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Chancellor
Joined: 31 Oct 2005
Posts: 1337
Location: Ji'an, China - if you're willing to send me cigars, I accept donations :)
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 Posted: Wed Apr 02, 2008 1:11 am Post subject: William Brewster TESOL Institute |
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http://tesol1.tripod.com/
Is anyone familiar with this place? It claims to offer 12 hours of teaching practice. There's a 120-hour on-site course and there are online courses (with which there is the option of doing the 12-hour teaching practice on-site).
What's the good, the bad and the ugly of it? |
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johnsmither
Joined: 04 Feb 2008
Posts: 43
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| Posted: Wed Apr 02, 2008 10:40 am Post subject: |
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Hi Chancellor,
I have not heard of the people you asked about, I did a course last year through ITTT, a company based in Thailand, it was completely online although they do offer onsite courses. The course I did, two of us completed it together, took us about a month to complete and cost about US$200 each.
Hope this is of some use to you. |
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Justin Trullinger
Joined: 28 Jan 2005
Posts: 3110
Location: Seoul, South Korea and Myanmar for a bit
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| Posted: Wed Apr 02, 2008 3:16 pm Post subject: |
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THey also offer KungFu classes.
And under some circumstances, apparently, will include the TESOL free with kungfu or ninjutzu classes...
I don't know anything about the institute, but at a brief browse, it doesn't look like serious teacher training to me.
Best,
justin |
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Chancellor
Joined: 31 Oct 2005
Posts: 1337
Location: Ji'an, China - if you're willing to send me cigars, I accept donations :)
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| Posted: Wed Apr 02, 2008 6:22 pm Post subject: |
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| Justin Trullinger wrote: |
THey also offer KungFu classes.
And under some circumstances, apparently, will include the TESOL free with kungfu or ninjutzu classes...
I don't know anything about the institute, but at a brief browse, it doesn't look like serious teacher training to me.
Best,
justin |
The TESOL course in China is free if you take the martial arts classes. Which seems like a strange combination.
I did more than just a brief browse. The Institute is apparently affiliated with Batavia University in Indonesia (http://ub-edu.tripod.com/) but whether that particular university is much of anything may be subject to debate. While it is easy to judge a school or course by its website (like judging a book by its cover), it's the lack of significant information from outside sources that concerns me.
According to the Institute's website, the minimum of 12 hours' teaching practice is done with real students and not with fellow teacher trainees. This is, of course, important since there are other schools that do just the opposite. The on-site course offers (claims to offer) 120 hours of training that includes the teaching practice. There are a couple of different online courses, the larger of them providing 200 hours of training. One thing that I think is significant is the alleged offer of a hybrid course where one can go on-site to do the 12 hours of teaching practice after completing the online course. I've seen where some other schools do that and some others that don't. For those of us who can't just take four to six weeks off from work to do an on-site course, the hybrid option is certainly better than a strictly online course. |
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Chancellor
Joined: 31 Oct 2005
Posts: 1337
Location: Ji'an, China - if you're willing to send me cigars, I accept donations :)
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| Posted: Wed Apr 02, 2008 6:26 pm Post subject: |
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| johnsmither wrote: |
Hi Chancellor,
I have not heard of the people you asked about, I did a course last year through ITTT, a company based in Thailand, it was completely online although they do offer onsite courses. The course I did, two of us completed it together, took us about a month to complete and cost about US$200 each.
Hope this is of some use to you. |
There are plenty of online courses out there of various lengths but doing an online course by itself doesn't give you the all-important teaching practice. This William Brewster TESOL Institute offers (claims to offer) a hybrid course where one can do one of their two online courses (the larger being 200 hours) and then go do the 12-hour teaching practice on site. There are some other schools that offer a similar type of arrangement. |
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Justin Trullinger
Joined: 28 Jan 2005
Posts: 3110
Location: Seoul, South Korea and Myanmar for a bit
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| Posted: Wed Apr 02, 2008 9:33 pm Post subject: |
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I'd follow up that the hours totals of most online courses are subject to debate as well. Did you look at the "sampler/taster" on their website? I'm not sure how many hours it was. I'd be most interested in knowing how they calculate the hours for the course as a whole- On a good onsite course, I know that one hour means one hour that you were doing an activity, working with a qualified trainer. On a 200 hour online course, what would you have been doing?
