Job Discussion Forums

[tim_watts]

I am thinking of doing the TEFL International TESOL Certificate in Zhuhai, China.

Does anyone know anything (good or bad) about TEFL International in general, about their TESOL Certificate or their branch in Zhuhai, China?

The course seems like it might be OK. It's a 4-week / 120 hour intensive TESOL Certificate course with Minimum of 6 hours of observed teaching practice:
http://www.teflinternational.org.uk/tesol_certificate.html
http://www.teflinternational.org.uk/zhuhai.html

I'm a native speaker in my 30's, I don't have a degree or any other teaching certificate, but I've taught some private English language lessons in the UK.

I don't really want to do the CELTA, as I haven't studied seriously in the last decade and I don't really want the stress. I just want some practical teacher training and guidance. I also plan to look for work in China afterwards.

Any advice? Thanks in advance.

[Swerve]

Hi Tim,

I'm actually taking the March 14th course. Depending on when you decide to go, I can give you first hand experience once I've finished. The course and accommodation seem good, from what I've read about online anyway.

I see we also share the same surname, perhaps a distant relative from across the pond?

[nickpellatt]

I know you have two similar threads, so this answer is for both. BTW - I dont have experience of either of these courses BUT if either of them are worth doing, they should run along the same lines of a CELTA and be as hard/stressfull.

CELTA is probably the leading name in initial EFL training courses, Trinity is a close second. These are going to be the most recognised courses in the eyes of employers, be it in China, or more especially elsewhere. NOT doing one of the more recognised courses isnt your best bet if the chance to do them does exist. Bear in mind the stress factor should be the same!

Another point to note is without a degree you may find your options limited in some places. A degree is 'officially' the minimum required for a working visa (TEFL cert is NOT required for this, and having one doesnt supercede degree requirements). Of course, lots of people do get round this, and no doubt you will find people on this forum and in China doing well without degrees. It will be harder for you, you may have to work on a dodgy visa, and many employers will refuse you. This is worth considering if you are planning to head to China and look for work.

Even if the degree isnt a problem now...it could be later. So my advice is look at doing a CELTA/Trinity in the UK. Doing it at home offers advantages, especially if its in your home town and doesnt involves extra costs of travel and board. Then when you have it, touch base with China employers and see if you can get a job without a degree.

And start doing a degree. The OU offers distance learning with full grants to cover fees if you earn under something like 18k a year.

[billwynne]

Wife and I did this course 2 1/2 years ago. Found it to be a very good course with excellent teachers. accomodations ok, and included meals better than average. Course is headquartered at Gateway Language Village, a legit private language school. GLV provides meals in return for eating with and talking to their students.

Tefl course is pretty hard work but definitely worth it. After the first week of classes, they take you out to local schools to teach lessons, which they videotape for later review. Again, the teachers, both western and Chinese,
are extremely good, as are the course materials.Two of the teachers became friends, with whom we still stay in touch.

The GLV school recruits their teachers out of Tefl, and my wife and I both went to work for them.

obviously, we liked the place. Good luck

[Gamecock]

In my experience, unless you have no teaching experience or you want to work somewhere besides China, doing a TEFL course is a bit of a waste of money. Many ads for jobs in China say they want a TEFL certificate, but the truth is that if you have a degree and 2+ years teaching experience most places don't care about the TEFL. In China, you rarely get a wage increase for having it.

Of course, if you feel you need more training, it could be useful. If you want to work in another country in Asia, best to just go for the CELTA, because in places where they require a certificate they may more may not consider it equal to a CELTA (more likely they won't) and then you've just wasted your money.

[Little Tiger]

I did this course in January last year, I would highly recommend it to anybody. I had no teaching experience and it really prepared me for what teaching would be like, the course instructors are all experienced teachers and great people. This course requires quite a bit of work in the first couple of weeks but if you put in the effort then you will get a lot out of it.

GLV is the host school and you will receive meals and accommodation through them, they are a very professional school and will give you a sales pitch at the end of the course. I personally didn't go for them but I have friends that work there and are very happy.

I hope you go for this course, I'm sure you will enjoy it.

Just a word of warning, don't get 'physically' involved with anybody on the course you will be in the same room as them for a month and things 'could' get uncomfortable if they have a different opinion to a situation than you do

[Lei Feng]

I did my TEFL in Zhuhai at GLV. Everything everyone has said so far is true.

One thing I would add is that the TEFL is not recognized by the British Council if you ever want to work for them.

The course itself is pretty good, but it depends on the instructor a great deal.

I was taught by Shireen and she was great.

No idea who is the instructor now.

[champ]

Want to know if they have qualified staff and mod to teach TEFL or are they working on photoshop degrees?anybody?I heard that the TEFL mod has no education whatsoever,not even a HS cert.