Both Cambridge ESOL and Trinity College London validate courses which are designed to train EFL teachers to work with children - usually referred to as ‘Young Learners’ (YL). In practice, this means anyone who is school-age - from Kindergarten (4 years old) to college students (18 years old).

The Cambridge ESOL qualification CELTYL (Certificate in English Language Teaching to Young Learners) is taught as an appendix to the more common CELTA – it is an extra course of study for two weeks. You must have passed the CELTA to move on to the CELTYL.

The Trinity College London Cert. TEYL (Teaching English to Young Learners) is currently an entire course in its own right, similar to the Cert TESOL but with special emphasis on skills for teaching children.

Many language schools are beginning to recognise that teachers with a PGCE and teaching experience have most of the skills they need to meet the increasing demand for courses teaching English to young learners. All schools would expect QTS teachers to undertake some specialist EFL training, but make an effort to attract the right people.