UNI-Prep review, submitted by L C.

Seeing as though I didn’t want to build on my student loan debt, I chose to study an online course and my internet search led me to choose UNI-Prep’s 120-hour TESOL certification course.

The pros of this course:

I took full advantage of the use of my tutor and she was very prompt in responding to my questions.

I appreciated the PDF formatting of the units as I was able to work offline as well as online.

The course price was reasonably priced compared with some other programs.

The audio-video components in the units integrated well with the reading tasks and contributed to a user-friendly study experience.

I could study at my own pace.

The cons of this course:

It was meant to take 120 hours but I completed it after a week with just a few hours of study per day.

The course includes a quiz which seemed a little pointless to me as the correct answers were not shown when you got a question wrong.

The sound quality on some of the videos wasn’t the best.

Their job guidance is a very deflating experience. I asked for this and was directed to a third-party job site.

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TEFL Trainer review, submitted by Beth M.

My overall Tefl trainer 140-hour online Tesol course experience was a very positive one and I would recommend this course to anyone considering teaching English abroad as a foreign or second language.

It was extremely thorough and was divided into 3 blocks. Block 1: online (140 hours of videos, text, and interactive exercises) / Block 2: assignments (6 reflective diaries) / Block 3: assignments (6 lesson plans).

I found each of the blocks to be engaging and never felt completely out of my depth. And there was online support when I did need it.

I felt that the TEFL Job Interview Preparation units included were a nice touch, given that I picked up some really useful interviewing tips that I wouldn’t have necessarily known otherwise.

TEFL is a great opportunity to travel and teach. I always wanted to teach English in Hanoi and now I can and so can you too!

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5 online TEFL course essential features.

Choosing your online TEFL course can seem overwhelming in light of the many courses offered in this growing market. Here are 5 features that take courses from zero to hero.

Reviews.

A course must have trusted reviews that are not simply published on a blog or website owned by an enthusiastic graduate, and written by a said graduate. No matter how satisfied you were with your course, it is regular behavior to perhaps leave a review of your online TEFL course experience online. But, it is highly odd behavior to pay money for a domain and to start a website, singing the praises of a particular program. The internet is awash with fake, glowing testimonials of such and such a TEFL program and you should learn to differentiate between the planted reviews and the authentic ones. A growing trend that we have noticed is the business of affiliate reviews. These tend to demonstrate themselves in the form of course graduates working hard to bring in new course students while earning a commission for themselves, and totally undermines the practice of fair feedback on the web. So if you feel drawn towards a particular course because of its wonderful student feedback, we advise checking that their reviews haven’t been written by overzealous graduates, who might have taken the time and energy to start a school review website and who might request that you mention a certain code when applying for the course. In these cases, you are being sold a course through a graduate who might not have had such a wonderful course experience as they write, but who instead simply wants a cut of your course fee. See our How not to fall victim to a TEFL scam for more information on this.

Tutor support.

Picture yourself setting out on a month-long trek, in a part of the world that you haven’t explored before and no little about. You have all your equipment at the ready, but you are unsure of which routes to take that will enhance your overall experience. Logically, in this scenario, you would ideally want to have a local guide with you. The role of an online tutor is similar: he or she will help you through the course and be at the ready when you have any questions, and their feedback and advice will be invaluable in ensuring that you get the most out of your online learner experience. It is paramount to check which type of online tutor support you will be receiving. Some schools offer the whole shebang – meaning a dedicated person who will personally respond to your questions in real-time. While some may advertise this service, in reality, you will be directed to a list of FAQs when you find yourself requiring assistance.

Business English and teaching young and very young learner modules.

Online TEFL courses tend to be divided into modules and most course providers generally include the same modules in their offers. These typically cover essential grammar, teaching techniques, classroom management, etc. While these subjects do make for essential inclusion within a course, it is also important to gain some knowledge with regard to the types of students which you can expect to be teaching once you have graduated and find yourself in the first lesson of your new teaching classroom. Even if you have no desire of teaching teenagers/children, or business English, you never know when you might need these additional skills and you should view these modules as backup options, should you find yourself doing a 180. Plus, these modules are often noted on your course certificate and can further your English teaching job abroad application.

Your course certificate is in hard copy and e-format.

