Program Reviews

Getting my TEFL Certificate through Hello Academies was an amazing experience! They helped me with every step of the process from picking me up at the airport to job assistance after finishing my TEFL certification. The TEFL instructor is extremely talented and the rest of the staff members are helpful as well. I finished the course in August '15, am still living in Prague, and have no plans of leaving!

My time in Italy was one I will never forget. I lived with a family and took care of their adorable little girls for just over two months during the summer. I lived in Rimini, a small town with big personality, right on the Adriatic Sea. Living directly with a family allowed me to fully immerse myself in the culture, especially since the mother treated me like one of her own children. I was brought to family parties, encouraged to meet all of their friends and even went on vacation with them. Working with the girls I was able to learn about different cultural parenting styles and began to speak in decent Italian. Occasionally I would even venture to work with the mother learning about business culture abroad.
I was able to quickly find English speaking friends who were also Au Pairing in Rimini. We quickly bonded and they became my best friends and amazing travel buddies as we explored the country on weekends. The five of us were from all walks of life and committed to keeping in contact. I even have plans to visit one of them in Finland during the next year!
In addition to being all around a fun and exciting trip, I also learned a lot about responsibility and being on my own. This trip was the first time I had traveled to another country alone and thanks to the support I received from Smaller Earth and my host family I feel I am better prepared for life because of it. Now I want to travel all of the time! I could never really sum up all my amazing experiences in just a few paragraphs so you need to just try a trip for yourself, I promise it will be worth it!

Such an amazing start to my trip! Met so many friends in the first week. I kept running into people I had met on this tour throughout the next year in all parts of Australia. Basecamp was the best! Sand boarding, fires on the beach, dolphin watching tours... A bunch of us went to a surf camp together right after the tour that was arranged by the same company where all my new friends helped me celebrate by birthday. They bought a birthday candle and put it in an orange and surprised me the morning of my birthday by singing me happy birthday in 3 different languages and waking up everyone else in camp! Great friends, and amazing memories!

When I got my bachelor's degree in January, I was sure I still need to work on myself to get a well paid job. However, I knew I did not want to continue my education at university. For this reason I decided to take TEFL course here in Prague instead and I gotta say I will never ever regret this decision.

TEFL course gave me exactly what I expected - a lot of useful theoretical information concerning teaching and work with various levels of students, as well as many hours of practice. By the end of the course I had finished 13 lesson of English teaching - where else can you get this in just 4 weeks? :) :) :)

I also had a chance to become friends with many English teachers who work here in Prague. It means that anytime I need a piece of advice, or just want to hang out with people who have similar interests, there is always someone ask.

The main reason I decided come to Prague complete to my TEFL certificate was because I wanted to experience studying in another European country and meet like minded people.

Many people had told me before I started the course about how intense it was. This was definitely a good thing as this meant I could prepare myself -in the end I didn't actually find it too intense!! Yes, we were in class every week day from 9.30 until 6pm but there was quite a long break in the middle of the day. We had every weekend free to explore the city and meet past participants of the course.

Before I came to Prague I hadn't yet decided if I wanted to stay on for longer. After just 1 week I knew I wanted to stay for the summer! Prague is a beautiful city with so much happening during the week and at the weekend.

Hello Academies has a fantastic TEFL course, but its really the people who make the course so enjoyable. The staff were extremely friendly and helpful. The alumni group is probably one of the best things about doing the course at hello academies. Before coming to Prague I did not know anyone.
There are so many events organised at the weekends which are fantastic opportunities for meeting past students of the course. I have made so many new friends from around the world, and hope to make even more this Summer.

The accommodation we stayed at during the course was satisfactory. It was in a safe environment however it was a little far from the city centre. The Wifi was free but not very good; instead I just got a Czech sim card with data for internet.

This course has been an absolutely amazing experience. I would definitely recommend to all my friends, and especially to anyone who loves meeting new people and travelling.

Overall, I had a really great experience doing my TEFL course with Smaller Earth. The instructor (Barbora) was excellent and very knowledgeable about the topics we needed to know. After this course, I feel prepared to teach anywhere in the world. The lessons were very helpful and teaching 2-3 times a week definitely boosted my confidence.

Prague itself is an amazing city, and if you are thinking about doing a TEFL certification I would definitely recommend doing it here with Smaller Earth.

Overall, I really enjoyed the TEFL Course in Prague. It was an amazing experience meeting people from different parts of the world. I will say this, once you are part of the program you automatically join such a tight knit family. I abosulelty loved our TEFL instructor...so full of energy and knowledge. And for that reason I would recommend the program to any future students.

My experience here got off to a rocky start but with the support of the staff, things got easier. The course is very intensive and for a native English speaker, it was also a great refresher on English grammar. I would say if you want to a chance to travel and meet new people and have fun while doing it, this course is a great course to do. The instructors are great, natural, warm and friendly and they help you as much as you can if you have issues like I did. A bonus is that Prague is a beautiful city and the cost of living here is very reasonable.

I was so hesitant at first to be an au pair in a foreign country where I know absolutely no one, don't speak the language, and would be living with a different family. I am so happy that I pushed myself to do it because I have met so many amazing people, learned so many things that you cannot get out of university class, and have traveled all throughout spain. My spanish has improved a ton thanks to my wonderful host family. I have grown so much from this experience. I would recommend this program to someone who is open minded, looking for a life-changing experience, and is willing to go outside of their comfort zone. I wish I signed up for 6 months because this is seriously amazing!

I feel so lucky to have been able to be an au pair in Spain. I'd never lived in another country before this trip, so I was definitely nervous, but it ended up being much better than I could have imagined. The au pair Spain program matched me up with a great family who lived just outside Madrid, so I could see the sights of the big city while still having the peace and closeness of a small neighborhood. Alison from Smaller Earth was very helpful as well with the journey towards living in Spain. She answered all of my questions and made me feel more comfortable about leaving. Getting out of your comfort zone and traveling to a new country will change your life. I would recommend it to anyone who needs to break out of their daily routine.