What is TEFL?

TEFL is Teaching English as a Foreign Language. This little but well-used acronym describes the industry, the profession and all the courses you can take to qualify as a teacher. TEFL can be temporary or permanent. Some people do it as a career break, others a gap year as it’s a great way of earning money whilst travelling and discovering new cultures and civilisations. Other people consider TEFL at a later stage in life and then use it to cushion their finances, at home or overseas. With TEFL being such an exciting and challenging industry, it as no surprise that some people end up doing it all their lives.

 Why do a TEFL course?

 Everyone has their own story or reason for this. Some – in fact most – are tired of the ‘rat race’.
Day dreaming while staring out of their 10th floor office windows, they wonder how they can make a change; taking the plunge to explore the world.
Seeing new countries and exotic places forms part of many people’s bucket list (a list of things you want to do before you, well, kick the bucket so to speak). Before we know it, the years speed by, and the ideas and inspirations we had when fresh out of school, now seem a distant, unachievable goal.
Whatever your reason for wanting a change in life, there is hope and you don’t need to rob a bank!
If you are a native English speaker and have a good command of the English language, a 4-week TEFL course on Samui will equip you with the knowledge and ability to obtain a TEFL job in Asia (note that some jobs will also require you to have a degree).
The demand for teachers in Thailand, South Korea, China, and even Vietnam is high, and all our students that pass the course, manage to find jobs very soon
after completing the course, many even getting job offers before they even graduate.

Course Information

The course is 120 hours over 4 weeks, Mon to Fri, generally from 8:45am to 2:45pm. Your certificate is for the standard 120hr course, including a minimum of 8hrs of observed practical lessons. This is the preferred requirement for schools worldwide, and they are now reluctant to accept online courses or the shorter 60hr courses. You get your certificate on the last day of the course, along with a letter of recommendation and a detailed report to show prospective employers.
The first week consists of mostly theory and weeks 2 – 4 are a combination of theory, practical training and other assignments. We limit our numbers to small groups, so that we can offer personal assistance with lesson planning and any area you may need help with such as grammar etc.
Our practical training will include all ages, ranging from young children, preteens/teenagers as well as adults. We do our teacher practices at ISS – The International School of Samui, Oonrak private school, Plai Laem, Wat Phukhao Thong and Watsanti temple schools, the So Fun Nursery, as well as local businesses.  Should your course be over a
school holiday, we’ll use the same children, but teach them in the form of a summer camp.
You will have time off at the weekends and some afternoons to explore the island.

Course Fee:- 42,000 Baht

Course Contents

  • Lesson planning, what is a lesson plan?
  • Introduction to Thai culture (and Chinese culture)
  • Phonology, phonetics, phonics
  • Problems for Thai/Asian learners (relating to phonology and phonetics)
  • Problems for EFL learners, other languages (incl Russian, Spanish, French, German, Italian and others)
  • Language acquisition vs language learning – how students learn
  • Teaching young learners and adolescents
  • Teaching adults
  • Motivating students
  • Discipline
  • Classroom management
  • Classroom interaction and potential problems
  • What makes a good teacher? A teacher should/shouldn’t
  • Warmers and coolers
  • PPP model – presentation, practice, production (adapting this model to different levels)
  • ISM model – interactive skills model – incorporating all four language skills.
  • Error correction
  • Concept checking
  • One to one tutoring and needs analysis
  • Planning a course for special purposes including industry specific (hotels, restaurants, spas etc)
  • Writing a CV/resumé and how to conduct yourself well in an interview. Questions to ask a potential employer
  • Comparing course materials/textbooks etc, and what to look for when choosing materials
  • Go over websites and resources available for lesson planning, tools/wizards and for grammar reference
  • Intensive grammar revision including tenses
  • Punctuation
  • Differences between British and American English

Projects, Assignments and Practicals

Students will each do a minimum of 8 practical lessons with REAL STUDENTS.
This is a combination across all ages and levels at schools on the island including the International School of Samui, Temple schools, as well as local businesses.
During Thai school holidays, some lessons may be in the form of a summer camp, using these same pupils from the schools.

Materials project

Students present and discuss the materials that they made for lessons during their course, as well as analyse the materials and note how they can be improved or adapted.

Journal project

Students open the diary by writing an entry on why they decided to do the TEFL course, teach in Thailand, etc. Thereafter, they need to write at least 3 entries per week, about what has happened in class, what has been challenging, how a TP went, etc. Reflecting on how a lesson went is important. Topics will be given for the journal project.

Group workshops

Designing a course for special purposes, industry specific, phonics, etc

Warmers and coolers

Students have to present warmer and cooler ideas to the class.

In-Course Assessments

TEST 1 – Phonology, phonetics, problems for Asian learners

 TEST 2 – Tenses

 TEST 3 – General grammar and punctuation

A pass rate of 70% must be reached in order to pass the course.
This is broken down as follows:

50% – Teacher practices
8% – Phonology and problems for Thai learners test
8% – Tenses test
8% – Grammar test
8% – Lesson plan assignment test
3% – Materials project
2% – Journal project
9% – Acquisition of theory applied in the teacher practices
3% – Attitude, participation, teamwork and effort

After the course, students are presented with a certificate, a detailed report and a letter of reference.

Job Placements

If you have a degree it will make finding work much easier for you. In fact, we GUARANTEE that you will find a job, should you meet the following criteria:

If you’re from one of the official native English-speaking countries (only UK, Ireland, USA, NZ, Aus, Canada and SA), if you have a university degree, and are under 55 years old, and if you obtain at least an A- on the course.

For those that don’t meet these criteria, we do assist with job placement (but cannot guarantee jobs) as we have connections with many schools and agencies and help you to apply for positions. We do also have some contacts that accept teachers without degrees, but you do need to be dynamic and be prepared to do demo lessons. (About 30% of past students don’t have degrees, and most have found work – they were just flexible regarding area). Several schools and agencies contact us first when looking for teachers, as they’ve been so happy with the quality of teachers trained to date. We also have a private/closed Facebook group where schools and agencies advertise to our teachers. You will only have access to this group once you start the course.

Please note: Legally, to work as a teacher in a government or international school in Thailand, you also need to have a university degree in order to obtain a work permit. This isn’t required for language schools or to teach in a business.

Course Dates

2018 course dates
8 January – 2 February 2018 completed
5 February – 2 March 2018 completed
12 March – 6 April 2018 completed
16 April – 11 May 2018 completed
14 May – 8 June 2018 completed
11 June – 29 June 2018 (3-week course including 2 Saturdays) current
**Annual break**
20 August – 14 Sept 2018 filling up fast!
17 Sept – 12 Oct 2018 space available
22 Oct – 16 Nov 2018 space available
19 Nov – 14 Dec 2018 space available
2019 course dates
7 Jan – 1 Feb 2019
4 Feb – 1 Mar 2019
4 Mar – 29 Mar 2019
14 Apr – 10 May 2019
13 May – 10 Jun 2019

 

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