TEFL Institute

IT IS A GREAT EXPERIENCE FOR ME TO GET MY KNOWLEDGE UPGRADED THROUGH YOUR PRESTIGIOUS INSTITUTE THANKS

I participated in the 120 hour online professional TEFL course. I began it while I was still taking fall semester university courses and over Christmas break into the next academic semester, but still found time to complete the coursework and submit my weekly assignments. (The beginning and end are the most work). My teacher was very accommodating if you had technical or personal issues preventing you from submitting your paper within the time allotted. During my free time I worked ahead, posting my assignments on blackboard ahead of time, allowing me to not feel pressured to log in on daily. Other students in my class had difficult posting assignments, but I did not have that problem. Some of the quizzes had questions difficult to interpret (all multiple choice, a few T/F), but you were allowed to take the quizzes over until you got a better grade. You could only retake the final twice. The material was presented well, but some of it was a bit confusing. I had taken TESOL courses at my university, so my background helped me where some areas seemed vague. The teacher was always there to answer additional questions. For discussion, we had to comment on two other students' assignments - sometimes it was good discussion, other times it was just to get the points. All assignments were worth 10 points and if you got a low grade, you could revise and resubmit the assignment. For the 20 hours we had to work with ESL students, I worked 10 hours with an elementary ESL teacher and 10 hours with a college ESL program for adults. It was a bit difficult setting up observation hours, but they were glad to have me volunteer. I didn't realize so many ESL places would have requirements or training programs for their tutors. You don't have to complete the 20 hours during the time of the 2 month online TEFL course- you have as long as you want to complete them BUT you won't get your certificate and become certified until you do the 20 hours and have the appropriate papers mailed in. My program adviser was wonderful answering my many questions before I signed up for the course. I'm now in the process of trying to arrange my teaching experience abroad for the fall, so I'm not sure how it's all going to work out. I hope their lifetime placement assistance turns out well. All I know is I've been told that it will take a lot of time on my end researching the schools and finding out which one is right for me. I'd recommend this course for others that aren't near a TEFL school to become certified in person (and those can be very expensive!), although I personally still enjoy learning in a classroom rather than over the internet.

I don’t recommend this course. I had a TEFL advisor who pushed me into paying for the course early, because there were “already almost 10 students signed up” for the onsite course and if I wanted to get into the course with 2 others, I needed to pay for it in Jan. When I got to the onsite course there were only 2 other people there i.e. we were nowhere near capacity. If I had waited until Feb, as planned, I would have gotten the course at a discounted rate. I was told by another student in the LA course that this also happened to her, so I guess this is a tactic they use to get you to sign up early. My advisor also told me that we had to buy the course book. Luckily I was the only one who bought it, because all of the reading was free online (and ironically, riddled with errors.) To me it was obvious that instead of trying to help me, this woman was just trying to sell me as much as she could. I brought my complaints to TEFL Institute and they said they were looking into these things, but that was three weeks ago. She finally said that she was sorry for my troubles, but didn’t take any action that lead me to believe that she actually cared. As for the instructor, he may have been knowledgeable, but his lack of participation in the course didn’t demonstrate what his impressive resume did. I was not impressed by his feedback nor the tardiness with which it was given. In the final week of the course, I only had grades on 3/15 assignments. When he finally started grading our assignments, some comments were as simple as a “Yup” or a “3 pointer no net.” Other lesson plans were not given any comments just an arbitrary grade. There was a definite lack of leadership. It seemed as if there was no instructor and I got more out of hearing from other students, since he was never around. This very instructor also didn’t show up to the Chicago onsite course for two days and no one was able to get a hold of him. The students in the online course were aware and a lot of us thought that something terrible must have happened to the instructor since he hadn’t been online or graded any assignments in over a week either. I called student services to see what would happen to the course. A woman told me that the instructor was being replaced, but she would email later to let me know for sure. She didn’t. Eventually, the instructor came back online as if nothing had happened and didn’t offer any explanations for his absence. I eventually stopped asking him questions, because for the most part, students never received answers or the instructor couldn’t answer them. This led me to contact Student Services which was awful. They hardly ever answer the phone and when they do, they don t get back to you or answer any of your questions in a timely manner. Most of the time I was shuffled around to others, who then took a long amount of time to get back to me. Since the online portion of the course was so unorganized (nothing on the calendar, due dates never specified and an instructor who was never online and had no knowledge of the workings of TEFL Institute), it was necessary to contact Student Services more than once. I was told by other students that they had the same experience. Thanks to my on-site instructor, I got a lot out of this course, however she is not a regular instructor with TEFL Institute. The idea of TEFL Institute is great, but the reality was not as great and the only great parts were dependent upon chance. I had 5 amazing days with an incredible onsite instructor, but 5 weeks of uncertainty, disorganization and basically no online instructor.

