Free Short-stay TEFL Placement (Colombia, Bali, Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia, Europe)

What an experience living like a local for 3 months in rural vietnam teaching english to these adorable kids. The work was for a charity supporting marginalized women Vietnam, providing free English classes for children of single mothers. It was super fulfilling and eye opening to be a part of this, and I am forever grateful for this opportunity! Not only did I feel like I was able positively impact the lives of the kids, I connected with such a wide range of people, adopted a entire new way of life and pushed myself out my comfort zone as a result. Highly reccomend GOTOCO to anyone seeking to do a fully funded TESOL training course. Tôi yêu Việt Nam!

If you are intending on teaching English abroad and gaining a TEFL/TESOL qualification, PLEASE do yourself a favour and do not go through Gotoco. I'm writing this review to make people aware of what you're getting yourself into if you decide to do a TEFL/TESOL program through Gotoco based on my experience.

I completed Gotoco's Vietnam program from October - December 2023 and purely speaking on the experience itself, I really enjoyed the opportunity to live and teach in Vietnam on a funded program. It was reassuring to be based with people in the same position, getting to travel and experience Vietnamese culture was amazing, and I am very grateful to have been a teacher to kindergarten/early primary-aged kids. However and though I cannot speak on behalf of other participants' experiences, I heard some really awful situations that participants had on my program (in terms of school placements, living situations, and other problems like visas not even being sorted before arriving in Vietnam).

The biggest problem I experienced is receiving my TESOL qualification, which has arguably been the worst and most problematic experience I have ever had with a company (not an exaggeration). To put it into perspective, I completed all of the TESOL requirements before my program ended (back in December 2023), and at the time of writing this review (May 2024), I still have not received my official TESOL qualification or remaining deposit.

Gotoco's is extremely unresponsive and their communication is the worst experience I have ever had with a company. They will take weeks and months to respond to emails. I even contacted Citizens Advice because this has gone on for so long and I genuinely did not know what else to do. Gotoco do not provide a phone number on their webpage and so the only method of communication is going through email. On my program, they did not provide ANY feedback to my TESOL assignments whatsoever and being a first time teacher, it would've been really helpful to have had feedback whilst I was teaching to get a sense if what I was doing for my assignments was on the right lines or not. Then in January 2024, Gotoco sent out resubmission requirements and I had to re-do and make amendments on almost every single one of my TESOL assignments. The feedback that they provided was incompetent and did not make sense, with little to no elaboration on their requirements, i.e. "We need you to change this, but we won't tell you why we need you to change it."

Furthermore, Gotoco will keep your £100 TESOL deposit until the Ofqual TESOL certificate has been issued. But despite having finished the TESOL during my program, completed their resubmission requirements in January 2024, and chasing them for literally 5-6 months to receive my TESOL certificate, they will still hold your £100 deposit. What's more, you most likely won't even receive your full £100 deposit as Paypal deducts a fee if your deposit was sent to Gotoco for more than a 180 day period.

If you're looking to do a TESOL/TEFL and teach English abroad, please do yourself a favour and go with another company.

I had such a great time on the Vietnam programme. I enjoyed the teaching, even when being challenged, and it was so lovely to build connections with the kids and the teaching assistants - I miss them lots already. The programme also brings together such a great group of people, and I have come away from this experience with so many great memories and new friends. Gotoco are great at facilitating the programme, answering any queries, and organising the start and end of programme trips! The TESOL and organisation of this could, however, be improved!!

I volunteered on the 10 week Vietnam programme. It was a great experience from start to finish, I don't believe there is another opportunity quite like it. From all of the amazing people I met, to all of the weird and wacky situations I found myself in, I had immense fun on the programme. I would say that the single best experience was being welcomed into a new culture and given the opportunity to live life in Vietnam from a truly unique perspective. The work-life balance allowed me to enjoy local backpacker trails whilst maintaining a sense of purpose in my travels.

I volunteered on the 10 week Vietnam programme. It was a great experience from start to finish, I don't believe there is another opportunity quite like it. From all of the amazing people I met, to all of the weird and wacky situations I found myself in, I had immense fun on the programme. I would say that the single best experience was being welcomed into a new culture and given the opportunity to live life in Vietnam from a truly unique perspective. The work-life balance allowed me to enjoy local backpacker trails whilst maintaining a sense of purpose in my travels.

This is a Great way to travel while learning a new skill and really integrating into a culture. Working in a community is so different from being a tourist there. I am very grateful for all I learned, the people I met and the new experiences I had. Some cons would be the bad communication, it took ages for them to respond to my emails. Another thing was that I had a bad experience with a coordinator, so don't rely on the support so much. It also takes a while for your money to be reimbursed! But other than that I overall am really glad I did this program.

As nervous as I was to start this program, I thoroughly enjoyed the teaching aspect. I feel as though I did well in handling a classroom as well as making the lessons fun and engaging for the kids. I also felt I brought a gentle yet energetic and approachable character to the classroom, which helped a lot with my confidence. I also enjoyed traveling to the different cities other gotoco-ers were and experiencing the different lifestyles there. The most enjoyable moments from the trip was the school sports day where all the kids had to do fun activities to race against each other to see which students retained the most English.

I had an amazing experience with the Gotoco! During my time on the Vietnam program I made incredible friends for life, immersed in a new culture which brought me out of my comfort zone and created some unforgettable memories. We went on trips as a group and with the school we were partnered with, this allowed us to get to know our peers and to fully embrace life in Vietnam.

The time with the children was remarkable and made me smile everyday. I developed beautiful connections with them which made me not want to leave.