International Open Academy review (https://internationalopenacademy.com/) written by Kate.

I don’t recommend the teaching English online course offer through IOA TEFL.

I have a few reasons why I wouldn’t recommend you take their course. Asides from finding it difficult to find work after taking the course, and most of the things promised never materializing, the course just doesn’t do a good enough job of doing what it should do, i.e. teach you how to teach English. I should have listened to the negative comments voiced in the reviews, but I was taken in by the mouth-watering low cost of the course.

My main beef with the course is that it was way too easy and way too light on content.

It’s structured so that you read a short piece of text and then take a multiple-choice quiz. This is repeated until you have completed the course. I completed the whole course in one afternoon, and there is no possible way how anyone can expect to be a knowledgeable teacher after learning for so little time. If I had taken my time more, by taking notes along the way, I suppose I could have stretched my course completion time to two days (at most) It’s a bit like playing Mario Cart and then expecting to be able to get in a real car and go driving down the highway. It just isn’t realistic. Also, I understand that any text-based course will inevitably have a few typing mistakes here and there, but the spelling errors in this course were numerous.

There hasn’t been any help with finding work and the jobs I have applied to haven’t taken my IOA TEFL certificate seriously. If you want to save money big by taking this course then that’s your choice. Just don’t expect any service and expect to be at the bottom of the pile when applying for any teaching English job.

I will soldier on with my job applications, but it’s looking more and more realistic that I will need to pay for another TEFL course and with a different company. Next time I won’t make the mistake of choosing the cheapest one being advertised.

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International Open Academy review, written by Nathan.

Waste of money and time.

I should have known that a certificate from a course so cheap wouldn’t be worth the paper it is printed on, but I still went ahead and enrolled – taken in by the juicy $19 price tag and the many promises which came with it. Hardly any of the promises materialized. If you choose this course, you can expect:

Sub-par course content littered with spelling and grammar errors, absolutely no feedback on your progress, quiz questions at the end of each module which will leave your intelligence feeling offended, a course certificate looking like something a preschooler could have designed, absolutely no help finding work.

I’m not sure whether the certificate is even going to be accepted in China, as I’ve seen other IOA TEFL reviews where people have complained about having problems with getting the certificate notarized.

I’m trying to think of a way I can spin a positive on taking this 120-hour course, but I honestly can’t think of one. Even if you just wanted to take the course as a TEFL taster, I still don’t think it’s worth it. The only positive spin I can think of is if you need to deduct $19 from your taxes and your accountant will accept this course as a write-off. In this case, you can spend $19.

With so many other programs offering the TEFL certification course, with many charging only a few hundred bucks, I’d recommend taking one of those instead. It will save you a headache and you will actually have a certificate that will mean something.

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IOA TEFL certification International Open Academy review, submitted by Jared.

IOA TEFL certification.

I purchased the course (with an 87% discount) and canceled it when I opened it and saw what it was I paid for. I knew it was a cheap TEFL course and wasn’t expecting too much but was genuinely shocked at the low-bar quality of the content. Every module was a chunk of poorly written text with a few multiple-choice questions at the bottom of the page. I would have learned more by purchasing a book on TEFL. Contacted IOA immediately to cancel. I got a copy-and-paste reply back after about a week, stating too much time had passed now between the time I purchased the course so a refund wasn’t going to be given. This is obviously a way of trying to cover their backs when students realize they signed up for some low-bar TEFL course and made me feel incredibly pi**ed. Even though it wasn’t that much money, I wanted it back. I didn’t start the course. In the end, I contacted my bank and they are trying to claw back the money on my behalf. I should have known going in that a really cheap course would be a mistake. My bad. I can’t imagine that a certificate from this company would be accepted by any reputable language school. Really. This course is a joke. It’s only now that I’m reading the other reviews on Trusted TEFL Reviews about this company and can clearly see I’m not the only one left feeling like this. My advice: avoid IOA TEFL.

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A Rip Off International Open Academy review, written by Abella.

It’s a Rip Off.

where do I begin? Well, the course is not as advertised. It is advertised as consisting of 120 hours of study. If this is so, why was it possible that I managed to complete the entire course in 4 hours? Oh, and the friend I took the course with completed it in 7 hours. So, I win! Kind of.

