What’s the best online TEFL course in 2021? (Woohoo!)
Tired of mainstream TEFL? Are all those courses starting to look and sound the same to you?
If you are searching for the “best online TEFL course” or best in-class TEFL course you can’t trust anyone because everyone is either chasing an affiliate commission or they have a course to sell themselves like me;-).
Everyone is biased (to varying degrees).
There is no one size that fits all. There is no best for everyone. And if you are looking for the most “accredited”, “internationally recognized”, “120 hour” course then...
Those courses are a dime a dozen.
And more on those things later, but…
What’s the best online TEFL course for you in 2020 and 2021?
But I’d say the best course is the one that will prepare you to teach the people you are going to teach.
And…
If you are looking for the ‘best’ you might want to consider this first:
Regardless of how you measure ‘best’ (elegance, deluxeness, impact, profitability, ROI, meaningfulness, memorability), it’s almost never present in the thing that is the most popular. — Seth Godin
It’s like McDonald’s.
It’s super popular, but is it the best restaurant?
I hope you said no. But actually to some at any given moment it might be their “best” if they just want something quick, but in the long term is that best?
I still hope you said no^^, but if not go watch “Super size Me”.
So…
Who are you going to teach? Kids or adults? Have a preference? Don’t know? Unsure? Thinking a course will prepare you to do both?
That’s what they’ll say, but probably not very well.
Because there is no one size that fits all. I can tell you who you will most likely teach based on my experience teaching English and living in China, Korea, Taiwan and Japan.
Kids, that’s who.
But if you take a course like the ones I did then you won’t learn — at least not much. It’s not just a problem with TEFL it’s a problem with education. It’s not practical.
If you are like everyone else…
- You’ll take an average course because…
- You’ll look for the most popular course and…
- You’ll focus on the short term which is getting a job
But…
Do you just want a job or do you want a better experience abroad?
The best online course for how to teach English to kids (AKA “young learners”) in Asia
According to the data there are 3–10 times the amount of jobs for teaching children in Asia compared to adults (depending on the site). In China alone roughly 80% of the jobs there are for teaching English to kids.
But…
If you don’t want to teach kids then there are other options (if you’re adamant), however this course I am going to tell you about is probably NOT for you.
If you want the best training possible then you need a targeted course. That’s a course that’s designed to teach who you will be teaching.
NOT just any course.
Most TEFL courses are general courses focused on “teaching English abroad”. They also tend to focus more on teaching adults because that’s the CELTA model that all those “accredited 120 hour internationally recognized TEFL courses” follow.
Look-a-likes.
Not this course.
This is NOT another general course.
This course is targeted.
Take a look.
What’s special about this course?
- You’ll learn through observation
- You’ll get feedback and interaction with your teacher on assignments
- You’ll get long term access (and you won’t be kicked out after 2, 3, or 6 months like in other courses)
- You’ll learn lots of practical tools
- You’ll learn how to create fun AND educational lessons
- You’ll learn how to deal with classroom problems and difficult kids
Yeah difficult kids…
Some won’t do what you say, some cause trouble, many are loud as hell, some don’t want to be there and a whole lot of them will be speaking in a language you don’t know.
So what are you going to do about those problems?
Here’s one of the key differences between what makes a good online course and a bad one...
You’ll learn through observation
In many online courses you are going to read long passages of text or chapters and then take follow up quizzes.
Boring…
The problem with that is you are not going to remember much because you have no visual.
- Studies show that most people only read 20–28% of a page.
- Studies show that people remember visuals like video and images better.
Think about it.
Would you rather read an instruction manual or watch someone show you how to do it?
I can tell you from experience that it is way easier to learn how to teach English by watching other teachers do it instead of trying to read about it.
Monkey see, monkey do.
This online course features many how to videos shot in the classrooms of East Asia (mostly Korea).
Why does that matter?
Because if you don’t learn how to teach you are NOT going to enjoy your job AND if you don’t enjoy your job you probably won’t enjoy your year abroad much.
And why do you want to teach abroad?
Let’s put it in perspective.
