Program Reviews

Every experience is unique because as individuals we are all unique - what matters to someone does not necessarily matter to another.
This world is so diverse with all aspects of culture that it sometimes takes your breath away - students, learners or candidates have their goals, know where they are going and as a good educator you will pick this up and be able to assess them and perhaps assist them in choosing the correct career.
Be vigilant at all times, respect yourself and the Country. Do not ever speak badly about your country of birth - it is no one's business. Do not take social media seriously and becareful what you post online. If you get homesick, rather go home and of course ensure you have a return ticket home - both your passport and return ticket to be kept in a safe place at all times.

The month-long intensive TELF Certification Course in Prague was demanding, challenging and intense. BUT I learned a great deal and earning that certificate felt awesome. The trainers were outstanding, and the staff at the school was very kind and helpful. The living accommodations were fine though there was no a/c so be forewarned if you plan to go for the summer! My first purchase was a fan. So I survived. :) The temps at the beginning of the month (July) were pleasant, but as time went on it grew quite hot! Temperatures in the upper 90s. I loved the city itself and the people. There is much to do and see and outdoor dining everywhere you look. I loved it. I had to return to the U.S. for one more year so wasn't able to apply to work there. I am planning to return next summer.

The Language Corps staff were very accommodating and helpful! The TEFL course itself was a great experience as well! Go in with an open mind and expect a bump or two to appear on the road in front of you, but understand that the finish line is worth it all!! My class location at the last minute got moved to the other side of the country. This could have been a huge issue but Language Corps made sure I was comfortable with the sudden change and were sympathetic to my concerns. I ended up falling in love with the altered location and had a great time exploring the city and local culture. The course itself was very helpful and grounded in a ton of communication theory that I had learned about in college. It was cool being able to put what I had learned getting my degree into practice for a TEFL certification. Now that I am graduated, the Language Corps staff are helping me find a job abroad! Take the leap!!

Brazil was great. I got a few regular students twice a week with two different language schools (one based in Copacabana, the other in Centro) and I got calls occasionally to do longer immersion classes which were always nice. Financially, I was doing fine with teaching classes here and there, I had free time to be a typical tourist, which is always fun. The course was pretty intensive and took up a lot of time during the first month that I was here, but it was definitely worth it because I got a better sense of how to get around and where to visit once I could get some free time (the instructors were so helpful and I don't know what I would've done without them- I have the worst sense of direction). I also think it definitely helped me prepare for teaching English abroad, because the companies that I got hired at just hand me a textbook and expect me to work straight from the book (which is very dull) but the experience I had at LanguageCorps helped me to make more creative lessons that don't put the students to sleep and still utilize the textbook.

The course was well above my expectations, the trainers were amazing. I felt as though it really helped me become well-equipped to teach English as well as helped me build a network of people here in the city, other teachers and locals, which was wonderful when moving to a completely new place. I’m thoroughly enjoying my time in Barcelona. I am teaching English to kids at a private language institute and some private classes on the side which is great cause I can create my own wage. This city never sleeps, there is such an amazing variety of things to do - music, museums, shopping, bars and restaurants, the beach, hiking, nightlife, you name it. There is never a dull moment! I love the fact that the streets are so lively at night. Transportation is really cheap, and the metro is super easy to use. There is a lot of economically priced buses to other cities in Spain. The list of places I want to visit is growing as I keep exploring new things, but I’ll be around here for a while, so I'm in no hurry.

I had a wonderful time during the course and truly appreciate what LanguageCorps does for its trainees. I really enjoyed the materials and the trainers were a lot of fun to work with. I was planning on going to Vietnam after certification, but I immediately changed my mind when I arrived in Cambodia, it was love at first side. I worked at the University in Phnom Pehn and got paid rather well. I only worked 12 hours and was able to match my expenses. I choose not to, but I could have easily worked more hours to save some extra money. I lived in a very nice apartment, and food was expensive whenever I cooked at home, but the street food was great and cheap, although it did make me sick every now and then. But the transition was easy, I was quick to call it my home!

I absolutely LOVED the course, Prague is gorgeous, my instructors were amazing and taught me things about the English language I thought I knew, but in fact I had no idea. I always tell people this was a great program and worth every dollar spent on training. Prague is very affordable and super safe! People are very nice and incredibly well-organized! I was able to get a work permit, which was great and again, worth the investment. If you plan well, you can find super cheap flights to other European cities. I've been to every country surrounding the Czech Republic and also went to Spain and Italy, just for the weekend! I'm back in the States now, but mid-April, I'm planning to move to Vietnam to start teaching again, I'm already into the interview process!

I will start this off by saying, I did not have to make any of this up or even embellish what I am about to say. This story wrote itself.

It started the night I arrived. Luckily I was with another student and got picked up pretty quickly, but they forgot about another girl who had to wait at the airport for hours before they remembered her.

