Program Reviews

I decided to teach overseas because I wanted a bit of an adventure. Growing up overseas, I always enjoyed experiencing new cultures and traditions (and food!). I also wanted to learn from teachers who are from other parts of the world!! I hope to gain new teaching methods and practices from my colleagues. I just want to grow as a teacher and as a person. I didn't really know what to expect when I applied to Teach Away. I had my phone interview talking with Mia. While it was an interview, I felt like she was encouraging me through my answers. After I accepted my job, Mia continued to answer any questions that popped into my head. The webinars that they hosted were informative. I guess in saying all of this is that the recruitment process of Teach Away has surpassed my expectations.

Teaching in Thailand was everything I imagined it would be and more. It was a perfect place for me - combining my need to have a positive impact on the future of my students and my love of sandy beaches. I found everyone I encountered at Teach Away to be very helpful throughout the process and even once I was abroad. I am currently using their website to find my new placement and wouldn’t look anywhere else. I spent a year abroad in Thailand and have vowed to go back at least every other year to visit the many life long friends I have made. Everyone should experience the beauty of Thailand!

I was looking for an experience of a lifetime and that's exactly what I found! In the beginning, I was a little overwhelmed but found comfort in the knowledge and expertise that the Teach Away placement coordinators provided - they helped guide me every step of the way as I found my new teaching home in Dubai. Once I was there, my anxiety disappeared and the whole experience exceeded my expectations. I ended up staying on at my school for 2 years and would have loved to extend it even further but another adventure awaits!

The TEFL course was very enjoyable and the content was great. I enjoy how they make sure that you are learning everything about teaching English from creating lesson plans to preparing yourself into going overseas. I am very excited to start my journey overseas and see everything it has to offer. I leave in a month for South Korea and could not be more happy. Everyone in the process has been great from the start of my TEFL course to finding a job and going overseas.

I am very happy with my placement here with EPG schools in Kuwait. The partnership of EPG with TeachAway has provided me the opportunity of a lifetime to explore a new culture in a multi-cultural school setting. I have had amazing support from my employer. The organization is a first-class professional business group that has the right people in place to provide an outstanding education for its children. I feel that this position is the best fit for me so far in my career and I hope to spend several years here.

I was graduated as a TEFL teacher from a different college many years ago and have worked in a few countries both in state and private institutions. In the past 6 years, I've been teaching EFL mostly online and as a volunteer. So, after a long break from classroom activities, I needed a refresher to catch up with the most updated approaches and techniques, especially in the use of multimedia and teaching test preparation, which is in demand nowadays. U of T TEFL course was the right course I was looking for and I enjoyed it a lot. It's well structured and includes everything you need in order to deliver a successful classroom activity. It worked for me as an experienced teacher but it's also perfect for anyone starting a career in TEFL. Also, I'm from Toronto and I know what it means to be certified from the prestigious U of T !

I completed the course quite easily. The tests are easy and they're a simple repeat of all the practice questions you get while completing the units. The information taught is interesting, though superficial. I really appreciated all the handouts they give for each unit, I think these we'll come in handy. Since everything is in "powerpoint" style, but on video, taking note is not super easy. You have to re-write everything, no copy pasting possible unless you do screenshots. They give lesson notes but they are in pdf format, so un-editable for most of us and they are crappy notes... You have to complete reflexion journals for each unit: the topics are interesting, but they do not give any usable feedback when reviewing them. If you write them you pass I guess, whatever you write in them. I would have appreciated a bit more effort in commenting these journals, so that my "reflexion" could grow, if that makes any sense.

As for the job assistance, it is non-existant. They have a website with job postings, and that,s pretty much it. When I asked for some support or help, or advice, they sent me an email saying that I was doing a great job at building my profile, that it looked good. Nice, but completed useless. Most of the job posting are a direct to school type of application, so Teach Away actually doesn't do anything. I think it's obvious that I am very unsatisfied with their support. I though that by applying at UoT with Teach Away, I would have some help sorting through the postings and the scams and the legit offers. I was so wrong...

So as I said, you pay for the name of the University I guess. Is it a good thing? I don't know!

I took the 150 hour course, with specializations in Teaching Business English and Teaching English to Arabic Speakers. As a full-time student, doing the certificate online was really helpful as it allowed me to do the course on my own pace and free time. I think if you're a more practical learner, this might not be for you, but personally I liked the online aspect a lot. I found the courses to be very in-depth, the material gets very theoretical but it becomes easy to understand because it's all explained really well. The quizzes and journals were all great too because they focused on everything you've learned up to that point so there were no surprises (very straight froward). Staff responded really quickly and efficiently to any concerns or questions I had about the course which also made things much easier for me. All in all, would definitely recommend to anyone wanting to get a certification to teach abroad or to improve/add on to any qualifications you already have. I thought the course was a little too pricey at first, but you have to keep in mind that you are getting a lot of information and material including tips and handouts to keep with you, so it balances out really well. The specializations are great too because they can make your teaching resume more attractive depending on where you want to teach and they provide more in-depth info about what you want to learn about that wasn't offered in the regular curriculum.

Teach Away has been professional throughout the process of applying for a teaching job in the UAE. The support has been tremendous and my coordinator has kept in touch and informed me on each step of the process. I have not arrived in the UAE as of yet, but many of my colleagues are there and have only shared positive feedback with me.

I recently completed my 150 hour TEFL course with the University of Toronto, specializing in teaching English to Koreans and teaching business English, and overall it was a positive experience. The content of the course is both relevant and enlightening. Each unit is broken into manageable portions, and the interactive material is easy to navigate. They also provided really great resources and links. Make sure you take lots of notes as there is tons of great information that you'll definitely need to review. The tech support was excellent, they got back to me almost immediately any time I experienced an issue. All in all I would recommend this course to anyone who is seeking a teaching position!