kallenfranchise if you are doing your course with i-to-i let us know how you get on when it comes to finding jobs!  We like to get feedback and improve our services to customers.  If you don't get a job then there would be something wrong!  Do you know we also have a jobs board and also internships to help you get started and give you the all important experience that you need?

Kallen I think this topic should now be finalised given that you have only JUST enrolled in your TEFL course. The value will be unknown for you until you successfully complete your studies.

I wasn't trying to be a smart ass but rather fair...thats all. To the best of my knowledge...means just exactly what it says. I didn't say "I know for sure your qualifications and you have no right to ....".

Wow...touchy, touchy....

And one last thing, looks are deceiving but thanks for the compliment. I get that a lot. Looks like your age evaluation skills appears to be limited.

All in love and fun,

Kallen

Thank you Katie,

It will be interesting to see if there will be any developments in proficiency testing. So far the big two are IELTS and TOEFL. I wonder if there will be a push by another organisation in the near future. Another thing that might be interesting is how global English and local norms will change proficiency testing. If local norms are to be accepted, then perhaps elements of interlanguage will be accepted along with it. The days of native-English user dominance are well and truly over. The very nature of what we are teaching today, could be quite different in 15-20 years time.

The development of the English language, certification, testing, methodolgy, inter alia will be the bone of contention for a very long time.

Madlee - i clearly missed your reference to the website and that you were citing their views and that all you wrote was not necessarily your own opinion. Thanks for clarifying this and my apologies if my comments offended you in any way. By the way best of luck with your future studies.

Kallenfranchise - you have no knowledge of the many qualifications I hold that complement my TESOL certification. All of which have been recognised by i-to-i with whom I have been conversing with long before Chalkboard was established. Interestingly I have been offered numerous positions and continue my association with i-to-i which is a reputable, well respected company. You appear to be fairly young amd your skills of evaluation limited so I can only hope that tact and diplomacy will come with age.

Emma- it would appear that attitudes cannot change fast enough but it is disheartening to see young people not accepting of the rapid changes globally. It demonstrates the fallacy that older people are the ones who find change difficult. All to often we are the one's instigating the changes!!!!

To honestly evaluate this discussion:

Emmafoers- Since you work for I-to-I, then it becomes a conflict of interest. Would I believe the owner of a company because he says he makes a good product? No. The best judges are the customers who are the third party.

Kateloudreaming- To the best of my knowledge, you have a Cert III in TESOL which means it is hard to vouch for a company and you haven't got a certificate and a job through I-to-I yourself.

The best feedback would be from someone who graduated from I-to-I and got a good job through them alone without any CELTA or Trinity.

Thank you for your responses.

Emmafoers, I taught in Harbin (Haerbin), China. I will take a look at the group you suggested, thank you. The weekend course is a great supplement to the online courses.

Katie, The opening line of the post clearly states that it's the opinion of www.tefl.net, with my supportive comment at the end. Chalkboard is open to everyone on the planet who can access it. Other websites expressing the same opinion as tefl.net may have been visited prior to i-to-i's. Which part of my statement is derogatory to i-to-i? Did I mention anywhere that i-to-i's courses are bad? Did I draw attention to the additional accreditation bodies that i-to-i is a member of?
It's not necessarily the teachers that feel "superior", but the backing of a world recognised institution certainly gives it assumed prestige in the industry. This isn't too dissimilar to the way in which RP and GA were the prestige accents for students to achieve. I'm currently studying how to prepare my own pre-/in-service teacher training courses. I could be delivering online courses myself in the future. Who knows?
Similar debates surround the issue of graduates in ANY field getting TESOL jobs, while others are left to rot as if they have noting to offer. I don't have a degree, but I knew how to apply methodology to pedagogy, quite often better than the graduates I worked with. Maybe that's why I was selected to conduct training and development workshops. It's one thing to know a language, but it's another thing to teach it.

All the best to you,
Lee.

