Teach English in Cambodia with LanguageCorps

In Cambodia, the TEFL certificate is practically useless. Employers don't know much about TEFL certificates and don't care. The program is way too expensive for working in Cambodia especially because it doesn't cost them much to run the program in Cambodia. I have heard that the cost of living in Phnom Penh has gone up a lot in Cambodia in the last few years, but the pay rate hasn't and in some cases has even gone down (some have started taking tax out of pay, when before they didn't).

That being said, if you have the money, the program is okay in what it teaches. There aren't very many options for TEFL in Cambodia. If you plan to teach in other countries after, a TEFL certificate may be required (Vietnam or China maybe).

I have nothing but good things to say about the instructors. Everyone is very personable and has given me great assistance and advice.

However, I do have several criticisms.

1) The resume/CV building part of the course seemed, to me, to be just time filling nonsense. In two minutes there could have simply been a template designed on Microsoft Word and distributed to the students, rather than spend 1.5 hours writing on the board what needed to be done.

2) When the course was over, no one at the hotel (Marady Hotel) told me I would start to be charged the Saturday immediately following the conclusion of the course on Friday. One would think there would be at least a weekend grace period to find new accommodations. On the contrary, I went to check out on Sunday afternoon and found out they charged me for the two days. No one said anything about this beforehand nor offered any reminders.

3) The job assistance feature I felt was lacking. We were told to have a copy of the CV and a picture. But some of the "affiliated schools" (for lack of a better term) requested cover letters, glossy CV's, color pictures, etc. We were not adequately prepared for that and it was rather embarrassing. I got my job due to luck, I knew a teacher before hand and he got me in. A Language Corps friend of mine still does not have a job after 1 month and is now leaving for China.

Small potatoes though, I'm nickpicking on what otherwise was a fantastic experience with a great group. The trips to the beach and Angkor Wat were particularly memorable. I would do it again in a heartbeat. My criticism are more aimed at making the LC experience better as a whole, so as to grow your company even more.

LanguageCorps was a great way to be introduced to a totally different country. I went to Cambodia in 2009. The one or two extremely helpful staff acted as your translator and helped figure out visa situations, housing, job placement and so many other little things that would be near impossible without the help of a local. The other amazing part of the program is bonding with your group of fellow teachers the first 2 weeks in Cambodia before most go off and teach in Thailand or Vietnam. You are instantly in a social scene with these people as well as the staff and the languagecorps alumni still living in Phnom Penh. Even when the groups separates after 2 weeks you now have friends to visit in surrounding countries.
As for the quality of the training, I was somewhat unimpressed for the price. One or two trainers were experienced educators and were able to pass on helpful knowledge for when we would start teaching. A few of the other trainers had no clue about teaching, but stood in front of us bumbling on and on to try and pass the few hours they had with us.
The refreshers in grammar, punctuation, and tenses were helpful although I still felt under-prepared once I started teaching. A lot of it is left up to you to learn as you go, which is ok and understandable since we only have 2 weeks together.
The following 2 weeks of in country training consisted of language training and practice teaching.
The Khmer language training was really great and allowed me to learn useful phrases and words right away. We even went out in a group to a small store and had to buy things without using English. The practice teaching was hit and miss. I ended up teaching to different random people everyday that were brought in to act as students. Others got to teach the same kids over and over at orphanages.

Overall I think langaugecorps is still worth it (if you get the more basic/cheaper packages). You will meet awesome people (local and fellow program participants) that you will bond with, you will get a nicer, smoother intro to a completely foreign country than if you were to show up and try to get work on your own. You will have a network or past and future languagecorps participants in your area.
No one can prepare you to teach English in a first world country in 1 month (people take 4 years to teach in their own country), however I think lanaguagecorps could have done a better job with the time they had with us. They know this and were trying to improve, so I'm sure its somewhat better now. Either way, if you understand this and know what your getting for your money I'd say do it.