Teaching English as a foreign language abbreviated as TEFL points to all those educational programmes which are designed and devised for the speakers of other languages desirous to learn English language. These TEFL programmes offer education at all levels from basic to masters and PhD. TEFL degrees, diplomas and courses are highly valuable both as the proof of your fluency in English language as well as your capability to become teacher of English language. The job opportunities for TEFL qualified are numerous both in English and non-English speaking countries and not limited only to educational institutions only.


There are many educational institutions which offer accredited courses in TEFL. These courses are recognized by all the reputed organizations of the world. The TEFL courses are available both in traditional form namely classroom based courses as well as online TEFL programmes. These courses are professionally designed by the expert linguists and cater the demands of language teaching thoroughly. In traditional educational institutions, there are many career-oriented TEFL courses available. For example Cambridge ESOL CELTA is an enormously popular course in TEFL programmes. The course is available both as a full-time as well as a part-time course. The CELTA is designed particularly to train the persons who do not have any previous background in teaching of English as a foreign language. The course contents and activities equip the learners with the latest teaching techniques and practical skills. The learners get familiar with the basic principles of English language with the addition of teaching techniques and the use of audio-visual lingual aids in the classroom. The CELTA course makes you eligible for teaching English in all types of English language schools through out the world. There is no particular pre-requisite for admission in CELTA. There is no formal exam after the completion of academic work of the course. The students’ assignment work, presentations and class response combine into grades shown as A, B, C etc on the certificate.


Among TEFL certificate programmes, Certificate in TEFL is one of the most eminent programmes. This certificate course is especially designed to help the working language teachers who have learnt English as a secondary language. The duration for the course comprises only four-week.

Apart from TEFL courses in traditional educational system, the online institutions are also offering variety of TEFL courses. The online TEFL courses are especially helpful for those who cannot spare time to attend classroom lectures at language centres and manage expanses of taking admission. Some of the TEFL courses are available in CD-ROM format which help you complete the course sitting at home without the hassle of attending classes at some regular institute. Some of the online institutions offer combined TEFL courses. In these programmes, there is online as well as regular classroom work at the institution.

In most of the English speaking countries, summer camps are arranged which offer TEFL programmes. These camps are immensely fruitful for all those students whose mother tongue is not English. Moreover in these camps, programmes are also included for the guidance of TEFL teachers as refresher courses.