Job Discussion Forums

wilco · Joined: 22 Jan 2009 Posts: 39

Anyone any info about a company called "Serious TEFL", who offer online and in-class courses?

Thanks in advance

Julieanne · Joined: 18 Mar 2004 Posts: 120

Yes excellent course, very informative and interactive. See the testimonials on their site and placement is 100%.
PM me if you would like to know more.

naturegirl321 · Joined: 04 May 2003 Posts: 9041 Location: home sweet home

It's less than 100 hours, I'd pass on it.

Julieanne · Joined: 18 Mar 2004 Posts: 120

I asked about this and by the way they are going to have a 120 hour course by the end of May. I spoke with [email protected]
This is the site by the way
http://www.serioustefl.com

spiral78 · Joined: 05 Apr 2004 Posts: 11534 Location: On a Short Leash

wilco, you might want to do a search for julieanne's posts. She has been very strongly backing this particular course for a couple of years now. However, in the past, it didn't really meet the standard for a basic newbie course. Perhaps things have changed...

IF it is 120 hours ON SITE, and includes at least 6 hours of practice teaching with actual students, not peer trainees, then it's OK. If less - it's below the standard.

CELTA is the name brand newbie level course, but there are decent generic courses out there that also meet the basic standards above.

Ideally, you should consider taking the course in the country where you want to start teaching. There are some excellent reasons for this: you can get your feet wet in country/culture while you still have a support system, as training centres generally arrange for airport pickup, housing during the course, local language training, and orientation. Your practice teaching students will be more representative of those you�ll be working with when you start. You can be sure your cert will be recognized by local employers, and the training centre can give you invaluable information regarding reputable employers in the region.

Justin Trullinger · Posted: Tue May 05, 2009 6:10 pm Post subject:

Spiral and I are frequently sounding off on threads around here about quality teacher training, and often we agree. I'd like to disagree slightly, though:

spiral78 · Joined: 05 Apr 2004 Posts: 11534 Location: On a Short Leash

Actually, Justin, we still agree - you're entirely correct that a course can appear to meet the basic standard of 120 hours and supervised teaching practice...and still be below standard in actuality. I tend to stick to the formula because I can't possibly judge a generic course on any other level, unless I am personally familiar with it (as I am with a couple of the generic courses offered in Prague - both of which are really quite ok).

I should qualify my formulaic response to read 'such a course is likely/probably ok.'

Justin Trullinger · Posted: Tue May 05, 2009 7:47 pm Post subject:

Agreed and agreed-

I just get nervous, because, as a lot of us online repeat the 120 + 6 mantra, course providers and ripoff artists alike are getting wise to it. I get a lot of applications that say "I have completed a 120 hour TESOL course with six hours of teaching practice."

And upon investigation, it was 120 hours online, possibly completed in 10, and 6 hours of "teaching" practice committed in some way that avoided real learners.

So I hate to be a hard *beep*, but if I don't personally know a course, it doesn't really carry much weight.

Bst,
Justin

spiral78 · Joined: 05 Apr 2004 Posts: 11534 Location: On a Short Leash

Yeah, I always mention the 120 hours ON SITE and teaching practice with actual students, but I have to say that I myself know of a few generic courses that meet this standard and are still pretty crappy.

I don't blame you for not being interested in candidates from some course you don't know.

Probably the best advice is still 'take a course in the country/region where you want to start working.' That way, local employers will know your cert...

Justin Trullinger · Posted: Thu May 07, 2009 11:17 pm Post subject:

Minor update- after this thread started, I had a little look around on the web.

Found some funny stuff.

Found a blogspot called TEFL Reviews.

http://teflreviewer.blogspot.com/2009/01/serious-teachers.html

Seems that somebody has set up a blogspot, apparently to review TEFL programs, which so far has done nothing but rave about how great SeriousTeachers and SeriousTEFL are.

Funny that virtually ALL those commenting on the blogspot are featured teachers on the seriousteachers website, with their names linking back to that website. (Everybody I checked except Intrepid Traveler was linked to a site that either belongs to or promotes seriousteachers.com.

Only two people are "following" it, and it's the only blog that either of them have ever joined.

The blogger, Sarah Tynsdale, has no other posts except about SeriousTeachers. No other web presence at all. (Provided that we assume that she is not Sarah Tynsdale the abolitionist and feminist from the 19th century.)

It looks sort of like someone has set up a blog, allegedy reviewing SeriousTeachers, but really dedicated to spreading the news about how glorious and wonderful they are.

Smells fishy.

Justin

Justin Trullinger · Posted: Mon May 11, 2009 3:27 pm Post subject:

Just an update on some stuff I noticed.

As I posted earlier, I was sort of confused and suspicious about the use of the IATEFL and NAFSA logos in response to "Is this course recognised?"

Because I don't like to be hasty or ill informed, I shot an email to those two organisations. Both responded very promptly and professionally, telling me that this comes up with some regularity, that they do not recognise or guarantee the quality of any courses at all, and that they would be in touch with the website in question requesting that their logos not be used in that way.

So when I checked this morning, the NAFSA and IATEFL logos were removed from the SeriousTEFL website, as far as I could see.

Not sure what I think about that- Taking it down was the right thing to do, which I think merits some respect. But putting it up in the first place seems to be part of a pattern of exaggerating their reputation, which is what I seem to see everyplace I look when I look at this course.

Best,
Justin

BenE · Joined: 11 Oct 2008 Posts: 321

In general unless you are 100% sure the course is a recognised equivalent and covers all the same areas you should do one of the following:

CELTA
Trinity TESOL
SIT

I've heard of a few local ones that offer a good course but they seem to be the safest bets.

Julieanne · Joined: 18 Mar 2004 Posts: 120

The course is recognized by several agencies.
http://www.seriousteachers.com/TEFL/

Justin Trullinger · Posted: Tue May 12, 2009 4:00 pm Post subject:

Bizarre.

I SWEAR that as of yesterday, those logos were off the SeriousTEFL website. But I happened to have a look there today, harvesting quotes for my other post. And they're back.

I wonder if my browser was blocking them? THat would be weird- I use the same computer for virtually all my internet, so if it blocks, it should block all the time.

I am not a techy. I do not know why this would happen. I'm betting on a techy explanation, though- otherwise, SeriousTEFL.com has actually taken down the illegally used logos, and then put them back up.

THat would be too weird to contemplate.

COuld somebody else have a look at the website in question and tell me what you see?

Best,
Justin

Julieanne · Joined: 18 Mar 2004 Posts: 120

Global Tesol, ITTO etc post the logos of those agencies as well