Job Discussion Forums

[marcom]

Several people on this site have enquired about an online TESL institution called i-to-i.

I want to share my experiences in hopes that others will be forewarned prior to doing business with this organization.

My experiences are as follows:
I signed up for their �extended course� in the spring of last year. It included an extra Grammar module and was supposed to take about 60 hours (as opposed to the standard 40 hours).
Shortly prior to signing up I had received an email from them offering a special discount of 20%. At that time I had some other commitments and was unable to take advantage of the special. When I was ready to sign up I called and asked if they were going to have another special on offer. I was told there would be no more special discounts for the rest of 2004. Imagine my irritation when less than 10 days after I had paid for the course I received another email offering the same discount program as the original.
I called and complained but my pleas fell on deaf ears. Their comment was that I should have waited until I could get another discount.

The course itself was relatively easy (and I did not major in English or languages in college). Most of the exercises were multiple-choice and there was a reasonable amount of reading required. They were responsive in providing feedback on the submitted exercises. Part way through the course my tutor disappeared and was replaced by another person. The change was sort of like changing professors midway through a course.

They state on their web site that you are provided with the complete lesson manual so there is no need to copy the lessons and your responses. The �manual� turns out to be a small booklet with the lessons in it. This was a disappointment as it was preprinted and naturally did not have any of the responses or answers contained in it.

Upon completion of the course I did receive my certificate- not very impressive but a certificate nonetheless.

And now for the real surprise! I sent them an email asking for information about getting my certificate apostilled. After about two weeks I received their response. They could get my certificate apostilled for the small fee of $475 USD. That was more than the cost of the course. I sent another email requesting the address where I could send the certificate to get it apostilled and received another reply requesting $475 USD.

While I do not have any comparative experience with other on-line TESL organizations I strongly urge people to avoid i-to-i. I feel that they not only lack professionalism but also are merely out to try and make a �quick buck�.

If any readers need further info please feel free to PM me.

[moonraven]

All of these guys are in business to make money. Therefore, the phrase Let the buyer beware is very applicable.

[stillnosheep]

Thanks OP.

i-to-i seem very dodgy: They offer courses with certificates only recognised by themselves and then offer unpaid 'jobs' requiring the 'volunteer' to pay expenses.

We don't need them.

[Sekhmet]

I actually took part in an i-to-i "volunteer" programme 2 years ago (fool that I was). Although contact with the company was very good before I paid my money, it dropped off completely afterwards. I had to call them several times to find out basic information (such as what address I should put on my Visa application). I had booked my flights and was ready to go when I called them to check some details, only to be told that they had changed my location from Qingdao to a small town in Beijing Province. They told me they had sent emails, but I had never received them!

In fact, pretty much the only i-to-i "staff" who made an effort to stay in touch were the ones actually based in China! When SARS hit the country, we were not informed at all, and the firt contact we had from them was a third-hand message telling us we should leave the country or we were no longer their responsibility.

I did the short online course before I left, and although there were some good parts to it, I didn't learn much! I also had the problem of having a new supervisor part-way through the course, and it really doesn't help!
I, also, would advise strongly against this company. The fees for going to China were stupidly high (I wonder how much of that money the Chinese schools see?), and flights and most of my food on top of that made it an extremely expensive trip. The only reason I think it was worth it was it introduced me to TEFL, something I probably wouldn't have done otherwise.

Bottom line - online courses aren't the best idea anyway. Until you have the experience of being in a classroom in front of a group of students, you don't knoww how you're going to feel. I knew nothing about teaching before I took the online course, and not a whole load more after it!! The actual teaching in China was my introduction.

Caveat emptor!!!

[orangiey]

thanks for that, we are thinking of i-2-i course to get started as we have no degrees. We will lok around a bit more as not sure we can fit in a celta at this stage

[bluffer]

This was one of the threads


http://www.eslcafe.com/forums/job/viewtopic.php?t=18810&highlight=

[yellowbeanbrain]

re: the guy that missed out on the discount, this also happened to me. I asked them if they would still apply the discount as I had only missed it by a day, they kindly offered to let me do the Young Learners Module for free (�40).
I did an online course because I couldnt (for a variety of reasons) do a full TEFL, you get what you pay for in the end

yellowbeanbrain

[expatben]

I find all internet courses dodgy-no offense to anyone who took one. I was going to do i-to-i but I took a class TESOL course and found it much better. It was 120 hours and included face to face teaching experience-something that cannot be done via a computer screen. Also I gained a written certificate-not one that is just printed off.

Expat

[marvellousmarv]

I did a course with i-to-i too. This was my introduction to TEFL so I wasn't sure what to expect, and I found it quite interesting. As a newcomer to the world of TEFL I thought it was much less intimidating then doing a CELTA, the theory and methodology seemed sound (to me at least), and I think I learnt something. Having said this though, there really ISN'T any teaching practice (how can there be with an online course?) and that has to be the most important part of any course.

As a result I don't feel confident enough to take on a class at the moment, and am thinking of doing my own volunteering stint to get this experience, in either China or India. After reading what Sekhmet had to say though, I am thinking again. It DOES seem an awful lot of money to pay for what is essentially living expenses (the price of the shemes, which run for four weeks - India �800 and China �900 - cover food, accomodation and travel insurance). When you add on the cost of flights, visas and spending money you're looking at a very expensive trip indeed.

I wonder if it's possible to do-it-yourself. DIY volunteering! Just turn up and offer your services for nothing, afterall these two countries together are home to approx half the population on the planet

There must be a huge demand for teachers willing to work for nothing, and I estimate you could easily cover your living expenses for a 1/3 of the above prices.....

[Sekhmet]

Mary -
If you're dead set on getting some experience before you start teaching "seriously", then why not do some volunteering with a local university at home? I did that (with a school though) for about 9 months, where I worked as a TA and got paid for it, all the while improving my TEFL skills because of working with a group of Bulgarian students within the school.

If you are from England, you don't even really need any particular qualifications (beyond a BA), and if you pick a school that has a respectable minority group that learns English as a Foreign language within the school system, even if you don't get the chance to take too many classes yourself, you can always observe and help out. Plus, being a TA really does help with confidence among children, and can get you into the spirit of the whole thing.

Just a possibility. Or an alternative could be to go to a country where English teachers aren't 2 a penny - China really does seem to have a lot at the moment! Volunteering can be a good thing, but if you can get the experience AND get paid for it, you might as well.

Good luck!
Sekhmet

[marvellousmarv]

Thanks for the advice Sekhmet.

One problem I have at the moment is me degree (or lack of one). I have every intention of getting one, but since I will be nearly 30 when I go back to university I have to think very carefully about what I'm going to do. All the sources I've used so far seem to indicate that having a degree is the most sought after qualification, and that it doesn't seem to matter what discipline it's in.

University though, is an expensive business in England these days (thanks to Phoney "Education Education Education" Blair) and I estimate I'll be somewhere in the region of �20 000 in debt by the time I graduate. Ouch. I don't want to go through all that if it (teaching) turns out to be something I don't like, and yet what good would a degree in Mathematics or Environmental Geology, for example, be for an English teacher??

I think if I volunteer somewhere, and then work for a year in a country where no degree is required then I will have a good idea of what's involved. Then if I like it great, I can get a degree in English Lit or Linguistics or something relevant. If I hate it well....... It's back to the drawing board time.

Thanks for the advice though. By the way my name's Marv not Mary - it's an easy mistake to make when you look at my name - and I'm sorry to pull you up on it. But if I let it go people might start to question my sexuality as well as my gender