Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Bear256]

Another teacher and I are considering taking an online TESOL course. It's a 120 hour course and supposedly accredited. The urban legend is that online certificates are worthless but my searches of teachers forums and google show only people like myself asking the question and no responses from people that have gotten degrees and found them to be worthless. How about it people? Anyone out there done an online course? If so, with who? Anyone with an online certificate had someone reject it? Thanks for your responses....

[Bibbitybop]

My friend, who teaches but has no previous ESL experience, is doing this and happy so far:

http://www.teflonline.net/

[overq64]

Never do an online course.

They are not moderated - so it is a lottery. Reputable employers do not take them seriously.

You might learn a lot on an online course - but then again - you might not.

Get the reading list for a classroom course - and read the books. You will learn FAR more than most online courses at a far lower price.

If you need the cert - and more and more places require it (Korea/Japan is a backwater in many ways) then do a GOOD residential 5 week course. You need to be paying around 1000-1200GBP for tuition. (slightly less if you do it in a cheap country - like Thailand).

The better CERT is the Trinity College London TESOL cert. It's slightly older brother (which is a bit conservative imo) is the Cambridge TEFL CERT.

The Cambridge Cert had been around a bit longer and is better known. It's a PEPSI/Coke thing, or maybe an Apple/PC comparison.

As always - beware of watered down imitations.

I can recommend some good providers in the UK if anyone is serious.

To belabour the point - NEVER DO AN ONLINE COURSE.

overq

[Dysupes]

I'm presently doing an online 150 hour course through INTESOL which is accredited by the UK College of Teachers and the UK's ODLQC (Open and Distance Learning Quality Council) and it seems like a good course for me. I love how whenever anyone comes on here to ask for advice on TEFL or TESOL the only responses they ever get (including me when I asked) were that they shouldn't do and should just take an in class course. Well, for some of us that isn't an option and some of us also aren't ready to jump into a potentially 2-3 year MA in Linguistics or TESOL as we aren't sure if we want to make both the time and monetary commitments that would be required.

That being, I don't see how doing a TESOL course online could actually hurt. I've been told that my TESOL certificate will be accepted by the public school I'm applying for next year and so I guess we'll see then whether they can distinguish or not. My guess is that they won't care that it's a distance class so long as it says "150 hours" on it.

My 2 cents,

Dysupes

P.S. - The course I'm presently doing is HuntESL's INTESOL course. I'm almost halfway done and it is about what I expected: not too hard and not too easy. Challenging in terms of making me think about how I organize and run my classroom and how I can improve.

[overq64]

I'm glad you're happy with your course so far.

And - you are right that it certainly can't hurt.

But you won't be a CERT qualified teacher at the end of it. So - in that regard I still say never do an online course.

Naturally - everything has to start somewhere and in time online courses might well get British Council recognition - which is what seems to matter.


A one month/5 week classroom course most definitely IS an option for people with the will to

a - spend the money
b - do the work
c - take a few weeks off
d - have the confidence that they won't blow it and waste the time/money

The online courses are perceived as 'harder to fail' than in class ones and the question of how you can do observed practical classes on an online course is unclear.

Online courses seem like a shortcut to me and to most DOS's doing the hiring in the reputable schools. There are plenty of people with accredited TEFL/TESOL certs competing for relatively few decent jobs.

Get yourself a real cert - you know it makes sense.

MAs are another matter. I'm sceptical, having met some questionable teachers who have MA TESOL/TESL/TEFL type courses. But good online MA's are accepted by universities in some countries. Not all though.

Anyway - not to rain on anyone's parade - but I felt duty bound to give the OP my opinion.

overq[/list]

[RachaelRoo]

double post

[RachaelRoo]

[Dysupes]

The other consideration for some of us that I forgot to mention (sorry ) is that others, like myself, are here for more than just a couple of years and can't really afford to take a month or more off and pay for travel, accomodations etc to go somewhere else to take the CERT course. I, personally, have a Korean wife and although we don't have children it isn't feasible right now for me to take that much time off while spending quite so much money for something that to the great majority of Korean and Asian employers isn't going to be any different from CERT degree anyway. On top of that, you've mentioned that employers outside of Asia will be looking for CERT degrees not TESOL degrees but the course I'm taking is a CERT (ES) TESOL by distance learning and since it is accredited by the College of Teachers it should be acceptable in other areas of the world as well. On top of that, a CERT TESOL certificate like I should have by the end of the course combined with over 5 years of experience teaching ESOL (I will be starting my fourth year in a month and we will be here for a few years yet) should enable me to have at least a fighting chance should I decide to teach TESOL in the future wherever I end up living.

I understand your point about needing a good course but like Rachelroo and I have both said, if it helps here and now isn't that a good enough reason to recommend it? I agree with you about needing class based training but when you already have the experience then doesn't that kind of become a moot point? (and yes, I realize this isn't the case with everyone that it is preferable for beginners to have a class based CERT TESOL)

[overq64]

Often people ask for advice, but they don't want to hear the advice. I do this all the time myself.

At the end of the day - it's up to you.

These certs do seem to work in Korea (as do forgeries.) And if someone has a sincere desire to improve their teaching, then a course like this could certainly help them learn something. For sure - no argument about that.

But my advice to the OP and others in the same situation is the same. Do a real Cert course. The online ones are only valid in a very limited way. And as such present very questionable return for money and effort.

But it's your money and effort - so it's your decision. Do what you think is best.

Sorry to take this all too seriously - perhaps I should just have let it go. But they're a pet peeve of mine - these semi-bogus TEFL certs. So it kinda rattled my cage this quiet New Year's Day.

Have a good 2007.

[pest2]

I did a "real, in person" course last year.

On the one hand, I cant imagine that doing it online would be as useful for your development as a teacher as doing it in person. There is nothing like standing in front of your students doing a lesson under pressure and then having someone evaluate that lesson. Even if you dont agree with the evaluation you get, it does force you to consider and examine your teaching style, animation, and method in ways you just couldnt with an online course.

On the other hand, the "student-centered method", taken to extremes by the TESOL people, just isnt as useful here in Asia. Even if people here were more accepting of it, its just too extreme and too rigid to use in all the kinds of situations you're in here in Korea.

You can, however, gain confidence from having done it and.. its like this British guy I was doing the course with said: "its like having another tool. If you know how to USE the methodology and have actually USED it in real life, you can just pull it out of your bag whenever you might need it.. you dont have to use it all the time, but its another tool".

But the in person course is expensive and the online ones tend to be cheaper.

I dont regret taking the course, but I wouldnt blame someone for just doing it online... if you just HAVE the TESOL degree for the EPIK programs, for example, they pay like another 200,000 won per month.

[Kimchieluver]

EPIK paid me an extra 300K per month to do an online course. It paid for itself the first month and bumped me to the top of the pay scale for EPIK Beginners. Now it will pay off even more because next year I will be Level 1 Plus (Having been with the same POE at level 1 for 2 years).