I know that statement leaves a lot of questions. "Why didn't she call:? why didn't she email? why couldn't she ask around to get there?" Well, if you have never been to SEA before... She had just made it through the passport line, she didn't have access to WIFI because the airport there is not like the airports here in the west, she didn't have any idea where to get a sim card for her phone, ect.

So I got lucky. We all met each other, had a good time saying hi. The hotel was run down, even for Cambodia, and in a bad part of town. By that I mean its on a black river that smells like human waste, because it most likely is, and 2 women from the program were robbed within 300 feet of the front door of the hotel in 2 weeks. There is one shopping mall within walking distance, with ok access to food, but downtown is really where it is at. When you find out what your hotel could have been, and what your access to food, shopping, and entertainment could have been you will feel betrayed by the price you paid to stay at their hotel. Once word got out about how little it is to just stay at other, MUCH nicer hotels, people left to go do just that.

There is no work out equipment that works, nobody swam in the pool the first 2 weeks I was there, and we didn't have internet on my floor for 3 weeks. I wish I could show you a picture of the router and the set up,. All of the rooms had something wrong with them. My tv looked like someone had raked it with a blow torch and my fridge didn't work. So I stashed some things in the girl across the hall from me. The girl beside me had to use my room for warm water to shower with because hers didn't work, and we hung out in different rooms depending on whose air conditioning was working the best. The only good staff there, was the helpers.

Seriously, the one shining light in this program was 2 teachers. One lady was super nice and you could tell she really wanted to help people, and the guy was extremely difficult to understand and used some questionable examples (like making us clap to the word "suicide"), but he was also a pretty decent guy.

There are two older men who run the place and in my opinion, they are horrible (making inappropriate comments, etc.) One of them taught a few classes. and we HATED them. Imagine being in class for 2 hours saying "have you eaten yet? no, I'm hungry" .

If you do go here. Do not, and I repeat do not bother buying any of their packages for places to go. Just do a little research, you can get MUCH better hotels, better transportation, and do just as much stuff for literally 50% of the price they try to charge you. I'm not kidding, get your classmates together and just book everything yourself. Save yourself the money.

Everything about this program was a rip off. From what was promised on the website, to what we got in the hotel, to the packages they tried to sell us, to the "education" we received. Lets be perfectly clear here, this is a pay for a cert program. You aren't going to learn a SINGLE thing about actually teaching. Even when you go to the school to "teach" kids for a few weeks, they just throw you in with no idea on where the kids are or what they have learned already. My class in 14 kids in a classroom the size of a large closet, no air conditioning, and no clue where to start. No shadowing, no previous lesson plans, just "here, have fun!" Not to mention the best part of my class being aged anywhere from 4 - 10 years old. There was just no structure for us. If you get a job in Cambodia and actually teach there, it is a much better experience. I am not trying to dissuade you from going there to teach. There is a lot of really good and awesome teachers there doing amazing work. But you won't get that through this school.

This kind of leads me into job placement. Yes, they can get you a job. Which is with an.... ok? company? I didn't bother, if you throw your application out there online you can get a job easily enough by yourself. I had 20 interviews in a week, it is insanely easy to find a job in whatever country you want to work in. ASTON or whoever they work with is def not your only option. Look around. The last week was supposed to be culture classes and some basic language courses. They had to last minute find someone to bring in for China. The lady didn't speak hardly any English, we ended up teaching her as much English as she taught us Chinese. So the culture part of the class was nonexistent because she couldn't tell us anything about the country we were about to go into. Again, not a big deal if you are doing your research and know what you are getting into. But I feel bad for people who are just jumped into this expecting to learn along the way. Those people will be very lost.

There are much, much better programs out there. If you don't want to try, don't mind being lied to, and don't mind minimal living conditions and you want to overpay for it then by all means go ahead. The excuse "what did you expect from Cambodia" is absolute BS when you discover what you could have had there. There are 100 areas they could improve, but they are just filtering money, they don't want to improve. We contacted the home office many, many times to complain about what was going on. We had students drop out of the course to go to other places. We did everything we could and even demanded money back (which we didn't get). Go somewhere else. Seriously, go somewhere else.

The academic staff are excellent, they are experienced and provide good instruction. There ends the positive review.
Everything else about this course is cheap and nasty, classroom facilities, Wifi, printing, school/hotel staff/, cleanliness, the Marady hotel, relevance of practice teaching opportunities, these are all third world quality.
The scary bit is the director of the school/ owner of the hotel can't actually see any problems, if you can, go somewhere else.
They have now changed the course timetable to squeeze more students through the course and the hotel, increases the money they make but reduces the quality of the experience and training.

I absolutely loved my experience with Language Corps. I did my program exactly one year ago. I am new to TESOL and was quite impressed with our instructors (especially Nick) and the quality of learning we received. I also really enjoyed my learning in HCMC. Hien and Linh were amazing. I learned so much from them and was so happy with all of the support and friendship they provided for us. I have been teaching in the states for the past year with a plan of having my husband take the course next year when we move to Vietnam. Absolutely can't wait to go back and be with old friends again. Was so much fun.