6 Ways TEFL Certificate Course Providers Try to Rip You Off – Part 2
by guest writer “TEFLista”
3. Call Anyone a Trainer (and count on most people not asking about their qualifications).
Arguably, the most important part of a good TEFL course is its trainers. Good trainers might be able to save a bad course and bad trainers most certainly can make a mess of a thoughtfully planned one. In part two, the series continues with a look into tutor qualifications and how some of the less-than-savoury course providers try to dupe would be teachers with unqualified or under qualified teaching staff. (If you missed part one, you can read it here.)
How Certificate Courses Are Run
Before we get started with how course providers try to cheat trainees out of quality instruction, a bit of background is in order. There are different ways of running certificate courses. To each their own, but three of the most widely-accepted certificates use small training teams, usually consisting of two or three tutors. Traditionally, at least one trainer of the team is required to have a higher TEFL qualification (required for all CELTA trainers) and that trainer may offer the majority of input sessions (interactive ‘presentations’ on a variety of language points and skills). The second trainer on the course is often responsible for arranging supervised teaching practice and feedback, and in situations that have trainers with similar experience and qualifications, then the training may be more or less equally shared.
Working with a small training team has a number of advantages, including exposure to different teaching styles and types of teaching experience, being able to approach different individuals in the event of a personality clash, and being able to see your progress over the duration of the course. And it makes practical sense, too. For example, one trainer may need to cover for another trainer in the event of an unexpected illness. On a short TEFL cert course every day really does matter, as there are usually only 20 days altogether (M-F x 4 with weekends off) and that includes the your first day of orientation and the final day when you pop the cork on the champagne!
How Courses Cheat You With Unqualified/Under-qualified Trainers
So with reference to the above, what sort of qualifications would you expect a trainer to have? After all, we are talking about specialized subject knowledge and the training of other TEACHERS here, and not a weekend course on how to tie dye a T-shirt. And in return those new teachers will work with thousands of students. So? Unfortunately, in many cases the answer is “None”. That’s right, zero, and on many courses there are people out there calling themselves TEFL trainers who have no more actual TEFL qualifications than your car mechanic. Part of the problem stems from the fact that in many countries a degree in any field is all that is needed in order to get a work visa- not an actual TEFL qualification- so dodgy course providers can legally operate without having to have properly qualified staff. This situation has now become endemic in Southeast Asia and China, so buyer beware- and you are asking to have your wallet emptied if you are not bothering to check. And that applies to some courses endorsed by various ministries of education and some affiliated with university language institutes, too (depending on the country, both often hire native English speakers without proper qualifications). Here’s how some try to give you less than what you should be getting:
No trainer qualifications mentioned on website. Most course providers, at least the ones that are any good, make it a point to be transparent about who their trainers are and provide detailed information about this on their websites. Having well qualified trainers is a real plus for any program, and of course having unqualified trainers is something that they would never advertise. If you are surfing an elaborate course website that mentions everything from how to pay online to the various weekend activities made available, but doesn’t even bother to devote a section about who the trainers are, then this is a big red flag that there may be some unqualified trainers involved or that training center may have a lot of staff turn over.
Only one trainer mentioned on website. If the course provider claims to run a lot of courses, but talks up only one or two people like they are superstars, then this may be another red flag. Keep in mind there should be a trainer to trainee ratio of at least 1:6 on your course. If the course provider that you are thinking about has one website, but they offer year round courses in 3 cities in that country, and usually have at least 12 trainees on a course, then they should have at least six full-time trainers. So what about the other five? Maybe you’ll get one of those.
Get anyone they can to observe you teaching. Rather than hire properly qualified and experienced trainers, some course providers will try to get anyone with a pulse and a passport to observe you teaching (and call them a trainer). This is where many of them really try to give you less than what you should be getting, so make sure that person has some proper qualifications and experience. Opinions vary, but most would agree on at least a TEFL certificate and three years of experience: two years of full-time TEFL teaching experience that they obtained AFTER they received their certificate and one year of experience working as a teacher trainer.
Say they have many trainers on a course. I once called a training center to check on a course and the person on the other end tried to impress me by saying that they had five trainers on it, the idea being that more is better. In the end, I found that they had only one marginally qualified trainer who was doing the input sessions, and host of completely unqualified teachers (that they were calling trainers) to come in and do the observations. The course was held at a dodgy language institute, with various classes in session, and any ‘teacher’ (qualified or not) who happened to be free during the trainee practice teaching time got dragged into watching and providing feedback. The trainees certainly got less than they paid for, and the course provider got out of having to pay for a second trainer that was qualified.
