Where to get an online TEFL certification? Learn insider secrets only experienced teachers know

You have a lot of options as to where you will get your TEFL certification and that is totally overwhelming and confusing. In this article I will focus on eliminating some of your options and helping you choose the best one.

I will also share some insider secrets only experienced teachers know.

First I will tell you a little about my experience.

I taught English in China, Korea and Taiwan.

I started with a TESOL course which is basically the same as a TEFL course. Anyways it didn’t prepare me for teaching kids in Taiwan where I first taught. Teaching was stressful and difficult and didn’t really get easier until about 1.5 years in.

Why didn’t that course help?

It just wasn’t practical enough. It didn’t teach me any useful activities, what to really do in the classroom, how to handle the difficult kids I was teaching or plan lessons in a timely manner.

Now since you want to know where to get your TEFL certification I am going to give you some options.

Option 1: You could take a Groupon course

This is the cheapest option. Groupon is a discount middle man site where cheap TEFL providers sell access to their online courses.

You can get a course there for anywhere from $8–100 or so.

Why are they so cheap? Are these scam sites? They are not scam sites although the cheapest one I knew last had a fake accreditation (more on accreditation later).

Why are they so cheap? Some people say you get what you pay for. I took one of these courses that cost $39 about 2 years ago because I wanted to see what I would get with my money.

If you just want a certificate and don’t care about what you learn then Groupon is the place to go. BUT getting a job is just the beginning.

I have to tell you a little secret, but I don’t want you to misuse this information. The secret is that on paper (your resume) any TEFL certificate is often as good as any other.

Now this is based on my experience teaching English and living in Asia (currently living in Japan).

That means to many employers that a cheap TEFL which you paid $8 for is as good as the $1200 online certificate as far as getting the job goes.

HOWEVER…

You are most likely not going to learn much from one of those courses because they are boring and low quality.

Why not?

Well, before I explain that I want to share some things that other people have said about their Groupon courses.

Here’s one from Youtube about the lack of practicality and focus on English grammar.

“It was a refresher course with all the rules to English. It didn’t actually teach you to teach English, but… (Other person laughing) Yeah it didn’t really teach you at all on how to teach English, but yeah a good refresher on all the English skills.” — Twocanucksabroad

Here are a couple about the fact that they didn’t remember anything.

“All I have is an online TEFL that I forget most of.” — thedan633

“I finished the entire program in 3 days and retained like 5% of the information.” -woobv

As I mentioned before I also took one of those boring courses and can see why no one remembers them.

Why do those Groupon courses suck?

1. There are no visuals (visuals enhance memory)
2. There is no feedback
3. They are boring black and white courses (primarily text) where you read and answer multiple choice.
4. Little interaction

Learn more about the latest research about learning TEFL online or read about what is the best TEFL course on Groupon.

Option 2: You could take a CELTA course

You could take a CELTA course. According to many people that’s the one and only course to take. You can go to r/tefl on Reddit and see for yourself. Many people there will recommend either 1 you take a CELTA course or 2 you take the cheapest you can find.

Why do they recommend that?

Well, it’s a little extreme, but most look at it like either you take a course to “check the box” and get a job or you take what they consider to be the best training.

A CELTA course is a kind of TEFL course. It is well known in many places such as the Middle East and Europe, but not in all such as in much of Asia where I taught. It tends to be considered good for teaching small groups of adults and possibly for career TEFL teachers.

Now lots of TEFL courses talk about their accreditation. But in TEFL there isn’t any one accreditation. It’s mostly only small independent businesses that are sometimes even run by the same company under a different name.

Another marketing term thrown around is “internationally recognized” TEFL certification that implies that their certification has worldwide status.

No,no…

They might have connections with a few schools in certain locations, but how many businesses do you know of in other countries? It’s the same thing with schools abroad. They don’t keep track of all the different courses.

That’s not their business.

So the terms “accreditation” and “internationally recognized” TEFL certification don’t really mean much.

However, CELTA is accredited by the University of Cambridge and probably more recognized than any other TEFL course out there, but as I have said before plenty of schools out there haven’t heard of it or know the difference between a CELTA, TEFL or TESOL.

