In this tutorial, you will learn:

* What you need to become an IELTS teacher

* How best to start your IELTS teaching

* About professional development opportunities

Why become an IELTS teacher?

Did you know that:

* 3.5 million IELTS tests were taken last year.

* There are over 1,600 IELTS test centres worldwide.

*  More than 10,000 organisations in over 140 countries recognise IELTS (see www.ielts.org)

 To say it another way IELTS is the global assessment tool to measure English language proficiency for study or work purposes.

The numbers are impressive and any teacher of English as an Additional Language must want to be involved in this ever expanding market. 

What sort of teachers are they looking for?

Well-established organisations such as the British Council and officially recognised language schools contract teaching staff under fairly stringent conditions. But these conditions apply to any teaching position, not just for IELTS teachers.

1.  Qualifications: you need a degree, not necessarily in a subject related to English or language studies, such as Linguistics or Modern Languages. While it’s true that most EAL teachers have a degree in the Humanities, there are some that come from a scientific background. Most employers now also insist that you have completed some teacher training. The most common course to take is CELTA.

2. Experience: It is very likely that in teaching centres such as the British Council for example, only teachers with at least 3 or more years’ experience will get the chance to teach an IELTS class. Elsewhere that might not be the case.

3.   Native v. Non-native speakers: There was a time when the native speakers were highly sought after in the belief that they were somehow better. It’s a good thing those days have passed because not only are there many first class non-native English language teachers but also many of them have the IELTS certification themselves and can give their IELTS students first-hand insight into how to prepare for the test.

Starting out 

What’s the best way to start out as an IELTS teacher? Do you need special training?

These recommendations are based on the simple premise that you cannot teach what you do not know. So:-

* Do the test yourself. Under IELTS exam conditions. Check your score in listening and reading. Write Task i and Task 2 essays for Academic and General Training IELTS. Look through examples of Speaking topics. Try speaking yourself for 2 minutes on a topic or two.

* Go first to the official sites (www.ielts.org; www.britishcouncil.org; www.ipd.com ) and read about IELTS. Not just the format, the band criteria upon which the scoring system is based, the skills the test measures and the ways it achieves that, but also learn about the history of IELTS and its current role in the academic world and that of migration and work. Try this document: (https://www.ielts.org/-/media/publications/guide-for-teachers/ielts-guide-for-teachers-uk.ashx). 

* There is a vast amount  of IELTS resources online and in print. There is probably too much to choose from. Teaching IELTS, the same as teaching anything else, is a question of knowing your subject inside out, identifying the needs of the studentsto improve and receive feeedback, and choosing the materials we use wisely. Use materials that are either officially approved by IELTS itself  or that you find effective.

* IELTS teaching,