The actual student observation aspect helped give ideas a basis in what they would mean when I actually am in front of a class and expected to teach. The second thing I found useful was the opportunity to be in Shanghai with my classmates. It was a very useful class. After taking the course I do feel better prepared to get a better job in a location that I like.

I had just recently lost my job at a manufacturing plant and my wife worked at the same place and was scheduled to be laid off in a few months. One of my wife's friends from church suggested that we could possibly teach English in China. My wife liked the idea and my adventuresome spirit was open to the idea too. So, as neither of us were teachers, we heard about and decided to enroll in the TEFL Institute course. The course was valuable is that it opened my eyes to how different it is to teach English to people who don't speak English. I thought the TEFL training course was very good.

This is the first online course I've ever taken. I have to admit; at first I was very skeptical. One thing I found very helpful is the fact that if I had any questions about anything, I could always email, call, or send a message to other students and/or my teacher and they would be answered. This kind of support was comforting.

I do feel more prepared now than when I started, and that is certainly the most important thing to consider. I have a degree of confidence now in my abilities whereas before I took this class the idea of teaching EFL did nothing but tie my stomach up in knots. I am thankful to have taken the course.

This course exceeded my expectations. This course had a good amount of work. I knew that teaching wasn't an easy job and after taking this course I have a new appreciation for teachers. I would recommend this course to anyone looking for new opportunities in working abroad.

This course helped me to create lessons that flow in a natural manner, and provide students with the best opportunity to learn and practice new language items. The TEFL training course provided me with a good view of what it is like to teach English as a second language. The course helped me to see from the teacher's perspective and to consider factors that I may not have learned or discovered on my own.

The materials in this course were very well constructed. I would absolutely recommend this course to a friend because it really goes in depth with the important aspects of teaching a language and provides you with examples and activities that you can actually use in the classroom.

The TEFL training was a lot of fun and very practical. I don't know how I survived teaching in Cairo without this knowledge. A TEFL certificate should be required of all English language teachers. I would recommend this course to anyone who wants to teach English as a second language.

Although I have traveled to several parts of the world, the idea of going to China was a unique one. Now that I have been there and finished the course, I am very glad I chose TEFL Institute and Shanghai to finally accomplish my goal. What better way to get TEFL certified than going to a totally different country with a completely different culture, where you will meet people from all around the world, and realize that there are so many doors that are opened to you just by being TEFL certified. I give thanks to TEFL Institute for the experience of a lifetime.

The actual student observation aspect helped give ideas a basis in what they would mean when I actually am in front of a class and expected to teach. The second thing I found useful was the opportunity to be in Shanghai with my classmates. It was a very useful class. After taking the course I do feel better prepared to get a better job in a location that I like.

I liked having the ability to access the course and the materials from anywhere without having to carry bulky books. Reading and studying the materials allowed me to really understand all the details about teaching. The TEFL Institute has truly prepared me for the beginning of what will be a wonderful career as an English language instructor. I will take all of the lessons and notes with me and incorporate them into teaching. All together, this was a wonderful experience.