Rigorous Course with Awesome Teacher in a Beautiful Place!

The TEFL certification course was quite rigorous! One definitely must earn it, not just receive it. The material was thoroughly presented in an effective manner. Days were packed with class time, homework, reading material, and lesson plans. The books were informative and resourceful. My teacher, Audra, was impressive. Not only was she clearly an expert at teaching grammar, she made it fun. She showed plenty of personality while still being a professional. She had me cracking up laughing every day, all day. Anyone who can make grammar fun, is witty and admirable in my opinion. When I was struggling with the amount of work or feeling discouraged from my mistakes , she pointed me back in a positive direction. She presented the lesson plans just as we were being taught to present them to our future ESL students. She made it look so easy! Having the opportunity to spend our last week doing Practical Teaching with real, Spanish-speaking locals, gave us a chance to apply what we had learned all month. This was the most important part of the course. Real-life experience was necessary to becoming certified. We got a chance to implement everything we had learned, and to present our own lesson plans. After I got over the fear of making mistakes, it became enjoyable. The course taught me how to be prepared with a well-organized, effective lesson plan. By the end of the course, I was comfortable teaching a group of ESL students. It became fun building rapport, managing a classroom, increasing student-talk-time, eliciting information from them, confirming their comprehension, correcting errors, and being relaxed enough to show my personality. The facility itself was outstanding! It was large, very clean, nice landscaping, an enticing snack bar, a kind and helpful staff, air conditioning, wifi, lockers, printers, computer access, and a million-dollar view of the Pacific ocean! I would recommend Maximo Nivel in Manuel Antonio, Costa Rica to anyone interested in getting their TEFL certification. Wonderful people, beautiful place, and new, effective teaching skills I can use in the future. Thank you Audra, my teacher, and thank you to the lovely ladies at Maximo Nivel who made me and my dog Rasta feel so welcome during our course attendance (July-August 2017). Thank you for your humor, kindness and joy. Sincerely, Rasta and Erica