Hey Madlee,

I was just giving my opinion having done the CELTA as I find the debate an interesting one :-)  Regarding the TP I don't disagree with you but my meaning was that I would have liked more practice and that we will never truely be fully prepared for doing it alone.  I'm sure you'll agree your first year of teaching is the true test!  And of course I again agree about support and training for all teachers - thats why I said 'whichever course you take' :-)  i-to-i also offers weekend courses where you can practice and get feedback from your peers and trainer - that many wisely choose to take.

Where have you taught before madlee?  It would be great if you could lend your expertise to new teachers.  Have a look at http://www.tefl-chalkboard.com/groups/59-Teaching-ideas-materials

Katie - yes, the course has changed.  I agree with you....times have changed also and the future is online. And yes, it should be about what you learn.  I think it will just take time for attitudes to change....

From your blog I have difficulty deciding if you are supportive or derogatory towards the i-to-i training courses. You freely admit undertaking the training 5 years ago and in this evolving industry the training methods will have also changed.

My understanding is that a TEFL/TESOL certificate is highly recognised if there is a teaching practice component as part of the course. The course that I undertook involved a minimum of 10 hours of supervised teaching with written reports going to the course provider. I had to prepare my lesson plans, demonstrate competence in classroom managment as well as teach the actual lesson and ensure that students understood. The course provided me with a nationally recognised qualification from a Registered Training Organisation under the auspice of the Australian Quality Teaching Framework.

Whilst those who have completed the CELTA or Trinity TESOL may feel their training was in some way superior at the end of the day it is the competence, knowledge and skills of the teacher that will prove who succeeds. Students really dont care what "piece of paper" the teacher holds, they willl judge you on what they learn and if they enjoyed learning. The cost of the course is not indicative of the quality of the teacher.

How do others feel about this??????

I hope you understand that I was trying to be supportive of i-to-i, which is why I mentioned the accreditation it has. Yes, the course is very thorough, and has perhaps moved on from when I did my i-to-i course in 2005.

Perhaps the teaching practice (TP) on your CELTA course was different to mine. The TP on the CELTA I did was more than mealy practising for the sake of it. The TP was observed by the tutor and fellow peers, who gave feedback immediately after the TP sessions. The trainee teacher can reflect on the lesson, with guidance from his/her tutor and opinions of peers. This is what an online course cannot do, unless TP is observed via a web-cast. The TP is not so much about 6 hours, but the mentored opportunity to develop.

To extend your comment regarding finding a school that offers support and training. Training and support is essential for ALL teachers, not only those without TP. Continual development is crucial to the development of language teaching. Teaching Fashions change, and so does the training given to the teachers. Teacher educators need to be up to date with current issues in TESOL so that they can deliver what is relevant to today's teaching rather than 20 years ago. Saying that, the communicative approach has stood the test of time so far.

I did my CELTA and I'm now an online tutor for i-to-i....I mark work everyday on the course and I can tell you that it covers the same information as the CELTA.  And in some ways it is more indepth and it has the advantage that you can take it at your own speed and let the information sink in - whereas I felt a bit rushed through my CELTA.  The main difference is you don't have the 6-8 hours of teaching practice that you get with a CELTA, but I'm sure no one would disagree with me when I say that 6-8 hours is nothing and that any new teacher ideally should have support through their first years teaching.  So my advice?  Look for a school that offers support and training for new teachers if you want to be a good teacher.  Whichever course you take!

As far as accreditation goes, i-to-i is a member of more associations than other online providers. You're right, Kallen, it is a low cost alternative to the big two. People need to recognise that while online delivery does have limitations, it's not necessarily Representative of poor quality. Additionally, online delivery offers flexibility that timetabled classes cannot offer.

Good article, Madlee!! I hate when people poo-poo I-to-I like it is some type of garbage. While it is not a CELTA or Trinity, it is definitely a low cost alternative for people who still want a TEFL/TESOL certificate.

*For the non-Americans reading this,

Poo-poo is an American slang word that means to look down on with disgust.