Program Reviews

I loved the peace of mind that using ciee to find my school gave me. I’ve never had a problem with my school but I knew that if I did someone would be there to help. When I decided to come to Korea I had heard a lot of scary stories about sketchy hagwons and was really worried I would fall into a bad one. After I heard about my school and community from someone who clearly cared about my happiness (and had personally lived in the area) I felt much more reassured about moving to a country where I didn’t know anyone or anything. My school turned out to be a perfect fit; largely because my recruiters listened to what I wanted and asked and answered all the right questions in order to get me where I wanted to be. In fact, I’m about to start my third year at the same school, I just can’t tear myself away!

I have been here for about 8 months now and I like the country and the people, for the most part. However, not liking the school I am placed at. The students are fine it’s management that’s the issue. But all-in-all I wouldn’t mind doing this program again, but just in a different city and school. Also, I feel that CIEE should do a little better taking care of their teachers, especially the new ones. When I first arrived no one called or sent an email to check-in making sure I was ok. I was the one who had to initiate the conversation few weeks after arriving. At least once a month call or email making sure the teachers are ok, i.e., living conditions, how is the school, how are they adapting, do they need anything, etc... that’s just my opinion.

I'll be the first to say I got really lucky. My school staff was super welcoming and quick to include me and share Korean traditions with me. My students are so sweet, many of them are artists and would draw super cute doodles of me as gifts. They often saw me out in public and would say hello to me and they loved to ask me questions about what I was doing with my time in Korea. The downside is that I didn't have too much freedom with my curriculum but I made do and I worked around it and through it the best ways I could. Some other teachers who also joined EPIK were not so lucky in their area staffs at their school were not so welcoming or accommodating, in this case it really is luck of the draw. I personally have had a great experience both with EPIK and doing my TEFL through CIEE. I had great support and learned a lot over the course of my experience.

I took CIEE's TEFL class because I was planning to teach English in Spain through their program. I had no formal teaching or education background, and this course helped me feel much more comfortable coming into a teaching setting.
I felt that the weekly tutorials with a tutor and classmates were interesting and helpful. Discussing ideas with other fellow TEFL students allowed me to think of things I otherwise wouldn't have come up with. The information each week was, for the most part, quite helpful as well. In particular, I enjoyed the brief history of the English language, as it has been useful in explaining the differences between various English words and their roots. I have also been very grateful for the many activity ideas provided throughout the modules and have used many in my classroom already this year.

I had to pay $2000 for everything, equivalent to a month's pay. This includes a TEFL, but a TEFL shouldn't be more than $500. If you're well-off and don't feel like putting in the hard work or are too unsure of yourself to do so, this is the way to go. But there are surely more cost-effective strategies. I'd recommend just getting a recruiter and taking it from there.

Even still, the company is very thorough in getting you in the best position. It will guide you through every step, and there are a lot of steps. The main attraction of CIEE is the orientation weekend, which is the most fun I've had yet in Korea. But it's not $2000 worth.

The TEFL course is very time consuming, but you can bomb the weekly assignments as long as you get solid multiple choice and final exam scores, as I did; they're quite easy. I just got stuck with a cranky tutor, which makes the tutoring sessions unpleasant.

I have been teaching in Korea for about 1 year so far. It has been a unique experience. I work at a Private School which holds a lot of different aspects compared to Public Schools. CIEE was very helpful through all of the application and TEFL process, which helped ease the pressure of teaching abroad.

Working at a private school has been a great experience. I've come to learn about the differences of the Korean education system. I've heard of horror stories when it comes to working at private schools, but CIEE was able to help me find one that was the right fit for me. So far, I've been having a great time and am grateful to be working in a great environment and community. Overall I would recommend this program to others, because it's a great way to have a support system in a foreign country.

Creating a new life halfway around the world may seem overwhelming and terrifying to some, but the constant support of CIEE helped my transition to be smooth and so worthwhile. This program helped me to step out of my comfort zone in making new connections and putting me in situations I never thought I would be able to accept. I ended up quickly falling in love with Thailand and I cannot thank CIEE enough for that. If you are considering this program even the slightest, stop thinking about it and send in the application! I promise it will be the best adventure yet.

Now, six months into the program, it is crazy to think how far I have come. I live two hours east of Bangkok in a rural town called Prachinburi. I am at the point where my favorite restaurant knows my meal by heart, students are constantly running up to me at the local market, and I know the ins and outs of the roads. A place that was so unfamiliar and unknown has now become my “home”. Partnering with CIEE has been so incredible and I can only encourage others to make the leap.

Teaching in Korea has been an amazing experience. I’ll admit that I was nervous going in and didn’t really know what to expect, but it was easily to get acclimated. CIEE’s TEFL course prepared me for most of my day to day challenges as a teacher. I found that most of the things I was really worried about, like classroom management, I had practical knowledge to apply from the course. The support I received from them has been amazing from application until now. Of course, there are also tons of people who have already been through the program who are ready and willing to give you advice. I’ve just decided to renew for another year since I like it so much. If you’ve been wanting to explore another country and culture, but couldn’t imagine making it a reality, look no further.

CIEE acted as my recruiter for the EPIK program, and they did a good job. My only issue was the mandatory CIEE orientation. It was fun, but it definitely was more geared towards hagwon/private school teachers than public school teachers through EPIK, but EPIK has their own intensive orientation so it really is not much of a problem and it ended up being a fun weekend either way. Overall, I highly recommend CIEE.

I got my TEFL through CIEE as well and found that there was a lot of support during that process. Because CIEE is such a well-known program, there was always a network of people to talk to, and the TEFL course itself prepared me well for my experiences abroad. Ultimately, I felt like CIEE gave me the tools I needed in order to succeed internationally in South Korea.

The TEFL program was a very nice tool for learning about different things to expect in a classroom. It opened up a conversation for scenarios that may take a new teacher by surprise. It also provided quite a few ideas on how to work quickly and go with the flow.

For someone, like myself, with very little teaching experience in a classroom, this course provided a good primer that others who studied Education may have received. I did not study Education so this course did help to give me an idea of what to expect in my own classroom.

While the online portion of the course was beneficial, the practicum really taught me quite a bit. The requirement of getting out and practicing in a classroom was very beneficial. I am happy this is required so that my first time in a classroom wasn't in front of 50 Thai children.

The CIEE TEFL course really was quite nice. The lectures were interesting enough, conversation with other coursemates and the teacher were insightful, and the practicum gave me confidence.