Job Discussion Forums

[oxi]

Anyone know anything about i to i? Friend of mine was asking my advice about doing a tefl course with them. I�d never heard of them until a couple of weeks ago.

Some choice quotes from their site:-

�i-to-i is accredited by the ODLQC (Open and Distance Learning Quality Council)�
�Our courses are accepted by 1,000s of language schools worldwide�
�An internationally recognised 120 hour TEFL certificate�
�we�ve trained over 120,000 people to teach English�

I�ve never heard of ODLQC either, or met any of the 120,000 teachers i to i have trained. My guess is they�re not really up to much, so better to splash out on a CELTA, but who am I to judge.

Anyone got info?

[tttompatz]

Depends on where you are planning to look for work.

If in Europe it is virtually worthless. Do the CELTA/Trinity.SIT TESOL course.
If in Asia it doesn't much matter.


.

[rotemmay]

Here's some info I found from the About.com ESL moderator who did the program with i to i:

http://esl.about.com/od/esleflteachertraining/gr/itoireview.htm

However, take a look at the 10 comments on the article, as they also give some insights on the school (though not very positive ones).

Here's TEFL Course Review's i to i review site:

http://www.teflcoursereview.com/i-to-i-tefl/

Not advocating whether they are good one way or the other, but I always like to read about other people's experiences .

Rotem

[naturegirl321]

From my understanding, it's an online cert. i-to-i also seems to target gap year students, so younger people who'll TEFL for a year then go back to the "real world"

[nickpellatt]

I wrote one of the reviews on the second link posted, and it wasnt a favourable one. Avoid i-i and take a real course along the lines of CELTA/Trinity.

I think ttompatz is partly correct in saying that in Asia, it doesnt matter because in some countries and with some employers, a degree/white face/experience may be considered sufficient. However, it may matter if you wish to be well prepared and do a good job, because I dont think i-i will adequately prepare you and as some of your students may be paying a fair amount of money for your services, there is a moral issue regarding your training and prep.

There are more employers looking for genuine qualifications now, even in Asia. Even if visa regulations dont always require EFL certification, I think the better employers may look for it. Wall Street English in China ask for recognised CELTA/Trinity type certification for example.

If you have a country and employer in mind, and standards require you possess ANY kind of certificate and you insist on the online route, choose the cheapest. The vast majority of them wont offer much in the way of genuine and useful learning, so just get the cheapest one.

[oxi]

Thanks for the comments folks,

My own advice was to wait until he can afford a CELTA. The i-to-i course may be well run (opinions vary in the links above), and cheaper, but I don't think it's worth it compared to CELTA for getting work after.

[EmowshinallChicken]

They're great...!!! if like me you ran their 20 hour week-end course....�515 a week-end; 11hrs sat/9 hrs sun .....if they can afford to pay that, they must be doing something well.....

[AGoodStory]

[santi84]

�515 a week-end

The TESL certificate I did at my university cost about $3000 for the entire year (and included 30 TESL credits towards the 3rd & 4th year of the BA).

And to think I could have learned all that for less than half the price and only one weekend

[EmowshinallChicken]

�515 a week-end was what they PAID ME, to run the week-end courses...

[oxi]

[RobertH]

Don't spend your money on an online certificate. For most jobs, it will not improve your employment prospects. Very, very few employers in Europe accept certificates that are not CELTA or Trinity CertTESOL, and would demand that such certificates have an on-site teaching practice element that uses real language students, plus 100+ hours input. Basically, the only courses that I know of that do this are CELTA and Trinity.

Outside of Europe, as said, it is possible to get a job without CELTA and Trinity. For most places like this, having a degree is the requirement and online certificates will be 'accepted' but will not actually improve your prospects. In other words, having a degree in itself is enough.

Online certs are basically useless, imho.....except for maybe teaching you a bit about TEFL which you could otherwise learn from books.