TEFL Institute Reviews and Teach Abroad Programs

Korea is a country that never sleeps. It's one of the busiest countries in the world. High school students study endlessly to enter into the college of their own choice. Their parents work long hours. The bars and restaurants open until the wee hours of the morning. There's never a dull moment with Korea--for better or worse.

The TEFL Institute allowed me to prepare for these scenarios with my school and the culture there. I am very thankful that I've been able to come into Korea prepared as I have with them.

During the summer of 2010, I traveled to Madrid, Spain for the TEFL program. I spent the first month with about 20 other students taking the "Teaching English" course 5 hours each day. We had a great intimate group and learned a lot from each others various past experiences teaching, living abroad, etc. We provided resumes to the various camps and were divided based on our abilities & experiences. After this month, we went all together to do practicum and worked directly with a large group of students at a camp in Leon for roughly two weeks. After Leon, our group went our separate ways to the camps we worked in for the rest of summer.

My specific camp was in Catalunya and the camp directors required English teachers that spoke Spanish. I traveled with four other American girls to the camp. Upon my arrival, we were greeted by the head camp director. We were given our assignments the next day and worked for the camp daily for the entire month of July. I am very pleased with my experiences through TEFL and I would recommend it to anyone willing to step outside their comfort zone. Some days were more difficult than others BUT overall, I enjoyed meeting new people, learning a new culture, and practicing my Spanish. At times, it was difficult because the Spanish culture is very relaxed and sometimes seemed unorganized but I found to love Spain for that in the end. I'd encourage you to go abroad and experience this wonderful opportunity!!

The Online TEFL Certification from the TEFL Institute was an important milestone for me as I started my teaching career in Thailand. Without the TEFL certification, I sincerely wonder if I would have been as well prepared (or comfortable) in the classroom. Our week-long orientation in Thailand with other ESL teachers (some TEFL certified, some not) showcased the skills we had learned over the 3 month TEFL course.

The TEFL Institute breaks up all participants into a small group of approximately 15-20 students. Our group had was led by a professional, intelligent instructor who reviewed, graded, and provided input for each one our our submitted assignments. We averaged 1-2 assignments per week. The topics ranged from classroom setup & discipline, lesson plan development (listening, reading, writing, speaking) for learners of different ability, the best locations for effective ESL tools and games, how to create a grading rubric and assessment form, and many other others.

It was always nice to receive candid feedback from the instructor in addition to the comments received from other students in our small group. We were required to make at least 2 comments/suggestions per assignment on other students submitted assignments. Sometimes it was a challenge to meet the deadline for an assignment, but the structure of the course helped greatly when I was lesson planning for real in Thailand. That is one of the greatest unspoken assets of this course....you will be a pro at lesson planning from day 1 when you are teaching abroad. Even if you are nervous standing in front of 30-50 students with a confused look on their face, you'll know what to do and how to do it. To me, that was priceless.

I found the TEFL Institute's TEFL Certification course to be a worthwhile investment that can provide a lifetime of benefits for ESL teachers and I firmly believe you will too!

I did my class on line, and this was my first on line class. The whole on line thing was a bit new for me, as I graduated college in 1996. While I did miss the interactions of a real class, I did like the ability to study and do my writing assignments on my own time. I thought the book was very good, but did not always take into account cultural differences. While it is true there are way to many differences to take into account, there were times I thought the book was written with only one cultural mindset in mind.

I also have to admit that I did not like not being able to speak with the teacher directly. I did not agree with her grading on more than one occasion, and did not like trying to exchange this disagreement via email, given her slow response time.

All in all, I felt the class was worth what I paid for it, and while there were cheaper classes out there, I did not feel they were worth the discount. Given that many schools look at how many hours your class time was, and compare that to Cambridge ESL classes, the cheaper classes would not have been worth the price difference.