Program Reviews

The impression of OISE left only positive one. They reply on questions asked promptly and clear.
In general with the course, the experience has been more then good but not great.
From bright side the program has excellent study materials, I really proved my knowledge, got more confidence and made my outlook wider! That's what I am grateful for!
On another hand, course has 120 hours which has two sections, 100 hours of ground knowledge and 20 of chosen specialty. The thing is, that after some lesson (I would say roughly after 60th hour) the materials are repeating itself, it is boring. The materials have identical meaning but presented in different ways. I have got an expression that those materials made to fill up the required 100 hours. The 20 hours of chosen specialty has its advantages of being short and clear on the subject.

My name is Pauline Mwendwa from Nairobi, Kenya. I am a 27 years old adventurous and spontaneous teacher. I teach English and Literature both at Middle school and High school Level. I am currently teaching at Oxford School of English here in Monterrey, Mexico. I have been a teacher here for almost three years now.
This is my story. When my Best friend Flevian and I decided that it was time we diversified our dreams and move at least to a different country, I personally had no idea which country would be my destination. All I knew was that I needed to experience a new culture and learn a new language. So I went online and send out over 100 applications to all parts of the world. I received a couple of offers but some of them required huge amounts of money to move. Mexico was the option that I felt comfortable going for especially due to my financial situation. Also, it was intriguing for me because guess what, I had never thought of Mexico in my whole life and to be honest I never knew where Mexico was, and I never knew even a single Spanish word!
It wasn't the easiest decision to make moving to Mexico and I have never regretted it either. My teaching experience for the first year was not an easy one due to very many challenges such as language barrier and culture differences. After 3 months of working at Lincoln School in Guadalajara, Jalisco I was fired! Yes you read that right. That was my most devastating moment in my life. I was in a foreign country, I did not speak their language and I had no relative around. I contemplated going back to Kenya for a few days but I knew I had so much to accomplish in Mexico before I called it quits. I knew I could make it and God had better plans ahead. So I stayed without a job and with no means of survival. With my little savings that I had, I took a flight to a different State, Nuevo Leon where I am right now. This is where I learnt about the TEFL course through my online research in pursuit of understanding and solving the challenges of teaching English as a second Language. Before coming to Mexico, I had been teaching English for a couple of years in Kenya. I knew I was a competent teacher and an excellent one for that matter. Lo and behold! Teaching English and Teaching English as a second language are two different worlds altogether. With TEFL course you can easily be both. Through this course I learnt a lot that I wouldn't have known. If you are considering teaching in a foreign country you are on the right path. But, first things first. There are things that you might need to consider first. Learn the culture of your country destination, familiarize yourself with their religious believes and political views and if possible learn a bit of their language. Most importantly, take a TEFL course. This will make it easier for you to kick start your adventure. Also, you might need to be careful about the institution you choose to undertake your TEFL course. There are numerous institutions offering the course, but reviews should be your guide. After my research, I chose University of Toronto because of the positive review I read from different people, and true to the word, it was an amazing experience. The organization of the content, the constant online support and above all the prompt feedback from the tutors was my best part.Today I am proud to be one of the most outstanding graduates from OISE University of Toronto TEFL.
My most outstanding testimony is how much I learnt about classroom management. Any teacher would concur with me that this is usually the most challenging aspect of a teaching career. Being able to manage 25 to 30 different personalities with different background, interest, talents and challenges in the same room and at the same time is not a walk in the park. Since I took my TEFL course, my teaching experience has never been this exciting and lively. Lately, my students give me a reason to look forward to my next day, unlike before. I am looking forward to an even more adventurous and exciting teaching career in different parts of the world.
Lots of love to everyone and always be wild!

I enjoyed the content of this course as it highlighted information that I was not familiar with in an accessible and simple format. I felt comfortable learning at my pace, and was challenged to apply what I had learned by tests and reflection journals. I also found it very useful to recount earlier information that was reviewed as the course went on, further indicating which skills were the most useful while overseas. The lesson planning course I found particularly useful, as was the lesson pertaining to how different students learn. I would prefer for some more evaluation in between the beginning and the end of modules, as I feel like it would offer a better assessment of what has been learned. I felt like every lesson had something of value to take away, and I am looking forward to applying what I’ve learned in the global classroom.

The course was well laid out into smaller pieces o that one could concentrate on certain portion at a time. The timing was good. Whenever help was required, it was there. The staff at the University of Toronto teachaway were very patient and friendly. I would certainly recommend this course to anyone who would like to teach English as a foreign language. It would be wise to take note as you go along, so that you would be able to do the quizzes. The quizzes were very helpful. They were a good source of feedback to keep me motivated to hang in there. I enjoyed the material in the course. It really prepared me for teaching. It was informative and interesting as well. The journals also played a good part in helping us to apply what we had studied in the lessons. Also the little excises with our suggestions were very important as well. The structure of the course was great because we got feedback all the way.

