How to choose a course Here is a very useful checklist for you to use when comparing EBC to other courses. Course types There are quite a few available: Online/distance, Residential, Blended learning, Abbreviated or weekend courses. Online/distance Exactly as it says an online course where the training is given online. These types of courses grew from the old distance learning courses. Initially started in the 1970 s, distance learning courses function using the postal service. Material and assignments are interchanged between student and teacher using the postal service. As we are now in the internet age, the postal service has been replaced by email and web based delivery. The EBC online courses use web technology. All material is published on the web and administered using MOODLE. Your material, video clips, assignments, communicating with your tutor, feedback, results, one-on-one trainer sessions, observed teaching practice, etc. are all processed online in order to shorten your learning time and give maximum flexibility. Pros Online courses are cheap and you study when you feel like it. Most online courses give you fairly wide time window in which to complete the material. In EBC s case you get 6 months (180 days) to complete the course. Online courses are ideal for people who cannot afford EBC Servicios Linguisticos Europe www.ebcteflcourse.com Page 1
to take time away from their job or other daily commitments in order to attend a residential course. Cons Online courses are not very interactive in comparison to a residential course. You are not in a classroom so there s no spontaneity. If you have a question, you don t have immediate access to your course tutor. The online course you choose should give you access to a tutor to at least mark your assignments and give feedback. The main problem with a purely online/distance learning course is your attractiveness to potential employers at the end of the course. Almost all good employers will demand that teachers that they hire have attended a certificate course with actual teaching practice. To get round the job limitation problem, EBC includes teaching practice in the premium online TEFL certificate course. Summary An online/distance learning course will teach you teaching theory. It is cheap and you study at your own pace. If you choose to take an online/distance course and you like what you learned, you ll need to get teaching practice to land the best jobs. Residential Residential courses are designed for people who can attend a course in a training centre and dedicate themselves to full-time learning over a 4 week period. Teaching is interactive, there are many practical exercises performed under the direct supervision of a tutor and most importantly, you get to teach practice classes. Ideally (as in EBC s case) you should get to teach to classes of real non-english speakers rather than fake classes to your peers. You should get to teach to different class levels as well: beginner, intermediate and advanced so that you see, first-hand, where the learning challenges lie. Pros EBC Servicios Linguisticos Europe www.ebcteflcourse.com Page 2
A residential course is simply the best way to learn. You are in a classroom with a trainer and peers. You can interact with other people facing the same problems as you. You can ask questions and ask for clarification in real-time. You will finish in 4 weeks so the learning cycle is intense and most importantly, fast. You should get to teach practice classes to non-english speakers. Aside from the invaluable experience of doing this, you will be infinitely more attractive to employers than other people who have only done an online/distance course. Other pros are travel, new experiences, different cultures, learning a new language and meeting like-minded people. Finally, in EBC s case, the residential course you will attend is also accredited so you will be in even greater demand for jobs because language schools prefer accredited qualifications to pretend accredited or unaccredited certificates. Cons There are two main cons: cost and time. A residential course is more expensive than an online course. In addition to this, if you don t live in the same city where you want to take your course, you ll have to arrange travel and accommodation. You ll also have to set aside 4 weeks to take the course. Summary A residential course is the best of all options. Top quality courses (like EBC s) will be accredited and include teaching practice classes to non-english speakers at different ability levels. An accredited TESOL TEFL certificate qualification gained through a residential course that includes real teaching practice is the most attractive to potential employers. The two cons mentioned can also be pros depending on your ambitions. If you want to travel and visit a new culture whilst learning then the travel and accommodation commitment are not cons, they are pros as they help you achieve your travel ambitions. EBC Servicios Linguisticos Europe www.ebcteflcourse.com Page 3
Blended learning Blended learning courses are a halfway house between an online/distance learning course and a residential course. The course combines the study time flexibility of an online course during which you learn the theoretical aspects of teaching and the real-life exposure to teaching in a classroom environment. EBC gives you this option. You can combine the online TEFL TESOL certificate course with an 8 hour teaching practice module taught in our Madrid training centre over a two-week period. Pros Blended learning combines most of the advantages of online and residential learning. You will obtain a qualification at the end of the teaching practice that will help you get work as it has real teaching practice. Cons The online part still has the problem of a lack of immediate response by a tutor to questions. The residential part still has the problem of you needing to dedicate time and possibly travel in order to complete the teaching practice module. Summary Blended learning is for someone who wants more than a purely online course but usually cannot afford the time or perhaps the cost of a 4 week intensive residential. Blended learning will give you a qualification that will be viewed positively by potential employers as it has real teaching practice. Abbreviated or Weekend These courses provide a very high-level insight into teaching English. They are not designed to train you how to teach. EBC Servicios Linguisticos Europe www.ebcteflcourse.com Page 4
