MyTEFL review, submitted by Dani.

After taking my time to understand how the login worked and what I was meant to do it was easy to complete in a rather quick time frame and I was satisfied. I would recommend it. They were very knowledgeable and made this a very satisfying course to complete and were usually available if I had any concerns or needed help in any area. Dividing the course into clear modular sections made this very easy to learn. At least it made the learning quite easy for me and I usually have to take longer than most to get things done and get the results I’m aiming for. Compared to other online courses I’ve taken, online learning courses, this one was the most expensive but was filled with all the tools needed to get a job which made the value even better.

Read more MyTEFL reviews

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Verified Online TEFL/TESOL certification course program reviews, ranked in order of customer satisfaction: TEFL Course Directory

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The article begins under the two following advertising banners.

Banner #1 is for a limited-time discount from TEFL Online Pro – winner of the 2025 Teachers’ Choice Award. The winner of the Teachers’ Choice award may, at their discretion, advertise for free on Trusted TEFL Reviews for as long as they are the holder of this prestigious award.

Banner #2 is the current list of the 5 Best online TEFL/TESOL certification courses, based on verified student reviews. If in doubt, choose from one of the 5 Best course programs because they are all internationally recognized and reputable companies.

Both banners represent top-rated online TEFL and TESOL certification course programs.

Online TEFL TESOL course review scams in 2026.

(Updated: December 21, 2025)

This is a must-read article if you are choosing which TEFL course to take and are confused by which ones are legitimate and which ones are scams.

The scams are becoming more and more sophisticated.

To prevent your TEFL dream turning into a TEFL nightmare, we strongly recommend that you read this article in full.

Online TEFL TESOL Scam TEFL programs.

Currently, the more notable scam TEFL companies are ESLinsider, ITTT International TEFL and TESOL Training, MyTEFL, The TEFL Academy, and World TESOL Academy.

1. ESLinsider

ESLinsider (Ian Patrick Leahy) portrays himself as a TEFL whistleblower and he trashes almost every TEFL program online for seemingly altruistic motives, but his endgame is to sell you one TEFL course – his TEFL course. Among a long list of criminal activity, he was recommending TEFL students without college degrees to buy fake ones online. Some people followed his advice and (in China) were arrested, fined, deported. Ian is currently wanted by the Chinese authorities and is essentially on the lamb, living a transient life in the United States. Ian was banned from Facebook for spreading misinformation and disinformation way back in 2017. https://www.eslinsider.com/

2. ITTT International TEFL and TESOL Training

ITTT International TEFL and TESOL Training operates under more than 20 different websites. Each one looks similar, but is different just enough so that you would be forgiven into believing that one website is a different company from another website. This company has a bogus accreditation from a website that spells it as “Accredidation”. Affiliate marketing is their lean and they have one favorite who will say and write anything to get you to make the purchase: Linda Dunsmore. ITTT will take your money, give you access to a subpar course, fail to respond to online tutor requests, and ghost you when it comes time for the advertised “free” job-finding help – unless you pay through the nose for their job placement services, which you are recommended to avoid like the plague.

3. MyTEFL

MyTEFL used to be accredited by OTTSA (a website they created) and are now accredited by a bogus company: International TEFL Accreditation Council (ITEFLAC). Folks, official accreditation company website’s don’t have stock images of business people in office boardrooms. MyTEFL offer affordable TEFL courses, but they make their real money from paid job placement services. Do not pay for this service. If you do, when you receive your weekly or monthly teaching pay, without realizing it at first, MyTEFL will be skimming up to 25% off. And what can you do about it when you have locked yourself into a job contract with a language school through MyTEFL? https://mytefl.com/

4. The TEFL Academy (TTA)

The TEFL Academy (TTA) is a truly corrupt corporate company. They claim to be the “Worlds #1 TEFL Course Provider!” They are not. And, despite their many claims, they are not accredited. The TEFL Academy claims to be accredited by AQC, DEAC, QUALIFI, and even by Ofqual. It is only regulated by Ofqual and QUALIFI, and it also appears that QUALIFI might have been created by the good folks at The TEFL Academy. AQC is a sister website of DEAC, and you can see that The TEFL Academy is not accredited by DEAC because DEAC has a search feature that shows all the companies that it accredits – The TEFL Academy is not listed. As with ITTT, The TEFL Academy pays affiliate marketers to promote its courses. More about this below. https://www.theteflacademy.com/

5. World TESOL Academy

World TESOL Academy is likewise shady as hell. They offer TEFL courses for $38 and this appears to lure in a lot of unsuspecting folk. After you pay, you get bombarded with requests to become one of their affiliate marketers. Students rate the course as “terrible” and a bit like flying with Ryanair, with a smorgasbord of hidden fees and additional costs. World TESOL Academy is accredited by Accreditat and CPD that are pay-for-accreditation companies that are not recognized by any reputable language schools. Another red flag is that they have the Reviews tab disabled on their Facebook page. https://www.worldtesolacademy.com/

How TEFL companies scam you.

Besides the above mentioned scams, there are some complex ways in which some TEFL companies will scam you.

And the sophistication of the scams is intensifying.

TEFL Review Website Bedfellows

Go Abroad, Go Overseas and TEFL Course Review are the three biggest TEFL review websites. They each make their money from charging TEFL companies for a listing on their site – the TEFL companies are their customers – and it is in their best financial interests to have positive reviews about (fill in the blank) TEFL company than to have bad reviews published. This is why a company like The TEFL Academy has a high review score on all three websites – they make certain that negative reviews of them are minimized and they are free to have fake positive reviews appear on all three sites, and on the other review sites where they have a listing. Incidentally, The TEFL Academy has a lot of money at their disposal and frequently sue individuals and companies if they dare to publish something negative about them. Trusted TEFL Reviews published a few negative student reviews of The TEFL Academy and we were warned that if they were not taken down, they would sue us. We simply responded that the reviews will remain published because they were written by students of their program.