There is literally no substance of any real value in the course. It’s extremely vague and merely skims what you need to know to get started as a teacher of a foreign language. In this case, the course was teaching me how to teach English as a foreign language.

My friend and I came to the same conclusion that this course was quickly put together (possibly by a non-native speaker) and the only intention was to make it appear as though it is a credible 120 hours TEFL course. I mean, if I had a penny for every time we noticed a glaring spelling mistake in the course texts, we could have paid for another 10 courses!

They are clever though because they say it is usually a few hundred USD and that today is your lucky day when you can purchase it for less than $20. A bit like buying a couch or sofa in a furniture warehouse. And just like those heavily discounted couches, I bet nobody has ever paid the full price for this International Open Academy TEFL course.

You will not learn a thing.

I guess if you just need it because you have been working for years without the proper documentation and are required to have a TEFL certificate then why not? You can pay $19 and complete the course in under a day and then see if the school and the authorities accept it as a document for the work visa in the country you are teaching English in.

For me though, with no teaching experience, this course was a complete waste of my time and money. I tried to get a refund but never heard back from the Open Academy.

Shame on them! It is just a rip-off.

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TEFL Online Cheap International Open Academy review, written by Esther.

TEFL Online Cheap.

When I signed up for this cheap TEFL course I sort of knew what I was getting myself into. I knew that the low price point of the course would need to be balanced out somewhere down the line and in the end my spidey senses were proved correct. This review isn’t about whether you should or shouldn’t take one of these bucket-priced courses but is rather just what my take from my experience was.

The standout positive was of course the course price. It was $19 for the course. On the Open Academy website, they list the course as being $119 but I found a great deal through Groupon and since taking the course the deal has remained the same on Groupon. My guess is that Open Academy list the price so high on their site that when you see the huge bargain over at Groupon you think you are getting an amazing deal. I mean you are getting an amazing price but I think the course is probably only worth $19 and I definitely would have to feel cheated if I had paid the quoted website price.

Open Academy doesn’t just specialize in TEFL courses. They offer many different types of courses ranging from ‘Master Herbalist’ (whatever that means) to Handmade Soap Making. All of their courses are heavily marked down in price on Groupon.

I was able to complete the course in one afternoon. You read a section of the text, take the multiple-choice quiz, and repeat. I did learn something about teaching English but it doesn’t take an Einstein to realize that a course that can be taken in one day will prepare you for a career in teaching.

At the end of the course, you print out your certificate. I thought it looked OK but my friends picked holes in it.

Oh and a few worthy notes here are that there wasn’t a live tutor and there wasn’t any after-sales support.

But then again it did only cost $19. What do you expect?

I think that if you just need a TEFL certificate to show in the face of an employer then this one might work for you. I really can’t comment on how recognized the certificate is because I haven’t tried using it yet, but Open Academy claim that it is “recognized internationally” and I have no way right now of verifying this claim.

What I can say is that this course will in no way prepare you for teaching.

If like me you want to make a living from teaching English and if you want to feel prepared enough for your students, I would look elsewhere and invest a bit more money in a course that will take you through all the ins and outs of what is required of a teacher of English. The Open Academy TEFL course falls way short of teaching you teaching English basics.

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International Open Academy review, written by Bryan Rosete.

Since my course is related to teaching English, I was looking for an online course where I could take my TESOL course for future reference and use. I find it useful since during this time of the pandemic COVID-19, it is difficult to find a job. But if you have the certification course, it would be much easier for you to find a job that is timely during this time, which is an online tutorial. Since it is one of their requirements, I immediately searched for where I could take the course. I found out that TESOL/TEFL-a 120 Certification Course offers this and they are under International Open Academy. So I decided to take the course. After I enrolled, I started with my modules. It was fun learning and it is very much convenient because you can study according to your own free time since it is self-paced. Exams after each module are given and it is easy if you have really understood the lessons for each module. After taking the course, I received my certificate which I could use for my application. I would like to extend my heartfelt thanks to TESOL/TEFL and IOA for this opportunity to learn about TESOL. It will be useful for my future career as an English instructor. I would surely recommend you guys take your course now. Since most companies abroad are looking for online English instructors, it is recommended that you take the TESOL/TEFL course. Learning is fun and convenient because you study on your own and you can seek help from them and they are easily accessible. If you couldn’t understand or have questions while you are studying with your module, you could easily ask for help from them and they could respond to you as soon as they could. I would highly recommend this for your own good and convenience. Thank you very much IOA.

