Yuppies urged to venture into ESL teaching

CEBU, Philippines - The Cebu Hub for English Learning (CHELE) is inviting professionals who want to venture into teaching English to speakers of other languages to take part in trainings of the TESOL (teachers of English speakers of other languages.)

Chele and the Asian EFL Journal have worked together to implement teacher training programs in Cebu. These will be held on August 12 and 15, 2010 at the Benedicto College.

Chele vice president Mila Espina said participants to the August 15 seminar will get a TESOL certificate, as this will be a crash course on TESOL, a global association for English language teaching professionals headquartered in Alexandria , Virginia , USA . Its mission is to develop and maintain professional expertise in English language teaching and learning for speakers of other languages worldwide.

Espina said the TESOL’s entry in Cebu will help professionalize the teaching of English as second language (ESL), a booming sector which can employ any professional in the province.

Chele is an association of concerned stakeholders that aims to make Cebu a prime international destination for English learning. It is a brainchild of Cebu Leads Foundation (CFL), a multi-sectoral coalition organized by a group of businessmen, corporate executives and civic leaders who are committed to help Cebu move forward by promoting livability, prosperity and good governance for all Cebuanos.

CFL president Bunny Pages said the coming in of TESOL in Cebu will help unemployed professionals learn the techniques of teaching ESL.

Paul Robertson, director of Institutional Strategies and a member of TESOL said teaching English to non-English speakers requires not just physical preparations but psychological preparations as well.

Topics of the training programs include changing methodology in ESL-EFL; developing trends in ESP (English for Specific Purposes); teaching Koreans and Japanese English; teaching English skills through reading and psycho linguistics in SLA (second language acquisition.

For the TESOL certificate course, the topics to be discussed are changing methodologies for ESL teachers, content based instruction and teaching grammar to ESL students.

Chele has also organized the 1st Cebu TESOL conference on August 12 to 15. Seminars and workshops will be done simultaneous in Cebu International Convention Center, Benedicto College and Cebu Doctors’ University.