EFL

[cimorene]

At some point over the course of this Finnish class I formed a long-term career goal without noticing it. I'd like to teach English as a foreign language to adults now. I can't actually remember when I decided that was what I wanted to do anymore, though... also I'm not sure precisely what the qualification for that is like in Finland, but regardless, it doesn't matter too much because I won't be able to do anything in that direction until my Finnish is better. I still don't want to badly enough to move to Vasa. Eugh.

Comments

[anehan]

Long-time reader, first-time commenter. Hi! I hope you don't mind if I comment on the qualifications of EFL teachers.

I think that, to qualify for teaching EFL to adults, you'd need a university degree in English (or English Philology, as it is called in Finnish universities) plus pedagogical studies. I.e., the same that Finnish teachers of EFL do. As you wouldn't be teaching children or teenagers, I think you could do the pedagogical studies either at a university or at a university of applied sciences (= ammattikorkeakoulu). (If you want to know about the differences between those two pathways, just ask me.)

While the pedagogical studies are usually in Finnish (at least as far as I know -- I haven't actually studied them myself), I think it would be possible to study English Philology without needing to understand Finnish, depending on the requirements of the university in question. In my own studies at the University of Oulu, there were only a few courses that would have presented problems. And as far as I know, at least the University of Helsinki makes provisions for students who don't know Finnish.

[cimorene]

They call English English Philology - is that to distinguish it from English literature? Because the lady from employment bureau asked me yesterday if I intended to study that then and I was confused by it. I know about the Finnish school system preeeeetty thoroughly now anyway. Or at least the basics pretty thoroughly. But I didn't know that there were any kind of pedagogical studies at technical universities.

I don't think I could consider leaving the Turku area, but it seems plausible they would let me read and listen in Finnish where necessary and write exams in English, which they always offered to let me do at Åbo Akademi in ESF.

[anehan]

Heh, the lady from employment bureau apparently doesn't know much about the study options for English, then, because it isn't possible to study English Literature in Finland. I know that the name English Philology can be misleading; an American academic thought I was studying just the language when I told I was studying English Philology. However, it's just a fancy way of saying English as a Foreign Language.

The studies consist of linguistic, literature, translation, pronunciation and cultural studies, and probably a few other fields that I'm forgetting. You need a relatively high level of English to get in, so I think that a native speaker like you wouldn't get too frustrated. I have a Finnish-American friend who grew up in the US and who studies English Philology with the aim of becoming a teacher. I haven't heard him complain about the level of the courses. Also, a former teacher of mine from the University of Oulu said that when students from certain other European countries come there as exchange students, their English often isn't advanced enough for our courses. (Dear gods, this begins to sound like a sales pitch. That's not my intention, I swear. ^_^ )

There is another option for English students apart from English Philology, and that is English Translation.

[cimorene]

Well, I probably would not get frustrated, because I don't tend to get bored with English that's way below my level. Things I already know about it are still interesting to me, which is lucky because there's basically never been a time when I learned anything in school about the mechanics of English language that I didn't already know. Hm, except like, sentence diagramming, I guess. But I'm interested in the kinds of mistakes other people make and helping them and stuff, too. However! Some of that stuff would be unquestionably redundant for me - or much of it -, which is why I have resisted the idea in the past. But it's not like I can just move to an English-speaking place to study. I couldn't even afford to, for that matter, considering what they charge. And it's starting to seem like it could be worth it, anyway. ... And also it's plausible that spending less of the time on literature would suit me better anyway, because much as I love reading, for the most part it's hard to find anything I enjoy reading less than the works of the so-called Literary Canon. I'd rather read an equivalent amount of YouTube comments than The Scarlett Letter again, for example.

[anehan]

Oh yeah, the pedagogical studies at the universities of applied sciences. They don't confer with them the qualification to teach at primary or secondary school or high school. They are mostly meant for teachers at those self-same universities of applied sciences, but they are also useful for other teachers who teach adults. You need a few years of work experience in your field to be admitted into the programs. My mother (who teaches Finnish for foreigners) qualified thorough that kind of program, and she thinks they are more practical in nature than the university ones.

[eyebrowofdoom]

Huh. Not that this probably helps much, but in Australia, as a native speaker, to get a Teaching English as a Foreign Language certificate is only a short (few months) course at night school.

[cimorene]

Yes, it's always easier in your own country, isn't it? I remember that's the case in the US too, perhaps because it's the dominant language. But of course English is a foreign tongue here and the assumption of the systems in place is that the teachers of foreign languages will not be native speakers of them. In Finland there are occasionally people hired as native speaker teachers of foreign languages without formal qualification in the language in question, but to work in an official kind of school you need a pedagogical degree and usually a master's (but occasionally a bachelor's) in the subject area.

[eyebrowofdoom]

I know a lot of people here who've done it in order to go teach English overseas - in Japan or Italy. Their training provider had an arrangement with the overseas schools to supply graduates for these positions (at cheap wages?). But yeah, pretty sure they were teaching in some sort of adult/young adult private vocational training system rather than the formal education system.