Affiliate Marketing

If you see an individual excessively promoting a TEFL program – with or without a coupon code for a discount – it will certainly be an affiliate marketer. Caitriona McTiernan and Megan Broccoli are the two main ones for The TEFL Academy and Linda Dunsmore heads the ITTT affiliate marketing side of the business. A large majority of TEFL programs belong to affiliate marketing companies, paying people who have never taken their courses to promote them online and earn money for themselves in the process. They will say and write absolutely anything (“the course was AMAZING!”) to make the sell, such as promises of earning $100 per hour for teaching English online. No one earns anywhere near to $100 teaching English online.

Trashing A Business Competitor

In the Wild West of online TEFL, anything goes. It’s very common for TEFL companies to trash each other online. They create fake profiles and then write fake complaints and fake reviews – misinformation and disinformation – on complaints websites and Reddit. And TEFL programs with deep pockets, such as The TEFL Academy, have now started to pay people to take a competitor’s course and then slam it online. This is cruel and clever because the person can show that they have a certificate from the TEFL company and can write exactly what the company tells them to write. A recent case involved one of the affiliate marketers from The TEFL Academy – Megan Broccoli – who purchased a TEFL Online Pro course, completed it, claimed after an hour of course completion that she couldn’t use the certificate, and began spreading her message on Reddit and elsewhere that the company is a scam. Something similar also happened to OISE University of Toronto TEFL and CIEE TEFL. CIEE TEFL, OISE University of Toronto TEFL and TEFL Online Pro are among the 5 Best Online TEFL/TESOL certification courses.

Reddit

When Online TEFL/TESOL courses were gaining traction about 15 years ago, in response to the established in-person TEFL/TESOL course industry, a few of them set up Reddit communities – communities that they used and continue to use to push their agenda. This tends to focus on trashing their competitors and clandestinely promoting their courses. We recommend avoiding Reddit for Online TEFL/TESOL course information because of this, and because of the vast number of TEFL shills active on the site.

Niche subreddits, such as online course communities, are often run by people with a vested interest in promoting certain courses—for which they receive a financial kickback. This often leads them to delete positive comments about any business competitors of the courses from which they receive kickbacks.

The r/TEFL subreddit is well known for this type of behavior—they allow positive comments for their favored TEFL companies but prevent students of some other TEFL programs from posting honest reviews of their course experiences. They even have a Reddit Wiki page that clearly demonstrates the quid pro quo partnership they maintain with certain programs.

Trashing Trusted TEFL Reviews

It must be so frustrating for the many TEFL programs that don’t have the kind of power over Trusted TEFL Reviews that they lord over other TEFL review websites. So what do they do? They spread misinformation and disinformation about me and Trusted TEFL Reviews because they just can’t handle having even one or two negative reviews published online about them. By trying to discredit this website, they hope that people won’t believe the reviews of their program. All TEFL programs listed on Trusted TEFL Reviews have a free listing and all TEFL programs are free to respond to reviews and to add comments.

The TEFL Wall of Shame.

Important Clarifying Information.

Several points need addressing, and I will write about each one separately:

The Teachers’ Choice Award

Several Online TEFL companies are claiming that the Teachers’ Choice Award is fake. It isn’t. We created the Teachers’ Choice Award back in 2019, after noticing that other mainstream TEFL review websites had also created their awards. The fundamental difference between our award and the awards of other mainstream TEFL review websites is that the winner of the Teachers’ Choice Award is based on merit alone – voted for by language schools, universities, TEFL students, and TEFL graduates. If a company has won an award from a mainstream TEFL review website, it means they have likely paid for the privilege of “winning” that award.

TEFL Online Pro

TEFL Online Pro (https://teflonlinepro.com/) has won the Teachers’ Choice Award for seven consecutive years – they are the highest-rated in 2026. They have won the award every year because they were the Online TEFL/TESOL program that received the most votes. Trusted TEFL Reviews does not own TEFL Online Pro, just as it doesn’t own the other four Online TEFL/TESOL programs that currently hold the place of being one of the 5 Best Online TEFL/TESOL programs. Trusted TEFL Reviews is an independent Online TEFL/TESOL reviews website. We are not affiliated with any TEFL/TESOL program listed on the Trusted TEFL Reviews website.

Trusted TEFL Reviews is a not-for-profit website

Contrary to what some Online TEFL programs claim, it doesn’t cost anything to list your Online TEFL/TESOL program on Trusted TEFL Reviews. Also, we don’t allow any paid advertising because we feel that it could present a conflict of interest. The only advertising allowed is granted to the TEFL program winner of the annual Teachers’ Choice Award. TEFL Online Pro (https://trustedteflreviews.com/category/tefl-online-pro-reviews-in-2025/) is the winner of this year’s award, so they have been allowed to promote any TEFL course discounts that they may run during the year. This additional exposure on Trusted TEFL Reviews is without charge for the TEFL program currently enjoying Teachers’ Choice Award winner status.

I am not a man

I identify as a woman because I am a woman, living and teaching English in Vienna, Austria. Contrary to what some Online TEFL/TESOL companies have written about me online, I am not a “man”, I am not a “dyke”, and I am not a “b!tch”. I am a mother. I co-own Trusted TEFL Reviews with my partner and we run Trusted TEFL Reviews together, from our apartment in Vienna. We also have a small office within the city limits that we visit mostly during the summer months when the air-con in the office is a welcome respite. We also run the Teachers’ Choice Award from this office. It is no Online TEFL/TESOL program’s beeswax what our addresses are and we both feel safer not disclosing our addresses. I have received threats in the past simply because I wouldn’t delete a negative review written about one of the TEFL programs listed on Trusted TEFL Reviews.