Limit face-to-face instruction. The international standard is that your taught course provide at least 100 hours of face-to-face instruction. Some providers may try to dupe you out of your paid time through excessive work online or with video.
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Suggestion:
*Pick a course with more than one trainer
*Check to see that all of the trainers have specific TEFL/TESOL/ ESL qualifications and that at least one trainer has a higher qualification in TEFL/TESOL/ESL. Acceptable higher qualifications include:
-Trinity College London Licentiate Diploma TESOL
-Cambridge ESOL (UCLES) Diploma (DTEFLA/DELTA)
-PGCE in TEFL or with TEFL as a main component
-MA in TEFL/TESOL/ELT/ESL or Applied Linguistics
Not acceptable as a higher qualification:
-MA in English Literature, MA Linguistics, MA in another field or a TEFL/TESOL certificate.
-Some dodgy certificate providers also offer dodgy TEFL/TESOL Diplomas and sometimes even MAs, so you do need to know which one they have and may not want to accept those awarded by the same course provider.
*Confirm that the trainers you want to work with will be teaching at the same training center and on the date that you are taking your course
*Know how much time you will be spending on the course with those specific trainers (should be at least 100 hours of face-to-face instruction)
*Get it in writing”
TEFLista also sent me some links to his idea of some good examples of information about trainers:
http://www.tesolbali.com/about_us.php
Part One of this series is here, Part Three is here, and Part 4 is just up here.
Tags: guest writers
January 14th, 2009 at 12:30 pm
Pretty sound advice all round and a classic piece of blogging, should be considered essential reading by all those thinking of joining the noble profession, or, failing that, becoming a TEFLer.
January 14th, 2009 at 3:05 pm
The best way to guarantee qualified trainers and top-class input is to do your TEFL Certificate or Diploma via a University, or an established and proper College, rather than some mickey-mouse language school.
Alternatively, just send me 200 quid and I’ll print you an extremely convincing ‘Advanced Certificate in TEFL’ with the logo of a well-known international EFL school on it.
January 14th, 2009 at 3:05 pm
It’s too bad that the poor teachers ruin it for all the good ones.
Also there are too many poor teachers which makes the overall comprehension of English in Asian countries still poor to this day.
January 14th, 2009 at 10:22 pm
Sandy, as most universities that offer Certs and Dips offer the Cambridge CELTA and DELTA, I don’t see that they are any different from a CELTA and DELTA offered by a language school, the difference is the experience of the actual trainers and TEFLista points out. Stick to the satire and leave teaching advice for others??
Tracy- A good point, but not related to this post as far as I can tell
January 15th, 2009 at 6:19 am
Sandy:
Doing a TEFL cert at a university in SE Asia doesn’t guarantee that you’ll get qualified trainers on your course – far from it. Degrees and qualifications often go unchecked there, too. There’s at least one university in Thailand that is cranking them out that I’m aware of, and they’ve got some highly questionable training practices going on.
January 15th, 2009 at 7:52 am
Nice bit of blogging there Alex, I was drawn especially to the Six element of the post :-). All the points you make are very valid, and it’s shameful that there are so many centres who flaunt these rules. Situation isn’t restricted to SE Asia either, it happens in Spain (or used to) and W.Europe too.
Re: universities and quality training. Many universities are farming out their language providing to private companies now. In some cases I wonder if they aren’t doing it also for the language teacher provision too. Which means it could be the same language academy people and practices wherever you go. Horribly cynical, but if people start by following your advice for instance then at least they run less of a risk of being ripped off.
January 15th, 2009 at 10:02 am
Alex:
Below is the correct link for ILA in Vietnam – I gave you the old one by mistake.
http://www.discovereltvietnam.com/page.php?p=238
January 15th, 2009 at 5:32 pm
You have a point Alex, but you’ve missed mine. The difference between doing your CELTA/DELTA at a proper College or Uni and a pokey language school is the fact that the trainers at the College or Uni are likely to be properly paid, and therefore better motivated – also more knowledgeable than yer average Tefl-jerk. I mean, where would you rather do your teacher-training – Windsor TEFL or Sussex University? Get my drift?
