Advice please.

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Skylar34
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Posts: 6
Joined: 12 Nov 2007, 07:37

Advice please.

Unread post by Skylar34 »

Well, where do I start?

A few months back I signed up for a TESOL distance learning course, and everything was going great until I finished my modules.Lets just say I'm very disappointed and upset with my school.

They are a language school in Prague and the certificate program I signed up for is 100 hrs + 10 hrs teaching practice arranged where I live. Sounds good and legit, right? That's what I thought, especially since they rant and rave on their website that they are "with" you from the beginning and throughout your TEFL career and offer stellar job guidance. In my opinion that is crap and used as a marketing tool, so they can steal money from humble seekers. They claim to be a member of the "College of Teachers," but as of right now they don't seem to be abiding by the strict code of ethics they are known for enforcing.

Let me get to the point. I have had several questions regarding my teaching practice (which they promised I would have), how to make my resume and cover letter appealing to employers (I'm totally lost with this since I have no tefl experience) etc...

Advice that I would think would just be few of several aspects offered with such a great job guidance program. I was basically told "that is your responsibility" and that I should "redefine" where I want to teach.

Perhaps I did chose some difficult countries that I would like to teach EFL in. However, I did express those concerns long ago (about 1/2 through my course) and they were never answered. I was just told that " job guidance is done at the end of the course" and "speak to you at the end of the course." But with their "global reputation" and " endless contacts worldwide" I don't see how answering my questions could present such a problem.

Now, my concerns have been placed on the back burner with no word from the course administrator about my concerns or my teaching practice (you would think they would already have prearranged my teaching practice)

Lets just say I'm more livid with this institution. But I need to move forward. I have no teaching ex, probably will not actually receive my certificate,and I don't have enough time or money to invest in a "real" course. I'm wondering if anyone has advice as to where I can look, (after being screwed like this) possibly teaching for online schools that provide training, to get something fairly quickly.

How can I still write a great cover letter and resume, even after all this?

Please help!

Skylar
timmy
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Posts: 8
Joined: 04 Nov 2007, 22:30

Unread post by timmy »

I'm really sorry to hear that...

I'm still pretty new to this kind of thing after extensive research (debatable, heh) I've seen that http://www.teflintl.com has this guaranteed jobs projects in Thailand and China for almost dirt cheap prices.

You'd have to go on their training again, I think, but you'd be guaranteed a four month job contract in Thailand, and I think it was six months in China.
And been reading up on the feedbacks of people and they do enjoy the course and found it helpful and overall great, which seems to be the opposite of what you've experienced.

I've spoken with someone from teflintl.com about talking with someone who has done the course and after a few days I had a list of names that took the course and was willing to talk to me.

some points i saw cool was that
*housing while taking the course and teaching is included.
*you get decent pay on those jobs
*paperwork like work permits and business visas won't be a pain since they will give you the needed documents and a company will hire you out there so no probs in thai and china embassy (maybe 'not much probs' :/)
in that 4 / 6 months, it should be easy enough to find work for after the teaching part of the course.


I've also read up on some bad press about this company, but I think it's all good now. Pete says that the company has taken steps already about it by changing some people at the top.
(one thing that kind of swayed me to believe this is that their website is nothing notable but the person I talked to was saying there would be some major update for the site, maybe something that came with the changes Pete was saying.)
Some call me Tim...
Skylar34
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Posts: 6
Joined: 12 Nov 2007, 07:37

Unread post by Skylar34 »

Thanks a lot Timmy. I know there are a lot of opportunities out there and that I just have to keep on looking.
Alex Case
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Joined: 17 Aug 2007, 01:53
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Unread post by Alex Case »

Could you give a few more details about what their system was supposed to be to ensure you had observed teaching practice even though it is a distance course and why it was not possible in your case? Distance learning with no travel and teaching practice sounds too good to be true, which is perhaps what you found...
Skylar34
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Posts: 6
Joined: 12 Nov 2007, 07:37

Unread post by Skylar34 »

Well, you had the option to either have it arranged at a school in your location OR travel to their center (if you planned to teach there) and do your teaching practicum there. I don't know why in my case it wasn't possible.

I have recently been told (since my original post)that I need to find my own students and have them fill out evaluation sheets,but I can't help but think they are skimming on helping with job guidance.
Alex Case
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Joined: 17 Aug 2007, 01:53
Status: Teacher

Unread post by Alex Case »

Sounds like you might have missed something in the small print, although even a perfect world you wouldn't have to read it...

Can you name the course provider?
Skylar34
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Posts: 6
Joined: 12 Nov 2007, 07:37

Unread post by Skylar34 »

What could I have missed?

I would name the course provider, but I'd feel odd about doing so publicly.
timmy
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Posts: 8
Joined: 04 Nov 2007, 22:30

Unread post by timmy »

Giving the company name would save a lot of other people's time and money who are interested in teaching English by warning them that that course provider isn't exactly as OMGWTF as they claim to be.

TEFL International has this little website where feedbacks from people who took the course are posted.

edit:
here we are
http://alumni.teflintl.com/
Some call me Tim...
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ICAL_Pete
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Joined: 28 Nov 2006, 08:05
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Re: Advice please.

Unread post by ICAL_Pete »

Skylar34 wrote: How can I still write a great cover letter and resume, even after all this?

Please help!Skylar
We will be more than happy to help you write an effective résumé and a memorable cover letter! We help our ICAL students with job placement so we have plenty of experience with that. Feel free to email us anytime.
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