We never delete reviews from Trusted TEFL Reviews, unless the review is later found to be fake

Online TEFL/TESOL course programs are the customers of the mainstream Online TEFL/TESOL review websites. The programs pay a yearly fee to be listed on the review website, and this is how those review websites generate the majority of their commercial income. Those review websites have a strong financial incentive to hide negative reviews and hold almost no verification process for publishing positive reviews – the vast majority of which are written by the TEFL company. Trusted TEFL Reviews has a strong verification process in place and we only publish reviews that have been proven to have been written by a real TEFL student. This has infuriated a few Online TEFL/TESOL companies – companies that are used to chalking up fake 5-star reviews on those mainstream TEFL review platforms.

We allow all of the TEFL companies listed on Trusted TEFL Reviews to respond to reviews

All Online TEFL/TESOL companies listed on Trusted TEFL Reviews are free to respond to any review published about their program. The vast majority of programs choose not to, but some do. The most prolific company to respond to reviews – responding to every review they receive – is TEFL Online Pro. This company is proactive and recognizes the importance of thanking customers for writing positive reviews and addressing any issues presented by negative reviews. If an Online TEFL company writes that they tried responding to a review but were unsuccessful in doing so, it is a flat-out lie.

Russian review websites

A few months ago, an Online TEFL/TESOL company reached out to me – a company not listed on Trusted TEFL Reviews – complaining that their business wasn’t doing so well. They blamed their dwindling revenue on the many cheap Online TEFL/TESOL programs undercutting them with lower prices. They suggested that they would “handle the Google Ads campaigns” of those programs through a process known as click fraud. They also suggested that I should write some damning reviews about those programs on complaintsboard.com. I refused the offer and told the individual to focus on improving their course offerings and customer services. complaintsboard.com, dirtyscam.com, and ripoffreport.com are all Russian-owned websites. They may claim otherwise, but they operate outside of countries where they can be held accountable for the defamatory material that they allow to be published on their websites. I read one recent “complaint” that TEFL Online Pro is offering courses illegally and not paying their taxes. This, of course, is just fiction. I also read another “complaint” where someone had written that OISE University of Toronto TEFL is a scam and their certificates are not valid internationally. Also, fictitious. The rogue Online TEFL/TESOL companies use these websites to badmouth their business competitors because all you need to do to have your review published is to verify your email address – using any name to create an account. Those Russian websites feel protected from legal repercussions and they are the go-to websites for the dregs of the Online TEFL/TESOL certification course world.

TEFL companies that want to take over the world

The TEFL Academy (https://trustedteflreviews.com/category/the-tefl-academy/) is the perfect example of a company that wants it all, and they are willing to break all the better business rules to achieve their objective. We began listing this program on Trusted TEFL Reviews a few years ago. Within a couple of days, we received an avalanche of 5-star reviews for them, but not one of the reviewers was willing to prove course participation in The TEFL Academy program. They were fake reviews. We also have it on good word that this company reaches out to its graduates and offers them a free mini TEFL course if they write a positive review. This is why there is such a disconnect between their reviews on Trusted TEFL Reviews and their reviews on Facebook, Trustpilot, etc. World TESOL Academy (https://trustedteflreviews.com/category/world-tesol-academy/) is also guilty of this shameless and flagrant middle finger to the better business rules. They claim to be the “Worlds #1 TEFL Course Provider.” This obviously isn’t true, as are many other claims on their website.

Our advice for Online TEFL/TESOL companies

Interact with your customers! If you receive a positive review, thank the customer for spending their time to review your program. If you receive a negative review, apologize and try to right a wrong. Don’t write false sh*t about me or Trusted TEFL Reviews just because you got some negative feedback.

Our advice for Online TEFL/TESOL students

The Online TEFL/TESOL industry is unregulated and highly competitive. Some companies will swear blind to you that you need to take their course because it has more hours or because it has won so many awards. The Teachers’ Choice Award is the only Online TEFL/TESOL certification course program award that cannot be bought. The industry standard is a 120-hour TEFL/TESOL certification course (140 hours if it includes 20 teaching practice hours). You don’t need more training hours because those extra hours are meaningless for TEFL employers. If you pay less than US$100 for a 120-hour Online TEFL/TESOL certification course, you WILL regret it.

Accreditation

To prevent you from becoming a victim of a TEFL scam, we recommend that you choose a Fully Accredited TEFL/TESOL certification course provider.

The most well-known accreditation companies – offering Full Accreditation:

ACCET – Accrediting Council for Continuing Education and Training.

ACTEFLC – Accreditation Council for Teaching English as a Foreign Language Courses.

OISE – University of the Toronto Faculty of Education.

TESL Canada

University of Cambridge’s English Language Assessment

If you read anything negative about these organizations online, it has been written by an Online TEFL/TESOL program – a program that likely has no accreditation itself or one that simply pays a dodgy accreditation company an annual fee.

You can see which companies are Fully Accredited and internationally recognized by looking through the program listings in the TEFL Course Directory:

https://trustedteflreviews.com/tefl-course-directory/

The top-rated schools in the directory are top-rated for a legitimate reason.

The low-rated schools in the directory are low-rated for a legitimate reason.

Be smart. Don’t fall for the disinformation and misinformation.

Trusted TEFL Reviews

If and when we are notified of shady practices or even outright scams, we will post details of them in the Online TEFL Course Scams section of this website.

