What Online Tefl Cert Or Course Did You Take, And Was It Accepted

[gk10002000]

Please tell me what online TEFL cert course you took, and then, please tell if it helped get you a job. I am very close to making the jump to thailand to teach. I have BS degree in engineerng and MS degree in math. I don't mind teaching english to senior students, and then envision teaching math or science to seniors or even part time at a university.

I have to believe a TEFL certificate from anywhere will help, and I don't mind paying the nominal fees the online courses charge as I am sure I wil learn something.

I do have some teaching experience, having taught college courses in Algebra and calculus

[PeaceBlondie]

You won't find many posters on any forum who took an online TEFL course. I know one, but he followed it right after with a four-week classroom course (non-native speaker).

Any course is better than nothing - especially with your earned degrees.

This sponsor has an online course. http://www.tesolcourse.com/

[gk10002000]

You won't find many posters on any forum who took an online TEFL course. I know one, but he followed it right after with a four-week classroom course (non-native speaker).

Any course is better than nothing - especially with your earned degrees.

I think our sponsor has an online course.

Why would there not be many people that took an online course posting here?

1. Is it because it was a waste of time and had no benefit? If so, I would like to hear that the course did them no good.

2. If it is because they thought it had no value and did not bother?

This is the crux of my post, to try and determine if it is worthwhile to take an online course, and if so, which one? Were any of benefit in obtaining a job in Thailand? All the online sites make claims for their success, but I have never, ever seen anybody on any independent forum state they took an online course and then got a job with it.

As a test engineer, I like independent verification of claims. No Bernie Madoff investing here.

[Loaded]

You won't find many posters on any forum who took an online TEFL course. I know one, but he followed it right after with a four-week classroom course (non-native speaker).

Any course is better than nothing - especially with your earned degrees.

I think our sponsor has an online course.

Why would there not be many people that took an online course posting here?

1. Is it because it was a waste of time and had no benefit? If so, I would like to hear that the course did them no good.

2. If it is because they thought it had no value and did not bother?

This is the crux of my post, to try and determine if it is worthwhile to take an online course, and if so, which one? Were any of benefit in obtaining a job in Thailand? All the online sites make claims for their success, but I have never, ever seen anybody on any independent forum state they took an online course and then got a job with it.

As a test engineer, I like independent verification of claims. No Bernie Madoff investing here.

Teaching is a practical skill. Practical skills are difficult to learn via the Internet. Regarding an on-site course the 6 1-hour observed teaching practices are invaluable plus your training is face-to-face usually with practical exercises supervised by a trainer. Online certs may be accepted but to many employers these certificates mean little.

Edited May 18, 2009 by Loaded

[patklang]

What will the benefit be to live in Thailand and work 5 days a week,minimum for a pittance pay?????

Thai gf/wife

The weather

A change of enviroment

etc,etc

Teachers are 10 a penny here,so maybe try to get a job,which will enhance your skills,and get more money.

[gk10002000]

I am aware of the monies involved. I made a lot during my air force and engineering career and the money is now set aside and accruing toward retirement. I happen to like Thailand an awful lot after nine visits and I do enjoy teaching. if I pocketed a few bucks a month and made my expenses while living there it would be fine with me for many reasons.

The central point of my post is to try and see if anybody benefited from any online teaching class offered by anyone, and if any online Cert they took actually helped them get a job. So far, not one single person has said they took an online cert class or has said it was helpful.

I find that an interesting data point. I would love some online teaching offeror to post a reply here if he would be allowed to do so. I see other people advertise or talk about their services. I wish some online site would respond.

Still looking for independent reports outside of any of the online sites.

Thanks all.

[thunder30101]

I did an online course before coming over and after a few lessons figured out that it was pretty much worthless in gaining any insight into teaching here or anywhere else for that matter, actually after about 4 so-called lessons i gave it up. Came here and did a tefl course which was great had a teacher with tons of teaching exp here in thailand who explained so many things to us that you cannot get from any online course and the practice teaching with real thai students was the best to introduce you to the classroom enviroment in thailand. I look at online courses with the idea of why dont I just buy the books and do it myself.

