TEFL Course: What mistakes should you not make?

Signing up for a TEFL course might seem to be an easy task. But, one wrong choice of course or institution can lead you to be in a big soup. When it comes to training, job placement, and qualifications, you need to check a few things and ensure you do not make any mistakes.

What are these mistakes that you should be aware of? Here we have a list prepared for you that includes the five most important ones that you can never afford to make.

1. Does the TEFL course not have accreditation?

There are certain criteria that any teacher training institute should meet and being recognized by internationally is one of them. Otherwise, your certificate may not be of any value to international employers. Now, to be accredited, a few more things should be met.

• Training sessions of at least 100 hours
• Live practice teaching of at least 6-20 hours
• Existing curriculums are accredited by a recognized university
• Qualified and experienced instructors

Does your course have these? If not, it will be wise to steer clear of it.

2. Does the teacher training course include Live Practice Teaching?

Practicum is essential to make your TEFL certificate worthy. Now, why so? The reasons are:

• Through practicum you receive experience and you get habituated to interacting with ESL students.
• If your course does not include practicum sessions, your certificate is likely to get rejected by employers.

Various courses might offer you role-playing sessions. But, teaching ESL students and practicing the same is the best option. Also, it is the only criterion that recruiters will agree with.

3. Not choosing an online course and settling for in-person only?

Are you also among those who do not trust anything online- be it online shopping or online educational course? Well, then you might be losing on some of the good sides. Any course or institute providing a TEFL certificate online can be chosen if they meet the criteria to be recognized.

Many in-person classes do not give you 100 hours of training or are not even affiliated with any recognized and registered university. If you choose one of them you are inevitably going to lose your time and effort as you won’t be the primary choice of employers.

So, it does not matter whether you are choosing an online TESOL/TEFL certificate course or an in-person one. Check whether the criteria are met.

4. Does the course have job placement assistance in place?

Even after you complete your chosen course and bag a TESL/TEFL certificate it will not be as easy as A-B-C for you to land a job if you do not know where and how to look for it. Do not make the mistake of signing up with a service provider that does not give out job assistance.

When will the vacancy notice be out? What visa formalities do you have to complete? What will be the interview procedure? These are just a few of the questions that might loud your mind after you finish the hours of training.

To ensure you have a smooth job search process and get employed with a reputable name in this field, look for this provision before you enroll in a course.

5. Does the course cost too less to be true?

We are not saying that only go for the pricey ones. But think of it- how can a cheap course give you everything we mentioned earlier? Everything has a certain service cost, right?

Generally, with cheap courses, you will be showered with easy and quick offers, some of which are too good to be true. If saving money is the only thing on your list, we would warn you against it. Again, check thoroughly whether the course you are settling for has all the criteria boxes ticked or not.

If you have been aiming at joining the academic world as a trainer of English as a second language, choosing the right online teacher training course is mandatory. But don’t worry, we have you covered. Keep all the points mentioned above before signing up for a TEFL course.

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