CIEE TEFL Online 150-Hour TEFL Certificate Course

Getting into the classroom as a teacher can be a scary thing, but the CIEE TEFL course helped build my confidence pre-departure and help me learn the fundamentals of teaching. Of course, there is no learning experience that can compare to actually being on the job- but the course helped me walk in confidently and feel ready to teach. I'd recommend this course to anyone who has limited experience formally teaching and feels the need to really learn about the basics.

All the support staff and tutors were very helpful. My overseas coordinators were very helpful in helping me land a job in China and answer any questions I had during the application process. My tutor for the TEFL training course was very nice. His grading policies were fair and he answered my questions in a timely fashion. The deadline for all assignments was reasonable. Make sure to stay up to date on the discussion boards and don't wait to the last minute on assignments.

The best part of the CIEE TEFL course is the support from CIEE itself, the tutor, and fellow classmates. Because it's all online, it can be hard to stay engaged, but the powerpoints and virtual tutors are actually very helpful and keep your attention. I recommend tuning in to the weekly video conferences because it's a great way to get feedback and the tutor I had was really capable and great at explaining concepts.
As someone who does not have a teaching background, this course was a perfect way to prepare to teach in a classroom. I am definitely more confident now and have so many resources, activities, lesson plans, and tips for what I'll face as a teacher.
While it is a bit expensive, it's clear that a lot of effort goes into making the course valuable and worthwhile. Great preparation!

I have never taken a course so applicable to my everyday live as a teacher. The material was engaging and interesting even on the web! Before even going to teach English specifically it helped me recognize trends in native speakers in my own classroom. You leave this course with a portfolio of lessons and helpful feedback on each one. Now teaching English to non-native speakers I refer to my material daily and utilize all of the skills we learned. I have had teachers who did not take the TEFL course ask for the notes I use, and got from these presentations. I have gotten so many good ideas from my colleagues by doing peer reviews in this class. And I have received many helpful tips on my ideas as well. This course doesn't just give you information and send you out into English teaching, it provides you a chance to practice it as well. Also if you are somewhere where you don't know the native language you have helpful tips for learning a second language of your own!

I have never been a good online student, I thrive on connections made by talking to people in person, I find it difficult to get those online. I get distracted by silly things on the internet and tech problems are beyond frustrating to me. I had grim hopes going into this online Tefl course, and I was totally wrong.

TEFL give you a community, something I never felt in other online courses. Being in a foreign place teaching a foreign language can feel isolating. Some days are incredibly hard this course gives you a community of people all over the world that are doing the same thing as you, you are not alone! And while different countries will have differences being able to get advice and help from your tutor and colleagues is so helpful.

I took this course as preparation for teaching English in Spain, and I would recommend it to anyone looking to teach English as a Foreign Language. Not only is the certification incredibly valuable in finding a job, but the class will help you develop as an instructor, as well. The course covers a diversity of topics, ranging from grammar lessons to lesson planning to adapting to culture difference to classroom management. This wide range makes the class apt for both anxious beginning teachers and also veterans looking to hone their skills. The instructor and support staff are all incredibly kind, responsive, and timely, and they always resolved issues as quickly as possible. The most valuable part of this course are the Module Graded Assignments, which give you the opportunity to put together lessons, practice teaching, and get feedback.

I really enjoyed being a part of this course and I have to say that it changed my whole perspective on my own learning style and how I viewed teaching in general.

The course is very comprehensive and looks at different aspects of teaching: language understanding, basic grammar, cultural awareness, classroom organization, lesson planning, etc. It was really nice that it combined theory with practical application and gave useful tips and tricks for the classroom. I especially appreciated the live tutorials, it was great to speak to the other students and our tutor in real time - it made me feel like I was a part of a real class to a point where it was sad to say goodbye to everyone at the end of the 11 weeks :)

I liked that I could go through each module at your own pace but you still have deadlines that keep you in check. I work full time and I was able to keep up with the material and assignments each week but when I did the additional readings and research I did end up staying up late at night some of the days, I was so fascinated with everything I was learning. Each module provides a very extensive library of links to articles, videos, blogs and other useful resources which I found very helpful – there is so much about EFL on the web that it’s hard to say which ones are the legit websites.

I did the course without a clear plan in mind and I did not use CIEE’s job placement services, I gave this category a 10 on my rating because they do offer a lifetime job assistance (not placement but guidance) which is amazing and it makes me feel like I am now a part of an exclusive club :) I always thought teaching English as a foreign language was a job I might want to do someday so this certificate course was a perfect fit. I am really happy I did it and I feel confident that now I have the skills and the mindset to be a successful EFL teacher.

The CIEE TEFL program has been especially beneficial to me because this is also the company that has arranged my travel to teach abroad in China in the upcoming year. The course itself is not especially difficult, but it does take a lot of time and energy. The most useful aspects of the course are the weekly assignments and weekly tutorials. Right now I have spent hours rearranging a lesson plan for our final assignment, but I feel like I'm really doing the thinking that will prepare me for real life situations. The power point presentations throughout the modules could use some work simply because they become very repetitive, but I would rather get some of that repetitive information than not get the information at all. My tutor is very willing to answer my questions, and typically responds within 24 hours which is nice. Overall, I would recommend this certification course.

The CIEE TEFL course has been a great experience and I'm really satisfied about my time and money invested in it. I took the course because a friend of mine was going to take it and I thought it was a good opportunity to do it as well. I'm glad I made that decision!
This is an intense course and it requires time and commitment from the students, mostly in the first part of it; at the same time it is a really well structured course and designed for the students to organize according to their own schedules.
Definitely it's a door for great experiences and it's really helpful if you want to start a teaching career.