ITTT TEFL Course in Japan

i find the one-to-one classroom experience very useful. It provided a realistic teaching environment which otherwise is not possible if I am to do the course online. I really appreciate the instructors's effort in making this feasible.

Living above the classroom really helped. It allowed for more time to study up on the material I was weak in. The course had topics that came back to haunt me from High School and College, but the instructors made these topics less annoying to study. Having an English school just down the block from the classroom makes watching and learning the teaching process very easy. The instructors also have connections to Colleges, High Schools and even preschools to offer TEFL students opportunities to teach different scenarios and age ranges.

This was a fantastically run course, and it was everything I envisioned when I signed up for it. The content was very thorough, including educational theory, the phonetic alphabet, a lot of grammar instruction, and instruction on different classroom scenarios ranging from young learners to business professionals. I also had much experience working with actual students. The instructors really helped me with my transition moving to Japan, getting settled, and providing me with resources for applying for jobs. I used this advice, and was able to get hired as an ALT in Nagano while taking the course! The instructors went above and beyond, and I really felt privileged for my experience. Thanks for everything, Larry and Dave!

As I wanted to teach English in Japan, I decided to take this course. I had 2 reasons for doing so
- it would be unprofessional and irresponsible to teach English without an education in how to do so. I've met quite a few people who've just jumped in to teaching without any background and the result is often dismal.
- in a foreign country it's nice to have people who can help you if something goes wrong - and the course meant a month of getting to know other people who teach English, which in Japan is quite important as knowing the right people can change a lot.

On both counts my choice was justified. The course taught me quite a bit about how to be an efficient teacher and what methods are good etc. I expected a lot of it to be about grammar, but it wasn't. The basics of grammar were explained and that was about it, as the emphasis is on communicative language teaching. Another nice thing about the lessons is that they are peppered with references to teaching Japanese people. So the course will also prepare you for the most common problems and errors of Japanese students.
Lessons start at 8am and last till around 4pm with breaks every hour or so. I didn't find them hard, but there was quite a bit to learn. The class size varies (generally around 5 people) but in my case I was alone, as the other students canceled at the last minute.
Apart from the course lessons, you also have to teach some practice lesson in a real classroom. The goal is to teach at least 2 1-on-1 lessons, a lesson in a nursery school, primary school and a university class. So you can see what lessons of various sizes and age groups are like. Of course the school lessons might not happen if the school cancels (I didn't have the primary school lesson). the nice thing about the practical lessons is that you have them with real, unprepared students. The 1-on-1 lessons can be with somebody you know, but if you can't find anyone, Larry and Dave have a whole lot of contacts who want free English lessons.

Dave and Larry are really nice people who are willing to help if you need it. While they can't get you a job after the course, they give a lot of information on how to set about doing it. From what I understand, nearly all of the people that finished the course and wanted a job have got one. Even those who weren't exactly the most promising. The certificate is something employers look for. One thing to mention here - to get a work visa in Japan you need to have a college degree or 12 years of education in English. The degree can be in anything, as long as the language you studied it in was English. Just as a caution to those native speakers whose education wasn't in English.

I have learned a lot about being a teacher in this course. There was a lot of theoretical input, but also a good amount of practice. During the course we went to a kindergarten, an elementary school, an university and gave some private lesson, which we planned by ourselves. It was really nice to experience how to teach English to people of different age groups. We have also learned how much work it is to create a lesson plan and how important it is to be well prepared.

Unbelieveable! I would not have imagined how much is possible to achieve in 4 weeks. It was really intense! And still, we had much fun together. Larry and Dave understood well to make it lively, real and interesting. The best approach to learning seems to be forget about learning. It's got to be fun! So we started even the driest subject of grammar with a game. Thus I lost my fear of incomprehensible theoretical gibberish. No need to prepare beforehand something which can not be learnt anyway. It is communication that matters and rather less form. We stuck to this principle of communicative language teaching which was pretty enlightening to me as someone who learnt English the hard way.

I found particularly valuable the personal experience about teaching in Japan Larry and Dave shared with us. For this reason alone I would not have wanted to take the course somewhere else. My lesson plans did not work in practise. Surprise! Probably the hardest thing for a teacher is to make his plan work. As a novice I would have liked more guidance how to achieve this and keep my students happy at the same time. Maybe an extra week would do the trick?

In my view this course is a solid grounding on the way of becoming a teacher. I highly recommend the course to anyone interested in teaching in Japan. It made me aware of what it might mean to become a teacher and now I see the work ahead. The course book says "teaching is like dancing". The course was about learning the steps. Nice to know that I can come back to Dave and Larry with questions when I practise my first steps alone. I enjoyed the course and will not just remember when I go through my comprehensive notes in the future. It will be a reference for me!

Both Larry and Dave have years of experience teaching English to many age groups of kids, teens, and university students. Outside of class time they are friendly and are very willing to help with ideas and in giving directions to be successful.

Tokyo is like the coolest place ever (but also the most expensive place ever, just a heads up. And for you vegetarians like myself, it gets even harder.) I was a little bit far away from all the super exciting stuff which was a bit of a downfall, but honestly, that's one of my very few complaints out all all the awesome things I have to say about the city.

The program itself is really rad and you learn a lot of neat things about teaching. Larry and Dave are super informative but also really entertaining. Eventually you get to apply what you have learned in classrooms and in smaller, more private teaching sessions, which is also really fun and engaging. Despite all of the hard work and everything you need to learn, it really all pays off in the end.