Remember that when it comes to how they calculate their hours, they aren't answerable to anyone except, erm, Batavia University in Indonesia, of whom I have never heard. So before I committed any money, I'd want to know what those hours were to be spent doing.
The idea of giving away free TESOL courses with martial arts training catches my eye. I wonder if the instructors are the same. 
Tell us about your situation Chancellor. Are you teaching now? Planning to start? This has a real bearing on the training that might be right for you. If you're teaching now, why the cert? If not, why not save up for a reputable onsite course, and do it before you start, but after you've left your current job?
Best,
justin |
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Chancellor
Joined: 31 Oct 2005
Posts: 1337
Location: Ji'an, China - if you're willing to send me cigars, I accept donations :)
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| Posted: Wed Apr 02, 2008 11:49 pm Post subject: |
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| Justin Trullinger wrote: |
| I'd follow up that the hours totals of most online courses are subject to debate as well. |
Particularly when you can do the online courses at your own pace, thereby possibly spending either more time or less time doing the course.
| Quote: |
| Did you look at the "sampler/taster" on their website? |
Yes, I did; it's only the first two lessons of what you would be doing in the online course.
| Quote: |
| I'm not sure how many hours it was. I'd be most interested in knowing how they calculate the hours for the course as a whole- On a good onsite course, I know that one hour means one hour that you were doing an activity, working with a qualified trainer. |
Well, I've never heard of an online course where you're interacting with the trainer every moment you're working on the course. From what I've seen, the trainer reviews the assigned work and provides feedback - not all that different from what happens in accredited distance learning college courses. Again, one of the advantages (or, if you prefer, disadvantages) of an online course is that you generally work at your own pace. Thus, what might take one person an hour might take another person two and yet another person only 30 minutes. Whether an hour really means 60 minutes in either online or on-site courses may be the subject of a different debate.
| Quote: |
| On a 200 hour online course, what would you have been doing? |
Maybe something like this:
Module 1: An Introduction to TESOL:
This module focuses on the differences between learning English as a primary and second language. Topics covered include:
* Mother tongue or primary language influence
* Motivations for learning English
* Learner interests
* Learning style
* Learner Backgrounds
* Differences between learning English as a first and second Language
* Cultural and religious differences and sensitivities
Module 2: Language and Skills Overview
This module addresses planning a balanced and appropriate syllabus for students. Topics include:
* Balance between language and skills
* General differences between language and skills
* Components and aspects of language and skills
* Interrelation between language, skills and their constituents
* Balance of each aspect of language and skills
Module 3: Pronunciation: Pronunciation topics include:
* Stress
* Phonemics
* Connected Speech
* Weak Forms
* Minimal Pairs
* Modeling
* Drilling
* Isolating and Correcting Errors
Module 4: Language:
Language topics include:
* Grammar
* Vocabulary
* Language awareness
* Language functions
* Components of a language item
* Language presentation methodologies
* Language practice methodologies
Module 5: Skills
Topics explored in this module include:
* Receptive vs productive skills
* Receptive skills methodologies
* Productive skills methodologies
* Realistic skills tasks
* Learner support for tasks
* Integrated skills
* How to make skills tasks successful
Module 6: Learner Profiling, Needs Analysis and Testing
Topics for this module include:
* Placement Testing
* Progress Testing and Unit Testing for Final Grades
* Learner Profiling
* Interviewing
* Needs Analysis
* Surveys
Module 7: Lesson Planning:
This unit looks at:
* Coordinating curriculum with texts or other units
* Creating a complete and balanced syllabus for a full academic cycle
* Aims of a lesson
* Staging
* Identifying target languages
* Focus in various stages
* Proactively identifying and correcting potential problems
* Balancing appropriate components of a lesson plan
* Assessing the success of your plan
* Deviating from a plan when necessary
* Adapting resources
Module 8: Classroom Management:
The classroom management module provides an in depth examination of such aspects as:
* Rapport
* Seating
* Lighting
* Board use
* Maintaining Interest
* Projecting authority
* Groupings
* Gestures
* Teacher position
* Monitoring
* Eliminating the use of mother tongue
* Mixed ages, abilities, and nationalities
Module 9: CALL/Special Groups:
CALL or Computer Assisted Language Learning topics include:
# Adapting tasks to software
# Choosing appropriate software
# Computer lab management strategies
# Planning CALL lessons
# Adapting tasks to any video
# Video presentation methodologies
# Incorporating AV learning into your lesson plans
Special groups qualifications include:
* Early Learner
* Young Learner
* Adolescent
* Special classroom management strategies for each of the above
* Conversation
* Business
Module 10: Life After Certification:
This final module focuses on getting a job and what to do and expect on the job. Topics include:
* Resume/CV and interview
* Choosing a school
* Employment services
* Life abroad
* Professional conduct
* Professional development
| Quote: |
| Remember that when it comes to how they calculate their hours, they aren't answerable to anyone except, erm, Batavia University in Indonesia, of whom I have never heard. So before I committed any money, I'd want to know what those hours were to be spent doing. |
This is pretty much true for many online courses. There is no such thing as a universal accrediting body for TEFL. I've never heard of Batavia University either and there doesn't appear to be much information on it from outside sources in a Google search.
