Job Discussion Forums

[marcosnpancho]

find reviews etc. that aren't from paid employers or students. Or simpler yet, does it provide what it promises...within reason? Thanks...

[Samantha]

If you do a forum search you will see several posts on this subject.

[el_alto]

I did some homework on ITTO. I've heard that they do a good job training. I've heard that their job placement program is not excellent. I'll be at ITTO for the month of August. Please contact me at the end of August and I'll give you honest feedback.

[lisa1968]

Why aren�t you interested in what former students have to say about a course? I would think that would be a great help to someone. If you don't want to hear from employees or former students, who do you want to hear from?

[Guy Courchesne]

[reddevil79]

I have had reliable sources tell me that their staff turnover rate is pretty high, even some cases of students finishing the course then becoming trainers themselves

It wouldn't be my first choice in Mexico, that's for sure...

[MELEE]

Ditto,
exactly what the devil said.


As an employer, we usually hire people with teaching experience, but sometimes have to compromise and have hired a recent TEFL grad. If I were in that position, I would choose a grad off of another course over the ITTO course for that reason. But once you have 3 or more years of teaching under your belt, where you did your course is not as important.

[reddevil79]

The devil eh? No satanic tendencies I hasten to add, just an admiration for the football team to the left

I do think there is space though for a good TEFL course in Mexico. It seems the others' relative success is down to fairly decent websites and advertising, but even then I would have been hard pushed to part with $1000 based on what I've seen on the web. I think the ones in Oaxaca and Playa del Carmen seem to be the best at the mo, as far as I can gather...

[J Sevigny]

I'm an ITTO "graduate" so you can either take my thoughts into consideration or ignore them -- it's up to you.

I work with a dozen or so other teachers who all studied at ITTO. Since turnover is so high at ITTO among teacher trainers, it would be difficult to say that ITTO has a teaching philosophy, or even a true curriculum. The course I took three years ago apparently has little or nothing in common with the course being offered today.

When I attended, they did a pretty good job of teaching us the presentation-practice-production model of lesson planning and gave us the opportunity to try it out on real students, which was nice. Most who were there with me, however, felt that the instructors were mostly just filling the time with the sounds of their own voices.

What an ITTO certificate will get you is a green light from the immigration office in Guadalajara, whether or not you have a degree. For some people, this is important and worth $1,600 or whatever they're charging now.

The job placement "promise" is something of a joke. A good number of teachers will be offered work giving business classes at ICI, a school in Guadalajara. The rest will be offered work in the sticks for laughable salaries. ITTO's job database consists primarily of a list of Web sites already accessible to anyone who knows how to use Google.

I don't regret going to ITTO. I paid the money and got my piece of paper. But I truly believe there are better options out there. My advice, which I've posted on this site before, is to look for a good CELTA course, which is far more prestigious and generally offered at a comparable cost.

[marcosnpancho]

Thanks all...I think a lack of many answers on my question tells me a lot. 'El Alto..I will ask how it went with you..thanks..
Lisa 1968...I am interested in hearing from former students etc..just not the ones on the company website..newsletter..etc..CONFLICT OF INTEREST
Guy...hello fellow Canadian...I want to hear from anyone who has unbiased info on ITTO..not paid students.etc..also, will my two year diploma in general arts be of help on a resume? I can't afford to go back and get a degree. Would one program be better than another considering my diploma...this diploma is a university transfer one...recognized worldwide as university courses.
Once again, thanks again everyone.

[cummings93]

I was there in November, 2006. The course was somewhat overwhelming at times, but I think a few of us may have taken it too seriously. Most everyone else took the course in stride.
The high turnover in trainers might have something to do with their workload, from what I could tell it was rather daunting. Since the course, I have been in contact with the ITTO office quite often. The office seems to get alot of referrals from schools and has assisted me with finding jobs.
Guadalajara is pretty cool-fun place to spend a month at.

[dfields3]

I just finished the course at ITTO for the month of July. The program as well as the trainers were wonderful. The program is a little more intense than they would have you believe before coming but you will learn TONS of useful things. They will effectively train you to become an English teacher. As far as the job placement goes, they found jobs for people all over Mexico from Guadalajara, Campeche, Guanajuato, San Miguel de Allende, DF, Oaxaca, and a lot of other places. The instructor I had for the month was named Rodolfo and he was MORE than qualified to be an instructor. He had several years under his belt in EFL teaching as well as a Masters degree in Liguistics. They had just hired another instructor with a Masters in Linguistics as well. As far as the instructor turnover, our instructor told us that he signed a year and a half contract and was nine months into the contract with no plans of leaving. I read all of the comments on ITTO before leaving that were good and bad and I would say that about 95% of the bad comments were not true or were from people who had been to ITTO years ago.