The Best Tefl Course In C Mai

[ChiangMaiFun]

Loaded - its what I have learnt in UK (I have the Trinity and two masters) - let's leave it at that - no offence meant

[femi fan]

My understanding is that only CELTA OR Trinity are internationally recognised period

According to them anyway.

If this were true (which it isn't), the Internet would be full of stories of teachers with Thai TEFLs being refused work in countries around the world (there isn't). Don't believe CELTA propaganda. Thai TEFLs are accepted worldwide. If you disagree, show me some evidence.

Well, how about your evidence that thai certificates ARE accepted worldwide? Since you're calling others for evidence, it must be assumed you have your own evidence to support your idea that what chiangmaifun said was not true.

As it happens, probably no-one can call it either way. Only those DOSs and head teachers who are responsible for hiring teachers can say what is recognised or not.

And while i have no evidence for the following claim, i'll make it anyway based entirely on my own subjective experience of the profession: two similar applicants for a teaching post in a school in britain or spain or venezuela or australia are likely to be chosen from their CVs for that post based on the certificate they took. A CELTA or a trinity will most likley get the nod over a certificate from an institution in thailand.

Probably akin to certain degrees holding more water than others in other job professions.

[Greenside]

Isn't this debate kind of pointless? Whether CELTA/Trinity is actually better in terms of training or not hardly matters, the point is that they are the ones most widely recognised (in the sense that everyone in the ESL community knows of them) and in particular I'm talking about the word "Cambridge". Assuming it takes roughly the same amount of study and knowledge to gain a certificate from, let's say, Udon Thani Technical College as one with the magic word "Cambridge" at the top, why not spend that little bit extra and end up with the one that everyone's heard of and regards as being a tough regime to have survived?

Sure, some of that mystique is marketing but so what? Textbooks of all kinds with Oxford, Cambridge, Harvard, Sorbonne and London University sell better than the ones sharing the same shelf simply because association with these seats of learning gives comfort to the people buying them much in the same way that it used to be said that no-one ever got fired for buying IBM.

In more ways than one, the ESL business is analogous to the world of diving - teachers or instructors choose it more for lifestyle than financial rewards and in general the money to be made is in training them rather than the actual students. The training course choice there is principally between PADI and BSAC, with the far more business orientated PADI having taken the lead over the past twenty or so years. Pity then, the people who worked hard for the equally (I'm guessing, but that's the point) rigorous NASDS, SAA or NAUI certifications, forever having to explain what they mean and what they're equivalent to. So if you're an employer which are you likely to choose - the PADI one you know and understand (and that the last guy had) or take a chance that the one from SCHNORKEL included the same rescue drills?

Having done the CELTA, I'd be surprised if anything very much less rigorous and comprehensive would be enough to give anyone the means to go and teach paying students with any degree of competence - even if it were three times as long it would still only be scratching the surface so it beats me how the weekend times four type of courses can make any credible claims. At the end of the day, and assuming you emerge equally (in)competent, the value of your course, as far as at least early employment is concerned, is largely down to the profile of the examining board and surely there can be little doubt that Cambridge and Trinity pretty much share the throne.

Edited February 25, 2009 by Greenside

[PeaceBlondie]

If all other things were equal (which they never are) any well-known TEFL certificate would be slightly better than any lesser-known certificate. C'mon, folks, we are not comparing doctorate degrees in astrophysics here; we are comparing four week courses.

So can we agree not to argue about that for which there is NO evidence in 2009?

Not to mention that two TEFL courses in Chiang Mai sponsor a forum on ThaiVisa...oh, I mentioned it...

[PeaceBlondie]

It took me a while to get around to it, but I have deleted egregious ads for a TEFL course that belong in the Classified ADs section of ThaiVisa.

[SEETEFL]

On July 4, 2009 DSS International Language Services Co., Ltd., the parent company of the Siam Educational Experience (SEE) TEFL training course was certified ISO 9001:2008 compliant by Bureau Veritas, the global leader in standards assessment and certification, accredited by UKAS, the United Kingdom Accreditation Service.

ISO 9001:2008 is the latest version of the ISO standard for quality management systems. The standard includes quality policy--which must be understood at all levels of the organization--quality decisions, quality management record-keeping, planning and development quality management, regular performance review and internal auditing, and the documentation of procedures and exception management. Achievement of ISO 9001:2008 certification means that the organization's quality management meets an internationally recognized standard of quality, and is regularly audited by external, independent auditors.

THE CERTIFICATION PROCESS at DSS International took a full seven months of training staff and preparing for the ISO 9001:2008 audit. The staff and school manager worked exceedingly hard and deserve most of the credit for making SEE TEFL Teacher Training a world standard TEFL training course. All aspects of the organization are subject to rigorous process management audits. The Bureau Veritas staff were extremely thorough and professional. We are very proud to have achieved the ISO 9001:2008 certification distinction.

THE LEADER IN LANGUAGE SERVICES, DSS International and SEE TEFL are one of just a handful of TEFL training schools in the world that has achieved this world class management system certification, and the first in Asia. It means our courses are run, managed and audited to a standard recognized by governments, ministries of education and employers in just about every country in the world. This means SEE TEFL Teacher Training is not only world class but is also guaranteed to be recognized by the organizations that employ TEFL teachers around the world.

Potential TEFL teachers face a difficult decision when selecting a TEFL training certification course. Many students have no chance of visiting a TEFL training school before making their choice. This is especially difficult when the course is held in a foreign country. International standards are needed to ensure regularly audited quality standards are met.

INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATION FOR STANDARDS (ISO) - http://www.iso.org - was established in 1947 is a network of standards institutes from 159 countries with a central office in Geneva, Switzerland, that coordinates the system. ISO is a non-governmental organization that forms a bridge between the public and private sectors, and is the largest standards organization in the world.

BUREAU VERITAS - http://www.bureauveritas.com - is the world's leading certification body with over 80,000 clients in more than 100 countries, and a global network of 5,700 highly qualified auditors and expertise that is recognized by more than 35 national and international accreditation bodies.

THE UNITED KINGDOM ACCREDITATION SERVICE - http://www.ukas.com - is the sole national accreditation body recognized by the UK government to assess, against internationally agreed standards, organizations that provide certification services. Accreditation by UKAS demonstrates the competence, impartiality and performance capability of these evaluators.

John

http://siameducationalexperience.org/accreditation.htm

[newbie001]

The majority of teaching jobs in Asia do not require a TEFL/TESOL/CELTA. You can find work in Japan, Korea, China, Taiwan and Thailand without any certificate. Korean Public schools give a slight pay raise for any certificate. Most jobs in the Middle East and Europe state on their job ads "CELTA or equivalent."

If the goal for the class is to gain some confidence in teaching and classroom management, than any place will help you. If you Want a piece of paper to get a job, go with a name that is most well known. If you want to focus on methodology and functional grammar go with CELTA. If you want to focus on games and how to stimulate mediocre students go with TT. I don't know much about SEE but they seem average. The CMU program is probably on par with SEE but had a rough start a few years ago. They have gone through a few different trainers but seem to do well with their new guy. He seems to have a similar background to the trainer at SEE.

I have met many of the instructors of the major teacher training centers in Thailand and specifically in CM. Personally, I have found fault in all programs. The trick is to find a trainer and school that share a similar philosophy to teaching that you have. I have a slight bias because there are a few programs that I really don't agree with their philosophy. When TT first started all of their ads compared to how they were better than CELTA. Then when the CMU program popped up, TT did a lot of comparing and bashing to them. There seems to be a lot of crap being thrown around. Especially since there is more money teaching teachers than teaching students.

The only advice that I give is to do some research on the actual trainer. What publications have they written? Where have they taught? Ask for a resume and check it.

I know there is a lot of smoke and propoganda that many of these programs use. One teacher at one program had 4 years part time experience teaching, but they didn't mention that it was part time on their website. If you are going to teach children, make sure that your instructor has taught children.

Loaded, I think that you need to update your facts about CMU affiliation with TEFL international. I am not sure that they are still connected. It was a short lived affiliation.

[SEETEFL]

The CMU program is probably on par with SEE but had a rough start a few years ago. They have gone through a few different trainers but seem to do well with their new guy. He seems to have a similar background to the trainer at SEE.

Tony at CMU TEFL received his certification from SEE TEFL. I trained him. He's a lovely guy who I regard as a good friend. I have recommended CMU TEFL to people when our courses are full.

John

Edited July 30, 2009 by SEETEFL

[SEETEFL]

From Yahoo News:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/prweb/20090803/bs_...AMxMjQ5MzI5ODQ1

John

SEE TEFL

[newbie001]

I hope that you are paying Thai Visa for advertising it seems that you keep promoting your company which I don't fault you too much but does show a particular bias. Attaching a link to a news article that was written by yourself to promote your business is nothing but self promoting. If it were written by a professional journalist, it would be more neutral and facts would be checked before blanket statements were made.

congratulations on the ISO. It is a good sign, however it is a sign of proper management,not that your school has academic integrity.

Who is to say that the curriculum that the school provides has academic merit? There is no international accredidation of these TEFL programs.

Many of these schools including yours it seems that the curriculum is designed by people that do not have relevant degrees only experience. Experience is valid, but I wouldn't study engineering from a curriculum or an educator that has a BA in history even if they had worked as an engineer for 10 years.

Being able to do a job doesn't mean that one has the ability to train others how to do said job or that the individual has the academic background in the field to put together a comprehensive curriculum.

I expect the same level of academic standard from my teachers for a MATESOL as I would for a TEFL certificate. The course may be short and just an introduction but that doesn't mean that I should expect less from my trainers. All of my professors in my BA had PhD's in relevant fields. They were experts, why should I pay the same for a one month intensive course as I would for a semester of University classes taught by PhDs.

I am not suggesting that your program is not good. It very well may be the "industry standard" as you say, but personally, I would want stronger academic qualifications as well as someone who has extensive publications.

[SEETEFL]

European Centre for the Development of Vocational Training (established by Regulation of the Council of the European Communities)

“If an education or training organization is looking for a comprehensive quality assurance approach, then the principles and requirements of ISO 9001 and 9002 are to be considered seriously. Indeed, most traditional quality assurance methods in education and training are based on a classical typology of a provider who delivers particular course and programmes to students. This facilitates the analogy with industrial production and mass services – and hence the quality philosophy adopted there. One might even argue that the ISO 9000 standards can more easily be applied to education and training activities than to other services, such as health care, personal care, consulting or training.”

“Some organizations have sought to introduce ISO 9000 to improve specific functions or activities. This may be related to a general concern of ensuring high customer satisfaction, or to the willingness to attain specific quality levels. Some examples related to education and training institutions are:

* Improvement of the logistical and support processes

* Better control of external trainers

* Development of a thorough procedure for design and development of training and education programmes and courses

* Quality assurance of the examination and evaluation of students”

Source: http://www.ilo.org/public/english/region/a...dad/doc/iso.pdf