This ‘Online TEFL Course Reviews Scams’ article was originally written and published by Mia Williams, co-owner of Trusted TEFL Reviews (TTR) | Best Featured TEFL Articles

Related articles:

https://trustedteflreviews.com/2021/03/30/6-tefl-red-flags/

https://trustedteflreviews.com/2021/03/30/common-tefl-scams/

New! Click here for the online TEFL/TESOL international certification course Teachers’ Choice Award winner. International Online TEFL/TESOL course certification at its best.

Verified Online TEFL/TESOL certification course program reviews, ranked in order of customer satisfaction: TEFL Course Directory

TEFL Accreditation Guide | 6 TEFL Red Flags | TTR Home | TEFL Course Special Offers

The post Online TEFL TESOL Course Review Scams in 2026 appeared first on Trusted TEFL Reviews.

MyTEFL review, submitted by Adam.

Paid $200 for the MyTEFL 120-Hour online course, based on the reviews on a different reviews website where MyTEFL has been highly rated. Naturally believed the reviews. Why wouldn’t I? Now that I have taken the course I would write that the reviews I read were likely written by the admin staff at MyTEFL. Why? The course was terrible. I was able to complete the whole 120-Hour course in under 24 hours. Have since read the MyTEFL warnings on Trusted TEFL Reviews and the penny has dropped. This is most definitely a program to be avoided and I just wished I had read the warnings before I chose this program and parted with my money. I would like to write that the course content and course structure was good, despite the incredibly short time it took to complete the course, but it wasn’t. I’m not usually someone who goes online to complain, but I felt I just had to in this example so that people know what they are getting into if choosing to go through this company. I will see whether I can use the certificate or not. If it transpires that I can’t, I’ll just probably have to go through the process again but with a more reputable TEFL company.

Read more MyTEFL reviews

New! Click here for the online TEFL/TESOL international certification course Teachers’ Choice Award winner. International Online TEFL/TESOL course certification at its best.

Verified Online TEFL/TESOL certification course program reviews, ranked in order of customer satisfaction: TEFL Course Directory

TEFL Accreditation Guide | 6 TEFL Red Flags | TTR Home | TEFL Course Special Offers

The post “I will see whether I can use the certificate or not” appeared first on Trusted TEFL Reviews.

Is MyTEFL legit MyTEFL review, submitted by Mark.

Is MyTEFL Legit? The myTEFL certification course online was a reasonable choice.

I took the MyTEFL 120-hour TESOL course online, which with the 30% discount came to a little over 200 USD. This is a pretty much middle-of-the-road price for one of these online TESOL courses. I did notice some really really cheap ones being offered for as little as a few bucks, but I’m not such a fool as to fall for that one. I liken it to learning a language. Would I pay my tutor 5 USD per hour to teach me a language? No, I wouldn’t. So the My TEFL course price seemed fair, considering there were no brick-and-mortar buildings to attend. So I can see why these online TESOL courses are cheaper than the in-class ones because they have much lower overheads to take care of.

Apart from the odd typo and grammar mistakes contained within the MyTEFL 120-hour course content, I couldn’t fault the overall focus and instruction of the course. There are a variety of teaching areas covered, Curriculum Planning being the one I most enjoyed working through, but as an introductory course I did at times note to myself that it wasn’t challenging enough for someone like myself who had done some teaching before. For anyone venturing into teaching for the first time though it is a fair balance between the easy and more difficult tasks.

You are issued your certificate when you finish. To be quite honest, the certificate does look a bit like it was designed and printed by my nephew, but as far as I’m aware there is an option to purchase (at extra cost) a hardcopy printed version. I don’t know how much that costs. This is an average course in terms of the course content quality, the final certificate, and the amount of support provided for you, but compared with the dirt cheap TEFL/TESOL courses being advertised on places like Groupon, I’d take this MyTEFL course over them every time. Is MyTEFL legit? Yes, but with some reservations.

Read more MyTEFL reviews

New! Click here for the online TEFL/TESOL international certification course Teachers’ Choice Award winner. International Online TEFL/TESOL course certification at its best.

Verified Online TEFL/TESOL certification course program reviews, ranked in order of customer satisfaction: TEFL Course Directory

TEFL Accreditation Guide | 6 TEFL Red Flags | TTR Home | TEFL Course Special Offers

The post “Is MyTEFL Legit? The MyTEFL certification course online was a reasonable choice” appeared first on Trusted TEFL Reviews.

MyTEFL review, submitted by Craig.

Needing to find a Tefl course to take pronto (long story) the one which caught my eye was my tefl academy TEFL program. mytefl.com. They had a limited-time 35% discount at the time so it was a no-brainer for me to check my credit card balance, make the purchase, and begin taking the course. I mean, how comfortable and convenient does it get to study online? It doesn’t! In just a week I passed the course and then it took a few more weeks (3) until the certificate dropped into my mailbox. Sweet! They did really kindly offer to help with job support through their recruitment partner, but I was already teaching. Things are getting stricter here in Vietnam now and my school was one of many raided to check the teachers had the work visa and TEFL qualifications. I had neither. I had to moped it over to the other side of HCMC to present my mytefl.com certificate. They gave a shrug and a look on their faces that at least to me showed they weren’t aware of the crackdown. Got it notarized and am still doing the visa runs without having any legal work papers. I’ll just face that brick wall when the time comes. Taking this course saved me a whole load of a world of pain.

Read more MyTEFL reviews

New! Click here for the online TEFL/TESOL international certification course Teachers’ Choice Award winner. International Online TEFL/TESOL course certification at its best.

Verified Online TEFL/TESOL certification course program reviews, ranked in order of customer satisfaction: TEFL Course Directory

TEFL Accreditation Guide | 6 TEFL Red Flags | TTR Home | TEFL Course Special Offers

The post “Taking this course saved me a whole load of a world of pain” appeared first on Trusted TEFL Reviews.

