Korean Job Discussion Forums

[richardlang]

Has anyone taken a TESOL course in Gangnam with Timesmedia TESOL? I am thinking about it. However, the features of its TESOL program don't focus as intensively on grammar as I hope any TESOL course would.

Has anyone taken it? It's quite a penny, at 1,980,000.

[tob55]

Not familiar with this particular program, but it appears to be a part of the larger TEFL Canada program. I am guessing they would provide the same amount of instruction most other programs offer for on-site programs. Not sure of their legal status of operation in South Korea since there is no evidence of any government registration that I could find on their website.

They make claims of being recognized around the world, but that is true of many other programs as well. Yes the cost is spendy, but there are other out there which offer similar training for less and in some cases much less...

Ultimately the decision to spend the money is up to you...I sent you a PM with additional information...Hope this helps...

[overq64]

Don't waste your money on this - or any other fake TESOL course.

You need a Cambridge CELTA or a Trinity College cert. Anything else is a waste of money and more importantly time.

I am an EFL professional. Believe me - only the above certs count.

Sometimes you can con a Korean employer with one of these fakes - but anyone who knows what a cert is will not be fooled. You might as well get a real Cert - it's not much more money and you might learn something.


In fact - many CELTAs and a few Trinity certs are only marginally worth the investment. You should get references from a former trainee about the standard of the input. Sometimes it's beyond a joke.

It's worth getting a cert - if nothing else it makes your job far easier.

But - beware the fakes.....there are plenty out there....

[tob55]

Yeah, I am a certified teacher with a four year university degree in education where I had three full semesters of supervised teaching, along with my training and studies. I then spent the next sixteen years as a licensed teacher in the United States working in public schools when I decided to go back and get my M.Ed. I have been teaching now for more than 22 years and I am hopeful of completing my PhD in communications this year. So be very careful when you are told that any training program regardless of what it is is the same as going through legitimate teacher training at a university...

Regardless of what it is CELTA/DELTA/TESL/TEFL/TESOL, it isn't going to do for you what a full blown teacher training program at a university would do.

Yes, there are a lot of fakes out there telling people they train teachers, when that isn't what any of these courses do in the first place...All they do is provide people with tools to instruct. CELTA, DELTA and Trinity are excellent programs, but they usually appeal to people who have already been teaching in some academic area.

If you take their certificates to the United States and try to use them for a public school position they would laugh you out of the building, because they are not recognized as a legitimate teacher training program. Remember, those people working as EFL-ESL instructors are in a specialized field that exists simply because someone figured out a way to make more money for their colleges and universities.

I am not going to criticize these programs, but when you are evaluating the programs across the board, remember that nothing replaces the real thing if you want to be a trained educator...

[richardlang]

I agree with you all. I'm keen on acquiring the CELTA.