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thunder_god
Joined: 22 Jul 2015
Posts: 65
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 Posted: Tue Aug 18, 2015 10:11 pm Post subject: Learn TEFL course legit? |
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| I came across a groupon deal for this online TEFL certification course and I was wondering if its legit or some scam? It says its accredited but I'm not too sure. |
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nomad soul
Joined: 31 Jan 2010
Posts: 11454
Location: The real world
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| Posted: Tue Aug 18, 2015 10:48 pm Post subject: |
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The fact that they have to attract "customers" with a groupon deal is enough of a turn off. Being online and having sketchy accreditation don't help its credibility either.
Save your money until you can afford a legitimate TEFL course. |
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roadwalker
Joined: 24 Aug 2005
Posts: 1750
Location: Ch
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| Posted: Wed Aug 19, 2015 3:42 am Post subject: |
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I think that there are some organizations that accredit this type of certificate, but I don't think that there is a universal standard. If you have almost anything purporting to be a TEFL certificate, online or otherwise, there are probably some schools that will hire you somewhere.
Some people may respond better to an online course (or have no place in their lives to take a month off and concentrate on an in-class course). For those people, it may be a good thing in that they at least get an idea of what to be aware of when teaching. Online courses should also be cheaper. Some are undoubtedly better than others, so if you are going to get a certificate to tic a requirement box, try to go for one that good ratings/good word of mouth.
I am glad I did the course in class, since I respond better in a classroom setting, and after all, that's where the jobs usually take place. Also, the in-class course probably provides better and instant feedback for the students/trainees. Trainees can ask questions of the trainers in class and also hear questions from classmates that they perhaps hadn't thought of and hear the responses from the trainers. And most valuably, trainers (and other trainees) can let the trainees know what went well and what needs work, after a planned practice lesson in front of real English language learners. |
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suphanburi
Joined: 20 Mar 2014
Posts: 916
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| Posted: Wed Aug 19, 2015 5:56 am Post subject: Re: Learn TEFL course legit? |
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| thunder_god wrote: |
| I came across a groupon deal for this online TEFL certification course and I was wondering if its legit or some scam? It says its accredited but I'm not too sure. |
If you have a degree then anything is better than nothing but you get what you pay for and you receive what you put into it.
If you do not have a degree (the course website says they have no prerequisites) then the point is largely moot since the degree (and not a generic TEFL cert) is often a visa requirement for those wishing to travel abroad and teach English. No degree = no visa.
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thunder_god
Joined: 22 Jul 2015
Posts: 65
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| Posted: Wed Aug 19, 2015 8:10 pm Post subject: |
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| I have 2 university degree's. Its just that I lack the TEFL certificate and can't afford to pay $2500 for the CELTA. The groupon price for this online TEFL is like $39, however upon doing a search on google and reading several reviews, it appears to be a scam so I think I'm just going to pass. |
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spiral78
Joined: 05 Apr 2004
Posts: 11534
Location: On a Short Leash
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| Posted: Wed Aug 19, 2015 9:45 pm Post subject: |
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| Where would you like to teach, thunder_god? Whether an online cert will be sufficient depends a great deal on this - in some regions an online cert can make you competitive on the job market - but in most, not. |
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nomad soul
Joined: 31 Jan 2010
Posts: 11454
Location: The real world
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| Posted: Wed Aug 19, 2015 11:44 pm Post subject: |
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| Quote: |
| In some regions an online cert can make you competitive on the job market - but in most, not. |
"Competitive" probably used loosely, especially for online TEFL courses that come with a coupon. 
Thunder_god:
A generic CELTA-equivalent TEFL course generally costs over $1000. However, if a $39 TEFL course is all you can afford, then you likely don't have enough funds saved to head abroad either. There are startup costs you'll need to consider. |
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thunder_god
Joined: 22 Jul 2015
Posts: 65
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| Posted: Fri Aug 21, 2015 3:14 am Post subject: |
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| I have about $1200 saved up, and I probably can borrow a bit more from my parents. I'm only applying and considering school's that supply the apartment, and once I save up enough money I plan on doing my CELTA in the country where I'll be teaching in this case is most likely going to be China. Right now I wasted over a month applying to various jobs here in my city including BS minimum wage jobs and got passed over by people with less qualifications. I'm sick of this crap and feeling soulless and wasting my life away becoming more and more depressed as the days go by. The only job I managed to acquire so far has been an online teaching/tutoring job which surprisingly I really enjoy, but I only get paid by the minute and it works out to about $13 an hr but I don't have any regular students so I've only made like $150 for this past 2 weeks. |
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spiral78
Joined: 05 Apr 2004
Posts: 11534
Location: On a Short Leash
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| Posted: Fri Aug 21, 2015 6:49 am Post subject: |
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Bad news: plural forms of nouns don't need apostrophes - you might want to brush up on your punctuation knowledge to be sure you don't mislead students on the basics.
Good news: I don't think onsite certs are absolutely necessary to teach in China, so the online one may be sufficient.
I suggest you go over to the China boards and ask; someone there will know for sure. |
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wanttoteach1
Joined: 24 Sep 2015
Posts: 21
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| Posted: Tue Sep 29, 2015 9:02 pm Post subject: |
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| thunder_god wrote: |
| I have 2 university degree's. Its just that I lack the TEFL certificate and can't afford to pay $2500 for the CELTA. The groupon price for this online TEFL is like $39, however upon doing a search on google and reading several reviews, it appears to be a scam so I think I'm just going to pass. |
I'm still new to this and I can tell you a $39 TEFL is just a waste of $40 and all the time you put into it.
| spiral78 wrote: |
Bad news: plural forms of nouns don't need apostrophes - you might want to brush up on your punctuation knowledge to be sure you don't mislead students on the basics.
Good news: I don't think onsite certs are absolutely necessary to teach in China, so the online one may be sufficient.
I suggest you go over to the China boards and ask; someone there will know for sure. |
You beat me to the punch, I was going to tell him the same, if he can't even get simple punctuation right (he can't really chalk up this kind of error to a typo or writing on a forum, since this kind of error is a logical error), then he needs to get better at English before embarking on trying to teach english!
That said, I may recommend to actually take some community college English classes, or better yet higher level english classes from a university, before trying to obtain any sort of english teaching qualification! |
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santi84
Joined: 14 Mar 2008
Posts: 1317
Location: under da sea
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| Posted: Tue Sep 29, 2015 9:14 pm Post subject: |
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| English! Couldn't resist. I'm always on my phone and make garbage mistakes too (plus ones that can't be blamed on technology). |
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wanttoteach1
Joined: 24 Sep 2015
Posts: 21
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| Posted: Tue Sep 29, 2015 10:07 pm Post subject: |
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| santi84 wrote: |
| English! Couldn't resist. I'm always on my phone and make garbage mistakes too (plus ones that can't be blamed on technology). |
Personally, I don't bother with proper punctuation including uppercase proper nouns, semicolons where required instead of commas, or even bothering about run on sentences when writing on forums. This helps me express more and write more, more quickly online where grammar doesn't *really* matter much. Things that do bother me are when people say you're instead of your or it's instead of its, and other issues that should not be written even in forums because it is both annoying and can inaccurately express meaning. |
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scot47
Joined: 10 Jan 2003
Posts: 15343
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| Posted: Wed Sep 30, 2015 4:59 am Post subject: |
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| Apostrophe Abuse is a serious crime ! |
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