Whilst most language schools will accept an electronic version of your online TEFL course certificate as part of the application process, it is also recommended that your course provider also issue a hard copy, through the post, that you can keep as a backup should a language school insist on receiving this version. Besides, you have paid good money for a certification course so you should expect a good quality certificate upon course completion. Check with the course provider if they offer a time guarantee in when you will receive your (posted) certificate. Ideally, you want to be receiving both your hard copy and e-form certificate within a couple of weeks of submitting your final course module. Once again, some course providers tend to go a bit limp on their service once the course sign-up process is complete and when they won’t be receiving any more money from you. Check the reviews on Trusted TEFL Reviews to see if there are any red flags raised in regard to this. Also, check that receiving your certificate doesn’t incur additional fees. You shouldn’t have to pay to receive your certificate.

Job guidance and after-course support.

It is also essential that your online TEFL course includes constructive help in finding a teaching job and ongoing support after course graduation. Again, these are both advertised by most course providers, but in reality, they come in different forms. Regarding job guidance, you need to make certain during the course application process – before handing over any money – that the support provided doesn’t simply consist of them sending you a list of schools after course completion. Anyone can find a list of schools by quickly checking names and places on the internet. What you should be striving for is a school that does more – such as helping you choose which country to teach in, assisting with your teaching English overseas CV, providing tips on interview techniques, writing a reference for you, etc. And this support shouldn’t end here. A year or two down the road, you might decide to teach in another location and here the advice of the school will again be indispensable. And what if you find yourself coming up against a brick wall with either your language school or the country visa process? Once more, you would require professional feedback from your online course provider.

In conclusion, don’t just take what is written on a school’s website as necessarily representative of what the school actually offers, because the service you are expecting, in your mind, might not correlate with what is actually provided. Online TEFL school owners will dance through hoops to get you to sign up to one of their courses. You need to make sure that they will dance through the same hoops once you have completed your course and when it isn’t necessarily in their financial or time interests to maintain excellent service.

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

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Bridge TEFL review, submitted by Peter.

Taking this course was one of the best decisions of my life!

I’m speaking about Bridge TEFL’s 120-hour TEFL/TESOL certification course, which is a two-course series. 1 of the courses is their 60-hour Foundations in Teaching English Online and the other is their Advanced Methods in Teaching English Online. So you basically get 2 courses for the price of 1 in my mind.

Having never taught before, I really appreciated the entry-level course structure of the Foundation course and I also appreciated a lot the tutor feedback whenever I had a question about something in the modules. The tutor support is excellent.

I had 3 months to complete each course, so a total of 6 months (although I did need a bit longer and this was possible to arrange).

Without this course, I wouldn’t have known how to even begin teaching English in a foreign classroom.

Overall, a very well-run and competent online study program.

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ITTO review, submitted by Anonymous.

A very good course which did what it said on the tin. The whole process of signing up was easy and I particularly found their online chat useful in ironing out the kinks before committing. I did spend a lot of time comparing courses before taking the plunge and their course prices were on par with other schools. So yeah, even though I had a whole lot of other options out there my decision was tipped because of the excellent communication through email and through their website chat feature. ITTO offers Basic, Standard, and Advanced courses and it was recommended that I take the latter. I think it was good advice because even though this course is their most expensive at $325 there isn’t a great difference in price compared with the other two and because I didn’t have any teaching experience before, I felt that I did need a more thorough study. During the course, my personal tutor support was excellent (again through the website chat feature mostly). It actually took me a really short time to complete the course (1 week) so I’m not sure if this is the norm or not but the course is advertised as being 140 hours in total – I spent maybe 20 hours max on study time. But the modules were intuitive and the interactive videos broke up the course nicely. The certificate was issued promptly and then I was all set to start using their advertised worldwide job support, which was little more than a list of schools they recommended. I did get a job (not with one of the schools they referred me to) but I felt that this part of their service let them down significantly. A solid course though with amazing support.

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MyTEFL review, submitted by Ben.

I haven’t taken an online course before so I can’t really compare it to any others. The sign-up process was smooth and I was given access to the course promptly. I chose the My TEFL 120-hour course because it seemed to tick all the right boxes for me. The course itself seemed pretty thorough and I liked the visual aspects of the learning aids. I did have access to a personal tutor but I didn’t find myself needing the help so I can’t comment on that side of their service. All in all, it was a pretty solid course and I managed to complete it in under a month. What I did think was seriously lacking though was post-course support and although I am teaching now (after a lot of footwork and knocking on virtual doors) when I signed up for the course I thought I was going to receive more help from My TEFL with finding work and for this reason, I’m leaving a 3-star review. I’d recommend My TEFL but be prepared that after the course there probably won’t be much support. At least for me, there wasn’t.

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/2020/02/18/warning-the-ottsa-accrediting-professionals-scam/

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

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