Should I Take The Pelt Course?

[ajarnwannabe]

I have completed a TEFL course in the UK already and actually I have mentioned this before quite some time back on this forum. However now that I have booked my one way plane ticket to LOS I have been thinking long and hard about booking a place on the PELT program with TEFL International to gain some teaching experience as well a TESOL certificate.

So would you advice this? I was thinking about this because when I would start the two month internship with TEFL International, the school would already know that I have no experience in teaching English what so ever and I wouldn’t even have to lie about the fact that I have never taught before. I will earn a little money and I think this might help me not to make a fool of myself and also gain another and better certificate, as the TEFL that I took was only 60 hours and was actually quite useless.

So any advice would be greatly appreciated. Also does anyone have any information about the TEFL certificate that TEFLPLUS and Chichester College provides?

[Ijustwannateach]

Yes... no... maybe... ? There was recently a thread about this very course- why don't you look down a page or so in the topics and take a look there.

"Steven"

[ajarnwannabe]

Steven, I have read the thread about the PELT course and I have also read that TEFL International have now got their act together and have new offices in Bangkok. I would just like some real teaching experience without making a complete fool of myself and the PELT course sounds perfect.

Thank you Steven but Iam novice unlike yourself and you do really give good feedback and sometimes good advice. However sometimes I do think you can be a little hard

So Steven what do u really think about the PELT course? Would you pay the deposit if you were me?

[Ijustwannateach]

I have no idea. My self-appointed role in this part of the forum is mainly (as I see it):

1. To give job-hunting and job-keeping advice to local farang teachers, especially newbies

2. To participate in discussions of classroom management, professionalism, and teaching

3. To give newbies a chance to profit by my mistakes and avoid the worst of the Bangkok teaching-scene evils

As far as the whole "should I take a course, should I take this course, which course is best" routine goes, I'm no expert because I haven't taken any of them and I'm not in the market to do so [nearly a decade of classroom experience usually gets my foot in the door at TEFL jobs without need for the certification]. My best advice would be to listen to those who have already taken the courses and PM them about it (you can find some of those folks on the thread already mentioned). Ken's usually a good source on this issue and if I were you I would trust his word especially on whether a company has a really dodgy history, legal status, etc.

I'm not sure I recall anyone admitting to having taken the course you mention on that other thread? If not, then that itself might give you some hints about your decision. If you were buying a car, would you buy a new model that you'd never known anyone to drive, which had no established reputation? That doesn't mean that the new model is bad- there's just no information. The risks are the same for you in this case. Take the new model on the chance it will be good, or settle for something that you have more information about.

You say you've already had a 60 hr Tefl course- I hope you were able to get SOMETHING out of that! If nothing else, I'd hope you'd recognize just how it failed for you and be able to name the qualities you'd like to see in your next TEFL course. In that case, with a few phone calls and shopping around, you should be a wiser consumer than most of the people who take TEFL courses.

I'd certainly recommend taking SOME sort of course that made you feel a bit secure in teaching, preferably with some practice hours, before setting yourself loose in a classroom.

And yes, I'm a bit hard sometimes! Which is as it should be- people who are getting into this mess called the education industry in Thailand should realize from the start that it's no bed of roses. If they want their hands held, better for them to skip over here and stay in Japan for awhile...

"Steven"

[kenkannif]

Yeah " " (ditto!).

[PeaceBlondie]

I don't know, but is PELT a truly supervised internship, or does it function similar to being assigned by an agency to a govt. school where you're not closely supervised? To my American way of understanding, an internship has your immediate supervisor on the same premises much of the time, and the boss is available for all sorts of questions. The boss would be a fluent speaker of your language who spends many minutes of each working day in contact with each of the interns. Gosh, that would have been great (never had that in Thailand yet); I can only imagine how much more pleasant my first two years would have been.

[girlx]

you are not supervised, though they are trying to set up a program now where they give free classes to local business so that students can get their teaching practice out of the way. the director of PELT is present. this means though that you will not get paid for your teaching practice as originally promised.

also, the last 3 emails i have sent to PELT trying to get them to help me set up a class and get observed have remained un-answered, and as far as i know, the people who were in my class with me have neither been paid for their teaching or given their certificates yet. they have serious money problems at PELT, despite their flash new office, and i still do not recommend them right now, though hopefully they are working towards making it a more stable and worthy program in the future. my suggestion is to go down to their office and grill the men there before you just hand over the deposit.