Job Discussion Forums

[rpmarley]

I will be attending The Language House in July '06 and was wondering what experiences people have had with that school. I have noticed that a frequent contributor on this forum is Chris Westergard, the director of TLH. Chris, feel free to throw your thoughts in, but I am curious to see if anyone has any negative feedback. I'm trying to keep an open mind. Also, are any of you going to be attending with me?

[Chris Westergaard]

Dear Ray,


Looks like our graduates do not use this forum too much. You might want to check expats.cz - I think you will find more people to give you the information you are looking for.

See you in July!

[rpmarley]

Just a little follow up on my original post. I have been in Prague now for four weeks. My experience with The Language House has been great. I will actually be receiving my TEFL degree tomorrow.
I should go over a few reasons why I really liked TLH.
1) My first night in Prague, I arrived late with a friend. There was a problem with my housing. At the flat that I had arranged, there was a strict policy on no overnight visitors. I called Chris Westergard. Within 10 minutes, Chris had found me and my friend good accommodations for the night. By the next day, they had found me a new place that fit into my plans.
2) TLH staff has been very helpful. Moving to a new country is very stressful. Add to that an intensive TEFL course and you get buckets of stress. They really helped me and my fellow TEFLers adjust to our new surroundings.
3) They prepare you to teach! We got a lot of time in teaching in front of a class. Methodology is a huge part of the course. When you understand what really goes on in teaching and what it takes to be an effective teacher, you have the ability for growth. TLH hammers on grammar. If you had asked me what the Future Perfect tense was a month ago, you would have gotten a confused look. Now I can teach a killer lesson on it. In fact, I think it will be my demo lesson.
I could go on for a while. Point is that I love the Language House. I have friends that are interested in teaching abroad. You better believe that I'll be recommending The Language House to them.

[amberdiann]

[spiral78]

The normal contract year is September - June, and August is the holiday month. It's not likely that anyone's doing much work at the moment.

[Chris Westergaard]

double post

[spiral78]

I'm in no way involved with any of the current training courses in Prague, but I have been linked to the city and its EFL scene pretty closely for the past eight years, so I'd like to make a couple of points, if I may.

First is that, statistically speaking, it's common for 1 person with a problem with some good/service to make 10 complaints. Conversely, of 10 people who had positive experiences, only 1 typically says much about it.

On my own initial training course back in 1998, there were 13 trainees - and only 4 of us passed the course. The group was atypical (lots of people who honestly could be labeled 'social misfits' of sorts) - but there is always a percentage of people who really don't fit into the profession for one reason or other. Obviously, those 9 people who did not pass were quick to blame the course and its providers.

Second is that there have (in the past) been new training centres in Prague with the occasional staff member who posed as a disgruntled trainee from a 'rival' course on this forum, or who spent great amounts of time slandering other courses in hopes of promoting his/her own. Fortunately, this has been rare, but it has happened. It's really a very silly thing to do as the market for training new teacher is quite strong - if the course is good and provides a decent level of support to trainees, trainees will come!

I personally tend to trust positive messages more than negative ones, when it comes to training courses. After all, unless one really is a covert employee of the training centre, the motivation for writing positive comments is altruistic, whereas the person taking the time to complain may really have a range of negative motives, all the way from venting personal frustrations with not having been successful to trying to slander a rival.

[Chris Westergaard]

double post

[Chris Westergaard]

That sounds like a great idea just give me an email to the address above.

[Mimip]

This may be beating a dead horse at this point, but I would like to add my two cents as a recent Language House graduate. I finished the course at the beginning of this month, and am already working in Prague, along with the rest of my class who stayed here to teach (7 of us). The course was excellent-- I learned a ton on it, and had a great time (though it is as intensive as Chris says). Chris and the rest of the staff not only provided quality instruction, but advice and support on issues ranging from accommodation to making the most of life in Prague beyond teaching.

I used this site as a main resource when choosing between TEFL programs several months ago, and it was threads like this from mysterious complainers that turned me off. I hope to add to the positive feedback about the Language House's TEFL course, as I would recommend it to anyone serious about learning to teach English abroad.

I should perhaps add that I have experienced the "dark side" of TEFL, having been scammed by a different TEFL program, the Prague branch of European Language Centres, earlier this year. (It was after I recovered from this and did some more research that I found the program at the Language House, and was confident enough in it to attempt another training course.) I would like to assist anyone else in avoiding such an experience, which is another reason I am eager to make a recommendation like this.

Please feel free to contact me through a PM.
Meryl Winick