CIEE Teach Abroad & TEFL Reviews

I decided to get my TEFL to help me towards future jobs. I think CIEE did a great job with the course. The course construction was well organized and filled with great links and content to help me prepare myself for a TEFL teaching position. My teacher was helpful and resourceful. She was very flexible and caring. If I had a problem with the Internet or conflict with my work schedule, she helped me work around it. My only two complaints would be the price of the course and the required weekly meetings. The weekly meetings were hard to make because of my work schedule. They made it a requirement if I wanted to pass with distinction with my TEFL I had to attend so many classes.

I have had an overall good experience with CIEE. I just wish my school coordinator was more flexible to work with! I love my students and I have never learned so or felt so independent in my life, and I am surely an improved, more decisive traveler, friend and person because of this experience. Madrid has tons to offer from food to international friends, there is rarely a dull moment! There is so much the madrileños and spain as a country can teach you about history, language and fun, Madrid and Spain hold a special place in my heart.

CIEE TEFL has completely changed my life for the better. I've always been interested in second language acquisition and linguistics, and I am familiar with the difficulties of learning a new language because I had done so myself (more than once). I wanted to help others in their language learning process, but I never knew how until this opportunity came to me. Being TEFL certified through CIEE has opened up so many opportunities not only here in the USA, but also abroad. I am able to teach at summer camps in Europe, tutor children online in my own home, and offer classes to the public at the local university because of the knowledge of English language teaching that I acquired while taking this course. I can now help people, children to adults, all across the world with the materials, methods, and tools that CIEE TEFL gave me. I couldn't be more grateful.

I thought this course was certainly worth my while, however, the mandatory classes and some of the mandatory discussions every week were a bit superfluous since we didn't go over a lot of new material. The class sizes are small and the instructor is very hands-on so that helps make it an overall positive experience. The best part about it is you can do it from anywhere! And the practicum requirement is great fuel to the fire to get out there and get started teaching. I'm now an English teacher for foreigners in San Diego and I put the methodology I learned in CIEE's TEFL course to use each and every day. Definitely one of the best options for a solid ratio of price to quality!

The TEFL course that I took through CIEE offered very practical knowledge of teaching methods and how to adapt to students' various learning types.

The instructor provided a good amount of constructive feedback to assignments and lesson plans. The instructor took the time to leave valuable comments.

The course also provided an exceptional amount of supplemental websites, blogs, and reading material for continuous learning.

I would recommend this course to anyone looking into pursuing a TEFL certification.

This is my first time taking a TEFL course, and I thought it would be easy.
The course has been challenging, but in a fun interactive way. The weekly conferences and assignments refer to each other each week to build a great understanding of the material and how to use various techniques to teach effectively. I has been very informative in guiding me toward being a successful teacher. Just stick with it and I think anyone can go far.

I went into the CIEE program on a lark. I had studied a TESOL program at university but "life got in the way" as they say. I've always been interested in language and culture, and so I had been forced to put my goals on the back burner. In December of 2017, I decided to shop around for a certification program just on a whim, and saw that there were an assortment of different online courses I could take. Many of them were little more than diploma mills shelling out pieces of paper for $100. CIEE seemed reasonable, with its accreditation, and manageable $1000 cost.

So, I enrolled, and started January 2018. I didn't know what to expect--after all, I was a university dropout with little experience. I was anxious about taking a class that involved a lot of group activity; I just wanted something I could complete on my own online. Of course, I was naively unaware just how unprepared that would have made me.

CIEE did its job in preparing me for a career in teaching. The website took a little to figure out how to navigate, and the workload seemed intense--that coupled with the fact that nearly all of my classmates were university graduates and I was just some poor kid from the hood without any travel experience really made me overwhelmed. But let me tell you--I thrived.

If you take this course, the first thing you'll probably realize is that you need to take it seriously. The freedom to do course work whenever you want is a double-edged sword: deadlines will be impossible to meet if you don't have several hours a day to set aside. Regardless, balancing this and work (for me, a tutoring job that I got because of my practicum; I'll talk more about that later) was easy as long as I had discipline.

Those first two weeks were eye-opening. The learning curve isn't bad at all, I felt completely scaffolded every step of the way, not like I was dropped into the deep end and expected to swim. But there is a LOT of work involved. When they say it's a short, intensive class, don't take that lightly. It really helped me curb my terrible procrastination habit.

As the class went on, I got to know my school mates, participated in many group discussions, and kept on top of my work. I learned so many things in those short few weeks, about teaching, culture, and even about my own biases.

The course would have not been the same without such amazing teachers. My instructor Annette was wonderful, and Allie who also spoke with me on many occasions was a great help. I was never kept waiting on responses, they were always prompt, direct, and went above and beyond to help me with my individualized issues. Don't expect to do this course on your own--you don't need to. You will have so many opportunities for help along the way.