I was enrolled and completed the Teachaway TEFL 150-hour certificate. I found that it covered a good and wide range of topics and lessons that one could use when teaching English. The topic I struggle with most was the English grammar portion. There was a lot of English rules and word types that I just took in as how to use without really know the facts and logic behind it. There were several that even now I get stuck with. During the course the tests would tell you which lesson to review so you could help yourself succeed. I took my own personal notes throughout the course and took pictures of slides and diagrams I wanted to remember which help my own testing and reviews. I found this course easy to narvigate and the marking was done efficiently.

This is an excellent course. I enjoyed it; found it quiet comprehensive; and, believe it has prepared me well. I found particularly interesting the background material on language acquisition theory which made what followed much more meaningful and was also important to me as a student of other languages. The faculty is excellent. They are steeped in knowledge and experience, and clearly know how to prepare you for the challenge ahead. The breadth of topics is large but necessary, and there is just enough repetition throughout that one begins to truly learn and internalize key concepts. In addition, there’s lots of opportunity to apply what you are learning, as you are learning it. I liked that. At the end, I did not feel as though I had been exposed to just slide after slide of information, but rather I felt I really knew how to do something, that is, how to prepare a thoughtful and effective lesson plan, and execute it so that students succeed.

Very good course, lots of information taught through this course. There were game materials, teaching support materials, and in-class activities provided for students to download throughout the course. The writer of this course was also very keen on communicating the importance of environmental protection, which is a significant challenge facing the current generation. It's worth spreading the message about how we can give back to the world rather than only take from it. The support normally responded quickly to my inquiries.
Three big concerns I had with this course:
1. During my course, there was a course update where all the course materials changed. All my past work had disappeared, including lesson journals. I wasted 6 hours redoing a few units because I wasn't allowed to move on.
2. Since the course update, the journal resubmissions at the end of every unit did not match with the journals we had written throughout the course. As a result, you were asking us to copy and paste our answers whereas in reality, we had to write fresh journal entries, sometimes about items which weren't included in the course.
3. It has now been almost 4 months since I completed my course and I still have not received my certificate. It's a ridiculous amount of time considering the $1000+ that this course costed. People lose out on a great many job opportunities in this period.

I think that some people have the naive assumption that being a native English speaker qualifies them as an English teacher. On the contrary, as I have learned throughout the process of this course, explaining the rules of English grammar to the initiate is far more challenging than simply knowing how to use them yourself. The course opened my mind to the complexities and challenging nature of the task that lies ahead. I feel that taking this course is a great first step on the path to what will become a successful teaching career.

Most of the units were interesting. I especially liked learning about the different philosophies of language instruction have been developed over the years. In one of the earlier units, for example, Noam Chomsky's theory of universal grammar is discussed in detail.

Likewise, the online assignments were actually quite engaging and allowed room for the exercise of creativity. For example, at the end of the grammar unit, after learning about all the different philosophies of grammar instruction, you are asked to write a document about your own personal philosophy to teaching grammar.

Overall, I found the University of Toronto's online TEFL program to be an effective and engaging introduction to the world of teaching English abroad. I feel more confident moving abroad and jumping into this radically new endeavor after completing this course.

I've heard about the program through a friend, I did research on the online programs and decided on Toronto University. Started in May, completed in October.
In the 100 hour core curriculum first couple of units were boring - necessary, but boring. After completing 100 hours, I got the chance to learn about the actual reason I enrolled. Teaching Abroad, and Teaching Young Learners. +20 hours specialization modules dd not took 20 hours to complete. There were 3 lessons in Teaching Abroad, and 10 in Teaching Young Learners. In all honesty I did not understand why they call it 120 hours.
Lessons are overall interesting and educational as well as fun and interactive.
Reflection journals can be frustrating at first but if you do the readings listed in the beginning of each lesson, you can get the hang of it. They are important to self check your progress.
Brochure is misleading. It says there are many job opportunities in Europe, which we can apply through Teachaway, I've been checking jobs since July and did not find a single TEFL job available in Europe. I will find a suitable job for me but it is not going to happen via Teachaway.

To Elspeth, Kevin, and Shannon,
Thank you! You were always available to answer my questions. I appreciate your solution oriented attitude.

Overall I really enjoyed this course. You definitely have to be a self starter as with any online learning material. The course went into alot more depth in certain areas than I would have ever considered myself. I appreciate the psychology this course follows - catering to individual needs and personalities, different generations of students etc. Its a very model approach by following this mentality, as well as touching on diversity im tje classroom. The support was great when I needed help too. I gave an 8 for the rating about helping to find a job only because I havent looked at that route yet - just trying online teaching for now while traveling. :) quite possible I'll use this in the future! Online teaching is definitely more restricted for flexibility and content, however theres still so much I can apply and practice from this course, before I move on to possibly teaching in q classroom. Appreciate all the support from staff and truly enjoyed this TEFL course.