teflcourse.net -- too good to be true certification?

[eliria]

Hello, I have been going back and forth on the idea of getting a TEFL certification for a few months now. I have been looking at www.teflcourse.net to take one of their 4 week intensive on-site courses as well as their online ones. My concern is that the more research I do about choosing the right TELF cert course, the more concerned I get with their credibility.

Searches of review sites, etc. have yielded no results to me of any reviews from people who have actually taken courses from them, and their website says that they are reviewed independently by a board, and accepted internationally, but I am worried that there are no names of these boards, etc mentioned.

I got an acceptance email just a few hours after submitting an email to them, and I want to make sure they are recognized before I hand over my 500 dollars....

Any help if you've heard of them, or suggestions on better companies would be great!

[Alex Case]

500 dollars for 4 weeks on site?? If it sounds too good to be true,...

Good choices:

1) Cambridge CELTA
2) Trinity Cert TESOL
3) SIT
4) That already covers training centres all over the world, why would anyone need a 4th choice?

[Lucas]

Alex,
Another choice would be TESL Canada. In fact, most schools in Canada require teachers to have a TESL Canada certificate, and this accreditation is also highly regarded in the US, Australia, and Europe.

Also, ACTDEC is in the process of being approved by the QCA.

Lucas from Ontesol
www.ontesol.com

[Alex Case]

There are of course good certs that I haven't heard of, but that is usually a sign that your future school won't have heard of it either. I'd never heard of TESL Canada and having checked out their site it seems that you can convert a CELTA into that qualification for 100 dollars if you want to work in Canada. The opposite is certainly not true. I don't see how it can be well known in Europe as the number of Canadian teachers is minimal (for visa reasons etc), but I am ready to learn more and be corrected. Forgive me a little scepticism, though, seeing as how you offer the course

[Lucas]

Hi Alex,

I want to invite you to take a look at the course syllabus for the 250-hour course at www.ontesol.ca/ontesol/?doc=documents/c ... E_SYLLABUS

This course was developed by Coventry House International and it's a more advance version of the Trinity CerTESOL program that CHI offers (www.study-at-coventry.com). TESL Canada also requires trainees to complete a 20-hour practicum module (10 hours of class observation and 10 hours of teaching practice), whereas CELTA only requires a 6-hour practicum.

There may not be a lot of Canadian teachers in Europe because of passport requirements and because wages are much higher in Canada and other Asian countries, but those who go there don't have any problems with finding a job. In fact, there are a lot of students from the UK, Spain, and Germany who have taken or are taking this course. The quality of TESL Canada is at least equivalent to Trinity and CELTA. As you probably found through your search at tesl.ca, there are a lot of Canadian universities and colleges that offer a TESL Canada course.
And ACTDEC, which measures the standards of distance TESOL courses, is in the process of becoming approved by the QCA. So CELTA, Trinity and SIT are not the only options for a highly recognized TESOL certificate.

[Alex Case]

It all sounds good, and no one can argue that 10 hours of observed classes is a lot better than 6. I generally have more respect for EFL schools in Canada than in many other places, but I still feel that you'd have to make that case to DoSs in many parts of Europe where the CELTA would be accepted without question (for better or worse)

My question about the course would be, is it for adult EFL learners like CELTA, or is it more for ESOL (in British terms, meaning immigrants etc) in the schools system?

[Lucas]

There is a big industry of private English Institutes here in Canada that caters to international students, but Canada is also a multicultural country with a vast flow of immigrants, so there are also government run programs in this category, although there have been a lot of cuts in past 10 years. Most of our graduates end up working for the private institutes, but it depends on the characteristics of the industry because there isn't much of a difference between EFL and ESL.

[ICAL_Pete]

Before taking ANY course I'd suggest looking at http://www.teflcoursereview.com/ which is an independent review site from former students. There's some fascinating stuff there!

[Alex Case]

"there isn't much of a difference between EFL and ESL"

That's not the impression I got from reading the Oxford ESOL Handbook