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AVSE - ligitament or not?

 
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rsanders777



Joined: 22 Jul 2013
Posts: 1

PostPosted: Tue Jul 23, 2013 4:20 am    Post subject: AVSE - ligitament or not? Reply with quote

I applied to take the TEFL at AVSE (Australia-Vietnam School of English) I would like to know if it is a reputable organization. They guarantee job placement on completion. I was accepted and now they want $550 in 7 days. I am supposed to pay it by bank transfer or Western Union. The rest of the payment ($995) is to be made when I get there. Please me know anything you know about this school. Thank you
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deadlift



Joined: 08 Jun 2010
Posts: 267

PostPosted: Tue Jul 23, 2013 6:57 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

ILA and Apollo, which are two of the more reputable schools, charge around $1650 for the CELTA. If I were in your shoes I'd go with them, simply because a CELTA will have greater recognition.

Also, AVSE is in Go Vap district, a good hour or more from down town.
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VietCanada



Joined: 30 Nov 2010
Posts: 590

PostPosted: Tue Jul 23, 2013 11:21 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

An on line TEFL is only about $300. Why on Earth would you spend $1500+ ? If they are guaranteeing a job then they are guaranteeing you'll pass? Seriously how is that more legitimate than a $300 on line Tefl cert.?

Have you researched the cost at places in countries that don't require a cert. to teach legally? That's pretty much every other EFL destination in the world.

IMHO some schools in this country make more money selling this crap then they make off the VN students.


https://www.google.com.vn/#output=search&sclient=psy-ab&q=LEGITIMATE&oq=LEGITIMATE&gs_l=hp.3..0l4.1589.3969.0.5543.10.8.0.2.2.0.401.2703.3-7j1.8.0....0...1c.1.21.psy-ab.VhJz9yuYt5A&pbx=1&bav=on.2,or.r_cp.r_qf.&bvm=bv.49478099,d.eWU&fp=a03956f548817826&biw=1727&bih=909

Getting a certification to teach English grammar requires some prerequisites perhaps? Guaranteed a job! No applicant turned down! Only $1650+flight+food+++, ROTFLMFAO
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bobpen



Joined: 04 Mar 2011
Posts: 89

PostPosted: Tue Jul 23, 2013 7:20 pm    Post subject: Re: AVSE - ligitament or not? Reply with quote

rsanders777 wrote:
I applied to take the TEFL at AVSE (Australia-Vietnam School of English) I would like to know if it is a reputable organization. They guarantee job placement on completion. I was accepted and now they want $550 in 7 days. I am supposed to pay it by bank transfer or Western Union. The rest of the payment ($995) is to be made when I get there. Please me know anything you know about this school. Thank you

It's nothing personal, but the info you provided reminds me of someone who just got a Nigerian email. I highlighted each part of your post that sounds wrong.

Guarantee - is anything ever guaranteed in SE Asia? You were "accepted?" Did they also congratulate you on becoming their customer? Bank wire or W.Union? I believe these are listed as "dont's" in e-commerce due to the fact you are SOL if anything goes wrong. The fact they require money NOW and want it exclusively via unrefundable methods seems oh so wrong. Don't forget this is SE Asia -- scamsters operate all the time. Even legit institutes and firms aren't completely averse to pulling fast ones.
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ExpatLuke



Joined: 11 Feb 2012
Posts: 744

PostPosted: Wed Jul 24, 2013 12:40 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

I've seen several places that offer the CELTA use the tag-line of guaranteeing employment after the course is over. It doubt it's a scam. Just sounds like a marketing gimmick.

The person who suggested that an online TEFL cert is just as good as a CELTA is sadly misinformed. Even for working in Vietnam, you're going to need at least a CELTA to get work at the more reputable schools, unless you have great connections. Sure you can find work easily enough here with just the online certificate, but it's going to be at places like AMA, Apollo, etc. A CELTA is internationally recognized and is universally considered the minimum requirement to work at any decent school.
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Anh Dep



Joined: 16 Mar 2013
Posts: 56
Location: Bangkok Thailand

PostPosted: Wed Jul 24, 2013 3:35 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

AVSE is owned and run by an Australian man Peter Goudge, he offers a Tesol course. Many things have been said on here before and other forums about AVSE, most of it was very damning. On here the thread was deleted as it got out of control. If I were you I would be looking at ILA or Apollo, at least they are reputable.The other thing is Mr Goudge is an former politician and he has all the spin that goes with it.
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VietCanada



Joined: 30 Nov 2010
Posts: 590

PostPosted: Sun Aug 11, 2013 2:47 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

ExpatLuke wrote:
I've seen several places that offer the CELTA use the tag-line of guaranteeing employment after the course is over. It doubt it's a scam. Just sounds like a marketing gimmick.

The person who suggested that an online TEFL cert is just as good as a CELTA is sadly misinformed. Even for working in Vietnam, you're going to need at least a CELTA to get work at the more reputable schools, unless you have great connections. Sure you can find work easily enough here with just the online certificate, but it's going to be at places like AMA, Apollo, etc. A CELTA is internationally recognized and is universally considered the minimum requirement to work at any decent school.


The work permit requirement in VN does not distinguish between an online TEFL or a CELTA or even an actual degree in Education, a B.Ed. or M.Ed. from NA.