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International Open Academy review, written by Ryan.

If you arrive at the decision to go cheap and low and take the TEFL course provided by International Open Academy, you won’t be the first and I’m certain you won’t be the last. It must be the cheapest TEFL course around and there are lots of people attracted to the super-low price tag. You will learn something on the course (the reason why I did give two stars and not one) but if you want to better prepare yourself for teaching, I would strongly recommend paying a bit more and taking a course with a better reputation, and a course that actually teaches you how to teach. Don’t misunderstand me, you can teach at some schools with this certification. But I’ve read some of the trips reports online about how people reached the end stage of their work visa process, only to discover that their International Open Academy certificate wasn’t accepted as a proof of teacher status document. As others have written in their reviews, you could complete the course in a couple of days if you pushed yourself. Still, though, I don’t think the course should be completely written off. The only circumstance when I would recommend taking it is if you want to get a general idea about how teaching works. The course is so cheap that you can sign up and quickly complete it, and then invest your money in a superior program. So to conclude, I wouldn’t recommend taking this course if you are serious about teaching English. But you could take it as a TEFL taster course, and then take a standard 120-hour TEFL course which will properly train you up and make you look (and feel) like you know what you are doing.

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Cheap TEFL Course International Open Academy review, written by Samantha.

This online TEFL course was on promotion on Groupon, and the heavy discount was seriously enticing. Only $19 for a distance learning TEFL course! What did I have to lose? I grabbed the deal!

It was when I opened the first module that I knew that there was a reason why the course was only $19.

Each of the modules contain about a page of text, followed by quiz questions that were an insult to my intelligence. They were just ridiculous.

Still, I soldiered on and completed the course in 2 days. If you do decide to pay the $19 for this course, just skim the reading and take the quizzes. There really isn’t much value anyway in the texts.

I then printed out the certificate, which looked like a template you would find if you Googled a TEFL certificate template. It just didn’t look believable at all.

I again soldiered on and started the process of job hunting.

I began a conversation with a school based in Chengdu, China, which was looking for a native speaker from the US or Canada, to teach in an international school – teaching kindergarten kids and teenagers.

The pay was very good and there were other perks, such as free airfare, subsidized accommodation, an end-of-year bonus, and so on.

A college degree and international TEFL certificate, as well as a clean criminal background, were the main requirements for the job. Tick, tick, tick! I forwarded copies of the documents to the school.

And, my application was rejected. All on the basis that my International Open Academy TEFL certificate wasn’t accepted. I asked why. The school replied that it’s not on the official list of recognized TEFL programs.

So, I asked for the list. The school obliged and I couldn’t see International Open Academy (IOA) anywhere on that list.

What could I do? I had to write off the $19 I’d spent on the cheap TEFL course with IOA and chose a different school, from the official list.

I chose https://trustedteflreviews.com/category/tefl-online-pro-teachers-choice-award-winner-2022/ because they have won awards and have very good student reviews.

I took the course with Tefl Online Pro, it was obviously a much more in-depth course, and it took me 2 weeks to complete. I worked on it 6 days a week.

I then went through the process of resubmitting my documents to the school.

And, I got accepted!

The one big take from this whole experience is not to be fooled by a really cheap TEFL course.

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Groupon TEFL course International Open Academy review, written by Terence.

I decided to do the TEFL certificate course (online version) after reading a travel and work article about how it is possible to teach English to fund travel. I can’t remember where I saw this article but it is probably quite easy to find if you search for teach and travel on google. I never thought this could be a possibility so when I heard about it I jumped at the chance. The article recommended I take the TEFL with International Open Academy so I went with their advice and purchased the course through Groupon. It only cost $5!!! I have never done anything like this before but I found it to be straightforward and easy to navigate. I worked for a whole day on it. I started the course at 7 am and had all of it completed by 4 pm. I must write that even though it only took me 7 or 8 hours to complete, I learned so much about teaching. I want to teach in Europe but because of the international covid situation, I won’t be able to do that for the time being. That’s a real shame because I am pretty much all packed and ready to go. I am hoping that the travel restrictions stop soon and then I will be off to Europe to teach and travel. Just like what the article described! I recommend anyone thinking about traveling and earning money to take the TEFL.

