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carrizales · Joined: 21 Dec 2008 Posts: 28 Location: FL

Hi, I asked a question earlier about TEFL Certification Courses. I was shopping around and came across this website
http://www.teflcourse.net/index.htm

They offer four week courses, 100+ hours. I was looking to go to either Seville or Granada, Spain, this summer. http://www.teflcourse.net/tefl-courses-locations/spain/seville/ I know to be wary, I hear there are a lot of scams out there. I was just curious if anyone had any experience with this school? or if it looks legitimate?

I also came acrosshttp://www.vialingua.org/. Any opinions about that school?

Thank you, very much for any information.

Chancellor · Posted: Sat Apr 25, 2009 7:10 pm Post subject: Re: TEFL International.

carrizales · Joined: 21 Dec 2008 Posts: 28 Location: FL

I think you're referring to my CELTA question earlier. Well, these guys say on their site :

Chancellor · Posted: Sun Apr 26, 2009 4:41 am Post subject:

carrizales · Joined: 21 Dec 2008 Posts: 28 Location: FL

i'm referring to that first one. the one i linked to in my original post. and you're right, I have no clue where or how they're making these claims. thats why i asked if anyone here has even heard of them.

Justin Trullinger · Posted: Mon Apr 27, 2009 2:44 pm Post subject:

I could be wrong here, but at a glance, it seems that the links that Chancellor put up are different webpages of the same organisation.

In general, TI has a reputation, so search the boards here, I remember several threads about it. My opinion, it's not the bottom of the heap, but is equally far from the top tier.

Best,
Justin

Chancellor · Posted: Mon Apr 27, 2009 3:04 pm Post subject:

nstick13 · Posted: Wed Apr 29, 2009 3:07 pm Post subject:

I did a lot of research on TI, and ultimately decided to do CELTA instead, mainly to make sure I did get the brand name.

A lot of the bad you'll read about TEFL Int'l is overstated, is what I found. There's a site (not sure of the link) that has what recent course participants have to say. It lists their names, and the program they did. I looked up the people from Alexandria, Egypt (where I would've gone) on Facebook and messaged them. Their testimonials were right, and they had positive experiences.

In regards to who accredits them, that is something I had a very difficult time discerning, and it got a bit murky, I suppose. I don't doubt you'll get good training, but CELTA is better accredited, from what I could tell.

Also, they mention something about the Universitsy of Washington's support. I contacted them and asked what was true, and they sent me this letter as a reply. (It's a JPG, but I got it through snail-mail, too.)
[img=http://img183.imageshack.us/img183/93/univwashingtonletter.th.jpg]

Click that--should work.

Hope this helps.

Chancellor · Posted: Wed Apr 29, 2009 6:16 pm Post subject:

Justin Trullinger · Posted: Thu Apr 30, 2009 4:40 pm Post subject:

It's a letter from the University of Washington.

It says, in essence, that the quote about TEFL INternational from a professor at the University of Washington is accurate, meaning that she really said it, but that the same professor no longer has any opinion about the course. (It also goes into a few details about which TI course she examined and how. But the main point seems to be that the quote, from 2001, is accurate, but that the professor now has no opinion to share.)

TEFL International has no relationship with the University of Washington that I can find, other than that quote on their website.

Best,
Justin

nstick13 · Posted: Thu Apr 30, 2009 5:47 pm Post subject:

Justin got it.

If UWA still had a positive opinion about it, I would've been more inclined, but having "no opinion" combined with the way TEFL Int'l marketed it and the fact there are questionable stories at all out there drove me away from it.

carrizales · Joined: 21 Dec 2008 Posts: 28 Location: FL

could you link me to some of these questionable stories?

nstick13 · Posted: Sun May 03, 2009 6:00 pm Post subject:

http://teflblacklist.blogspot.com/2007/11/tefl-international.html

If you look through this site some--these very forums, you'll find posts by a guy named "Bruce". I tend to believe his story, but the fact that this mess exists makes me questionable.

Google "TEFL International Scam" and you'll get a boatload more sites.

Bruce · Joined: 22 Feb 2003 Posts: 51 Location: Around the world

I think it must be competitors, or possibly fired former employees, but these fake negative posts about TEFL International are really annoying.

OK, first of all TEFL International is a long-time member of the Better Business Bureau. That means if ANYONE has a complaint about our course they can go to the BBB and complain and we must respond and solve any unfair practice or be kicked out of the BBB. Its been 12 years now and we have had a total of 12 complaints filed (out of 13,000 students). All were resolved to the satisfaction of the BBB.

Next, our course feedback is available ONLINE. If you want to see the feedback for China or Thailand or ANYWHERE, just go to http://tefllife.force.com/ as all of our feedback is available, unedited, for anyone to see. You will see that our courses are very well received by our trainees.

I get so bored with these fake posts.

Justin Trullinger · Posted: Thu Jun 24, 2010 9:17 am Post subject:

Hi Bruce,

Hope things are going alright. I can understand your frustration at some of the negativity about TEFL International that you can find online. The internet's awfully unregulated, and it's hard to know the truth, or source, of most of what you find.

The internet's also a funny place, though- we can't really tell about which posts are "fake" and which aren't, except by reading and taking our best guess.

I posted on this thread quite a while ago ago when it was last active, and I feel, now as then, that I posted moderately and sensibly. There is nothing fake about anything that was said on this thread, as far as I can see.

I certainly don't know if the stuff available on other websites is true or not, but if I were looking for a TESOL course, I would be worried by the volume of negativity there is. If it's all false, well...people don't make false posts out of pure unfocused spite. What is it about TI that ticks people off?

Unedited feedback online is what it is. Fine, but...we certainly wouldn't really know where it came from, would we? I can't really comment further, since the link you put up seems to need a password. Is it the right link?

Best,
Justin