Australian residents receive Certificate in TESOL through USQ

Seven people will receive Certificates in Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL) at a special presentation at USQ tomorrow, Wednesday January 31.

In a first for the University's Faculty of Education, the seven students are all Australian residents.

'Last year we offered Certificates in TESOL for the first time, but we only had some teachers from Japan take part,' Co-ordinator of the Applied Linguistics program at USQ Dr Ann Dashwood said.

'This time however we had seven Australian residents undertake the certificate, which is a first for the Faculty of Education and USQ.'

With the TESOL Certificate, recipients are eligible to teach English overseas in Australian schools and English language teaching centres.

'They can teach at English Language Intensive Courses for Overseas Students (ELICOS) centres and TAFEs as well as high and primary schools here and overseas,' Dr Dashwood said.

'The idea is to make them very employable as Assistant English Teachers both overseas and here in what has become a global Australia.'

As part of the course the seven students were required to complete 100 hours of intensive study and teaching, with people from all walks of life enrolling in the course.

'We had a man who was retired, people who were studying at university and also young people do the Certificate, so there was a full age range,' Dr Dashwood said.

'What we want people to know is that you do not have to be at university to do it.'

Although the next TESOL course is scheduled to be held in August this year, Dr Dashwood is open to the possibility of holding more throughout 2007.

'I was happy with the response last time and depending on how much interest we have we may hold more than two per year,' she said.

'Anyone who wishes to teach English on the international scene in Asia, South America, Europe or here in Australia should enrol.'

Media are welcome to attend the presentation of the TESOL certificates, which will be held tomorrow (Wednesday January 31) in room G314A at the USQ Toowoomba campus commencing at 10:30am.

Media Contact: Josh Ada, USQ Media, +61 7 4631 1628, 0403 643 192