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Sashadroogie
Joined: 17 Apr 2007 Posts: 11061 Location: Moskva, The Workers' Paradise
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Posted: Thu Apr 16, 2015 10:09 am Post subject: |
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Good for you! Penguins don't like sugar that much. Or so I read in Learner English. Fish oil is their thing. Butnot sure how much you can trust a swan. Specially one who shills for Cambridge, making money off the back of poor tefl labourers' hardships... |
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VietCanada
Joined: 30 Nov 2010 Posts: 590
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Posted: Sun Apr 19, 2015 2:16 pm Post subject: |
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Here's a link to ITTT which lists a variety of TEFL/TESOL courses in different countries as well as online options.
https://www.teflcourse.net/
And yes it is comparable to the CELTA. |
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Sashadroogie
Joined: 17 Apr 2007 Posts: 11061 Location: Moskva, The Workers' Paradise
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Posted: Sun Apr 19, 2015 3:58 pm Post subject: |
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In what way is it comparable? |
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Lack
Joined: 10 Aug 2011 Posts: 252
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Posted: Sun Apr 19, 2015 11:26 pm Post subject: |
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spiral78 wrote: |
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Lack
So go through a company that offers both online and onsite, and then say you did the on-site course...
Going through one that only offers online would be a problem, obviously...
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Yes, find any possible way to try to cheat that you can - god forbid anyone should actually take the time/trouble to do a proper cert that savvy employers who are aware of the value of a cert course would accept.
This still doesn't close the loophole, though, because a demo lesson/first trial week or two will highlight the lacks of a teacher with only an online cert very easily. |
Online does not = bad. If employers don't understand that, it's their problem. There are a lot of bull-headed employers out there who that don't like to accept facts. Online courses are legit if they are done through a reputable company/organization and are made to be quality. And of course even online courses will have a real-life practicum or otherwise if they are legit.
And just for the record, I did an on-site TEFL abroad. |
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HLJHLJ
Joined: 06 Oct 2009 Posts: 1218 Location: Ecuador
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Posted: Sun Apr 19, 2015 11:40 pm Post subject: |
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I would agree that online does not always = bad. However, if your online qualification is not accepted by employers, or by immigration, then it is very much your problem, not theirs. |
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Lack
Joined: 10 Aug 2011 Posts: 252
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Posted: Mon Apr 20, 2015 12:03 am Post subject: |
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HLJHLJ wrote: |
I would agree that online does not always = bad. However, if your online qualification is not accepted by employers, or by immigration, then it is very much your problem, not theirs. |
Which goes back to covering tracks. As long as the company doesn't reveal it (I doubt most would) it should be easy for most people to keep that hidden if need be. |
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Xie Lin
Joined: 21 Oct 2011 Posts: 731
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Posted: Mon Apr 20, 2015 12:32 am Post subject: |
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HLJHLJ wrote: |
I would agree that online does not always = bad.
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And Cambridge would agree.
There are two separate issues. One is the quality of the course--there ARE many inferior courses out there. The second is whether it will be accepted by employers in the region where you want to work. Most of Asia, and much of Latin America accept on-line courses. In the US and most of Europe, even though there is no actual prohibition against on-line delivery, you will be less competitive because of the abundance of applicants with on-site training courses. Employers receive enough applications that they can easily hire those who have taken on-site courses.
The only region where on-line is unacceptable for visa purposes is the Middle East; but employers there will find it unacceptable anyway.
I do agree with HLJHLJ that there are some well-designed, high-quality on-line courses around with highly qualifed tutors and in-class teaching practice. I wish every one of the thousands of newbies who start teaching in Asia every year without any course at all would at least do this much for their students.
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Xie Lin
Joined: 21 Oct 2011 Posts: 731
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Posted: Mon Apr 20, 2015 12:37 am Post subject: |
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Lack wrote: |
HLJHLJ wrote: |
I would agree that online does not always = bad. However, if your online qualification is not accepted by employers, or by immigration, then it is very much your problem, not theirs. |
Which goes back to covering tracks. As long as the company doesn't reveal it (I doubt most would) it should be easy for most people to keep that hidden if need be. |
No. It doesn't. We've beaten to death the how-to-be-dishonest theme. Time to move on.
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Lotteloes
Joined: 03 May 2015 Posts: 20 Location: Spain
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Posted: Fri Jul 31, 2015 4:32 pm Post subject: Online Tesol with In-Class Practicum? |
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Before joining this forum I have been reading around and I noticed this ongoing issue about the online-certification.
I did an 120-hour online course(I passed today) and I am glad I did. Did it give me any classroom experience: No. Has it written online on the certificate: Yes
I am 48 years old, have a degree but not related to teaching. The only teaching experience I have is training new hires in my team about how they need to do their work and correcting my teammembers by controlling their case quality. And perhaps the most difficult part: I am Dutch, so non-native.