The OTTSA – Online Tefl and Tesol Standards Agency – Accrediting Professionals scam.

December 9, 2023 UPDATE:

It appears that OTTSA has now closed down and the TEFL companies that partnered with this fake accreditation website have flown over to other fake TEFL accreditation websites.

A fine example of this is MyTEFL, which now claims to be accredited by the International TEFL Accreditation Council (ITEFLAC) and by the International Council for Online Educational Standards (ICOES).

ITEFLAC is a fake accreditation body – one red flag being the stock images on the website that hope to allure the unsuspecting into thinking it is an organization located in an office building, and full of suited men and women whose only care in the world is TEFL and TESOL accreditation.

ICOES is, putting it kindly, a dodgy accreditation company. Its list of companies that it boasts of accrediting includes ‘Permanent Jewelry Bestie’ and ‘spray tan class’. Oh, and MyTEFL and International Open Academy – two TEFL companies with a terrible reputation.

ITTT, on the other hand, has gone rogue and teamed up with an accreditation body that can’t even spell the word ‘Accreditation’ correctly on its website:

https://trustedteflreviews.com/2022/03/23/ittt-tefl-accreditation/

Essential TEFL Tip!

Are you worried about being scammed? TEFL course scams are becoming more sophisticated!

Protect yourself by reading about the latest TEFL scams in this article:

Online TEFL/TESOL Course Review Scams in 2026

If you are concerned about becoming a victim of an Online TEFL/TESOL course scam, we strongly recommend choosing from one of the 5 Best Online TEFL/TESOL certification course programs in 2025:

The 5 Best Online TEFL/TESOL Courses in 2026

Mia Williams – Trusted TEFL Reviews

In a previous scam article, we wrote about being defamed online, and it became quickly crystal clear to us that the company orchestrating the spreading of the false allegations online about trustedteflreviews.com, was MyTEFL.com.

We would advise reading the MyTEFL.com scam post before coming back to this post, as then you will have a clearer picture regarding why we have chosen to expose MyTEFL and their rather dubious business practices.

Both MyTEFL and ITTT TEFL claim to be accredited by OTTSA.

‘OTTSA’ btw, is an acronym for ONLINE TEFL & TESOL STANDARDS AGENCY.

And at first glance, it looks impressive.

It was created by an individual who happened to travel to Thailand to become an English teacher, and who then happened to create his accreditation website.

His name: is Simon Godwin.

Here you can read about the creator of OTTSA:

https://www.newsshopper.co.uk/news/560086.tourists-urged-to-return/

There are three levels of accreditation:

Unaccredited

Accredited

Fully accredited, and internationally recognized.

Online TEFL/TESOL programs that are accredited by OTTSA are categorized as ‘Accredited’.

This means that the certificate awarded is not necessarily internationally recognized.

Further information here:

https://trustedteflreviews.com/tefl-accreditation-guide/

On the OTTSA main page is what appears at first glance to be a professional statement:

Again, it looks impressive.

The one issue with this though, is that it is an outright scam.

What is particularly painful here is that this fake accreditation website has been developed to pull the wool over people’s eyes and to get them to make that course purchase because they will probably assume that OTTSA is an internationally recognized accreditation body.

This couldn’t be further from the truth, and, only this week, trustedteflreviews.com received a scathing MyTEFL.com review where the reviewer’s employer refused her a teaching position because their school didn’t want one of their teachers to be associated with a fake accreditation scheme:

https://trustedteflreviews.com/2020/02/13/needless-to-say-i-shall-be-contacting-my-credit-card-company-for-a-full-refund-on-the-mytefl-purchase/

But how can we know that this is a fake accreditation website?

1. If you contact OTTSA, you will never receive a reply. They are not in the business of encouraging more members to join their fat cow laid out to graze.
2. The website connection is not secure:

3. Their “Accredited courses” page gives the game away

The companies that OTTSA claim went through a vigorous accreditation application process, and was successful in being accepted to such a prestigious accreditation organization are:

1. ITTT TEFL

2. XploreAsia

3. MyTEFL

4. CultureRoute

5. TESOL Coach Master Inc. by The American Global TESOL Association, LLC:

6. Promise Opens Doors

7. TEFLMaster

8.TESOL Professional Teachers Global Limited

9. TEFL Tycoon by Chelsea International Education LLC

Now, besides ITTT TEFL being the only Online TEFL school listed with a live link to their website, we thought we would take a look at a few of the other (unknown) Online TEFL schools (besides MyTEFL.com, which are now very well-known to us.)

And what a shock!

When we checked last week, the remaining 7 websites looked very different than they did when we checked again this afternoon.

Last week there were ridiculously high course offers for 120-hour Online TEFL courses, such as $2,000, but we know how quick the MyTEFL.com Asian team can be in manipulating websites and they have now made the remaining 7 look almost plausible Online TEFL course options.

But of course, again, if you look closely, you can recognize immediately that these are hastily-created websites, without any other significant presence on the web.

Now they spell their accreditation company in capitals all of a sudden

What does OTTSA do?

OTTSA is a fake website that attempts, rather well, to scam money from people searching online for accredited Online TEFL courses (which by definition don’t exist.)

Now, we would love to be wrong. As we would have loved to have been wrong about the MyTEFL and Footprints Recruiting scams.

Everything we have written is non-defamatory. It is the truth.

Perhaps that’s why the only responses that we have received so far have been vulgar, private comments – threatening us with further online defamation and online attacks if we continue down this path of exposing this well-established corrupt corner of the international Online TEFL certification industry.

