What to expect from a TEFL Course

All TEFL certificate courses are a mixture of input sessions, assignments and of course, teaching. Don’t be surprised if you are asked to teach from as early as your second day on the course! In most cases you will be teaching students who have been offered cheap or free lessons in return for being taught by a trainee teacher.

Before being accepted on a TEFL course, you will be interviewed and perhaps need to complete an assessment . Courses have entry criteria based on age, academic qualifications and suitability for teaching. Contact individual institutions to find out their criteria. You can take a course full-time (4 or 5 weeks), part-time (over 9 months) or even a distance learning course.

The advantages of a full-time course are that you can devote all your energy to it (and you’ll need a lot!). You may find it easier to bond with students when you are seeing them daily over a four-week period rather than once a week on a part-time course. It is always easier to plan for and teach students that you have already met.

On a part-time course you do not have to give up work and so it may be easier to finance. These courses are generally run on a one or two evenings a week basis.

Think about how you prefer to work – if you are the type of person who works better under pressure, go for a full-time course, if you would prefer to spread the workload due to other commitments or you simply prefer that style of working, choose a part-time course.

You will be given a lot of assignments to complete in addition to the lesson preparation required and sometimes a project. Be prepared to work evenings and weekends in addition to the class time during the week. It’s hard work but very rewarding!