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Teacher Career DevelopmentTeacher career development is essential to the ongoing evolution and development of the ESL industry. There are many ways to look at and approach teacher development. In attempt to look at teacher development I have broken it down to education, experience, and training. Education is key to having a good esl teacher. Like all other teaching disciplines teachers should have a base foundation of education. In the case of esl teachers a university degree is often the standard to start with. It is debatable whether a teacher should have university degree or not but having some formal university or college education is a must. As a teacher you can learn a lot about the classroom, curriculum, and student development as a student. A good teacher is usually a great student. The field of ESL has teachers that have obtained education in different majors. Where in the industry English, Linguistic, and to a lesser extent ECE and psychology are generally looked favorable upon. But a major in a different study can bring different assets to the table depending on the audience you will have. For example business majors can be great with adult students. There are also Master degrees in ESL learning as well. Although a Masters degree in ESL is good it may not make a good teacher but is great for academic pursuits in the industry. There are also standardized certificates and diplomas like tesol, CELTA, etc. that are good professional development programs that help to regulate the industry. Those certificates and diplomas will open better paying jobs and locations to teachers. Experience is the next factor that is important to teacher career development. Starting out in the industry can be easy but that doesn?t mean that it will be an easy job. There are a number of ways for a teacher to get their feet wet. They can start out working for large and small private schools in foreign countries, work for Gov?t programs like NET, JET, etc. The type of training and experience will vary from culture, type of school, and type of ESL education. Any experience is good. As a teacher moves along they can teach different levels, age groups, or even train other teachers. There are also university teaching positions. Teachers can move into program development and management. But in the end it?s the experience in the classroom and teachers? personality that may set help them set further goals and evolve into stronger teachers. Teacher training is another area that is important to teacher development. Teacher training is often overlooked and can be undervalued in the ESL industry. Some companies or even countries consider bottom line financially the most important thing. So as a result teacher training is more important. The English language and ESL industry are evolving so it?s important for teachers to continue training through employers, training certificates, or conferences. Also being a teacher trainer will also help a teacher to improve upon their own teaching philosophy and in classroom ability. To conclude a teacher of ESL will need to consider that above categories. But was left out the most important thing for career development for an esl teacher is a passion to teach ESL.