I was even insulted by an insinuation that I am a “dike”. The comment received read: ‘Your website is a disgrace and payback is coming your way. You’re just a dike with brains about the TEFL world.

My response was that the correct spelling is, “dyke” and that whatever my sexual preference, it is my business only – and my boyfriend’s too if you want to know

I then laughed when I signed my comment response as Mia Williams – “just a dike with brains about the TEFL world”

Btw, as a quick thought and a message that I feel is important to all readers: don’t ever give a fuc* about what someone says about your choice of sexuality. It’s none of their business, and it’s SO 1990 even to bring up the theme.

Again though, not all Online TEFL programs behave in such an appalling manner to get a hold of your hard-earned cash.

If you are reading this and are searching for honest, reputable Online TEFL certification companies then may we suggest you view our Online TEFL Courses Directory:

https://trustedteflreviews.com/tefl-course-directory/

We welcome any comments in the reply section below.

If and when we are notified of shady practices or even outright scams, we will post details of them in the Online TEFL Course Scams section of this website.

Written by Mia Williams for Trusted TEFL Reviews.

WARNING! We strongly recommend that readers are made fully aware of MyTEFL’s violation of the international TEFL/TESOL Code of Professional Conduct:

https://trustedteflreviews.com/2020/02/02/mytefl-a-code-of-conduct-violation/

https://trustedteflreviews.com/2020/01/24/the-mytefl-com-scam/

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Verified Online TEFL/TESOL certification course program reviews, ranked in order of customer satisfaction: TEFL Course Directory

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MyTEFL review, submitted by Becky.

A promising start turned nightmare!

MyTEFL is omnipresent throughout the internet, so this gave me the sense they are a reputable, established company. And established companies are usually reputable because they have established themselves through ethical conduct and general good business practices.

Signed up and took the course. It was OK. I guess your standard online tuition model.

I received my certificate. All is fine so far.

Tyler at MyTEFL did refer me to Footprints Recruitment Agency (helpful support) but I wanted to go it alone because I understand how recruitment agencies operate.

I had my heart set on teaching in Osaka, Japan. I knew it wouldn’t be an overnight process, but I had all of my docs lined up in a row and submitted them before the cutoff date. Easy, I thought. I’ve got this one. Incidentally, this was all completed last week.

On Monday, I opened my email to the shock that my application had been denied!!!???!!!

The school stated that although I ticked all the boxes for their school program, the TEFL certification I had received from MyTEFL was void and I would need to take a different course and then reapply once I have this new TEFL certification under my belt.

The reason given for the MyTEFL certificate failure was due to a blog post they had read on THIS website and when they did more digging into it they agreed with the blog post’s content. This is the post that cost me $200 and a whole waste of time:

https://trustedteflreviews.com/2020/01/24/the-mytefl-com-scam/

The school actually wrote that they don’t hold weight in accredited TEFL certificates, noting that there are few genuine ones around, and what they cannot encourage is accepting students with TEFL certificates endorsed with bogus accreditation credentials.

So, yeah. OTTSA who “accredit” MyTEFL are bogus.

It’s basically a scam.

We then had an email back and forth, with me almost pleading to ask them to PLEASE recommend a similar course that WOULD be accepted.

They recommended that I take one of these and my application would then go through without issue:

INTESOL Worldwide

OISE University of Toronto TEFL

tefl online pro

The TEFL Academy

Needless to say, I shall be contacting my credit card company for a full refund on the MyTEFL purchase.

WARNING! We strongly recommend that readers are made fully aware of MyTEFL’s violation of the international TEFL/TESOL Code of Professional Conduct:

https://trustedteflreviews.com/2020/02/02/mytefl-a-code-of-conduct-violation/

https://trustedteflreviews.com/2020/01/24/the-mytefl-com-scam/

Read more MyTEFL reviews

New! Click here for the online TEFL/TESOL international certification course Teachers’ Choice Award winner. International Online TEFL/TESOL course certification at its best.

Verified Online TEFL/TESOL certification course program reviews, ranked in order of customer satisfaction: TEFL Course Directory

TEFL Accreditation Guide | 6 TEFL Red Flags | TTR Home | TEFL Course Special Offers

The post “Needless to say, I shall be contacting my credit card company for a full refund on the MyTEFL purchase” appeared first on Trusted TEFL Reviews.

MyTEFL review, submitted by Amy.

Like some others who have written their My Tefl review on Trusted Tefl Reviews, I also had issues with My Tefl which were similar to their red flag review warnings.

Such a shame though that I only came across this reviews site last weekend, because the amount of positive online feedback on their program in travel blogs (which I now discover are promoted through the My Tefl affiliates program) convinced me to purchase, but no sooner had I begun, I realized the positive buzz didn’t match reality.

I thought the course was very so-so. Not nearly as “amazing” as I’d been led to believe. Felt like a Tefl mill to me. The course is arranged into modules and you need to pass a multiple-choice quiz after each one. I could have learned just as much by reading an online book about Tefl because it’s a text-heavy course and the multiple choice questions are so easy it’s a joke. So yes, I completed and passed the course, but I didn’t really feel that I had earned it, and I didn’t really feel that I had learned that much either.

Perhaps this is a great course for someone just wanting to get hold of a Tefl certificate, for work visa reasons. In this case, I do recommend this course.

I also had issues with the employment process and felt completely at a loss at times, given My Tefl supposedly has this awesome job finding support. Not. Yes, if you want to work for lower-than-average money then sign up for one of their internships. This way you will be guaranteed a job. But if you don’t want to accept a crappy job through My Tefl, you won’t receive any help finding work on your own. And this is my biggest complaint about this Tefl Tesol course.

