Online Vs Thailand Tefl Program

[james_goku]

As the time for me to leave to thailand gets near, i still have not made a choice to take an online tefl course or when i get to thailand to take it there.

im not very strong in english...sooo ...should i go with the online way or should take it in thailand and have in class exp and have a teacher right there teaching me and not just my computer.

whats the diff if i take the course in thailand for all day, 2 days in one weekend or...the 3 month course??

any advice would help..thank you.

[Ijustwannateach]

TEFL is a classroom-based skill. I really don't see how a class which involves no classroom experience can help you prepare as well for it as one in which there is at least a class of teachers, if not actual teaching practice. I don't think any poster here would argue that the online course would be better. Since you admit your English skills are not so good, you're going to need all the help you can get- it's not really the best time to be looking for work in Thailand. I'd say go with the longest, most fancy TEFL course possible.

"S"

[aussiestyle1983]

I did an online TEFL course because of time and money, but, it is quite easy to figure out which would be better to do........................... Of course a TEFL course where you attend classes and learn in a face to face enviroment is better. It would make you more ready to teach and you would learn a lot more. The online is good if your not sure if TEFL is for you and you just want to do a quick course and see how you cope, but I must say, you get a tutor and all your essays are marked and your tutor blocks you from going on to the next module before you pass. You have to watch a DVD which they mail to you and watch the guy teaching, then you need to answer all kinds of questions and evaluate his teaching methods. To top it of, you get a grammar test, 800 questions, you need to fax the answers to the office and achive 75% to pass. So yeah, not all online courses are as crap as some people make out, they are just good to use if you want to take a small step into the TEFL field, but they lack teaching practise. Most employers will recognise you online TEFL, but, you will get greater knowledge and a lot more employment possibilities with a proper 120 hour face to face tefl. If you only want to teach in Thailand, come here and do your TEFL, if will be more designed at specifically teaching Thais, if you want to go to other countries to teach, do your TEFL in your home country. Just my 2c.

[markg]

Dont take an online course mate.

I would say a complete waste of money.

Why do you want/need to do a TEFL course?

If its because you want teaching practice then an online course isnt going to do it.

If its because you've heard it's a requirement to getting a job - well it might be - and that might get your resume past the first lot who get thrown into the bin.

After that point, any recruiter worth his salt will see you've done an online course and definitely ask you to come in and do a demo lesson. You may fall flat on your face at this point.

Doing a TEFL course in Thailand will give you SOME insight into what it's like to teach a foreign language in Thailand. And Some is better than none.

I'd say your wasting your money considering doing an online course.

If i saw your resume, and it had better all be spelt right etc, then i would get you in to do a demo lesson. I wouldnt completely discount you just because English isnt your first language, but out ot the dozen other candidates - where English IS their first language - then you'd have to be one hel_l of a teacher to impress me.

James - i dont want to flame you or anything mate, but when you say "I'm not very strong in English" my first reaction is, why do you want to teach it then?

Do you think Thailand needs or deserves people who want to teach a subject that they admit they arent very strong in?

I'm not very strong in astrophysics - which is why i'm not the astrophysics teacher.

[PeaceBlondie]

"Hi, I'm here to teach astrophysics....duh, uhmmm. Astro was the name of the dog in the Jetson cartoon series, and the name of the Houston football team that died. My daughter can teach physics; I think it's not exercise. So, can we talk about football?"

"Ola, amigos. I are here to teach Anglish a yous. Anglish was the name of a country that died. My brudder's shishter can teach Anglish....can we talk about futbol en Mexico?"

Seriously, James, I'm saying what everybody else just said. Especially what markq just asked - do you just want to teach English in Thailand as a last resort? Thailand isn't that kind of resort.

[aussiestyle1983]

If you decide to take the TEFL course here, Id take the RSA Celta, offered through ECC. That TEFL is proably the most widely accepted one world wide, you could use it in any country. There are afew onther good ones, but I know of a teacher who did one TEFL course that is very highly regarded here, but the cert was not accepted in 2 other countries he went to teach in. So yeah, do alot of research before you throw your money to any particular TEFL program.

[neuronicone]

It's actually more effort on your part whether you want to enroll in an online english tutorial or classroom based english teaching. I suggest, while still sorting out which method is better, read newpapers, magazines, books frequently. Reading articles online will also help you. There's plenty of exercises that u can avail online for free. There are pros and cons for each. But, the denominator is you want to learn to speak and write english quickly.

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