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.

[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.