Is A TEFL Course Worth It? [An Inside Look]

5 min readDec 9, 2017

You’ve been lied to and in this video I’m going to focus on if a TEFL course is worth it or not. This is based on an article that I wrote going back to 2011 or 2012 that was originally called TEFL courses are a waste of money.

This is based on my experience and there’s 9 points to this article (video transcription).

1. TEFL courses are not usually a legal requirement to teach in much of Asia

…or many other places in the world. Now to legally teach English in Asia you need a degree and to be a native speaker and that pretty much covers it for the visa.

Every school is different though and while it may not be required for a visa it could be preferred.

Is TEFL certification worth it?

2. They’re usually just a preference

There are some schools out there that will prefer them and that’s like you know…

For example, EPIK in Korea states that they prefer it. You don’t need it to get a legal E-2 visa but to teach for EPIK they basically say if you don’t have related degree or experience they’re gonna prefer it.

So yeah…

3. There are other preferences

You know so even though some schools could prefer a TEFL certification there are other preferences which are like…

Many schools prefer younger teachers. Many schools prefer male, actually no many prefer female teachers. A few may prefer male teachers, looks, race schools will just come out and say.

Some schools will come out and just say we want a Caucasian teacher.

4. Experience and education degrees are more valuable

So if you are thinking about yeah… so they’re more valuable and most schools are going to prefer experience over any other requirements. It doesn’t matter you know in their country especially.

You know so like they could ask you and like for me like I taught in Taiwan and then I went to Korea.

They asked me like do you have any experience teaching in Korea? You know like they think that it’s that different and it’s a little different.

I mean it’s true like the schools are kind of concerned like they maybe you’ll do a midnight run and maybe you’re not gonna like it. so I maybe you’re going to leave or quit or just be unhappy there.

So schools prefer experience you know, so the more experience you have the better off you’re gonna be.

Experience is more valuable than anything I’d say most of the time any qualification. Like it depends on the school somewhat for example education degrees that say they are generally more valuable than any sort of TEFL certification.

So like for example, to teach in a public school in Taiwan or international schools all over the world you usually need to be a licensed teacher in your own country and a TEFL certification doesn’t replace that.

5. They do not replace degrees

So if you don’t have a degree and you’re thinking about taking a TEFL or TESOL course or a type of course because it’s not gonna replace the fact that you don’t have a degree.

You’re out of luck. You need a degree usually to get a visa like a legal visa to teach English. That’s what it to produce for okay okay point number six…

6. They can’t guarantee a better job

Many times these companies will say you’ll get a better job, blah, blah, blah. I would say most of the time by itself it’s not going to guarantee a better job.

You know again it’s experience. That’s what schools want to see so if you have experience. Then yet you can probably negotiate or find a better job but a lot of it’s up to you.

You know you choose the job. You know the schools are just looking for a teacher they’ll take you.

You know some schools aren’t that picky about the teacher so…

7. They can’t guarantee more money

It’s possible, but again it’s more likely experience you’re gonna make more money or a higher salary. There are some situations like EPIK that I mentioned where you could get more money because of the TEFL certification, but across the board most schools aren’t going to just say, “oh here’s another hundred bucks a month for that TEFL certification”.

You know that could happen, but no it’s definitely not a guarantee across the board. You know experience is more valuable. okay point number eight

8. Pretty much everything that you would learn in a course you can learn online for free

So if you’re thinking about taking a course to learn and you’re savvy and at the same time like to dig, research then it’s out there. The information in courses is out there.

You can read books or watch videos stuff like that you know information is out there.

It’s gonna take time.

That’s the drawback right and you don’t know what you’re looking for…

9. Why I thought I wasted my money

I thought I wasted my money. I spent a thousand bucks on the course before I went to Taiwan. I didn’t really realize that at the time. It was like a few days course, like a few days in the classroom and like take home stuff.

The take home stuff was incredibly boring the only thing that I really remembered that was actually useful in the course were like the activities that we did as like a group in the class, but other than that definitely not worth a thousand bucks for that.

You know handling kids is difficult… like juggling. You’re gotta make your classes fun and you gotta get their attention and then you’re gonna have problems and difficult students and you got to be able to like manage it.

I think most courses are like focused more on positive reinforcement… just lack practical applications too for teaching especially kids.

I think most TESOL/TEFL courses are based on what I think possibly… follow a CELTA model like they get some information from CELTA.

That course focuses more on adults…

And this course focuses more on teaching children who are a lot harder to teach.

See the video for the rest at (07:55).

Related to TEFL courses (here on Medium):

Is A TEFL Course Worth It? [An Inside Look]

Related to TEFL courses (here on Medium):

Related Youtube videos (playlist):

Written by Ian@ESLinsider

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