Hello there, my head is in a pickle at the mo trying to decide whether to take a course with i-to-i or not! i read a blog on here yesterday saying that tefl certificates from i-to-i arnt taken that seriously in some countries as they seem to 'pass' people a bit too easy and when they end up getting a job they arnt quite ready to teach? i really was thinkin of doing the 140 hour course as its half price until tommorrow but cant make my mind up!!!! doh! :?

also, what are your thought on global english?? ive been looking at their tesol course...? thoughts please!! :P

There are two types of courses - online courses (which may also include a 20hr face-to-face element) from providers such as i-to-i, Global English, etc, and in-classroom courses, such as the CELTA or Trinity CertTESOL which include the all-important 6hrs of observed teaching practice. You cannot compare one type to the other. Which type you should choose depends on where you want to teach and whether or not you want to make a career of teaching.

Note that there are schools in almost every country who refuse to accept online TEFL certificates. It's not i-to-i (or any other provider) that they have a problem with; it's the fact that an online course does not have a minimum of 6hrs of observed teaching practice. Having said that, there are hundreds upon thousands of schools worldwide who will happily accept an online certificate, be it from i-to-i, Global English, Cactus, ITTT, InTesol or any other provider of online TEFL courses. Online courses are much of a muchness and it is unlikely that you would be overlooked for a job simply because you held a certificate from Provider X rather than Provider Y.

Hi, Briona is right about the diference between Celta and Tefl, I'd certainly like to add CELTA to my qualifications if I can get the money together, but it's not essential, because she's also right about this: do you want to be a career teacher, or just do a gap year?

If you only want do do a gap year, why spend a fortune in time and money training/ Take what you can afford and enjoy it! That's my advice.

If you want to teach long term then still, if you can only afford an on-line course then you should still do it.  As with any career, you can't expect to walk straight into your dream job, you might have to go to a country you hadn't originally planned on for a while to get some experience.  Experience and good references are the things that make a teacher... you are always learning.  It doesn't make you a better teacher to have a degree in media studies or marine biology!   It is frustrating watching other people take better payed jobs at first, but as you gain teacher miles I reckon it's your cover letter that gets you a job more than your CV.  Big yourself up! Make it obvious that you know what students need.  If you really want to do it, you can get where you want, you might just need a little patience.  Don't worry! Life is long, choose the best you can afford and go for it!

To be honest Guy, you're guilty of my golden rule - procrastination is the root of all evil ;-)

Hi girls, thanks for your replies :)

BRIONA: ive done lots of research regarding courses etc so ive got a pretty good idea of the differences between them. I'ts not the courses that im confused about, its all these bad reviews im reading about certain companies BUT i do realise that most forums are clogged up with bad reviews as people with good experiences are less likely to post on a forum site :)

ALIX: For me, this is a career change, so as you can imagine i want to either do the best online course possible OR get the CELTA done. The thing is, going off what ive found out online, you need a degree to do the CELTA, which i dont have?? if you have any info on this i'd love to hear it! This is a bit dissapointing for me as i really was hoping to teach in english speaking countries in the future. But im hoping that if i get a tefl qualification 1st and lots of experience then that might help me towards being able to do a CELTA! And Alix i totally agree with you about the degree thing, surely having lots of experience teaching etc is FAR more important than having a bloody degree is something thats useless in the teaching world!! This is something that baffled me and still continues to do so!

Well thank you both for your time in replying to this thread... and any more advice (especially about the 'needing a degree to do a CELTA') would be much appreciated!

P.S @ Alix, about your reply to my other thread on here....im quite well travelled and am not afraid of this big wide world. Being on my own does not bother me and ive had to get myself out of some sticky situations before now :) Thanks again!! :)

Sadly, the world of TEFL is full of bitter, disillusioned people and so there will always be bad reviews online about courses, course providers, schools, countries, etc. Just because one person's had a bad experience, doesn't mean that everyone will. The trick is to know which bits of advice are worth taking on board.  :)

You definitely do NOT need a degree to do a CELTA. Instead you need to be able to prove that you have a reasonable grasp of the English language. This is done through the pre-interview task, which is sent to you by the provider when you apply for the course.

The tasks vary from centre to centre, but typically they will test your grammar, your ability to analyse pieces of language and possibly your writing skills. Based on this you will either be offered an interview for the course itself, or you will be rejected. If you are rejected it's because they don't believe you are capable of passing the course. It's still possible though to pass the pre-interview task and fail the course, although that only happens to about 3% of candidates worldwide.

Failing the pre-interview task means that you can't do the CELTA at that centre. It doesn't mean that no other centre will accept you though (subject of course to passing their pre-interview task). Before applying to a second centre, make sure you get feedback from the first.

Note that not having a degree doesn't necessarily mean that you can never teach in certain countries. Sometimes having a fair amount of experience negates the need for a degree. This is the case with Vietnam for example, where ordinarily you need a degree to get a visa. However, if you have five years' full-time experience, it is possible to get a visa even though you don't have a degree.

Note also, that even in countries where a degree ISN'T required for visa purposes, certain schools will insist on it.

Glad to hear that Guy! go for it... maybe I'll see you here or in South America one day :-)