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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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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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.

Read more International Open Academy 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

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