Colleges TESOL Tesl

Online TEFL course vs onsite TEFL courseI decided on studying a TEFL course in May. I had been in a relationship with a thai lady living in Udon for over a year and was having difficulties maintaining a long distance relationship. I decided that I would have to move to Thailand to make things work. My job choices are very limited in Thailand with an english teacher being almost my only option so I decided to begin studying while trying to save enough money for the move. I have friends currently teaching in thailand. Some have formal teaching qualifications while others simply stumbled into the profession and have no training or experience. I was told that I would more be able to get a teaching position without any qualifications. However, I felt that I owed it the students and to myself to be as prepared as possible and so decided to study a TEFL course. I searched the internet for organizations offering TEFL courses, both online and onsite. My criteria for deciding where and with whom I would study were accreditation, convenience, duration of course and cost. I would have preferred to undertake an onsite course but I could not spare the 4 weeks or the £1000 as I had only just started a new job and hence opted for the online course. I narrowed my choice of prospective online course providers down to two candidates. My employer’s son, while visiting one day, said his wife’s brothers were all involved in TEFL and he would ask them to get in touch with me and give their advice. I wrote a letter outlining my requirements and my research to be forwarded to them and waited for them to get back to me. By the time I received a reply I had already enrolled in the ITTT course. His advice was to undertake an onsite course, preferably with an organization like Cambridge, and to avoid online courses as their qualifications are not usually recognized. In addition he said that he had looked at the websites for the two websites I had mentioned and that I should avoid ITTT. The e-mail was signed Jeremy Harmer. It transpires that this is the same Jeremy Harmer, instigator of the ESA method of teaching, on whose teachings ITTT have based their methods. He is undoubtedly unaware of this or else he would be obligated to send ITTT a letter of thanks for recommending his books and generating royalties. Regardless, I am happy to have undertaken and completed the online course. I did it as it best suited my lifestyle as it was affordable (especially with the additional courses I am due to study on completion of the TEFL course) and it allowed me to continue working and earning an income. It allowed me to study at my own pace. This meant there were certain periods where I submitted a number of worksheets over a short period of time followed by weeks on end when I submitted nothing. The course fell in line with my needs, not the other way round. If I needed assistance my tutor was only an e-mail away and was very helpful. The course has provided me with the grounding needed to teach english, both in terms of the mechanics of english but also classroom management. It also pointed out where I need more work and I will attempt to rectify these shortcomings. It has laid the groundwork on which to build. While I am happy to have completed the online course, if I had had the time and money I would still have preferred to have completed the onsite course. I have already raised the drawbacks of cost and availability for 4 consecutive weeks but there is the added negative of being extremely intensive. In essence I would have had to have learned everything covered in the online course in a much shorter space of time. I have never been to an onsite lesson nor spoken to anyone who has completed an onsite course so I can only imagine what goes on there. I assume that the teaching techniques used to teach the students on the course would be the same as they would in term use when teaching a class in the future. As such they would gain first hand experience of teaching methods and would get a chance to teach a class and get feedback from their fellow students. In addition, being in a class with many other students, there would be a large variety of teaching ideas for engage, study and activate phases which could be drawn on once you are a teacher. When completing an online course you only have your own ideas. The onsite course when be far more social and fun and you are likely to meet and keep in contact with other people who have similar plans for the future. This could provide a very useful support network both in terms of sharing ideas or travelling to a foreign country together. In conclusion I would like to say that regardless of which course I may have taken, the result is the same. I was unconcerned about the prospect of my online qualifications not being recognized. I was paying for an education so that I could understand and more importantly explain the mechanics of english and to be better prepared to be a teacher. I am now more confident and better equipped than before and feel capable of teaching english.