If you work a fairly full-time job then you will spend about 25–33% of your time abroad at school in a classroom.
Then of course another 33% of your time abroad will be spent in bed and the rest free time.
You do want to have the best year possible right?
You’ll get feedback and reinforcement
To get the most out of a course online you are going to need to get feedback on your lesson plans and assignments. A lesson plan is what you are going to do in that classroom.
It’s basic.
But when you first start you will make some mistakes. That’s natural. But the feedback gives you some ideas and helps anchor some of the things that you already studied in the course about lesson planning.
Learning takes repetition.
Cheaper courses are cheap for a reason because they are automated. These courses will not include much or any interaction from a real human.
The truth is (according to research) that the instruction matters the most. Feedback without good instruction is not going to help much. First you need to be shown how to do something and then you need to try it.
So while instruction is the most important part good feedback (that is timely) helps reinforce what you were taught earlier.
This course includes feedback within 24 hours (not 5 days like some popular courses that include feedback).
You’ll get long term access to this online TEFL course
Most courses online only allow short term access for 1–6 months. A couple of the more popular courses only allow 2–3 months.
What’s wrong with this?
It might be fine actually assuming you are a quick learner, the course is boring or you are just out for a certificate.
But…
I would think having more flexibility would be best. Plus most of these courses are behind a paywall and by the time you get abroad and start teaching and need to access the course (assuming they have helpful resources) then your access will be discontinued.
I don’t think that’s best.
Ohh, and this course includes lifetime access and even if you don’t take this course you can still access most of the how-to videos for free.
There’s more practicality and less theory
I have taken several TEFL/TESOL courses and there were both kind of teaching theory and English grammar heavy.
When I got to Taiwan and started teaching I realized I just didn’t know what to do in the classroom.
You need to know what to do in the classroom and not study grammar rules or teaching theory.
Trust me…
3–14 year old students in Asia don’t ask, “Teacher, what is the present perfect form of blah, blah?”
That’s a whole ‘nother language. You need to teach your students how to use the language and not talk about it in abstract terms.
Learn how to create fun AND educational lessons
If you teach kids then fun has to be part of your teaching. But is it just playing games and babysitting?
No.
You need to learn how to teach, plan, structure and manage your classroom. Those lessons need balance and they need to be fun and educational.
Learn how to deal with problems
To be honest you are most likely going to have some difficult students and some students that are going to test you.
So how you going to deal with those students when they don’t listen to you, talk when you are talking, disrespect you or other students, speak in their native language, talk on the phone, are out of control, won’t talk, are bored, etc?
Summary
If you really want to be prepared to teach kids in Asia then I recommend this course.
But wait I see your course isn’t “accredited”?
You are right I didn’t pay any mysterious 3rd party for an accreditation or try to create a fake one.
But there is no “120 hour” course?
Those are fake “hours” my friend.
I don’t see your site on popular review sites?
Those popular review sites are middleman sites that are supported by the courses that they advertise. If you want a better position on their site then you have to pay.
Basically I don’t believe in the TEFL system and there is not really any “system” to begin with, but I don’t want to be part of it or try to fit into an industry that is pretty deceptive from my point of view. It wasn’t one that served me well.
I prefer independence.
How about you?
Learn more about ESLinsider’s course.
Related to TEFL courses (here on Medium):
- TEFL accreditation
- Online TEFL course reviews (fake ones are widespread)
- Online TEFL course reviews (red pill vs. blue)
- Best TEFL course for Korea?
- Reviews on ESLinsider’s courses
- Which TEFL course should you take?
- Internationally recognized TEFL certification means nothing
- An accredited 120 hour TEFL certificate isn’t going to solve your problems
- Answers to your questions about online TEFL courses
- Top 3 TEFL courses to teach in Asia
- Learn TEFL online with a specialized course
- Which Groupon TEFL course is best?
- A legitimate, reputable, accredited, internationally recognized, 120 hour online TEFL course, that’s cheap with a guaranteed job!
- Welcome to TEFL! Do you know these tricks courses use to get you to buy?
- Are online TEFL courses worth it?
- Is a TEFL course worth it?
