Selecting a TEFL Certification Course

It's not always beautiful beaches and big money, but it can be . . .

Quality Varies

Even within Schools

TEFL cert companies will provide roughly similar course content.  Thus the teachers take on a disproportionate role. 

Their personal experiences, and how they explain the course content based on those experiences, will decide if you enjoy the course and get the most out of it.  Some schools will have a primary teacher for the entire course, others will have from two to four teachers team teach the course.

 How can you be sure that, once enrolled in a quality school, you will get  the best teacher(s) they have?  

There is only one solution.  Pick up the phone and ask to speak to the primary teacher-trainer. 

You may be traveling across the world for the course, so don’t try to save a few dollars here.

Ask your primary teacher-trainer the following questions:

How long have you been a teacher-trainer?

How long were you a TEFL teacher before you became a teacher-trainer?

What was your teaching experience before this job?  What type of students did you teach?

Do you enjoy teaching? (This is critical!)

 Listen carefully, does your teacher sound excited about teaching? About this course?  Can you relate to each other?  Do you get direct and clear answers to your questions?

If you like the answers you get, and find you can connect with the "trainer", you can honestly look forward to classes with this school. 

Ask these questions too

Ask these questions about your supervised teaching practice:

How many hours of supervised teaching will I have?

Where will the practice teaching be done? 

What kind of students will I teach? Ask about age and/or occupation.

Will I teach the same students each time?

Will I get to teach the type of students I am most interested in eventually teaching?  Or, can that be arranged?

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Is my favored TEFL program reputable?

 As a last step, before you quit your job, sell your house and move across the globe, go to Dave’s ESL Cafe at, of course, eslcafe.com and look at the teacher training forum to see what the discussion there says.  Feel free to ask questions and gauge the tone of the response.  Most companies are reasonable and helpful. 

 Some TEFL companies will encourage you to come and sit in on their classes before making a final decision.  In countries where there are many TEFL schools (such as Thailand) arrive a week early and attend the classes of several schools if you can.  Then you can pick first hand what you might see as being the best teacher(s) and the best course for you.  Check first though - to make sure they have room for you in the course.

Cost

 Cost varies greatly between schools.  Schools that offer “international standard” certificate courses charge from as little as US$795 to US$1800 and up.  The large franchise schools will have to charge more for the same content since as much as 40% of the tuition fees must be sent back to the mother organization.  Smaller non-name-brand organizations thus have a real price advantage. 

 Some courses will offer a discount during their slow seasons, it is worth asking about it.  No harm in asking, they can only say no.

Add to cost the duration of the course, or the amount of time you will not be working.  If a course costs less, but takes longer, your living costs are greater.  However, a longer course is a great advantage if you have been out of school a while or are not confident about how fast you can absorb the great of amount of material involved in the course.

Ask about books and materials.  Are they provided?  Some courses provide them, some suggest readings that they don't provide, others may charge you as much  US$300 for reading materials.  Ask what is included in the cost. 

 Don’t think about working during your course time.  Most students feel very pressured by the amount of work involved.  This is a time to devote to study, not to your next  paycheck.

Housing

The location of your school will determine, in great part, the cost of housing.  Wonderful vacation areas, great places to vacation and study, tend to be more expensive.  Thailand, in particular, has some of the lowest cost housing for students, in some of the most wonderful destinations. 

 Ask schools if they provide housing, some do.  Ask for an estimate of costs in the area, knowing that your preferences for quality and comfort can affect the estimates.

 When you arrive, will your school pick you up and help you find housing, or deliver you to the housing that has been arranged?  Some do, some  don’t.  It is a comfort for some to have these services provided, but it may be best to make your decision on a school based primarily on the quality of the training.

Total Costs

Add these costs together:

Tuition and Books

Transportation

Housing and Food,

Living costs until your first payday 
(Don't forget that most countries pay only once per month - usually at the end of your first month - and sometimes not until the middle of the next month!)

Add a little  for “fun money”

 How can you guess how much this will be for the country where you will train and work?  Again, go to eslcafe.com and ask.  You can get a reasonable estimate for almost any country in the world.

 Bottom Line: Check out the BEST TEFL School in Asia - and why it is so at:

TEFL Recommendation

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