At the end of the course, I felt wholly prepared to teach. I've since kept a volunteer tutoring job at my local university for far longer than the required 20 hours (which I was able to complete in a week and a half), of which 19 I was directly teaching students. I still work there, and will be continuing after the brief break, in which class resumes on May 30. I use all of the information I learned in the CIEE course regularly--I found none of it to be fruitless or artificial. They teach you more than the bare minimum, but just enough that you will flourish if you put your mind to it.

If you're even considering this program, do it. Seriously, do it. There's nothing to lose--the price tag is worth saving for. I was just some uneducated guy from the poorest county in my state, and now I've received my certificate and graduated with distinction. I'm in the process of waiting to hear back from Murcia in the hopes that I will have my first teaching job this October.

Here's my advice to anyone who thinks this is the right fit for them. First, make time for your class. To keep on top of it all, you'll need around 2-3 hours a day to work on your assignments. I did this five days a week, with my weekends being relatively free, unless I had a particularly large paper due. I was one of those kids in high school that always finished quicker than the others, so I thought going into this "They recommend 2-3 hours, but I'll probably need about 1." I was wrong--2-3 is a completely valid estimation.

You will need to stick to a schedule, because the deadlines will be tough to meet if you don't. You have five "units" a week (essentially one class a day), a video conference on Monday, and a paper due on Wednesday. The teachers will make adjustments for you if "life gets in the way" but seriously, I cannot stress enough that keeping on top of your school work is important. Like I mentioned earlier, I graduated with distinction so, trust me when I say this works.

Next, ask questions. The instructors are there to help you, and they will, but they can't read your mind. If you have a problem, whether it be technical or otherwise, ask them and they will get back to you quickly. I had problems with my passport on the application and Allie helped me immensely to get that all sorted, and I had some technical problems as well which Annette was very gracious enough to help me with. They are one of your resources, so use them.

Take good notes. Seriously, I was the worst note taker ever in high school, so I made sure to be extremely organized with my notes during this course. After the first few days, I started to learn how to take better notes (this became obvious when I was studying for the finals!), and they will seriously come in handy. Not only for your weekly quizzes, papers, and finals, but also just as a resource for your future career. I still have all of my notes saved with the intention of using them this October.

Lastly, don't get discouraged. If you like learning, language, and online courses, you will do fine. It isn't a difficult class at all, so long as you take it seriously. I thought I wouldn't do well because of my upbringing, but you'll find that no matter where you come from, this course can work.

I cannot recommend this program enough. If you like culture and language, do it. If you want something extra to put on your CV, do it. There are so many worse ways to spend your money--so why not put it to something useful?

Have fun, and see you in the alumni network.

My experience teaching in Madrid, Spain has been wonderful.
CIEE has been a big part of that experience as they go above and beyond to make sure our stay is in the best way possible. CIEE staff is very helpful and is always available to answer questions, provide guidance, and support.
The school where I teach has also been a great experience. Teachers are very friendly, provide great knowledge, support and are very inclusive. They make us feel part of the school family.
I certainly recommend CIEE for the teaching abroad program!

Teaching in Thailand with CIEE was the perfect program to help me pivot from corporate America to a life and career abroad. With no prior teaching experience, CIEE provided me with a surplus of information and tools to successfully leap into being an international educator. From the moment I was accepted into the program, CIEE was incredibly responsive with any questions or concerns (no matter how big or small). They kept me well-informed on each step before my departure and were equally as supportive my first few weeks in Thailand. I had multiple opportunities to join calls, webinars, and forums to speak with participant alumni and hear their experiences firsthand. This allowed me to get a glimpse of what my day-to-day might look like and reassured me that I made the right decision. Additionally, CIEE staff members have deep international experience, and I valued working with people who were knowledgeable and passionate about travel and life abroad.

I spent 11 weeks learning about the theory and practice of teaching English as a Foreign Language. Each week we had to complete a module comprised of 5 (sometimes less) lessons, one for each day. The toughest ones were about English grammar. Each lesson took up at least 3 hours to complete, for me. It may have taken me less time, but for good or bad I wanted to complete the course "with distinction." That meant maintaining an average of 90% or higher. There were written assignments called Module Grade Assignments (MGAs) each week that took a few hours to complete, each. I just have to say that this was an intensive course and it challenged me as much as any high level college and graduate course that I've ever taken. I have not gone abroad to teach, yet, but I feel that every aspect of teaching was covered in this course. I would recommend it to anyone seriously interested in teaching, whether for the first time, or as a new career. Which is my case. I was able to apply the theory to the assignments--the culmination of which was to write a complete lesson plan that included all the components we had been building up to. There is also a practicum involved, which is 20 hours of teaching and practice at a local school that teachers English. I was fortunate to know someone who teaches English to elementary school students, and observed and worked with her for a few weeks. During the course, there is interaction with other students through messages (written, voice, or video) and a weekly meeting with our Tutor, who is very knowledgeable about teaching English abroad. I do recommend this course, emphasizing that it is time-intensive.