The CELTA certificate program and the TESOL certificate are available online, but have some important differences you might want to consider. As you probably already know, one of the most rewarding careers options today is teaching English. English has become the international language of global communication for a variety of reasons, from business, education, medicine, technology and even the arts just to name a few. However, you cannot teach English professionally without the necessary recognized certification. With the right certification qualification, you can live and work anywhere in the world. We are briefly going to look at the two different online course programs you can choose from to get internationally recognized certification; the CELTA certificate program and the TESOL certificate.

CELTA stands for Certificate in English Language Teaching for Adults. This certificate is awarded under Cambridge University’s ESOL branch. You can choose a campus-based or an online course. TESOL, on the other hand, stands for Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages, and does not discriminate in methodologies taught for teaching a particular age group. It is recognized internationally. With CELTA or TESOL, you can be sure to get a teaching job almost anywhere in the world. TESOL certification programs are readily available online and through numerous institutions offering different program outlines and at different rates.

Both CELTA and TESOL are very good certificates, and they can land you a well paying job pretty much anywhere you wish. However, since you won’t need both certificates, you need to make a choice between the two. This calls for comparison and contrasting. Both require that you be eighteen years and above as you start taking the course. Also, both of them offer the online courses option, making it easier for you to be flexible with your regular life. However, the CELTA certificate program does demand more in-classroom work. Both allow you to take the course even when you are not a native speaker of the English language.

For the other option of TESOL, you are assessed by an internal moderator as an individual and as a group on a regular basis before the external moderator comes to asses you during teaching practice. In CELTA certificate program, you are only assessed by the internal moderator a day before the external one comes. Therefore, some find that TESOL is easier and less stressful. Also, TESOL allows more flexibility than CELTA certificate program, which technically speaking ties you down and can interfere with your regular working schedule. TESOL is usually far cheaper and there are some great deals you can get depending on the length of the program you wish to choose from.