I responded to an online advertisement by SEE TEFL Chiang Mai, Thailand in making inquiries about its ‘TEFL program’ and the ‘job guarantee’ it gave. I told John Quinn, the director, that I was a non-native English speaker without a university degree and asked if the course was worth doing given the oversupply of native English-speaking tourists in Thailand with a TEFL certificate. We had over twenty email correspondences on the prospects of doing the course and his ‘job guarantee’. He appeared very professional and convincing in his emails and his responses were within 12 hours. Among other claims, this is what he told me before I paid and enrolled for the program -
‘A degree isn’t an eligibility requirement for our 4-week program; however, a degree is normally needed to obtain a non-immigrant B (Business) visa and work permit. A non-immigrant B visa and work permit is normally required to work legally as a teacher in Thailand.’
‘There are legal loopholes some formal schools used to work around this. For example, classifying the teacher as a classroom assistant. In addition, agencies are often non-formal schools, so they can provide non-immigrant B visas and work permits for teachers without degrees; they then subcontract their teachers to formal schools. Non-formal schools, such as language schools, are less strict regarding degrees as their supporting paperwork isn't processed through the Teacher Council of Thailand (TCT).’
‘We are also a language school and employ around 40 teachers at our school; we also subcontract teachers to other schools in Chiang Mai and several other Northern Thai towns. I estimate around 10 of these teachers don't have degrees, but we obtained non-immigrant B visas and work permits for all of them. These jobs, when available, are open to our SEE TEFL graduates. We currently have 3 vacancies.’
‘We've been training teachers and working with schools since 2006. Schools and agents over those years contact us when they are looking for teachers. We have a network of schools that rely on us for their teachers, schools that forward their job descriptions when looking for teachers and agencies that contact us when they need teachers. There's no other side; it's just a network that has developed over time organically.’
Upon receiving these assurances from him, enrolled for the 168 hours Ofqual Level 5 TEFL course for its Oct-Nov 2022 intake. During the first two weeks of the course, everyone at the school seemed friendly and everything seemed alright but in the third week onwards, familiarity bred contempt. Some of the crew working for EFL Learning Center managed by his wife, were less courteous and the friction was normally over the usage of the photocopy machine which brought them and the trainees at loggerheads. The new staffs were polite, but the older ones were obnoxious. My gut feeling about the school was not good, and neither were the vibes.
The TEFL trainees were young Americans, British and one was Canadian and they stuck to their tribe. They were backpackers traveling in Thailand looking for an English teaching job to pay off their travel expenses. There were many red flags about this school.
The name SEE TEFL appeared only on cloth banners and an inconspicuous small wall sign inside. There were no signboards outside the school.
The receipts issued for payment of TEFL fees were not from SEE TEFL but bore the name ‘Effective Foreign Languages Chiang Mai (Lanna) School’,
Both the director and his wife had multiple website for their programs.
The school had two businesses under one roof. The director managed SEE TEFL,, the other was EFL Learning Center, belonging to his wife. Emanating from EFL Learning Center are two phantom schools - Effective Foreign Languages Chiang Mai (Lanna) School and Effective Thai. They were just signboard names. The joke of the day written behind SEE TEFL’s certificate is - ‘SEE’s TEFL curriculum is a part of Effective Foreign Languages Chiang Mai (Lanna) School run by DSS International Language Services Co., Ltd’.
During my 26-day stint at SEE TEFL, I noticed all classroom partitions on the second floor belonging to EFL Learning Center were empty. The cleaner went in daily to wipe off the dust from the tables. The only classroom that was occupied was the one on the first floor next to his wife’s office. I used to see an old British man giving private tuition in the evenings to not more than three students on weekdays and during weekends, there were some students. But what were those unoccupied rooms upstairs for? Were they there to deceive the authorities that EFL Language Center was a bustling language school?
