The International Association of Teachers of English as a Foreign Language Introduced

With English being the language of commerce there is an insatiable demand from people who would like to learn how to speak it. This has created a huge requirement for people to teach it. Until recently this was often done quite informally by teachers who had no training as teachers. This has started to change as teachers now tend to be more professional. A big part of the reason for this is the International Association of Teachers of English as a Foreign Language.

Over the years there has been a huge demand from people who have wanted to learn English. This has tended to result in a lot of teachers of pretty questionable quality working in the field. Really it used to be that the only requirement was to be able to speak English and at times even this seemed marginal. Certainly this is still the case in some countries but for the most part standards have improved dramatically.

In general these days if you want to be an English teacher you need to have specific training for the job. This is something that the International Association of Teachers of English as a Foreign Language has helped to bring about.

The IATEFL does not actually set the standards that are required to be an English teacher instead they act as a professional organization. Actually they tend to coordinate the organizations that have sprung up in most countries. By linking these groups together they have been able to share information. Part of the information that they share is what kind of standards they are going to expect of teachers. By having this generally agreed upon it is easier to set up training programs since most teachers are going to want to know that their training will qualify them to work in most if not all countries.

The other big thing that the IATEFL does is to act as clearinghouse for information on the profession of teaching English. They offer a number of journals as well as a trade magazine. This allows the teachers to stay on top of new developments. In addition conferences are scheduled so that the issues that teachers are facing can be discussed and solutions found. This has played a huge role in turning English teachers into professionals rather than just tourists looking to supplement their income.

While the IATEFL does some important work in improving the standards of English teachers the reason that most people join is that it is a great resource for helping teachers to find jobs. One of the issues that will come up when you are looking for a job as an English teacher is that the jobs are spread out all over the world. That can make it hard to track them down. Having a job board that allows jobs from all over the world to be posted greatly simplifies the process.

The International Association of Teachers of English as a Foreign Language Introduced

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