So to conclude. If you are someone just looking for a bit of paper to show you took a Tefl course, take this one. If you are wanting quality Tefl Tesol training and help to find work, don’t take this one.

Sorry if I come over as being so negative, but I had high hopes going with this program, based on a heap of positive feedback online. Instead, I’m left feeling frustrated with the whole experience.

WARNING! We strongly recommend that readers are made fully aware of MyTEFL’s violation of the international TEFL/TESOL Code of Professional Conduct:

https://trustedteflreviews.com/2020/02/02/mytefl-a-code-of-conduct-violation/

https://trustedteflreviews.com/2020/01/24/the-mytefl-com-scam/

Read more MyTEFL reviews

New! Click here for the online TEFL/TESOL international certification course Teachers’ Choice Award winner. International Online TEFL/TESOL course certification at its best.

Verified Online TEFL/TESOL certification course program reviews, ranked in order of customer satisfaction: TEFL Course Directory

TEFL Accreditation Guide | 6 TEFL Red Flags | TTR Home | TEFL Course Special Offers

The post “Great course for someone just wanting to get hold of a Tefl certificate” appeared first on Trusted TEFL Reviews.

MyTEFL review, submitted by Max.

Take anything you read online about this company with a healthy cup of skepticism. It seems like any person who has ever wanted to teach abroad and travel has taken their course with MyTEFL but you need to understand that these people are part of their affiliate program and are being PAID to promote MyTEFL. If you read any MyTEFL review with a coupon code added (something like SAVE 35% when you enter COUPON CODE) you can be sure the person just wants to earn their commission, paid by MyTEFL. I took their 120-Hour Online course and thought it was pretty meh. Not much in the way of employment help in the end either. At best an average experience. Definitely is not a 5-star review from me.

WARNING! We strongly recommend that readers are made fully aware of MyTEFL’s violation of the international TEFL/TESOL Code of Professional Conduct:

https://trustedteflreviews.com/2020/02/02/mytefl-a-code-of-conduct-violation/

https://trustedteflreviews.com/2020/01/24/the-mytefl-com-scam/

Read more MyTEFL reviews

New! Click here for the online TEFL/TESOL international certification course Teachers’ Choice Award winner. International Online TEFL/TESOL course certification at its best.

Verified Online TEFL/TESOL certification course program reviews, ranked in order of customer satisfaction: TEFL Course Directory

TEFL Accreditation Guide | 6 TEFL Red Flags | TTR Home | TEFL Course Special Offers

The post “I took their 120-Hour Online course and thought it was pretty meh.” appeared first on Trusted TEFL Reviews.

MyTEFL review, submitted by Alice.

Was initially a bit hesitant choosing to take my TEFL online but found this to be an excellent choice that I was able to fit perfectly into my (then current) hectic schedule. Very impressed with their response times when I posted a message or e-mail. Received the support when I needed it and a big shout out to their team for their assistance!

This course gave me the confidence I needed to take the next step forward toward living and teaching overseas!

WARNING! We strongly recommend that readers are made fully aware of MyTEFL’s violation of the international TEFL/TESOL Code of Professional Conduct:

https://trustedteflreviews.com/2020/02/02/mytefl-a-code-of-conduct-violation/

https://trustedteflreviews.com/2020/01/24/the-mytefl-com-scam/

Read more MyTEFL reviews

New! Click here for the online TEFL/TESOL international certification course Teachers’ Choice Award winner. International Online TEFL/TESOL course certification at its best.

Verified Online TEFL/TESOL certification course program reviews, ranked in order of customer satisfaction: TEFL Course Directory

TEFL Accreditation Guide | 6 TEFL Red Flags | TTR Home | TEFL Course Special Offers

The post “This course gave me the confidence I needed to take the next step forward towards living and teaching overseas!” appeared first on Trusted TEFL Reviews.

The dirty tricks of some Online TEFL certification programs you should be fully aware of.

Hi!

This is a first for us, but we felt that we couldn’t just let this information slide by, as it could either have affected you or is currently affecting you.

Earlier this week, we received a review from a graduate of an Online TEFL program – that will remain nameless – and after our usual checks, we were able to confirm that the review in question was valid. In other words, it was a verified review, written by a real person, who had taken that particular Online TEFL certification course.

The review did tend to lean more towards negativity, than positive feedback, but it was generally a well-balanced review – addressing some key areas whereby the graduate felt could be improved.

We don’t always request copies of TEFL course completion (certificates, etc.) but in this case, we did ask the reviewer if they wouldn’t mind just sending us a copy of their certificate. They obliged, and everything checked out fine.

We then received a strongly-written email, from the Online TEFL school, that had received the review.

At first, they threatened us with legal action, if we wouldn’t delete the review, and then, they attempted to bribe us – offering a monthly payment to keep negative reviews from being published of their Online TEFL program.

We of course stood by our guns, so the saying goes, and reminded the school in question, that we simply publish feedback from people who have taken an Online TEFL course, and that we are in no way liable for the content of material published on trustedteflreviews.com. Oh, and thank you for the offer of the bribe, but, no thank you. Yeah, yeah, but no

But one particular mention got our goat; made our blood boil; enraged us.

The Online TEFL school in question, not only threatened and bribed us, but they also mentioned the names of two other (very popular) TEFL course review websites, where they have this agreement in place of keeping negative reviews deleted, and only positive reviews published.

And this confirmed for us, why it is, that some Online TEFL companies tend to receive quite negative reviews on Trusted TEFL Reviews, but when you take a look online, they are portrayed as being five-star courses.

I don’t think I need to explain this any further, as the vast majority of Trusted TEFL Reviews readers have a higher-than-usual intellect.