Which isn’t actually much by the way…

So if you really want an accredited TEFL course that’s fairly well known then take a CELTA.

And one other thing…

If you really want a course that is actually 120 hours then you can take the CELTA. Many courses on Groupon and elsewhere say that these courses are 100 or 120 or 160 hours or more, but these courses are done online and no where close to that.

Remember that quote from above about Groupon courses? Well here’s another:

“I finished my so-called “120 hour” TEFL course in 8 hours.” — Yors Trooly

These are not classroom based courses. Learn more about the so-called TEFL course hours.

Lastly, CELTA:

• is expen$ive ($1500–3000)
• is intensive (a heavy course load for 4 weeks) and you could fail it
• doesn’t get good reviews for teaching kids by some people
• isn’t really an online course (only partly)

Option 3: Don’t take a course

I am going to do a little anti-marketing here as you are probably new to the game and naive.

And since you are probably naive you have to watch out because plenty of TEFL course providers know that and look for easy prey like you…

Mwahhahhahhh…

Hehe^^, I am being serious actually, plenty of TEFL companies tell lies or stretch the truth to get you to buy.

Anyways, you should know that it’s not always required. It depends on the school and location but you may not actually need it to get a job.

BUT…

If you don’t take a course how are you going to learn how to teach?

• Think the school will provide training?
• Think it will be easy to learn?
• Think it doesn’t matter?

In my experience schools rarely provide any training and if they do it’s not very extensive. It’s more like follow a teacher around for a day.

Expect to get thrown into the classroom.

Teaching might be easy for you, but it wasn’t for me. It took me a long time to make progress and I wasn’t a natural. Also I had a friend who was a public school teacher in the USA and she always said that your first year is the hardest.

Now imagine your first year when you haven’t had any training? And then add to that living in a foreign country amongst a different culture with people speaking a different language.

However, you might be the savvy type and be able to pick it up on your own. Some people do succeed without any formal education in their field.

Option 4: You could take a high quality media rich online course that’s focused on teaching kids

Why? Well, CELTA doesn’t focus on teaching kids and nor do the Groupon courses.

If you take a Groupon course then that’s going to be low quality and not memorable. And then a CELTA course is considered a very high quality course by many, but not focused on teaching kids.

And you should know…

Most of the jobs in Asia are for teaching kids aged from about 5–12 years old or so. This is a big market, but it’s also a tough one. Teaching kids can be fun, but difficult.

As mentioned earlier in this article most courses focus on adults, but in my experience this is not very helpful. You need a targeted a course.

The more closely related the course is to your actual job the better prepared you will be.

And if you are going to learn online you definitely need visuals of your teaching environment.

Here is an Advanced online TEFL course that is unlike those mentioned before. It includes:

• Visuals. A lot of simple and short instructional videos shot in the classrooms of East Asia. It’s way easier to learn by watching vs. reading!
• Feedback on lesson planning assignments.
• Comprehensive and in-depth training on everything from standing in front of a classroom and efficient lesson planning to dealing with difficult students which you will have.

But…

It’s not that easy. You do have to do some work, but the more work you put in early on the better the year you will have.

And that’s the truth whether you take this course, another or don’t take one at all (if you’re the savvy type).

ESLinsider’s Advanced course is for people who want to learn.

Conclusion

1. Groupon is for the cheapo who just wants a certificate and doesn’t care about what they learn.
2. CELTA is for the teacher who is probably committed to teaching mostly adults long term and wants a truly accredited course.
3. Don’t take any course if you know you are savvy and can teach yourself.
4. ESLinsider is for the teacher who wants to be truly prepared to teach English to mostly kids in East Asia.

Secrets to remember

1. Watch out for bloggers recommendations as they might be affiliates
2. On paper TEFL certificates tend to look the same to “most” employers. The brand doesn’t usually matter.
3. There is no one international recognized accreditation in TEFL.
4. TEFL course “hours” are almost always a bunch of B.S (with online courses)
5. You need visuals to learn (online or not) people don’t read or remember much text.
6. The more closely related the course is to your job the better prepared you will be.
7. You don’t need necessarily need a course.
8. Expect to be thrown into a classroom to teach.