Job Discussion Forums

[ElliotW]

Hi everyone,

I have done a fair bit of research into tefl courses, and came across this - does anyone have any experience with this company? Or what exactly it means by sponsored? To me it seems a bit too good to be true, why would they pay 850 euros of the normal price for you..

I can't post a link because loquo is blocked in the uk, but use an anonymous proxy to go onto loquo barcelona then type in Oxbridge and you will see the ad. What do you guys think about it?
Thanks!

[jonniboy]

Yeah I spoke to this company once by telephone and they mentioned this. Basically it's their own in house training course which, not being CELTA/Trinity will be valued less. What they were offering to pay was also a bit on the low side.

[ElliotW]

True, but if its still a 120 hours or 140 i cant remember exactly, with teaching practice then that i imagine that would still be valued. But im kind of asking what is the catch? Like is it that you have to work for them until you have paid back 850 euros worth of teaching? Or can i go and do the course with them for 400 euros then just leave??

[ElliotW]

So i got an email back from them explaining about it and they said:

I can try to explain a bit about the funding for the course. Basically the price of the course is subsidised by Oxbridge so it is 400� for each student for the 4 week intensive TEFL course. The reason why we do this is because we want to invest in training for potential teachers. It helps us out because we know that TEFL students are trained to the required standard for Oxbridge and also we get to 'cherry-pick' the best students and offer them employment after the course.
This means that we do say there is the possibility of employment afterwards but we can't give a guarantee. However, there is also no requirement to work for Oxbridge afterwards and we are happy to give references to course attendees.
The average Oxbridge teacher works 18-20 hours per week and earns around 1,000 - 1,200� per month. If a teacher is selected then they will be paid straight away for the work, they don't need to 'repay' the subsidy.

So what does everyone think of that? It seems a good deal but then im thinking almost too good to be true..does anyone have any experience with this school? Also, can anyone shed light on what exactly Oxbridge is?
They say you get 'A valid TEFL certificate and the specific oxbridge certificate in English teaching is issued at the end of the course '

Thanks

[Perilla]

According to jonniboy (above) it isn't the internationally recognised CELTA or Trinity certificate, which means it won't be much use outside of the awarding school. The pay also looks slightly low. Still, it might not be a bad idea to go ahead with them if you are looking for a relatively cheap entry to TEFL, or if you just want to do it for a year or so then do something else ...

[jonniboy]

Apart from a telephone conversation, which seemed okay, I've no first hand experience with Oxbridge. They could be okay but the fact that they have been perennially advertising for teachers for years on loquo raises a bit of a red flag for me. It's just speculation but why do they have difficulty attracting/keeping teachers in a place like Barcelona where native speakers are not exactly thin on the ground? I'd get a bit more feedback before going there.

[katie marron]

"Hi all,

I've got some experience with Oxbridge... I've just finished the TEFL course and they gave me a job working for them teaching English straight after. I'm now travelling all over Barcelona teaching business English classes.

It cost me 400�, as the rest of the course was sponsored by the company. They don't have to worry about making money from the TEFL courses because they have a language school, so it's a pretty good deal. It's a full 120hr TEFL course but obviously under the general TEFL umbrella there are loads of different courses including CELTA and Trinity courses. The Oxbridge TEFL covers pretty much all the same things that you get taught on the other courses but Oxbridge focus on teaching business clients through in-company classes, which I think I prefer to teaching loads of kids in a school! I think one of the most important things for any aspiring TEFL teacher is to have some good experience as well as a TEFL course. That's where the Oxbridge course helped me because I got experience teaching kids, teenagers, business people and adults all during the course.

It's the teaching practice that's really useful for employers. You really need to learn your grammar for the course too! I realised that I hadn't really studied it at school. Another good part of the Oxbridge course was that they place a big focus on creating and writing activities or lesson plans.

There's no need to work for Oxbridge after the course if you don't want to. But I really enjoy it because there's a good group of friendly teachers and some of us hang-out together. The work is varied and good fun. There have been quite a few people that have gone off to teach in other countries, schools or companies.

The pay is pretty good but the best thing is just knowing that I have around 18 hours a week without having to scrape around finding private students or working a few hours a week for loads of different companies. They change our schedules every couple of weeks so we don't get bored of teaching one group and the students get to hear some different accents!

Anyway, I hope it's helped to answer some of your questions."

[mozzar]

Well, that sounds like it came from a happy customer and not someone who runs the course.

[spiral78]

[katie marron]

The quotations are there because I sent it to some of my colleagues that I work with in Oxbridge to see if they thought there was any other information that should be added to help in answering some of your questions. When I copied it back out of my inbox I forgot to remove the quotations, I assure you it was not from any other form of text or book. I just wanted to try and give you as much information as possible. I hope the information helped answer some of your questions.

On a separate note, the change of schedules every 3-4 weeks is actually beneficial to both students and teachers. It allows students to experience different teachers with different accents which has proven to be essential in helping students to recognize and understand most english accents.

It is also beneficial to the teachers because it allows us to improve our teaching skills as we interact with different age groups from different backgrounds. This means that we gain experience in teaching through different methods, as we would obviously approach teaching children, teenagers and adults differently.

At Oxbridge, we follow the same system and share material, so we're able to change teachers but keep a similar teaching style. Oxbridge keeps track of what our students are learning. Besides, after some weeks you will end up teaching the same students again.

Overall I personally found that this is the best course I have done by far, I consider it the best investment I have made and would highly recommend it to anyone who wants to be a teacher.

[IanN]

Still sounds like an advert.

I can't believe that many teachers would think that changing groups on a regular basis was a good idea. Perhaps for advanced students to experience a variety of accents and speaking styles it could be beneficial but certainly not for beginners.

[spiral78]

I am guessing that Oxbridge provides a fairly rigid set of materials, and the role of the teacher is primarily only to go through the materials with the students. If accent is perceived to be an important difference between teachers, that would be a strong hint that there is relatively little else that individuals can bring to the table, when teaching for this organisation.

The big franchises which use their own (time-worn) materials such as Berlitz are similar. Nothing wrong with it, except that experience teaching in a rigid system doesn't necessarily translate later on if one moves on - it's not necessarily a plus on ones' CV.

Anyway, I'm not necessarily knocking the program - though it obviously wouldn't be anything most experienced teachers would be interested in. For a newbie, maybe it's OK.

[mozzar]

The accent thing does sound a bit strange. Granted, there are some difference in accents between teachers, but does the company actively ensure that a Welsh teacher is followed by an Irish, by a Scottish and then an English? Couldn�t you just use listening exercises for the same purpose?

But for any starting out with little money and no cert it could be an ok way to break into the market. Sounds like a one year only gig though.

[scattydove]

Hi all

I've just posted on here myself asking about Oxbridge before seeing this this thread. A work colleague of mine is going off to Barcalona to study for the certificate with them so i'm hoping to stay in touch with her to see how she finds it.

I must agree though...the heavy subsidy seems far too good to be true and set a few alarm bells off ringing in my head when she was telling me about it. Having said that it does seem like a good way in if you're only looking to do it short term or cannot afford to do a full CELTA.

I wonder if the OP ended up going to study with them?

Will keep an ear out for what she thinks of the course and let people here know

[oxbridgetefl]

Hello everyone...

The best thing to do is to give us a call so we can have a chat about the TEFL course. We will happily explain all the details of the course including why we are able to offer sponsored places to successful interviewees.

All our contact details are on our websites: telephone numbers (Madrid & Barcelona), Skype username and our office addresses, just in case you come to Barcelona or Madrid and want to pop in.

Many thanks,

Joe @ Oxbridge