I perceived a sense of fear and insecurity at SEE TEFL and EFL Learning Center. There were CCTV cameras located everywhere. We were told that there is an ‘IT Support staff’ whom we could approach if we encountered technical issues in printing but the IT Support staff, when I approached him for assistance, gave me the impression that he was hired for something else and kept returning to his desk. All that he did for 8 hours a day was to keep a vigilant eye on the website as if anticipating a cyber attack. the director too, was never at his office downstairs but always upstairs either doing the same or sleeping.
The TEFL course at SEE TEFL, Chiang Mai was horseplay. The ‘program content’ stated behind the TEFL certificate is no more than an exaggeration of what actually took place during the training. The school bought time with 8 hours of Thai lessons and one day was wasted going to temples and museums in the name of ‘Thai Cultural Awareness’. The director's reasons were for us to ‘experience what is it like to acquire a second language’, a phenomenon linguists refer to as L1 Interference but I was of the opinion that he did this for two reasons. First, to cross-sell the Thai language course of its phantom school Effective Thai which hardly had more than one student.
The 120 hours TEFL program covered only one productive skill i.e., teaching 6 target languages on grammar. The ‘grammar and teaching inputs’ were all connected to the 6 TPs and there was nothing much on teaching theory apart from two pieces of paper and one piece of paper on classroom management. Photos of whiteboard plans for all 6 TPs were taken and sent to us via Group WhatsApp and completed lesson plans for all 6 TPs were sent to us via email. We just had to replicate, make minor alterations, and produced them to the ‘assessors’ during the Observed Teaching Practices making it look as if it was ours. The 6 TPs at Thai public schools never taught learners receptive skills but only one productive skill - grammar.
On the third week of the course, questions and answers to the ‘Grammar Test’ were given for us to memorize and regurgitated during the test on the fourth week. On the day of the test, the trainees submitted their test papers within 10 minutes and walked out of the classroom. As I went through the training, I was disgusted by the fact that both SEE TEFL and its TEFL course were ‘endorsed’ and ‘recognized’ by both TQUK and Ofqual.
Upon completion of the course, on the second last day, I assumed that participants received different levels of support. This was SEE TEFL’s ‘job guarantee’ - an open secret. I received a cold shoulder and was ignored for reasons best known to them.
Two months after the course, I went to SEE TEFL to collect my TQUK certificate which had just arrived. A lady at the reception telephoned someone upstairs informing my arrival. From her countenance, I sensed that something was not right. She hung down the phone and went behind to call the lead trainer, who refused to give the certificates without my filling a feedback form for their ISO certification. Like everything else about SEE TEFL, the feedback form was a dodgy piece of photocopied paper, its alignment slanted and the prints were so blurred that I could hardly read. One could tell that it was no more but a rough piece of paper used to harvest favorable reviews to be published online.
It has been over five (5) months since I ‘graduated’ from SEE TEFL, Chiang Mai. I sent my second updated resume over three weeks ago to SEE TEFL and EFL Learning Center. Unlike prior to enrolling for the course, where email responses were within 12 hours, I received no response from the director. Three days later, I called him to ask if he had received my email and the attached resume. He told me that he did but does ‘not handle the employment part’ and that ‘the girls at the reception normally do that and not to send him any emails about employment’. The following day, I received an email from EFL Learning Center. It had no salutations, it was unsigned, and had only one sentence - ‘Thank you for your email.’ It was obvious to me that the person who had sent me that email wished to remain anonymous for reasons best known to her.
I wrote to the University of York recently making inquiries on the prestigious Trinity CertTESOL. The Associate Lecturer in English Language Teacher Training from the Department of Language and Linguistic Science responded to my queries by saying -
‘In truth, I don't know what you mean by "the TEFL" (i.e. who organises and runs this course). However, I do recognise the CELTA as the Certificate in English Language Teaching to Adults, as accredited by the University of Cambridge.’