February 7th, 2009 at 9:21 am
Here’s something very funny on a popular practice of the very worst TEFL course providers:
http://www.dilbert.com/2009-02-01/
February 7th, 2009 at 1:36 pm
OMG, I don’t how you found it, but that is TOOOO funny! Is that office building in Ban Phe, Thailand? LOL…
February 16th, 2009 at 3:57 am
Hey great article, very insightful for a TEFL newbie like myself. I’m actually considering doing a 5-week TEFL (cert tesol) course here in my hometown of London, so I can go on to teach in China or Japan since i’ve studied those languages for a few years now. However I don’t whether this school is reliable or any good, so could you guys do me a favour and have a quick look at the websites?? I don’t know what to look for since I’m new to all this, but my initial impression is that it is the real deal:
http://www.tefllondon.com/tefl/
which is a part of Bloomsbury International:
http://www.bloomsbury-international.com/
Thanks in advance :)
Since I live in London its not too difficult for me to visit the school itself, but some advice from experienced individuals would be great.
February 16th, 2009 at 9:33 am
What difference does it make. It is like where to have driving lessons. As soon as you have “graduated” from the course it all goes out the window.
Not keen on the staff profiles for tefllondon/Bloomsbury: Only 2 members of staff profiled and no idea about their years of experience or qualifications-sounds dodgy. ALso there is no guarantee who will actually be training you. Real deal?
February 16th, 2009 at 12:55 pm
I agree with Jim, in that there’s not enough there to make a decision about. You might want to look into some of the courses at St. Giles:
http://www.stgiles.co.uk/teacher_training/tefl_courses.php
Once you decide on a date, write and ask them specifically about the trainers on the course for that date and location (and check things out).
Nice to see someone doing their homework first…
February 17th, 2009 at 10:00 am
Of course the real advice would be don’t go into TEFL. Doing a PGCE would be your best bet since you would then be a qualified teacher and could do TEFL for a few years of better still work in an international school. You would be treated as a real teacher and could support a family.
February 19th, 2009 at 8:28 am
Here’s a nice on topic link:
http://diplomacon.blogspot.com/2009/02/fraudulent-schools-in-uk.html
March 24th, 2009 at 7:35 pm
OMG guys! I really had no idea I was getting myself into such a compicated matter…. After 3 months of pondering I decided doing a 4 weeks TEFL course in Morocco…learning a bit of Arabic too… But I’m so scared now…I just don’t want to see myself wasting time and money…could you please have a look at the site?
Alternatively could you reccomend a decent one in London? That’s where I live although I’m Italian.
I appreciate your help.
Many thanks
March 24th, 2009 at 7:36 pm
LOL…I forgot to attach the link!!!
http://www.teflanguagehouse.com/
March 25th, 2009 at 8:42 am
Hi, Mokkita.
As mentioned in the article above, you need to know who the trainers are in order to make an informed decision . The course that you mentioned doesn’t provide this on their website, so I would avoid them. I’m also against the way that they display the IATEFL logo at the bottom of their page — something that I will be mentioning in part 3 of the series.
As for courses in the UK, I generally try not to recommend specific ones, but you might want to check out the link above for St. Giles.
March 26th, 2009 at 6:23 pm
I took the PELT (Practical English Language Teaching) TESOL Certification Course from TEFL International several years ago. It was a total joke.
The instructor/trainer for the course was a former swimming pool cleaner (he may have had his own business doing this in the U.S.). His spoken English was awful (e.g. Him and I had went there before…) And he was in charge of grading the grammar exam!
He had no idea how to train the future teachers. It was apparent that he did not prepare for the lessons at all. He just scribbled random, nonsensical diagrams on the whiteboard. On a couple of occasions, he even asked me, a participant in the course, what he should do!
So to have this clown observing your lessons, and then giving you pointers afterwards, and grading your exams… Well, it was a joke. But a bad joke. And on me.
I regret wasting money on that course. I guess the major selling point is that David Nunan’s signature (a guy who writes ESL/EFL books) is on the certificate. So there’s that. But an utterly useless course, with an utterly useless instructor.
Don’t waste your time with TEFL International.
March 29th, 2009 at 2:23 pm
Hey Teflista…thanks for your precious advice! After reading carefully through St.Giles website, I could see how professional they are… Everything is explained clearly, i found the answers to all my questions!