What we do want to express within this post, is that Trusted TEFL Reviews only publishes reviews, written by course graduates. And we never pander to Online TEFL schools, to have negative reviews deleted. We have also become quite apt at recognizing fake reviews – written by Online TEFL school staff members, and we always delete these as soon as they arrive in our Inbox.

Of course, this puts us a little in a piggy-in-the-middle position, and we have recently received multiple attacks online – trying to discredit our website – but ultimately, we provide a service for people, who are searching for honest reviews, and trustedteflreviews.com will always remain a source of verified Online TEFL reviews, written by real people.

The two schools, btw, of whom we write in this article have been removed from Trusted TEFL Reviews. If an Online TEFL school isn’t listed on Trusted TEFL Reviews, then it might mean they are not a credible company.

Written by Mia Williams for Trusted TEFL Reviews (TTR) | Best Featured TEFL Articles

Related article: https://trustedteflreviews.com/2021/03/30/6-tefl-red-flags/

New! Click here for the online TEFL/TESOL international certification course Teachers’ Choice Award winner. International Online TEFL/TESOL course certification at its best.

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The post The dirty tricks of some Online TEFL certification programs you should be fully aware of. appeared first on Trusted TEFL Reviews.

MyTEFL review, submitted by Susan.

Although there were some grammatical mistakes I picked up during the course, I thought it had a well-developed structure and fit my learner’s needs. Not quite sure how they reach the 120-figure that this course claims it contains as it took me a couple of wet afternoons to complete, but nonetheless it got me TEFL qualified so that’s all I care about. They’ll email you a PDF copy of your certificate after the course which you can print out. This did remind me of an SNL sketch I saw once about taking a university course online and initially made me feel incredibly nervous that I had been scammed. But upon checking I see it is standard for a lot of these TEFL schools. I do have to agree with the preceding reviewer that the course just doesn’t live up to its online hype and that yes, there does seem to be a disconnect between what a few blogs say about this course and what is actually provided, but as a general rule of thumb it is a decent course – it comes in a lot cheaper than some other options and if you can ignore the odd grammatical error here and there then I see no reason why not to pay the few hundred bucks to take it. Just take into account the extra fee at the end when you will want a hard-copy version of your certificate. A mixed review really.

WARNING! We strongly recommend that readers are made fully aware of MyTEFL’s violation of the international TEFL/TESOL Code of Professional Conduct:

https://trustedteflreviews.com/2020/02/02/mytefl-a-code-of-conduct-violation/

https://trustedteflreviews.com/2020/01/24/the-mytefl-com-scam/

Read more MyTEFL reviews

New! Click here for the online TEFL/TESOL international certification course Teachers’ Choice Award winner. International Online TEFL/TESOL course certification at its best.

Verified Online TEFL/TESOL certification course program reviews, ranked in order of customer satisfaction: TEFL Course Directory

TEFL Accreditation Guide | 6 TEFL Red Flags | TTR Home | TEFL Course Special Offers

The post My-TEFL online tefl course feedback appeared first on Trusted TEFL Reviews.

MyTEFL review, submitted by Mark.

A lot of five-star reviews of the My TEFL online certification course program floating around the internet. I’d personally recommend not believing the hype as many of them seem to be planted, with almost all of them concluding with, “I’d strongly recommend”, or “I’d highly recommend”. You can just tell by the language. I mean, sure, it was a decent course, but not something I’d award five stars and most definitely not something I’d shout at the rooftops about. Very peculiar! It’s just another online TEFL course – one which is obviously marketed extremely well – and I did learn quite a bit during the course, but I didn’t find it that demanding or that comprehensive. There was support available, but it isn’t really needed with a course of this mediocre caliber. Still, you do receive a certificate at the end – hard-copy versions require more money to be forked out and sent over to my TEFL – and possibly a job afterward. Not a bad course, just didn’t live up to all the hype that I’d read online before enrolling.

WARNING! We strongly recommend that readers are made fully aware of MyTEFL’s violation of the international TEFL/TESOL Code of Professional Conduct:

https://trustedteflreviews.com/2020/02/02/mytefl-a-code-of-conduct-violation/

https://trustedteflreviews.com/2020/01/24/the-mytefl-com-scam/

Read more MyTEFL reviews

New! Click here for the online TEFL/TESOL international certification course Teachers’ Choice Award winner. International Online TEFL/TESOL course certification at its best.

Verified Online TEFL/TESOL certification course program reviews, ranked in order of customer satisfaction: TEFL Course Directory

TEFL Accreditation Guide | 6 TEFL Red Flags | TTR Home | TEFL Course Special Offers

The post My TEFL international Online TEFL certification course program reputation appeared first on Trusted TEFL Reviews.

MyTEFL review, submitted by Robert.

From beginning to end, I was happily surprised with how well this course was run and MyTEFL definitely prepared me for the next chapter in my life.

Course support was very good, I never had to wait for more than a day or so for a response, and the course modules were very motivating.

The only thing I was a little disappointed about was needing to pay for the hard copy of my certificate.

WARNING! We strongly recommend that readers are made fully aware of MyTEFL’s violation of the international TEFL/TESOL Code of Professional Conduct:

https://trustedteflreviews.com/2020/02/02/mytefl-a-code-of-conduct-violation/

https://trustedteflreviews.com/2020/01/24/the-mytefl-com-scam/

Read more MyTEFL reviews

New! Click here for the online TEFL/TESOL international certification course Teachers’ Choice Award winner. International Online TEFL/TESOL course certification at its best.

Verified Online TEFL/TESOL certification course program reviews, ranked in order of customer satisfaction: TEFL Course Directory

TEFL Accreditation Guide | 6 TEFL Red Flags | TTR Home | TEFL Course Special Offers

The post MyTEFL appeared first on Trusted TEFL Reviews.