Why was it usefull to do the online course: even though there was no classroom experience, it gave me an idea about how my life as a TEFL-teacher would be. I have been spending hours preparing the assessments in which I had to come up with a board game for a group of French teenagers, a vocabulary activitiy for a group of young learners and a grammar lesson plan for a group of adults. And I loved doing it. I was even sad that I was not able to do the actual teaching to see the effects of the lesson plan I created and if it would work in a classroom environment.
So it helped me to find out if I like something that probably will be a big part of my life as a TEFL-teacher, especially in the beginning. From here I can now make a more accurate decisionif I want to go to a language school to get my CPE/C2 or not and to decide whether it will be worth it giving up my job to do a CELTA (or equivalent) and see what life will bring from there.
So for me it was very usefull to do the 120-hour online course before spending bigger amounts of money and finding out half way the CELTA that teaching would not be something for me.
And yes, I will go to a language school to get my CPE (at least I hope I will pass) and do the CELTA. |
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esl_prof
Joined: 30 Nov 2013 Posts: 2006 Location: peyi kote solèy frèt
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Posted: Fri Jul 31, 2015 5:36 pm Post subject: Re: Online Tesol with In-Class Practicum? |
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Lotteloes wrote: |
So for me it was very usefull to do the 120-hour online course before spending bigger amounts of money and finding out half way the CELTA that teaching would not be something for me.
And yes, I will go to a language school to get my CPE (at least I hope I will pass) and do the CELTA. |
Glad to hear that the online course worked out for you, that you're satisfied with the outcome, and that you've been inspired to continue your training as you prepare to enter the TEFL profession.
Online TEFL certificates vary widely in quality. Some are a pretty decent introduction to the profession, albeit missing critical elements like supervised teaching practice, whereas others are not worth the paper that they are printed on. And, of course, online certs often fall short of the minimum requirements for obtaining an entry-level job in many parts of the world, which may or may not be an issue depending on where you hope to teach.
Again, I'm glad to hear that your particular course worked out well for you. Good luck, and please keep us posted as you continue with the next steps in your preparation. |
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spiral78
Joined: 05 Apr 2004 Posts: 11534 Location: On a Short Leash
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Posted: Fri Jul 31, 2015 6:03 pm Post subject: |
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I understand and appreciate that Lotteloes plans to get further training, so this note isn't for her!
But:
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I had to come up with a board game for a group of French teenagers, a vocabulary activitiy for a group of young learners and a grammar lesson plan for a group of adults. And I loved doing it. I was even sad that I was not able to do the actual teaching to see the effects of the lesson plan I created and if it would work in a classroom environment. |
This is a great illustration of why online courses aren't generally respected or sufficient. These exercises might have been great - but they might have been less than effective, and how would you know? The experience of creating them was useful, but it's only half the exercise. |
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esl_prof
Joined: 30 Nov 2013 Posts: 2006 Location: peyi kote solèy frèt
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Posted: Fri Jul 31, 2015 10:47 pm Post subject: |
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spiral78 wrote: |
The experience of creating them was useful, but it's only half the exercise. |
A well-designed online course can certainly move you along in the right direction, but--unless you're training to teach online--it won't really take you all the way. |
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VietCanada
Joined: 30 Nov 2010 Posts: 590
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Posted: Thu Aug 06, 2015 3:28 pm Post subject: |
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esl_prof wrote: |
spiral78 wrote: |
The experience of creating them was useful, but it's only half the exercise. |
A well-designed online course can certainly move you along in the right direction, but--unless you're training to teach online--it won't really take you all the way. |
This doesn't make any sense whatsoever.
Australian universities were among the first to offer on-line MATESOLs. Does that mean you can only understand, refer to, or use what you've learned from that program if you are at a keyboard? What happens if you are at a coffee shop and wish to discuss some theory you're investigating and you're not on-line? Do the 'PIXELS monsters' coma and take you away? Toooo funny.
A well designed course teaches you what it is well designed to teach you. By definition. On-line courses aren't limited to on-line 'whatever you are mis-thinking'! |
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Sashadroogie
Joined: 17 Apr 2007 Posts: 11061 Location: Moskva, The Workers' Paradise
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Posted: Thu Aug 06, 2015 3:37 pm Post subject: |
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Sorry, couldn't follow a word of that... |
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VietCanada
Joined: 30 Nov 2010 Posts: 590
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Posted: Thu Aug 06, 2015 3:41 pm Post subject: |
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Sashadroogie wrote: |
Sorry, couldn't follow a word of that... |
Obtuse much? |
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