The course is usually given over a weekend or a few days (usually 1 week). You usually get 16 to 20 hours of tuition so as you can imagine, you are not going to learn anything to the level of details you ll need to be able to teach. Usually there s no teaching practice either. Pros Very short. Cons On a cost/hour basis they are very expensive, usually twice the price of a residential course and often more expensive than a good online course. The vast majority of few employers will not accept your certificate because the number of course hours falls well below the generally accepted minimum of 100 hours and there is no teaching practice. Summary If you have a bit of time to spare on a weekend and are looking for something to do, then this type of course may be for you. If you are serious about teaching English and want to get a qualification that is acceptable, do not take one of these courses. If, due to personal circumstances, the abbreviated or weekend course is the only type of course you can do, save your money and try to find work without a certificate. Selection criteria Here are the main criteria that you should consider when making a short-list of courses: Accreditation References from past students Location International acceptance and recognition Entry requirements EBC Servicios Linguisticos Europe www.ebcteflcourse.com Page 5
Teaching practice Job help Accommodation help Cost If you follow the following basic guidelines, you will end up with the course that best suits your needs. Things you won't have to worry about if you choose an accredited course All accredited courses have been thoroughly checked by an independent, expert 3rd party educational organisation. Choosing an accredited course like EBC s guarantees the following: the quality of the course the quality and experience of your course tutors the international acceptance of your qualification Finding a course Many web portals list TESOL TEFL courses around the world. An alternative is to go to a search engine, e.g. Google, MSN Search etc. and type in a few keywords, for example TEFL course + the location where you would like to work or study. This will give you a list of all courses in the area that you are interested in. IMPORTANT: Around 80% of the TEFL courses you will find are the exact same course being sold by different agencies. These agencies are like travel agents, they are all selling the same course. Because of this, it is extremely important to find out if the alleged school is a reselling agent or is actually running the course. EBC Servicios Linguisticos Europe www.ebcteflcourse.com Page 6
Once you have your list, start making a short-list based on the suggested criteria below. References from past students Always ask the schools that you are considering for references from previous course students. This is by far the best way to check how good a school is. Location Becoming an accredited English teacher is as much about finding work as it is about getting the right qualification. It is always difficult to study in your own country and then start looking for work abroad. This is why there are many accredited courses run all around the world. If you are fairly certain of the country where you would like to teach, go and do your course in that country. As there are many accredited training institutions around the world you should have no trouble finding one that best suits your requirements. Don't forget that all accredited certificates are internationally accepted so it really does not matter which one you choose. International acceptance and recognition Every TESOL TEFL course claims to be "internationally recognised", however the reality is that only accredited courses are truly internationally accepted by top quality training institutions. Some may think that it is a play on words but recognition does not always imply acceptance but acceptance does imply recognition. Accredited course qualifications are internationally accepted which is far more important than mere recognition. I'm sure you would agree that you would want an employer to accept your qualification rather than just recognise it. A case in point is EBC. The Associateship of The College of Teachers TESOL that EBC awards opens doors to jobs with LANGUAGE SCHOOLS and with the British Council teaching English. The British Council is an international organisation that has schools in 109 countries around the world with good pay and conditions. EBC Servicios Linguisticos Europe www.ebcteflcourse.com Page 7
The Associateship of The College of Teachers TESOL that we award is one of very few certificates that meets British Council standards and is truly internationally recognised. The Associateship of The College of Teachers TESOL will enable you to apply for teaching jobs in British Council accredited schools in 109 countries. The British Council will ONLY hire teachers that have a certificate that meets its requirements. Just about any country you want to teach in will have a British Council accredited school in it somewhere. Many language schools around the world, that you also qualify to work for, use the British Council requirements as their own standard for hiring. Just because it s called the British Council does not limit your ability to work for them if you are not British. We have had course graduates hired to work in British Council schools from the USA, Canada, Singapore and Australia. Entry requirements Look for a course like EBC's that has high entry requirements. In general, almost all courses (accredited and unaccredited) will accept anyone from the age of 18 that graduated high school/finished their A levels. EBC has always taken a cynical view of this tactic. Why? How many language schools do you think will hire someone that s 18 and has no degree? EBC s entry requirements are probably the highest of all courses. You have to be at least 21 and either have a degree or 5 years work experience. The reason we set the bar higher than most is that we know that this student profile is employable immediately after graduation. We don t want to give anyone that enrols on our course false expectations of getting employed; it would be unethical to do so. EBC Servicios Linguisticos Europe www.ebcteflcourse.com Page 8
