Entries Tagged 'Training' ↓

I am seeing an increasing trend of schools to fight back when a teacher makes a complaint. They send out a troop of so-called happy current or even former teachers. They might engage someone to do mudslinging against the person making the complaint and even the site making the complaint.

Here is a comment that I have gotten here making a post talking about a particular entity.

Avoid Teachers in Latin America, it is the organization that is owned by the poster, Guy Courchesne. There are two girls in Playa del Carmin who attest to the poor treatment they received from his organization. And, now he is on the internet trashing every competitive organization out there. Avoid and dont believe anything Guy Courchesne has to say. He has taken his assault to far, he is too personal in his attacks and frankly everyone is getting tired of it. He doesnt add anything to the discourse. He just says bad things about everyone except his company. Hmmm thats funny. How is that only his organization is the best. TEFL Institute is doing a fine job there is nothing bad on the company by any legitimate organization. They do a great job over there. The course is great, its offered at a fair price, and even better you won’t ever find the people of TEFL Institute on the web saying bad things about other people. I am tired of seeing what Guy Courchesne has to say about everyone else. Go away Guy, grow up and find a real job!

Don’t worry, I already shared this with Guy and a simple trace led it back to a certain entity in Chicago. We all know Guy and know this is all a bunch of trash talk, but it just shows the lengths that schools will go to in order to kill a messenger.

Take a look at what Alex Case is going through as well. Bad schools.

It’s a good thing to think about when a teacher is wrong, but even more important is when a school is wrong. In fact, if a teacher is wrong, the worse that can happen is that a good teacher chooses to teach elsewhere and goes for a different job. If a school is wrong, a teacher can not only get stuck in a bad job, but might also have their name slurried in such a way as to never be able to work again in their chosen field.

I have been looking at different TEFL institutes out there, but lately it seems like some courses have been doing bad things. The TEFL Institute Chicago seems to be one such institute. Unfortunately, it has been getting some negative feedback from both TEFLWatch. It seems like The TEFL Institute might not be a good course to attend according to the information that can be found on The TEFL Institute and TEFLWatch.

TEFLWatch is a site devoted to helping teachers deal with bad schools. Many months ago, they took on TEFL International, a major TEFL course provider and pointed out some problems that the course provider had run into in the area of employment and business issues.

The good news is that according to a statement on TEFLWatch, TEFL International has made changes in their business dealings and TEFLWatch has removed them from their Hall of Shame. This is a good thing all the way around. Teachers benefit because TEFLWatch adds another victory to their cause. TEFL International students benefit from a better educational experience.

If you look over on David’s ELT World, he is putting up some awesomely great resources and information for teachers. In fact, his latest article, Methods of Teaching English has a link to a pdf file that examines many of the teaching methods available. He covers such topics as the grammar translation method, The direct method, The audio-lingual method, Communicative language teaching, Language immersion, Minimalist/methodist, Directed practice, Learning by teaching (LdL) and the Silent Way. Lots of good information in it and it’s definitely worth it to check it out.

Ever wondered what a practice class would be like in a TEFL course? Now you don’t have to wonder any longer. I found a video on Youtube that was quite interesting. It is the practice class video from a TEFL training course. It’s your chance to take a look and see what TEFL courses are all about and how it might feel the first time you get in front of a TEFL class.
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When first thinking about going abroad as an English teacher, one of the first thoughts for many teachers is how can they get a job. There are many TEFL course providers out there who bombard you with marketing offers touting one course over another, using tactics such as questioning the quality of competitor courses, giving shill advice, but one thing is ever present, the advice that you need a TEFL certificate. Whether it’s an online, a CELTA, a TESOL, a TEFL or whatever type of course, the point is drummed in that you need a TEFL certificate to teach English abroad.
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