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Sunday, September 26, 2021

DOT launches online course for teachers

THE DEPARTMENT of Tourism (DOT) has launched a 120-hour “Online Master TESOL Certification Course” for teachers of “English as Second Language” (ESL) in an effort to provide them the current and appropriate teaching methodologies.

TESOL refers to “Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages” and DOT Secretary Berna Puyat said the course is open to 200 teachers. She said the certification course for TESOL will be held from September 27 to October 10. 

The course, she added, is one of the initiatives of the DOT, through the Office of Product and Market Development to support and sustain the country’s ESL industry.

Puyat said like other industries, the country’s ESL industry is faced with an unprecedented crisis, with classes disrupted by the Covid-19 pandemic.

“ESL schools around the country have been forced to close down temporarily or permanently, leaving thousands of its teaching and non-teaching staff unemployed. Before the pandemic, the ESL market was a significant contributor to the country's tourism industry. It has seen the growth of various destinations of the country like Cebu, Manila, Baguio, Iloilo, Bacolod, Clark, Subic and Davao,” she said.

To ensure that ESL teachers would be able to carry on with their profession and resume the service to the source markets, Puyat said the DOT implemented programs in partnership with the British Council to help them develop a working understanding of effective online teaching theories and strategies to support the transition from face-to-face to online instruction.

“The Department of Tourism will continue to identify and provide other capacity building programs to assist the ESL teachers in navigating the online world of teaching while waiting for the re-opening of the industry.  This training program is also expected to further enhance the qualification of our English teachers,” she said.

Puyat said the Chomsky Language Training Center, established in 2018 to provide internationally-aligned and globally-recognized training programs to ESL teachers in the Philippines, will conduct the certification course.

She said the entry qualifications for the applicants are the following: At least one year of ESL teaching: Face-to-face/online (without TESOL certificate) · Certificate of Employment · CEFR Level = B2 (via British Council ‘My English Score’) or any Proof of English language proficiency level equivalent to CEFR B2 (i.e.: IELTS, TOEIC/TOEFL, OET).

Puyat said successful graduates of this certification course will be registered with the American Licensing Authority of International English Language Teaching, an online database that serves as a reference for employers to validate the TESOL Certificate of ESL teacher applicants. “Registration will be on a first-come, first-served basis. Interested participants may register thru this link: https://bit.ly/37oI0sa,” she said. (Cebu Examiner)



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