroad. I’m planning on going back to college next year. Im wondering whether i should take the TESOL ( a teaching certificate) to make my resume more impressive in order to earn some scholarship. What do you guys think ? BTW my major has nothing to do with education
If you’re already teaching English abroad, then why get your TESOL cert.? It’s a practical certification - you get it in order to use it in employment. It won’t do anything for your resume that your current teaching experience doesn’t already do.
The only reason to get TESOL certified is if you intend to teach English in the future.
Which certificate are you looking at? One offered by the language school where you currently are working, or one that is internationally portable like the CELTA?
Even a local certificate only useful with your current employer would be a nice thing to include in a resume because it shows that you did put in the work and that you can be dedicated to a job. The CELTA (or another well-recognized equivalent) would be worth a lot more to you as it could help you land another ESL teaching job at some point in time. Dave’s ESL Cafe has a discussion forum for various certificate programs http://www.eslcafe.com/discussion/dz1/ and you could also do a bit of research at the TESOL International website to find out more http://englishlanguageprofessionalsresourceguide.com/
A certificate isn’t likely to get you a scholarship, but it might help you get a better-paying part-time job once you go back to college.