TEFL Institute - Teach English in China!

TEFL Institute's online course put me on the path to success in teaching ESL in China. One day I just woke up and decided I wanted some change. I already had the passion to travel but needed something to take away from the monotonous days of passing through museums and strolling through boring pagoda gardens. Learning the everyday culture of the people was key and the only way in was daily contact with the people. It was then I knew that becoming an English teacher abroad would not only allow me the opportunity I needed to gain knowledge as a professional, but to grow as a person as well. I heard about TEFL Institute's program through a friend and decided to give them a call. An advisor kept a reasonable and comfortable amount of contact through my decision and enrollment process. Never did the advisor pressure me into choosing their program over another or push me into a quick decision, but rather they assured me that by choosing TEFL Institute I would be offered a great network of professional contacts worldwide and help with application processes to schools and universities; not only while enrolled in the program, but also every time I was in need of their services thereafter---something that most of those "other online programs" refuse to offer. This course was intensive but never was it overbearing. The course is offered through Blackboard, something that I had used in during college which made things very simple. When I wasn't sure of the assignments I could refer to the submissions of other students or ask questions freely to my fellow classmates. Responses came within minutes if not seconds. The textbook offered seemed to have been authored to help students taking the course and followed the modules in numerical order. It helped me complete assignments with confidence while moving through the modules as a class, but also while looking for references when I was teaching in the classroom. I fully recommend purchasing the textbook if your budget allows. TEFL Institute even offers a more affordable online edition which can be downloaded to your computer and printed at your leisure if you wish to do so. The teachers selected to teach the online class in my opinion are a bit over qualified for the position. A minimum of a MA degree and like 5-10 years teaching experience....abroad; a true field expert if you ask me. It seems as if they had the answers to every question when it came to life abroad or questions regarding assignments, sometimes I asked myself, "is their anything this woman doesn't know?". My teacher was always available for questions and even gave the students the best times and ways to reach her. Assignments were graded in a quick and efficient manner allowing the student to see their progress as the modules moved on. I may portray this course as a walk in the park, but believe me when I say it's intensive. In just 9 weeks I went from an online sales consultant to an ESL teacher in a foreign country. That doesn't come without putting in some hard work and long hours. You will touch on subjects ranging grammar skills to lesson planning to classroom management. The practicum is chosen from a group of assignments which are completed in a local ESL classroom in your area chosen by the student. You have the opportunity to participate (depending on the school and your qualifications) or sitting in on a class and writing a review from a given list of topics. This part of the course allows you to take everything you have learned in the online classroom environment and see it being put to use which is vital to understanding the mass amount of information learned in the short 9 weeks. All the subjects which TEFL Institute taught in this course I have used in the field, and without this prior knowledge I would have failed completely at teaching. The course prepared me for what I was about to encounter and with this I credit TEFL Institute for my success while teaching abroad.