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.

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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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.

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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.

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

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

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