If you are a native English speaker (NES) with a university degree looking for a ‘piece of paper’ to teach English in Thailand to pay off your travel expenses, you may do your TEFL course here because you will not need to depend upon SEE TEFL or EFL Learning Center to find you employment in Thailand. But if you are a non-native English speaker (NNES) with or without a degree looking for a job in Thailand, they may or may not assist you in finding employment and you will have to take the risk of putting your money in their hands. Their ‘job guarantee’ is a trump card and an attempt to lure and entice the unwary to enroll in their TEFL program.
Response from SEE TEFL
Our response:
Yanasagaran enrolled on our Oct/Nov, 2022 4-week onsite course. This training course comes with job support, but placement isn't guaranteed. This is clearly stated on our website. This was also repeated in an email exchange between SEE and Yanasagaran two weeks before he enrolled.
September 23rd, 2022
SEE: "So much regarding finding work depends on the teacher: how they come across in an interview, smart appearance, polite and personable manner, flexibility etc. Hence, I can't say that any trainee will find work within a certain time frame"
Yanasagaran: "Will you be able to give me an assurance that SEE TEFL will be able to get me a job in Chiang Mai or anywhere upon completion of this course? By this, I do not mean arranging for a job interview with a prospective employer but gainful employment at a school within a reasonable time?
SEE: "We can support the job search but can't guarantee that schools will offer you work. We're confident that we can find you good leads for you and then it's your job to pass the interview if there is one"
Yanasagaran then enrolled on October 7th, 2022
He acknowledges in his own words that he alienated his fellow trainees: "The TEFL trainees were young Americans, British and one was Canadian and they stuck to their tribe.". Then, he insulted them: "They were backpackers traveling in Thailand looking for an English teaching job to pay off their travel expenses.". They were in fact the type of people who read this website to look for TEFL courses in order to teach abroad.
He acknowledges in his own words that he alienated our staff: "The new staffs were polite, but the older ones were obnoxious.". It's highly unlikely our staff were ever obnoxious to him. However, one staff member told me that she was scared of him.
He wrote:
"The name SEE TEFL appeared only on cloth banners and an inconspicuous small wall sign inside. There were no signboards outside the school."
Our response:
There is a large permanent and prominent sign above the entrance of our school with the name of our school license: ‘Effective Foreign Languages Chiang Mai (Lanna) School’. As you enter the school in front of you is a wall behind the reception desk with the brand names of the 3 programs we are licensed by the Thai Ministry of Education to offer under our school license: 'SEE TEFL', 'EFL learning Centre' and 'Effective Thai'.
He wrote:
"The receipts issued for payment of TEFL fees were not from SEE TEFL but bore the name ‘Effective Foreign Languages Chiang Mai (Lanna) School'".
Our response:
As explained above, SEE TEFL is a brand name. It operates under our school license which is named: ‘Effective Foreign Languages Chiang Mai (Lanna) School'. A brand name cannot issue receipts.
Our 'Accreditation' page clearly describes our licenses, accreditations, recognitions and endorsements including copies of all the relevant documents.
https://seetefl.com/accreditation/
You can actually see for yourself the entrance to our school and the school license sign during the first ten seconds of of our introduction to SEE TEFL video here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cqvgsU_OLaM
He wrote:
"They also hosted TEFL review platforms to advertise SEE TEFL"
Our response:
He doesn't name them because they don't exist. If anyone can find them, please email us and let us know.
He wrote:
".. and used google analytics to bring any search on CELTA or TEFL to their doorstep."
Our response:
He doesn't understand the terminology he is using. Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is used to optimize a website using keywords in order to direct relevant searches to a website. This is how all websites improve their organic search results. Google Analytics is a dashboard any business can use to analyse the visits to their website.