[gk10002000]

Thanks for the response.

[onebir]

I'm in China; things are certainly different in Thailand, but I'd like to suggest you could look for work teaching an international foundation year (IFY).

I'm teaching various subjects (maths/business/marketing/accounting) for an IFY; our qualifications are fairly similar (although my background is in Economics). I suspect you could do the same - maybe with a bias towards the computing side.

One major provider of IFYs (and study years abroad that substitute for the first 1 or 2 years of a degree) is NCC Education. Unfortunately, that one doesn't seem to have any centres in Thailand (see http://www.nccedu.com/Find%20a%20centre/index.asp) - though Malaysia is chock full of them. But there's an Australian equivalent (Unilearn) & might be others.

In China this has some signficant advantages over "pure English" teaching:

- less competition for jobs (you need to have a relevant masters & experience)

- the employers have more difficulty finding teachers, so they treat you a bit better (similar salary to full-time English teaching in a private school, but shorter hours)

- class size <=8. ('oral english' classes in the university where I've been teaching had up to 70/class!)

- better motivated students (they are, after all, planning to going abroad v soon so they need it)

- the materials you're expected to use are foreign produced & generally better quality

- the subjects are more interesting to teach than English (even accounting!)

- no requirement for a TEFL/TESOL cert unless you teach the English component (For NCC an online cert is ok for this)

Anyway, it's an alternative. If you do discover similar opportunities in Thailand, please let us know!

[paulfr]

Please tell me what online TEFL cert course you took, and then, please tell if it helped get you a job. I am very close to making the jump to thailand to teach. I have BS degree in engineerng and MS degree in math. I don't mind teaching english to senior students, and then envision teaching math or science to seniors or even part time at a university.

I have to believe a TEFL certificate from anywhere will help, and I don't mind paying the nominal fees the online courses charge as I am sure I wil learn something.

I do have some teaching experience, having taught college courses in Algebra and calculus

Having a TEFL certificate may help for some schools, but it is not important in my opinion.

This is because hiring decisions are often based on need and "how you look" rather than strict competition.

And you have the best qualification [outside of Ed degrees] which is EXPERIENCE.

Also since you can teach Math, many schools have a hard time finding good qualified Math teachers with experience.

Vacancies open up all the time due to the very high farang turnover here in LOS.

So just keep looking at the job boards every day and you will score.

BTW, teaching kids in JHS or HS is a lot different than teaching College level so find

some teacher and get him to telll you about classroom control and working for

Thai managers. It is not easy.

Good luck

[gk10002000]

Please tell me what online TEFL cert course you took, and then, please tell if it helped get you a job. I am very close to making the jump to thailand to teach. I have BS degree in engineerng and MS degree in math. I don't mind teaching english to senior students, and then envision teaching math or science to seniors or even part time at a university.

I have to believe a TEFL certificate from anywhere will help, and I don't mind paying the nominal fees the online courses charge as I am sure I wil learn something.

I do have some teaching experience, having taught college courses in Algebra and calculus

Having a TEFL certificate may help for some schools, but it is not important in my opinion.

This is because hiring decisions are often based on need and "how you look" rather than strict competition.

And you have the best qualification [outside of Ed degrees] which is EXPERIENCE.

Also since you can teach Math, many schools have a hard time finding good qualified Math teachers with experience.

Vacancies open up all the time due to the very high farang turnover here in LOS.

So just keep looking at the job boards every day and you will score.

BTW, teaching kids in JHS or HS is a lot different than teaching College level so find

some teacher and get him to telll you about classroom control and working for

Thai managers. It is not easy.

Good luck

Oh yes, I am well aware of what the younger kids are like. I spent some time in a Junior High School. I am under no illusions as to what dealing with them would be like in the USA, and Thailand too.

Thanks for the response.