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Is International Open Academy legit International Open Academy review, written by Zoe.

Is International Open Academy Legit? This is a crazy cheap TEFL course with no graduate support.

I went for the cheapest TEFL on the market and I paid a high price.

If I remember correctly, it cost me $19 for the course. That’s $19 US. I chose the cheapest option I could find because I read somewhere that it doesn’t matter which course you take. Some people were writing that all employers want to see is a certificate and you’re good to go. It was therefore a no-brainer to go for the cheapest option.

I filled in the IOA TEFL online form, paid, and then began the course. I was still expecting a semi-decent course, despite the low price, but I should have known better. This course is a joke. A child could complete it. You read a short piece of text. You complete a quiz. You read another short piece of text. You complete another quiz. and so on through the course until you have the whole thing completed within (as was my case) one half of an afternoon. You can then download your certificate that looks like it was designed in the 80s and you are completely alone to begin your job hunting, with zero guidance.

I did manage to land a job with the certificate. It’s true that all schools want to see is that you have the TEFL. I started teaching and as soon as I did, I soon realized that I knew absolutely nothing about teaching English. The course hadn’t prepared me, in any way, for the classroom. Later, when I needed my certificate notarized (this has recently become a thing now for teaching in China) the certificate wasn’t accepted. So, I had to quickly scramble and re-apply to a different program which cost me $300 and which taught me about TEFL, and whose certificate was accepted for notarization and was therefore recognized.

I won’t be recommending International Open Academy to anyone.

Essential TEFL Tip!

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

Protect yourself from TEFL scams.

We strongly recommend choosing from one of the 5 Best Online TEFL/TESOL certification course programs in 2026:

The 5 Best Online TEFL/TESOL Courses in 2026

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Choose a fully accredited and internationally recognized online TEFL/TESOL certification course that you can use for all online and abroad teaching English jobs.

Mia Williams – Trusted TEFL Reviews

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International Open Academy review, written by Ruth.

The IOA TEFL/TESOL certification course online is nothing more than a complete waste of time and money, and for the ridiculously low price that I paid, I should have really known that before parting with my money. I wish I had read the reviews on trustedteflreviews.com before parting with my money and wasting a whole weekend before realizing it made absolutely no sense in continuing further. As you can imagine, and as I now know as confirmed, you can’t expect much from a TEFL/TESOL course heavily discounted at $20 when the majority of TEFL/TESOL courses cost $200 upwards.

In short, don’t bother with IOA TEFL/TESOL. The course is light on content, you won’t learn much, and their customer care sucks. I wouldn’t even take this course if it were offered for free.

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International Open Academy review, written by Nigel.

Positive: Cheap

Negatives: Hardly any structure to the course. Just a collection of PDF-style sheets of information, vaguely related to teaching English. The certificate looks worthy of the $19 I paid and was laughed at when presented at interviews.

The International Open Academy (IOA) Online TEFL/TESOL certification course program – give it a miss folks.

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International Open Academy review, written by Jenna.

I knew about this website from a website that linked this website as a way to get a TEFL certificate. Well, I thought to give it a shot and hoped there will be videos that I needed to watch. It turned out, they only have 10 topics to give to us and each topic only has around 12-16 pages, not to mention how big the ‘Stock Images’ pictures they use for each page. To complete the course, I did copy-paste the lessons. In Ms. Word. So. I. Can. Re-read. But anyway, all lessons are theory. I don’t think beginners will understand what the course is about.

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International Open Academy (IOA) Online TEFL/TESOL certification course review.

International Open Academy review, written by Steph.

International Open Academy (IOA) Online TEFL/TESOL certification course review.

Just not worth the money, even though you only pay $19 for the course. Just like throwing your money down the drain. Not as cheap as it first seems. They try to nickel and dime you for everything – so much so that you end up paying far more for a subpar product. The IOA site is prone to crashing and the course content is laughable at best. If something seems too good to be true then it invariably is. I just couldn’t take it anymore so just walked away from the course before the end. Sixth-sensed that IOA is fully aware of this and that they bank on people not complaining due to the extremely low course price. They just bank on people paying and then not completing the course and not bothering to ask for a refund. Not an outright scam, but verging on it. Decided to take my online TEFL with another company instead, for a slightly higher price tag of $300, and so far very satisfied. Still a hell of a lot cheaper than taking a residential TEFL.

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