He wrote:
"The school had two businesses under one roof. The director managed SEE TEFL,, the other was EFL Learning Center, belonging to his wife. Emanating from EFL Learning Center are two phantom schools - Effective Foreign Languages Chiang Mai (Lanna) School and Effective Thai. They were just signboard names. Unlike China, it is easy for foreigners in Thailand to set up fronts while engaged in other ‘businesses’ using their ‘Thai wives’ as a backdoor."
Our response:
We actually have 3 brands/businesses under our roof. As explained earlier, SEE TEFL', 'EFL Learning Centre' and 'Effective Thai '. He doesn't know who owns them. John manages SEE TEFL and Dr Ying manages EFL Learning Centre and Effective Thai.
EFL Learning Centre focuses on teaching EFL to mainly Thai students in our school, via Zoom and at local businesses. EFL also manages EFL teaching positions at a wide range of formal schools in Chiang Mai. These jobs are offered to our SEE TEFL graduates.
He wrote:
"The joke of the day written behind SEE TEFL’s certificate is - ‘SEE’s TEFL curriculum is a part of Effective Foreign Languages Chiang Mai (Lanna) School run by DSS International Language Services Co., Ltd’."
Our response:
The only joke is that it is true, but he thinks it's false. DSS International Language Services Co., Ltd. is the operating company managing SEE TEFL and our school license.
He wrote:
"During my 26-day stint at SEE TEFL, I noticed all classroom partitions on the second floor belonging to EFL Learning Center were empty. The cleaner went in daily to wipe off the dust from the tables. The only classroom that was occupied was the one on the first floor next to his wife’s office."
Our response:
EFL classes tend to take place when students are not studying at school or working. IE evenings and weekends. TEFL training takes place Monday to Friday between 9am and 4pm. He wouldn't have seen classrooms busy with EFL students because he wasn't there when they studied. In addition, he took his SEE TEFL course during the pandemic when many of our EFL students were studying via Zoom.
He wrote:
"I used to see an old British man giving private tuition in the evenings to not more than three students on weekdays and during weekends, there were some students. But what were those unoccupied rooms upstairs for? Were they there to deceive the authorities that EFL Language Center was a bustling language school?"
Our response:
EFL Learning Centre is a bustling school. Check out its website and Facebook page:
https://efl.ac.th/
https://www.facebook.com/EFLChiangMai
He wrote:
"I perceived a sense of fear and insecurity at SEE TEFL and EFL Learning Center. There were CCTV cameras located everywhere."
Our response:
CCTV cameras are located outside the school to protect it from burglaries and inside the school to protect students from theft and inappropriate behaviour. It also allows our staff to know when a classroom is being used.
He wrote:
"...the director too, was never at his office downstairs but always upstairs either doing the same or sleeping."
Our response:
He didn't know where the director was and what he was doing when the director wasn't in his office.
He wrote:
"...The director's reasons were for us to ‘experience what is it like to acquire a second language’, a phenomenon linguists refer to as L1 Interference but I was of the opinion that he did this for two reasons. First, to cross-sell the Thai language course of its phantom school Effective Thai which hardly had more than one student. Second, it was no more but a smoke screen to delude the authorities from probing into SEE TEFL’s legitimacy."
Our response:
There's no cross selling, but we would love to know more about why having Thai language classes "delude the authorities from probing into SEE TEFL’s legitimacy."
He wrote:
"As I went through the training, I was disgusted by the fact that both SEE TEFL and its TEFL course were ‘endorsed’ and ‘recognized’ by both TQUK and Ofqual."
Our response:
This is an incorrect description of our relationship with TQUK and Ofqual. TQUK conducts education and course quality assessment. It's an Awarding Organization regulated by the UK Government Office of Qualifications and Examinations Regulation (Ofqual). TQUK awards our Level 5 course certificates.
He wrote:
"Upon receiving these assurances from him, enrolled for the 168 hours Ofqual Level 5 TEFL course for its Oct-Nov 2022 intake." and "The TEFL course at SEE TEFL, Chiang Mai was horseplay. The ‘program content’ stated behind the TEFL certificate is no more than an exaggeration of what actually took place during the training."
