Job Discussion Forums

[sarahe]

Hey all,

I thoroughly enjoy reading everyone's posts on BsAs/Argentina and thanks for all the helpful info!

I am wondering about the EBC TEFL course and if it is worthwhile, helpful, etc. I know there are a few of you who post messages here who have taken their course or are taking it now . . . how is it? Are they really as helpful as they claim with helping you find a job? Do they prepare you well for english teaching?

I've checked out their website and everything sounds great. I'm thinking about taking the October or November course . . . would that be a bad time seeing as how schools there get out in December?

Any tips or insights you guys have will be much appreciated!

Sounds like everyone is having an amazing time there . . . can't wait to join you!

Thanks,
Sarah

[Ray in BsAs]

It was a well run and well organized course. You will learn how to teach the English language, that�s for sure, and if you thought you knew the English grammar, wait till you get on the course. I�ve been teaching before I took the course but I wanted some formal training. Now it all makes sense to me. A lot of us teach English without any training because we take it for granted that we know how to teach our mother tongue! And that might be true to a certain extent after all we grew up speaking English! But as you get a bit more into the ins and outs of the language, for example: grammar, business english, lesson planning, motivation techniques, etc. the going gets tough.

Boy, did I find out so many things I didn�t know especially about the English grammar. I�m really glad I took the course because now I feel confident. With my past teaching experience and my training at EBC I now don�t have that "uneasy" feeling I used to have when students asked me to explain the conditionals or what reported speech meant!

You see I was like many an English teacher who taught English without any formal training. Although my students in Asia didn�t protest loudly, at times I felt I wasn�t being fair, I was the teacher and I didn�t know what I was teaching! I would say things like: "That�s what we say in English!" For obvious reasons, I didn�t know what to say! That�s now in the past, I know I won�t get it right all the time, even EBC can�t make us perfect English teachers but at least now I know a lot more and I go out there with more confidence. The teaching practice classes at EBC were good, it�s like the real teaching world, only now I get paid.

In addition to the excellent training , I was interviewing a lot right after the course. What jobs you eventually end up with is your decision, what�s important is that you get those job interviews and EBC seriously helped me get mine. I want to stay here a year and I�m going to use EBC to get me a job in Europe, starting off with Madrid, Barcelona, and maybe Italy as well. But for now I�m enjoying BsAs, the people are friendly and I�ve made some real nice porte�o and portena friends.

[amy1982]

i'm taking the ebc course now... it is definitely INTENSE. you are in class all day, have to work on your lesson plans and other stuff at night. they even observe you teaching a class the first week i'm just starting week #2, so i can't comment on how helpful they are as far as finding jobs, but it sounds like they are very helpful. rather than giving you a list of schools and businesses, they send out your cv with a cover letter saying you got this training and are fully qualified/prepared to teach, etc. etc.

the trainers are very nice people but it is a long day at class going over a lot of common sense things that you just may not really know or think about when teaching. i wanted to do it so i could feel confident stepping into any classroom situation, and so that i could be an effective teacher. so far, it seems that ebc is taking me down that road...

i'll give another update or two as the course continues.

as far as timing, november is pretty bad. it would make much more sense to take the course in january or february. there isn't much hiring going on oct-feb. however, ebc WILL help you get jobs in other countries, so if just you're interested in good training in a great city, come to buenos aires anytime!

[nomadamericana]

Thanks for your post Amy. I wish you luck with your course... and would be very greatful for a few more updates on EBC as you go along.

[sarahe]

thanks to amy and ray for the helpful insights . . . amy, i hope you're enjoying yourself and not getting too stressed out with all the work!
i'd love to hear more about it throughout the rest of your course.

like you said about the october or november course, i'm wondering if its such a good idea as far as timing . . . maybe it's possible to travel around a bit right after the course and then look for a job in Feb. with EBC's help?? or do you think that's a bad idea and that i'd be better off just taking an EBC course in Jan/Feb?

thanks again,
take care,
sarah

[amy1982]

sarah-

traveling around is a GREAT idea. EBC will help you �for life�, so whenever you get back from travelling, you can just give them your updated resume and they will send it out. several students are planning to travel for a bit after we�re done and then start working afterwards...

or you could just send out your resume after the course, get a cell (make sure it works around argentina), travel, and set up interviews for when you get back.