[catherineluff]

Hey I've recently completed a weekend TEFL course with a really good company called i-to-i, it was a 20 hour course so it wasn't bad for one weeeknd. I've not started teaching overseas yet but the company also offer a job placement sevice, which seems pretty good! I would definitely say if you are serious about TEFL teaching then a certified qualification is a good idea, it will get you a better job and give you more of a choice. This is the company website if you want to have a look;

www.onlinetefl.com

Good luck!

[bedu]

Sorry for the late reply, only just found this post.

You'll find that more than once either immigration or the MOE will not accept an online TEFL certificate.

This may be that someone is not getting their 'cut' from a 'real' TEFL course, or that someone in charge is concerned about the quality of these online courses. I'll leave it to you to decide which.

I did an online TEFL with i-to-i, which was acceptable when the recruiter was paying money under the table and/or had connections.

Also their job placement service is expensive, giving you info you could find out yourself. Also most of the paperwork to get a visa after they'd found me a school, well I had to do that. After the time period you choose, 6 months or 12 months, they're not so helpful when their commitment to you expires.

The next time I went to get a visa with a different company, it was refused because of the online TEFL and so I went to do a CELTA, although probably any face to face TEFL would have been acceptable.

Examples are SEE TEFL or Text and Talk if you did them in Thailand.

I hear IH is doing a P/T CELTA, so you could work and study at the same time.

Edited May 29, 2010 by bedu

[Scott]

Wow, you are late--about a year. Better late than never, I guess!

[Gladiator]

You won't find many posters on any forum who took an online TEFL course. I know one, but he followed it right after with a four-week classroom course (non-native speaker).

Any course is better than nothing - especially with your earned degrees.

I think our sponsor has an online course.

Why would there not be many people that took an online course posting here?

1. Is it because it was a waste of time and had no benefit? If so, I would like to hear that the course did them no good.

2. If it is because they thought it had no value and did not bother?

This is the crux of my post, to try and determine if it is worthwhile to take an online course, and if so, which one? Were any of benefit in obtaining a job in Thailand? All the online sites make claims for their success, but I have never, ever seen anybody on any independent forum state they took an online course and then got a job with it.

As a test engineer, I like independent verification of claims. No Bernie Madoff investing here.

I have sent you a PM about my own experience with the On-line TEFL Course

Gladiator

[TerryLH]

"The next time I went to get a visa with a different company, it was refused because of the online TEFL..."

That's odd, since as far as i know, it's not a requirement for anything.

Where was it that you were refused a visa?

[Phatcharanan]

Sorry for the late reply, only just found this post.

You'll find that more than once either immigration or the MOE will not accept an online TEFL certificate.

Very odd post seeing as how TEFL is not a REQUIREMENT by either of the above ministries.

Perhaps you just had a bad dream?

[Ijustwannateach]

Sorry for the late reply, only just found this post.

You'll find that more than once either immigration or the MOE will not accept an online TEFL certificate.

Very odd post seeing as how TEFL is not a REQUIREMENT by either of the above ministries.

Perhaps you just had a bad dream?

Yup, not a requirement.

[bedu]

Sorry for the late reply, only just found this post.

You'll find that more than once either immigration or the MOE will not accept an online TEFL certificate.

Very odd post seeing as how TEFL is not a REQUIREMENT by either of the above ministries.

Perhaps you just had a bad dream?

Late reply again!

Yeah, you're right, only a degree is needed, but company asked a 'mate' in immigration who said no way.

Presumably they wanted to sell one of their in house TEFL courses, or someone wanted a 'cut'. Either way, what's done is done.

You know Thai gov offices, sometimes they just don't want to budge on things!

Online TEFL is good for knowledge, but not experience.

[bermondburi]

In reply to the OP I'm going to say don't bother doing any TEFL. You've got good qualifications and experience. I don't think anyone will care less that you don't have a TEFL. I never did one and have had no problems getting work, EVER. I do have fair hair and blue eyes though !