Vantage Siam (Vantage TEFL Certification)

I arrived to Thailand a week or so before the Kingdom essentially shut down its borders. After some five months or so having a great time hanging out at the beach, I began to think about how I could reinvent my life. My career in the entertainment business had been pretty much wiped out overnight—at least for the foreseeable future.

Teaching English seemed like a great choice given the unstable demand for teachers and the face that I was a native English speaker. While I had no real classroom know-how, I wondered how my voice training and experience as a professional singer would make me a good language teacher.

The single best move I made was to discover the Vantage TEFL teaching course in Bangkok. It was a life-changing decision.

The four-week course of intensive training reigniting my life again. Their Lead Trainer has decades of experience and is one of the finest English language teachers in Thailand. He doesn’t lecture and instead uses a workshop style that always engages his trainees. A key strength is that he instructs with uncompromising attention to detail.

It was the observed teaching sessions that made this course so special. Theory and grammar is all very useful—indeed essential—but Vantage will also show you how to use grammar in context of teaching a language topic and not in isolation that is the hallmark of traditional language teaching.

We taught real-life lessons in schools, to students of various ages and abilities, and it was here that the knowledge we got from our course book was transformed into viable teaching skills we’ll need to be successful in the classroom.
I also got to work one-on-one with Vantage’s Jobs Coach. He help me with all my future career questions. His guidance in job searches, resume writing, and interview techniques was of great value.

His ‘Power Resume’ is as advertised—a highly effective marketing brochure that sparked an interest in a product—me! I had a job offer even before I graduated! And I was getting offers to interview to everyone I contacted.

This is a five-star course which gave me a whole new lease of life. Doing my TEFL at Vantage was one of the best decisions I’ve ever made.

Postscript update: In the two weeks since graduation, I’ve applied for five jobs and I got offered for all five positions.

Vantage’s Power Resumes really work! Indeed at a couple of interviews they mentioned how professional my job documentation was some of the best they’ve seen.

I’ve accepted a job as the Head of Music at a prestigious Bangkok school where I will be teaching theory & appreciation in English. Things couldn’t be rosier.

I’m a Canadian expat who has lived in Thailand for 30 some years. Covid dramatically affected my business in the hospitality industry, so I needed another income source and I looked at teaching English as a variable possibility. But I had never taught before and really didn’t even know how to get started until I found Vantage.

Vantage TEFL, with Chris and Kevin, is without doubt an invaluable asset that I would highly recommend.

In just four weeks, I learned from 2 professionals with a wealth of experience, what it takes to create and deliver a successful class. In effect, to become a “good” teacher.
I gained confidence with each practice lesson I taught, and the feedback I got guided and directed me to comfortable and confident with each subsequent class.

I’ve been taught methodologies how to teach that makes it engaging and fun for both the student and teacher. More importantly, it enabled my students to use English to speak in a second language.

I now have the confidence to teach anyone, anywhere.

The course has now ended, but the help does not. Kevin caters to what age, level, school, you might like to teach and guide you to several opportunities of interest.

If you need to start a new career as I did, these are the guys to be talking to.

I wanted to make a career change into teaching English abroad, but I had no formal training nor experience. A friend’s recommendation and my subsequent research pointed me to Vantage.

Vantage turned out to be an impressive program. I cannot overstate the support I was given and the overall quality of their TEFL training. My self-confidence grew dramatically as I went through the course, and I had a solid job offer by the time I finished.

Last year, in a pre-COVID era, I wanted to do some advance study. At Vantage’s suggestion, I enrolled in their Combined Course, which allowed me to access their online TEFL course book for self-study. The plan was to come to Bangkok early this year and do my observed teaching practices in Thai schools.

COVID put a halt to the Bangkok training. However, by that time, Vantage had developed their virtual program. I switch to Virtual Vantage, which allowed me to get practical teaching experience—with real students in a live class--via Zoom.

Kevin and Chris always went the extra mile. They directly monitored every class I taught and followed up with a one-on-one video conference to discuss my strengths and identify areas for improvement. A lot of what you read about online teaching is really about one-on-one instruction. Teaching a group online is way different—definitely more challenging than individual coaching and also being in a traditional classroom.

If you can succeed in online group teaching, you definitely will excel at classroom teaching. And at rate, I’m really glad I now have online teaching skills as I see this as rapidly growing market for teachers.

I’m already putting all my training to good use. The week after graduation I’ve had my first classes and Vantage’s teaching materials, methods, and invaluable feedback enabled me to guide engaging and productive classes. The ESA teaching formula I learned allowed me to quickly ascertain the student’s language level, and guide a conversation that included my being able to practice some grammar points.

Most importantly, Vantage’s program has given me the self-confidence to rapidly refine my teaching ability. People skills are crucial, as is the willingness to listen to the student. The deceptively simple approach of asking the students what they want to get out of the classes, along with their interests, is worth its weight in gold.

I did a lot of research before committing to this course.

I have a bachelor’s degree in education and formal training and experience in this field. So I was more than a bit skeptical of what a one month TEFL course could add to my skills and background.

This course completely exceeded all of my expectations. Chris, the lead teacher, has decades of knowledge about what to teach and how to teach it. Kevin is their Jobs Coach and he’s a pro with creating resumes that are impactful and giving career advice. A great teaching position was found even before I finished the course!

The Vantage team have created an environment that promotes hard work and all the tools to grow into a successful English teacher.

Their observed practice teaching sessions were amazing. First, we taught primary aged students in a Thai government school. Later we taught college students online. To experience both a traditional classroom and an online platform really gave me a great feel for the spectrum of English language teaching.

I walked away with confidence and tools for further developing my teaching practice.
Was there anything not to like? Hmmm…well I graduated on a Friday and started my new job on Monday…maybe a bit of a break would have been nice.

I would recommend Vantage again and again to anyone considering a career in teaching English overseas.

I had been teaching privately for nearly a year when I approached Vantage. They say you can’t teach an old dog, but there were a lot of new techniques I learned during this course that really opened my eyes.

During the first days of the course, I was introduced to the ESA methodology that provided me a whole new framework on how to prepare a class lesson—something I didn’t do before.

Before when I taught my private classes, I would just go through the course book. Often my students would begin to be ‘less enthusiastic’ once the formula of the book became routine.
Now I have a whole new way of structuring an entire class so my students are much more engage and get more speaking practice.

In our practice teaching sessions—in a classroom with young Thai students—we got excellent feedback after each class.

Vantage really prepared us for all kinds of teaching. We also taught college aged students online. A lot of what I learned in the classroom was valuable for online teaching, but not everything. Not everything that works in a classroom can be replicated on an online platform. I also needed to learn new techniques for internet teaching and I had to prepare group activities would be effective online.

My class finished on a Friday and the next week I was still working with Vantage on formulating a personalize job strategy, which included a great new resume.
Vantage will go the extra mile to ensure you’re getting started in a good job with a reputable school.

If you interested in more than just a job, but a successful career teaching internationally, Vantage are the guys to talk to.