Our response:
The 168 hours Ofqual Level 5 TEFL course he mentions is accredited by TQUK. The certificate is also awarded by TQUK which is regulated by Ofqual. It isn't awarded by SEE TEFL. The content listed on that certificate matches the content of this program. We need to forward a trainee's course work to TQUK in order to claim a certificate. They will only issue their certificate if the course work covers the curriculum for this program.
He wrote:
"Upon completion of the course, on the second last day, I assumed that participants received different levels of support. This was SEE TEFL’s ‘job guarantee’ - an open secret. I received a cold shoulder and was ignored for reasons best known to them."
Our response:
He didn't attend the last day of training which included the finding work workshop. For us to support him finding work, he needs to submit the work preferences form given to trainees on the last day of training. He was also asked to forward his CV in order for us to support his job search. We cannot present him to schools without a CV. 2 months later he submitted the job preferences form. 5 months later I received his CV.
He wrote:
"Two months after the course, I went to SEE TEFL to collect my TQUK certificate which had just arrived. A lady at the reception telephoned someone upstairs informing my arrival. From her countenance, I sensed that something was not right. She hung down the phone and went behind to call the lead trainer, who refused to give the certificates without my filling a feedback form for their ISO certification. I found the practice of obtaining coerced feedback from its trainees on the condition of releasing their certificates rather strange and unusual "
Our response:
Our Thai female staff was/is scared of Yanasagaran. As part of the ISO Quality Management System, we are required to produce a work preference form and feedback form from each trainee. If we cannot produce them when we are audited by Bureau Veritas, we may not pass the audit. Our lead trainer requested those forms from him. The TQUK certificate is not issued by us. If we didn't forward it to a trainee after claiming it from TQUK, we would be penalized. The issuance of certificates is never conditional on completing those two forms.
He wrote:
"It has been over five (5) months since I ‘graduated’ from SEE TEFL, Chiang Mai. I sent my second updated resume over three weeks ago to SEE TEFL and EFL Learning Center. Unlike prior to enrolling for the course, where email responses were within 12 hours, I received no response from the director. Three days later, I called him to ask if he had received my email and the attached resume. He told me that he did but does ‘not handle the employment part’ and that ‘the girls at the reception normally do that and not to send him any emails about employment’. The following day, I received an email from EFL Learning Center. It had no salutations, it was unsigned, and had only one sentence - ‘Thank you for your email.’ It was obvious to me that the person who had sent me that email wished to remain anonymous for reasons best known to her"
Our response:
I received a short email from him on April 13th: "I just returned from Bangkok a couple of days ago after finishing a teacher training course. Please find attached resume and let me know if you have anything suitable." Included was a Google link to his CV. The link expired a few days later. April 13th is the first day of the Songkran Holiday in Thailand. Schools and businesses are closed for up to one week starting on this day. Our staff were on holiday and there was no way to forward his CV to schools as they were also closed. He was fully aware that there would be no staff to process his CV at this time. Just over a week after April 13th he started writing negative reviews about us such as this one.
He had also sent an anonymous message via WhatsApp to our lead trainer on Christmas Day, 2022. The content was offensive. Our trainer managed to trace the message back to Yanasagaran via the phone number.
He wrote:
"I wrote to the University of York recently making inquiries on the prestigious Trinity CertTESOL. The Associate Lecturer in English Language Teacher Training from the Department of Language and Linguistic Science responded to my queries by saying -‘In truth, I don't know what you mean by "the TEFL" (i.e. who organises and runs this course). However, I do recognise the CELTA as the Certificate in English Language Teaching to Adults, as accredited by the University of Cambridge."
Our response:
The University of Cambridge doesn't accredit or offer TEFL courses. He has confused Cambridge English, the awarding body for CELTA courses, with the University.
John Quinn
SEETEFL Director