What has been your experience with TEFL courses Online? Easier or more difficult than expected?

What has been your experience with TEFL courses Online?

Diary submitted by Chloe L. Valencia

Has it been easier or more difficult than expected?

The TEFL trainer online course was very clear and well-structured and it gave me a good amount of knowledge about various aspects of the English language. I completed the course while I was in Madrid and Valencia. I believe that the topics were well ranged and they included not only grammar rules but phonetics was also explained. I believe that the videos were beneficial because you could hear how words or phonemes were pronounced and then I was able to explain phonology a lot better in the classes. Not only did it help in regards to phonetics but it also helped me explain grammar more precisely to the students.

In addition, the course gave lots of detailed information, in regards to the different exams that the students can take and explaining all of the types and the levels they equate to. I found this part extremely useful as beforehand I had never taught students to prepare for those exams and I was not really aware of the variety that exist. Additionally in the classes sometimes students do not only have grammar/ vocabulary related questions but also questions about exams that they can do, often if students plan to do a year abroad with their university they need to obtain an English certificate prior.

The course consists of 140 hours, however due to the fact that this is the only TEFL course I have ever done I am not able to compare it to others. I had 9 months to complete this course which proved to be ample time, I had studied the English language in some detail and therefore the grammar aspect of the language did not prove to be that difficult, however there were some aspects which were fresh to me and therefore they were slightly more challenging to begin with – namely the different exams and phonetics.

One thing I would have liked the course to had have was when it came to the exams, it did not specifically state how long you had for each one before clicking on to complete it. Nonetheless, overall the course was well presented and I think that it was a good idea to put the grammar into practice with the quizzes at the end of each part. It has been stated that “Online TEFL courses are a good introduction that will help you see if you may actually be interested in teaching English abroad[1].” It shows the actual concepts that would be taught. Furthermore I really enjoyed the flexibility of this course and would recommend to people in the future.

Reference:

• The Pros & Cons of Online vs On-Site TEFL Courses
  https://www.goabroad.com/articles/tefl-courses/pros-cons-of-online-vs-on-site-tefl-courses [accessed 30/06/2018]