CELTA - is it worth the money and time?

I'm a German citizen, native English speaker (near-native German), living in Munich. I'm quitting the tech industry (after 10 years in the US and Germany) in May to go back to school at the LMU in fall. The tech work I do can't really be done part time, so I was considering doing some English teaching - probably on a one-on-one basis, but I could also consider teaching some classes for one of the schools in town. I obviously have some Business English experience, which seems to be particularly in demand. So I'm wondering:

- What is the going hourly rate for one-on-one tutoring? Without a certification? With a certification?
- What do the schools pay for teachers? Does the certification really help your application?
- Is the class itself (as opposed to the certification) really helpful?

As a future starving student, I'm trying to figure out if the course is worth the money, the time, and the fact that I'll actually be stuck in Munich this June (instead of off somewhere doing a house-swap with some football-mad tropical islander...).

Many thanks!

Yes, the certification is helpful in finding a job. No, the class isn't really helpful beyond that. That was just my experience anyway, but I suppose it depends on where you do it, etc.

What exactly is your experience in Business English teaching?

Thanks for the reply, Jenny! Unfortunately my Business English teaching experience is not formal - it's within the confines of my current job. I work in technical support for a large multinational corporation, and built up a team here to do European-wide support for a new enterprise software product. Part of this was Business English teaching, as most of my team members had no experience doing support in English (and some of them were challenged in English, period). But I don't have any teaching-specific jobs on my resume at this point.

I guess the best plan would be to try to get some jobs without the certification, and see if I succeed.

As a non-native speaker, you will face difficulties getting work with any companies without a certificate of some sort. Just warning you.

A non-native speaker of what? I am a native speaker of american English.

Try getting work without the certificate first. It has worked for many a native English speaker, and if it is just a filler job, why fork out big bucks.

Sorry, misread the first part. Well, with a bit of experience behind you and a native speaker, you can probably find work. I'd suggest charging no less than €40 for a full hour of private lessons. That's for the trouble of going and advertising and rounding up clients. If you go through a school, expect half that.

worse!

Just kidding

I was waiting for that

Thanks Showem and petero. That is exactly the information I was looking for.