TEFL Review

This summer I took The TEFL Org 120-hour Premium Teaching English as a Foreign Language Course. This involves 30 hours of grammar and English language, 50 hours of teaching methodology, 20 hours of video observation classes, 10 hours of telephone teaching and 10 hours of teaching large classes.

I decided to enrol in the course because next year I will be doing an internship involving teaching English in France. I also hope to travel more in the future and teaching English is a transferable skill that can come in handy in many different countries be that paid work or volunteering. The TEFL course cost £127.60 and I decided to take the 120 hour option as it seemed to be the standard number of hours that organisations like for the qualification. I enrolled on the 3rd of June and completed the course on the 6th of August. 2 months of steady work, an hour here and there and before I knew it I was finished. I expected it to take longer than it did but I think you could spend a lot longer on it, for instance if you want to go into more depth in certain areas, spend more time taking notes on the teaching videos or if you don't have a solid base of prior knowledge in English grammar.

My favourite part of the course was the grammar section. I knew most of it already but it's so useful to get an explanation of why the language works the way it does since so much is just intuitive to a native speaker. The course has mini quizzes after each section so that you can make sure you have understood the content before moving on. I found the material very engaging and easy to work with. I took notes on all aspects of the course which I will be able to go back to before teaching each subject and I think this will be a really valuable resource in the future.

I also found the teaching methodology section very helpful. The course covers lesson plans and how to teach reading, listening, vocabulary and grammar. There are assignments to be completed at regular intervals which include activities such as writing out lesson plans or explaining what a teacher did well in a recorded lesson. These assignments are marked by a tutor who gives feedback on your work and helps you to learn and improve. The assignments aren't too long (generally under 600 words) but getting the chance to get individual feedback was really valuable and my tutor was very positive and encouraging.

Taking the course has given me a lot more confidence in my ability to teach English. I now feel far better prepared to explain a grammar point to an English learner or to organise a lesson for different types of learners. The course covers a huge range of situations from young learners to adult learners and remote learners to complete beginners.

Overall I would recommend taking a TEFL qualification as I think it's useful preparation for teaching and it gives you a widely recognised qualification that can help you find work all across the world.