| Quote: |
| The idea of giving away free TESOL courses with martial arts training catches my eye. I wonder if the instructors are the same. |
I, too, found that to be a bit strange but that's only for the course in China.
| Quote: |
| Tell us about your situation Chancellor. Are you teaching now? Planning to start? This has a real bearing on the training that might be right for you. If you're teaching now, why the cert? If not, why not save up for a reputable onsite course, and do it before you start, but after you've left your current job? |
I presently write decisions for administrative law judges and my employer isn't going to let me take the five or six weeks off (including travel time) to do an on-site course. The idea of leaving a job to go get on-site training and then not have a guaranteed job to go to seems foolish. The wiser course of action would be to obtain the certification while one still has a job and only then go on to pursue a teaching position (yes, I know, many of these courses claim to guarantee job placement). I looked at Bridge Linguatec, which puts its 140-hour Bridge TEFL on-site course into a 70-hour online course combined with 70 hours on-site (for example, one of the dates for the on-site portion at one site is May 19 � May 30). However, the course only does three hours ("minimum") of teaching practice (which is less than the six hours you would get if you did the entirely on-site Bridge TEFL and CELTA courses -Bridge Linguatec is a designated CELTA school).
I started this thread because I'm skeptical about what William Brewster TESOL Institute claims to offer and I wanted to see if anyone here knows anything about this place - particularly anyone teaching in Indonesia (though no one in the Indonesia forum seems to want to reply). |
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Chancellor
Joined: 31 Oct 2005
Posts: 1337
Location: Ji'an, China - if you're willing to send me cigars, I accept donations :)
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| Posted: Sat Apr 05, 2008 11:45 pm Post subject: |
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| Justin Trullinger wrote: |
I'd follow up that the hours totals of most online courses are subject to debate as well. Did you look at the "sampler/taster" on their website? I'm not sure how many hours it was. I'd be most interested in knowing how they calculate the hours for the course as a whole- On a good onsite course, I know that one hour means one hour that you were doing an activity, working with a qualified trainer. On a 200 hour online course, what would you have been doing?
Remember that when it comes to how they calculate their hours, they aren't answerable to anyone except, erm, Batavia University in Indonesia, of whom I have never heard. So before I committed any money, I'd want to know what those hours were to be spent doing.
The idea of giving away free TESOL courses with martial arts training catches my eye. I wonder if the instructors are the same.
Tell us about your situation Chancellor. Are you teaching now? Planning to start? This has a real bearing on the training that might be right for you. If you're teaching now, why the cert? If not, why not save up for a reputable onsite course, and do it before you start, but after you've left your current job?
Best,
justin |
I decided to go with www.ontesol.com. It's a Trinity-accredited course (at least the on-site course is Trinity, I'm not sure about the online course) that offers a 250-hour online training and a teaching practicum that gives 10 hours of observation and 10 hours of teaching practice. This part, obviously, is done at an on-site location. The end result is a TESOL Certificate - Cert. (T.M) TESOL �Certificate in the Theory and Methodology of Teaching English to Speakers of Other languages accredited by ACTDEC or, if you're a Canadian (and I'm not), and have an undergraduate degree, you can also get the TESL Canada Professional Certificate Standard 2. |
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