[Hypiereon]

What is best really depends upon you and what you want. In China, literally any TEFL Certification will do, but I did mine through i-to-i online, took the 40 hours course, and did it to have a piece of paper to show schools that someone else recognizes what I already knew - that I know how to teach English as a foreign language.

For me, the certificate was for outside recognition of my abilities, not to get educated. In fact, I found the section on lesson planning very taxing personally.

For others, they seriously need the education. They do not have a BA, they have never been in a classroom in a professional capacity, and a professional diploma for the long term would be best.

For the schools, they don't seem to care much here in China. I'm looking into getting my Masters in EFL / Linguistics - not for my resume or for some school, but for me.

In the end, do it for yourself and your students or you'll be doing it for the wrong reasons. Getting certified if you have no teaching experience and no BA is the least you can do. For what its worth, the better prepared you are (in the form of an education and experience) the easier it all goes in the classroom, and the less prepared you are the more frustrated you will be in the end.