140 hour course in Bali

The TEFL center is located in Sanur on the dual carriageway- getting there by foot will leave you sweaty so rent a bike or take a taxi. Inside, you'll find Widi- a Balinese admin who will do her best to make your trip amazing, she's incredibly friendly and I still talk to her every now and then.

You'll also see Georgie; the TEFL teacher. She offers sage like wisdom to both teaching and life abroad having spent nearly 10 years (i think) teaching in Asia in all realms: online, schools, TEFL training and the english speaking test (a test non-native speakers have to take to prove they speak english to a high enough level, I have no clue what its actual name is). Georgie has helped me with everything I can think of, Visa extensions, restaurant recommendations, job seeking and everything in-between.

My experience on the course was unique having spent the entirety of it on my own (accompanied by two incredible women (Georgie and Widi)). Georgie hadn't taught one-to-one before and the course is definitely tailored around there being more than one student but we made changes and I dont think my experience was negatively hindered by this. Having done the course by myself I have no clue how Georgie is with a big group of students. I felt like I could always ask Georgie anything I wanted to, often she would try to explain things in a way I would understand, some people have said she can be very quick, I didnt think so. She has a very hands on approach to teaching and enjoys active activities making things very student centered- you should follow her example when teaching.

The course featured a mix of teaching techniques, lesson planning techniques, classroom management as well as some english lessons to explain different tenses you already knew but didnt know how to explain. I found that my interest and knowledge of the english language grew after having done the course. The last 2 weeks of the course are intended for practicals- you leave the center with Georgie and go to various schools around Denpasar/Sanur to do practice lessons on real students. You'll get a mix of age ranges (I taught Kindergarten, 1st grade, 5th grade and adults) as well as a mix of different lessons to teach (Vocab, grammar, tenses etc.).

In week 3 you are led by Widi on an excursion to a new area of Bali (all expenses paid for). I went to an ancient temple in Ubud, followed by coffee tasting and then dinner overlooking the mountains and rice fields. I'm not sure if she tailors each of them to the individual students but for me it was the perfect day out. In addition to this, theres a welcome and graduation meal paid for by DTEFL.

In my teaching practicals, Georgie gave me a TON of feedback, way more than I could handle. This is a good thing because you'll end up a better teacher for it but after a really stressful lesson, its kinda in one ear and out the other. Sometimes I felt like I was a really bad teacher but in hindsight she was trying to be as helpful as possible.

The center provides tea, coffee and ice cold filtered water (the coffee is Nescafé) and is fully air conditioned. The bum gun in the toilet has really good pressure. The surrounding area features really good restaurants.

I spent ~8 hours per day with Georgie, if you're looking for a better recommendation, you're not gonna find it.