No need to say, I have applied immediately and I received a call: they are happy to consider my application, emailing me a questionnaire pre-interview. I should be getting another call to arrange for the actual interview…
I’ll keep you up to date and…finger crossed!!
January 9th, 2010 at 6:22 pm
Well I’m back!
Work commitments kept me away from my TEFL course for many months but finally, at the end of 2009, I completed the course.
I’d like to take this opportunity to thank Teflista for suggesting me St.Giles: I found the tutors there professional and skilled, with a human approach. The course itself was very intensive, but exhaustive.
I’d like to say “the worst is over”, but unfortunately “the worst is yet to come”.
I knew it would have been challenging for a non native, newly qualified TEFL teacher to find a job, but the situatuion is beyond imagination.
While I’m waiting for my TEFL career to take off, I’m voluntary teaching non English speaking members of an ethnic minority community for a registered charity.
I got carried away with this post but…I did promise I would have kept you posted!
No need to say: any advice welcome!
March 25th, 2011 at 9:42 am
I very much enjoyed reading these chapters on dishonest TEFL course providers. I have, based on my experience, sadly concluded that these entries are an oversimplification of the matter and are full of biased opinions. During my ‘adventures’ in TEFL I have come across a range of characters who produced a long list of university certificates, degrees and what not at anyone’s request but when it came to their moment on a course, they were simply out of touch with reality both professionally and personally.
Some of my best memories of TEFL trainers were the ones who were genuinely motivated in their chosen ‘vocation’ and have grabbed every opportunity to further develop their skills and techniques because they were convinced that the success of the course depended largely on them.
I believe experience counts only if it accompanies a theoretical understanding of the approaches and processes that go on in the second/foreign language classroom, and that experience can be summed up in terms of methods and techniques.
My advice for those who are about the take a TEFL course and use teaching English as an excuse to see the world free of charge that whatever quality course they take, it will count next to nothing when they first touch down in the actual classroom, unsupervised and unaided. The trainers on TEFL courses do their best to point you in the right direction, but they certainly don’t upload all the information into your brains which supposed to turn into action in the classroom. You have still miles to walk and you may not make it.
Good luck to both the critiques and the supporters of TEFL trainers!
March 25th, 2011 at 3:59 pm
That’s interesting and thanks for your comment. Just wondering if you subscribe to the same when you visit the dentist? Do they need to have knowledge, skills, an awareness of what they are doing, and have qualifications? Or is just being motivated enough? And why should someone pay for anything less than all of the above?
I agree with you that a short course in TEFL isn’t enough, and even an MA isn’t going to prepare someone for the classroom. That said, certificates are only intended as INITIAL qualifications. The mistake is sometimes made by some EMPLOYERS, usually bad ones, that they are more than just that.
March 27th, 2011 at 9:10 am
I believe and support learning in combination: structured lessons + field experience +feedback+ reflection +, etc. I also feel that ‘teaching’ is not meant to be something someone wants to try and do while travelling the globe, but it’s meant to be a vocational ‘calling’. One not only has to gain initial skills and believe they’re fully qualified to deliver speaking lessons, but one has to approach it with just as much care and attention as a carpenter would approach a log to determine whether it’s suitable for a table or a chair. A genuine calling will result in a genuine search for what’s best for one’s own development, and these vocational aspirants will put in every effort to become qualified, and continue developing on the job as well. Someone with a gap-year agenda might just want the cheapest and fastest way to the language classroom. Unfortunately, there are more places to fill than qualified candidates, and it is sometimes an institutional choice whether to hire someone with a clown-like spirit regardless of qualifications, or hire someone who can actually produce results.
As for the dentist, I’d need honest references before I need to see one.
March 27th, 2011 at 2:01 pm
I agree and teaching certainly isn’t for everyone. There’s definitely an element of passion involved, especially for those who remain in it for the long haul.
That said, I don’t think that it’s always an easy thing for twenty something year olds to immediately find their ‘calling’ in life. For those who are genuine in their interest to explore teaching, a TEFL certificate might be a good way for them to give it a try.
March 29th, 2011 at 4:34 pm
Awesome piece of writing! It was about time someone took a critical look at TESOL providers – unfortunately so many of them belong to a shameless industry that has nothing to do with education. Thank you for helping people make an informed decision when choosing a course.
May 26th, 2011 at 6:48 am
Part Five now up:
http://www.tefl.net/alexcase/tefl/t-training/qualifications/slippery-accreditation-multiple-websites/