Tefl Plus Or Tefl Phuket

[craig3474]

I am visiting Phuket shorlty and wish to enroll into a TEFL course.

I have re-searched all possible oppurtunites and i have come to these two here -

www.teflplus.com - its ideally located in patong, they offer a week & the full 4week TEFL course. Their price is 35000baht which I think is reasonable

The other is www.teflphuket.com, i think its just outside Patong and prices are $1200, slightlyl more expensive

Has anyone enrolled at a course at either these ? Can you give me some of you're opinions & suggestions

Any information would be very much appreciated

[PeaceBlondie]

Hi craig,

Welcome to the forums. We have a TEFL war going on in another forum right now, so I will ask our members to restrict their remarks to the two courses you asked about.

[migs]

Hi, I took the Tefl Plus course back in 2004. As it's the only TEFL I've ever done I have nothing to compare it to, but I though it was a good course and well run. The staff at the school were friendly and helpful. In fact, after the course I worked at Patong Language School for a year. Though the pay was quite poor it did give me some good experience in teaching. I now work in a high school in Bangkok and still enjoy the job.

Hope this helps and good luck,

Mike

[ThomasG]

Dear Craig:

Full disclosure: I work with the second school mentioned: www.teflphuket.com.

Both of the two schools you mentioned offer a similar TEFL program. Both do a good job preparing you to teach English. If you calculate the full cost (housing) of each, they are comparable. We do a much more on the extra service side: airport pickup, job placement, free massage during your course, DVD library, and more... we know it can be a little intimidating to leave your home country, move here and create a new life for yourself, so we do everything we can to assist in the transition.

You might wait until you get here, visit both schools, meet the teachers, meet the staff, see the housing, see what you are really getting into. I assure you that we do a very good job and you can see this when you come. Our location is excellent, the facilities are first-rate and our staff is great.

As to our location, we are only 10 minutes from Patong. Our choice was intentional and we find that our students benefit in two ways:

1. We offer housing at about half the cost of what you will find in Patong - we have great deals on small houses about 5 - 10 minutes from the beach.

2. Our suggestion is that students focus on their month of training, so that they are well-prepared. This can be more difficult if you are in Patong, as it is the tourist epicenter of Phuket with many distractions & frenetic energy - overall it is more difficult to prepare to teach.

By the way, Patong is an easy hop for us for the occasional evening of fun and weekends of more serious distractions. Our students usually bond quickly and groups of students often enjoy sociable evenings together in the local area or over in Patong.

Hope this helps, and if you have questions, please email or we can arrange a phone chat.

- Thomas G

[Sente]

Hi Craig,

As someone who did do a one-month program with TEFL Phuket, I figured I'd weigh in. I'm sure you already know that Thailand is a pretty sweet place to be, so I won't go there

As for TEFL Phuket v. TEFL Plus...I don't know anything about TEFL Plus, so I can't compare the two, but here's what I thought about TEFL Phuket:

As for the location...Kamala is a pretty low-key compared to Patong. The beach is nice, and at least during the three months that I was there (June,July,August 2008), it was never very crowded, which I actually found to be quite nice. With this being said, Patong is close that I don't think the slim location difference between the two should really be what sells you. I mean this is an education we're talking about

The staff at TEFL Phuket was helpful and I enjoyed working with them. It seems like the people there really believe in what they're doing and want nothing but the success of their students (both Thai and Foreign.) An added bonus is that the staff seem to be well-respected in the local community, so I'm sure if you need anything while you're there you'll find a helping hand.

I learned a lot from my TEFL experience and wouldn't trade it for anything. I had a good experience with the folks at TEFL Phuket and definitely recommend them. Why not go check out both schools (or at least call them) and see what you think? Get a feel for who you will be working with and use your best judgment. Feel free to msg me if you have any questions.

Best wishes and good luck!

Jason

[PeaceBlondie]

So far, so good. A TEFL course thread that does not involve a ThaiVisa sponsor, and no flames. Thank you.

[walla108]

I have to say, I agree with everything that's been said about TEFL Phuket so far, and I believe that I can give another perspective on the matter.

I went through the TEFL Phuket course about two months ago, and have been teaching private students in Kamala since then. It is amazing to me how much I learned in the course after only four weeks. I am constantly using the skills that were taught and it's become a valuable resource for me. Teaching is a really wonderful expierence and there is nothing like seeing your student grow and learn. On the flip side of that-it's amazing how much I've grown and learned over the past months and the expierences I've had I wouldn't trade for anything!

I highly reccomend and support TEFL Phuket!

Lisa

PS. If you are interested, I have a blog [email protected] that goes into more detail about my teaching and TEFL expierence.

[WalkerThai]

Hey - I did the course with TEFLPhuket - they were top-notch. They helped me out on the starting visa, picked me up at the airport, got me a sweet house close to the beach - they basically took care of everything. The TEFL course was very good in helping me to learn to teach English - I never knew there was so much to know.

Their Thai and Farang staff was also great - very helpful. I am happy to have done their course.

Now, I am living large in Thailand, teaching a little English and enjoying my life! Thanks.

[leebeeUK]

I did my TEFL with TEFLPlus in Patong Beach in September 2006. I found it very intensive, some 6 and 8pm finishes, 5 days a week - a 120 hour course with teaching practice - especially in the first couple of weeks, but I'd like to feel that this made it a very worthwhile course (we met some guys attending other nearby TEFL courses finishing at maybe 2pm every day and hitting the beach and bars thereafter, initially making us a bit jealous!)... There was good camraderie with other students, TEFL teachers working within the centre, and with our own course teachers. many different nationalities brought together.

We learned Grammar very thoroughly - and for someone English, who likes to write and thought he naturally just knew it, was a real eye-opener!! - and the methodology was equally well delivered and enlightening. We also learned some Thai as part of the course. After 4 weeks we had a morning of exams and got the results in the afternoon - picture a half dozen or so guys drinking beer in a hotel, chatting hopefully and maybe a tad nervously, 2 doors from the where they're totting up our marks...

As someone else here has said, I don't have other TEFL courses (except the early finish ones mentioned) to measure against, but I'd recommend this for an in-depth insight into teaching English conversation. One thing, as I am now living and teaching in a government school in Chiang Mai (to classes of 35-45 students), I have to note the TEFLPLus course is aimed at mostly intermediate students and one-to-one or small classes, or was when I took it. Certainly it has still been very helpful in my learning curve and the certificate opens many doors anyway, but this may not teach you to handle 40 kids, a good percentage of them apparently uninterested (just a note of caution to give perspective). After 20 months I'm finding my own ways to navigate through such classes - fun though, mostly...

Good luck anyway.

Hotel Tip, for this course: Siam Palm, same small soi as the TEFLPlus Centre... comfortable with satellite TV etc at reasonable price (find it on the Internet)...

[sk1max]

I am visiting Phuket shorlty and wish to enroll into a TEFL course.

I have re-searched all possible oppurtunites and i have come to these two here -

www.teflplus.com - its ideally located in patong, they offer a week & the full 4week TEFL course. Their price is 35000baht which I think is reasonable

The other is www.teflphuket.com, i think its just outside Patong and prices are $1200, slightlyl more expensive

Has anyone enrolled at a course at either these ? Can you give me some of you're opinions & suggestions

Any information would be very much appreciated

TEFL Plus gets 2 thumbs up from me. I can, from experience, recommend them.