Job Discussion Forums

[droptheworld]

Hi,
I have less than a week to decide which course to take. Does anyone have any experience with either company?
here are their websites:
www.intesolspain.com
http://www.oxfordtefl.com/tefl_cert/cert_barcelona.htm

Since it's a good investment, i'd like to sign up with the course that offers the most help finding a job after the class. but i could use any info.

thanks
Scott

[droptheworld]

Since there hasn't been a response as of yet, I"ll post some positive points about Intesol:

They do not charge a fee for signing up with a credit card. The Trinity/Oxford Course charges 4%. So I think it's cool that Intesol doesn't get shadey and charge extra.

Intesol costs 50Euros less, and the certificate is for 150 hours, that's 20 more hours than the Oxford Course.

The accomodation setup with Intesol is a little more, but you get a nicer apartment that you share with another student, not a host family. Intesolspain.com has pictures of what the apartments look like.

When you first arrive, Intesol will give you a welcome pack, showing you where to go for things like haircuts, who speaks english, basically all the little fine points of living in a new city. They also have a student coordinator that helps smoothen the transition.

Intesol practically guarantees you a job. Oxford basically gives you instruction on how to find a job and the rest is up to you. Intesol has connections and work closely with schools in barcelona and around the world. This is the best selling point for Intesol. I'm going to spend a thousand us dollars on the plane ticket, and 1500 dollars for the course. I won't have time to waste to find a job. I"ll need the money quick to start paying off some bills.

If anyone else wants to add to this thread please do. I'll update this thread as I get closer to taking the course, and then as I take the course I'll give updates.

cheers

[cimarch]

It looks like you've answered your own question

[droptheworld]

Well I finished the course a few weeks ago and have to say everything was better than I expected. I'd hardly call it intensive, the work was well spread out, and they didn't mind extending the due dates if you needed more time. Right now they are helping me start up my own school with a friend I met in Barcelona.

Another local teacher training school just went bust and left all the students hanging without any refunds. Intesol took as many of those students as they could and are training them for an ridiculously low amount. All I can say is that they are good guys, and I recommend them to anyone considering coming out to barcelona.

Faithfully,
Scott