Teaching practice The school must include at least 6 hours of teaching practice. The practice sessions must be observed and feedback must be provided. Ask for details about the practice classes themselves. As a point of comparison, EBC gives you 8 hours of teaching practice taught to classes of non-native English speakers. You will teach at least 2 beginner, 2 intermediate and 2 advanced level classes so that you see the challenges associated with each level. Job help Ask the schools on your short-list what type of job help they give. This is very important as you don't want to be hanging around without work for weeks after finishing your course. Unfortunately the accreditation process does not currently extend to covering job help. You will get work with an accredited certificate but the more help your training institution can give you the quicker you'll get working. Make sure you don't forget to ask what kind of job help they will give you. EBC's lifetime, job placement assistance programme is unrivalled. It is proactive, fast, efficient and it will have you working within a few days (or less) of graduating from one of our residential courses or after completing the teaching practice option that goes with our online certificate course. EBC will give you help and advice that quickly translates into you getting a teaching job abroad with a reputable educational institution. So far, everyone who has taken one of our residential courses and then wanted to stay on and work has done so. This is regardless of what passport they hold. Most people are interviewing within a few days of finishing the course and all who want to stay are working within about a week of finishing. Accommodation help It's best to get your accommodation arranged at least a month before you plan on starting the course. Part of your course selection process should include finding out from your short- EBC Servicios Linguisticos Europe www.ebcteflcourse.com Page 9
list of schools whether they provide accommodation or whether they will refer you to reputable accommodation agents, hotels, hostels etc. and that they will also provide some type of advice and assistance. The school that you eventually choose should be sympathetic to the fact that you are moving to a new country to study and therefore need all the help you can get. EBC offers help all the way regarding accommodation. We have a wide range of reputable accommodation options at affordable prices. Cost The cost of a course is relative. In general, accredited courses cost more than unaccredited courses for one simple reason; the course operator has to pay a fee on a per-head basis to the accrediting organisation. You must always check with the accredited schools on your short-list whether the accreditation fees are included in the course fee. There are cheaper, unaccredited courses but in the long run is it worth it? Would you pay for a cheap, unaccredited degree? If you wouldn't then my advice is that you pay that small amount extra to get an accredited certificate that will open doors to jobs just about anywhere in the world. There are even some unaccredited courses that are MORE EXPENSIVE than accredited courses in the same area!! If you want to compare the tuition fees between an accredited and unaccredited residential course do the following rough calculation. Compare 90% of the accredited course's fee to 100% of the unaccredited course's fee. The EBC course is possibly the best value for money course there is. We are less expensive than almost all other accredited courses and we provide more support services than any of them. EBC Servicios Linguisticos Europe www.ebcteflcourse.com Page 10
End of unit Please answer the questions and then continue to the next course unit. Question 1 What should be your main points of reference when selecting a course? 1. Only extra social packages like learning how to tango. 2. Accreditation, references from past students, location, international acceptance, entry requirements, teaching practice, lifetime job help, accommodation help, cost. 3. Only cost. Question 2 Why is it better to study in the country where you want to teach? 1. The weather is much nicer than here back home. 2. My girlfriend/boyfriend lives there. 3. When you finish the course, you will get straight into the local job market. Question 3 Why are EBC s entry requirements higher than other residential courses? 1. To give other course providers a chance to pack in more students on their courses. 2. Our entry profile ensures that EBC students are employable immediately after graduation. We do not believe in giving false expectations about employment, it would be unethical to do so. EBC Servicios Linguisticos Europe www.ebcteflcourse.com Page 11
3. EBC wants to give people a hard time. Question 4 Why is a fast, pro-active and efficient job programme an advantage? 1. To get you a job in the shortest possible time and with the least possible effort for you. 2. To help keep EBC s programming staff gainfully employed. 3. I am not interested in getting a job; I am just taking the course because I have nothing better to do. Question 5 How fast will I get a job through the EBC lifetime job programme? 1. Within 2 weeks of finishing the course. 2. Within a few days of finishing the course. 3. Within a week of finishing the course. Question 6 How does EBC s accredited residential course fee compare to others? 1. It is less expensive than all accredited courses and most unaccredited/pseudoaccredited courses in the areas that it operates. 2. It is the most expensive course available. 3. It is about average. EBC Servicios Linguisticos Europe www.ebcteflcourse.com Page 12