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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