You can have all of them and if a student complains your SOL.

The teaching cert. requirement was just to stop schools from hiring backpackers and now marketing it has nothing to do with actual or implied teaching skill. That's appears to be innate. People pay for lessons based on word of mouth and out of need not the creds of the staff.
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Mushroom Druid



Joined: 19 Oct 2009
Posts: 91

PostPosted: Mon Aug 12, 2013 2:35 am    Post subject: Re: AVSE - ligitament or not? Reply with quote

rsanders777 wrote:
I applied to take the TEFL at AVSE (Australia-Vietnam School of English) I would like to know if it is a reputable organization. They guarantee job placement on completion. I was accepted and now they want $550 in 7 days. I am supposed to pay it by bank transfer or Western Union. The rest of the payment ($995) is to be made when I get there. Please me know anything you know about this school. Thank you


It is another scam.

Is it a 120 hour course? How many observations of you and by you?

What are the qualifications of the trainers? They better have an MA and years of provable experience.

Do the CELTA. CELTA or nothing.

You will pay money for a useless piece of paper.
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Ramen



Joined: 13 Apr 2008
Posts: 74

PostPosted: Mon Aug 12, 2013 4:35 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

In my humble opinion. In vietnam, all EFL teaching certications are nothing more than money making scams. Anyone with half a brain can teach at vietnamese language mills. The difference is whether you have the experience or not.
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mark_in_saigon



Joined: 20 Sep 2009
Posts: 837

PostPosted: Tue Aug 13, 2013 5:28 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Quote:
In my humble opinion. In vietnam, all EFL teaching certications are nothing more than money making scams. Anyone with half a brain can teach at vietnamese language mills. The difference is whether you have the experience or not.


One could almost say this about the entire industry here as well. Still, there are some that actually do care about the quality of the work, not many, but a few. I would not quite go as far as the sentiment posted in this quote, but when you look at the overall landscape, it is a valuable generalization with a few exceptions, those exceptions not really mattering for the majority of the folks who try their hands at this.

If folks agree with the above quote, I would point out that there is a place doing certs for about $600, I think they use the name American Tefl Institute. You can find them online and ask them about their site in HCMC. I am thinking this passes the bar as a legal cert without the negative "online" hickey. I think this would be the very lowest price to give you a legal cert. I would do my best to confirm it was legal before I signed up, but the American parent organization does seem to sanction it.

Another thing about this place, my understanding is that most of the students are VN or Filipinos trying to get the cheapest legal certification. Still, if you agree with the idea that they are all money making scams, then this one will take less of your money.

The whole subject of the certification has been gone over in great detail before, and there is a lot of good information on it posted already. Folks who really want to learn something and use the cert for other countries (and appeal to the highest paying jobs) should likely limit themselves to the CELTA, though there may be one or two others that would work, maybe not available here in VN though. I do think if you choose not to do the CELTA, if you consider the quality of the training (and how many employers do not even care what it is, they just want the legal document), it might make sense to just get the cheapest one.

I am loathe to recommend this course of action mind you, but when viewed in context, it might make sense, especially for those who are just doing this for a short time. I think that for someone who is serious about the work and has the right kind of background, the lower level certifications add almost no value to your abilities, they are merely satisfying a legal requirement. For someone who is not serious about the work, any certification is not likely to change that, and the CELTA would probably be a distasteful experience for those folks.

Maybe one good thing about this kind of cert, they may force the "mid level" providers to drop their prices or increase their quality. If you are paying $1,600 or so, you really should learn something, not just be given a cert for showing up and being taught by people who are not even native speakers of the English language.
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spycatcher reincarnated



Joined: 19 May 2005
Posts: 236

PostPosted: Tue Aug 13, 2013 5:47 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

As I have said before, it is very difficult to make any serious money running a CELTA and most organizations that run them would almost certainly lose money doing so, if they took all the real costs in to consideration.

I believe costs for running CELTAs in Vietnam are slightly higher than running them in native English speaking countries.

Organizations usually run them for the following reasons:

Credibility- in native English speaking countries
Teacher recruitment- in non-native English speaking countries

They are certainly no cash cow.

I do not know about the financial realities of running other certificates.
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Ramen



Joined: 13 Apr 2008
Posts: 74

PostPosted: Wed Aug 14, 2013 6:45 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Quote:
Teacher recruitment- in non-native English speaking countries


So can we view CELTA as a recruitment scam in Vietnam?
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vabeckele



Joined: 19 Nov 2010
Posts: 439

PostPosted: Wed Aug 14, 2013 7:52 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Ramen wrote:
Quote:
Teacher recruitment- in non-native English speaking countries


So can we view CELTA as a recruitment scam in Vietnam?


That was a good one.
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deadlift



Joined: 08 Jun 2010
Posts: 267

PostPosted: Wed Aug 14, 2013 7:54 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

How is it a scam?

Strikes me as smart recruiting. In essence it's a four-week long interview with several observed lessons.
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Ramen



Joined: 13 Apr 2008
Posts: 74

PostPosted: Wed Aug 14, 2013 8:01 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

deadlift wrote:
How is it a scam?

Strikes me as smart recruiting. In essence it's a four-week long interview with several observed lessons.


Yeah, very smart, but not so smart if you had to pay $1600.
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