which tefl course to take??

[oliver79]

I am wanting to take a Tefl online course, i will be wishing to use this certificate in Italy.
There are so many companies offering the courses, I'm confused with who to go with, as in most amount of hours for your money etc. Plus which companies are more well known to potential employers etc.
Can anyone please offer advice on which courses they took, and how they found them.
Thanks

[oliver79]

They are worthless-why bother?

Thanks for the positive feedback

[systematic]

I am wanting to take a Tefl online course... ...
Can anyone please offer advice on which courses they took, and how they found them.
Thanks

Mostly the people posting on this forum are people like yourself, seeking information, help, and advice. There are very few people visiting forums who have already completed a course. However, there are a few veterans of the TEFL profession who are regular members of this forum who will help by providing alternative answers and where to get more information. Some are recruiters and they will soon tell you if they consider a particular course to worthless.There are also just a few people who post answers of no real value.

There are hundreds, if not thousands of course providers worldwide, but some of the better known ones (for good or less reputable reasons) have been discussed at length on this board. You will gain a valuable insight on many good course providers, and warnings about some to avoid, and whether to take an online course or an attendance course, by reading the other threads then following up with your own research.

If you are considering the Trinity course currently offered by Windsor Schools, you may like to read this to avoid any confusion:
http://www.trinitycollege.co.uk/site/?id=1164

[ICAL_Pete]

They are worthless-why bother?

This is a gross exaggeration, and as such equally worthless.

[engscot]

Online courses....missing one big thing and thats the teaching input.
I took the i-to-i 120hr course and a 20 hr weekend. All the information was good and I did learn some things (especially GRAMMAR) that helped. The online option is good for an initial qualification of you are planning to travel around and get adhoc work here and there or if you are, like I did, taking the job placement with the course. Although some here have been negative I stand by my course as I ended up with a great experience in Korea and from that have moved on to taking the CELTA as I am serious about a long term career in the EFL industry.

Good luck!

dave

[Alex Case]

Depends where you want to go. In Europe, few employers know of any of the online certs and as most people have a proper 4 week Cert, often the CELTA or Trinity Cert TESOL, you will be far down the list of potential employees even with the most well known and respected one (whichever that may be). In Asia, you'll easily get a job with no cert at all, and having an online one won't get you a pay rise in many of them. If you really can't do a course with observed teaching practice, though, of course any training is better than nothing both for any slight advantage it might give you in interviews and in terms of being actually able to teach once you get into the classroom. There are some, however, that are indeed utterly worthless