Program Reviews

As a tutor on this intermediate TEFL-YL course I can say that it has been a rewarding experience working with so many talented trainee teachers. The course is designed for those with a background in working with children or an initial qualification in language teaching. The focus of the course is the practice of Communicative Language Teaching (CLT) and Task-Based Learning (TBL) with young learners. Trainee teachers who take part in this course are provided with initial training to learn how to manage a classroom, motivate young learners, deal with behaviour issues and create immersion environments for their students. Following this practical component of the course that is heavily focused on teaching skills, trainees learn how to design activities and plan lessons within the CLT and TBL frameworks. This experience helps trainees prepare for successful completion of the Cambridge Teacher Knowledge Test (TKT), which is a comprehensive diagnostics test that provides candidates with an internationally recognised certification of their content knowledge of English language teaching.

The course can be demanding, but the teaching experience is second to none. The demands of the teaching practice aspect of the course ensure that, unlike other courses, a graduate can teach and teach well. As a course tutor, it has been extremely rewarding to be involved in the professional development of past trainees and see them go on to future teaching positions as confident and capable language teachers.

I completed a four month placement back in July and enjoyed it enough that I stayed on – the chance to live and travel around Austria whilst bringing English to school children, by basically playing games with them, was too much to pass up. Teaching was about more than just games though- it is a tailored active learning approach that makes the learning both fun and useful, as learning a language should be. Seeing the change in a class from Monday morning to Friday when you leave makes for a really special experience
Life as a trainee with can be pretty intense – Austrian schools start between 7:00 and 8:00 in the morning and with travel time to a different school each week added on I had to quickly adapt to some early starts. With feedback sessions and training in the afternoons this makes for a long day and you definitely have to be prepared to work hard but the senior teachers are always there to help you with advice and training. They are a small but growing not for profit organisation so there were times I had to be adaptable and use my own initiative to get by but that just adds to the life experience I gained. Accommodation and travel was all provided for as well which meant I saw and did so much more than I would have been able to travelling alone or paying for things out of my own pocket. Staying in the centre of Vienna for a month, including during Eurovision, was definitely a highlight.

I spent 3 months in Austria working with this organisation. During my time I had a mix of intensive study and seminars, lesson planning support and 100s of hours in the ESL classroom developing and defining my delivery. As an experienced teacher in another field I was taught to alter my approach and understand the needs of my students. I found out I had a lot to learn.

I received a lot of support from experienced staff and working as part of a team with other trainees helped share good practice daily. This is a really good course and offers a different learning experience to that of the CELTA I was initially planning to undertake.

On top of all of this is the fact that I spent 3 months working across Austria in some beautiful places. Even spent a month in Vienna. Pretty cool.

I would recommend this course to anyone serious about gaining their TEFL teaching qualification by actually teaching for real along the way.

I participated in the ABCi program from January to March 2015. It was an amazing opportunity in many ways. Primarily it allowed me to gain the certification and training needed to be confident in my teaching abilities. Having never taught before this program, I was placed in the CertTesol course. This helped me gain a firm understanding of the fundamentals of teaching and how to create materials, lesson plans, and assess a student's strengths and needs. At the same time, the hands on approach to teaching enabled me to utilize all that I had learned in a real classroom environment. The hours of teaching experience went a long way to make me a more confident teacher as well as better equipped to control many situations that arose in the classroom. Aside from the educational benefits, the program is run in an incredible country, one which I was able to explore throughout my travel to the various schools. This allowed me to see more of Austria then I ever would have on my own. The program takes care of all travel, accommodation and food plus provides the trainees with First Aid training, TEFL-YL certification and a CertTesol certification (depending). Overall I thoroughly enjoyed my time with ABCi, it was a life-changing experience and opened my eyes to the opportunities available.

Before arriving in Austria, I hadn't stepped foot in a classroom since I left school. I had worked with children at a summer camp in America, but never in formal schooling, so I was predictably apprehensive. Owing to ABCi's innovative teaching methods, however, my experience in alternative education proved just the background I needed to succeed at leading a class in active learning.

What particularly impressed me about the course is how it prepares you for EFL employment that doesn't follow active learning principles. Despite ABCi's work focusing on game-based learning, song and drama, trainees leave with a thorough understanding of classroom management and in-depth language awareness. The hundreds of hours spent honing these skills in real classroom settings has made me feel like a far more experienced teacher than my CV would suggest.

EFL teachers with experience teaching young learners are in high demand and short supply. ABCi's input sessions and assignments focus specifically on this learner type. I've found that employers are consistently impressed by the willingness and ability with which graduates of the programme are able to work with this age group.

Fun, rewarding and challenging, I recommend this course to anyone who is dedicated to becoming a resourceful English teacher.