Vantage 120-Hour TEFL Certification

The Vantage instructors and staff were highly professional, super knowledgeable and, importantly, had a great sense of humor. The lead trainer gave us an easy-to-understand grammar review. He has decades of classroom experience and his practical advice of what to expect and do in the classroom went far beyond the course book.

We got one-on-one help and feedback for each of the six lesson plans we had to create for each practice teaching session. These all had to be on a different language topic. Then we got great feedback on each session as well as a new challenge for the next classroom. We also had to observe the other trainees and it was incredible to watch them all get better day by day, session by session.
Vantage has a Jobs Coach and he trained us in resume writing and interviewing techniques. I worked with him on creating my own Power Resume and other job supporting materials like cover letters and thank you notes.

The Vantage trainers have lived in Bangkok for years so they imparted a ton of local knowledge about the Thailand which was very helpful to many in my class.

This was a fantastic course. I’m now professionally certified and I'm ready to teach.

Though I already had success as a teacher, I wanted to learn best teaching practices for teaching students learning English as a second language. I chose Vantage as it’s certification came from an American accredited university.

The course was very insightful on all levels. I first learned how to formulate great lesson plans that would be successful in the classroom.

Vantage emphasizes the ESA teaching methodology and it’s a smart and more effective than the techniques I had had been using before. I will continue to use this technique moving forward.

Many schools I taught at previously had no course plan little in materials. Beyond the actual learning experience, Vantage gives its students a vast database of teaching books, worksheets, video and other relevant materials that will be a big head start in my next professional teaching assignment.

Another big plus—in terms of employment—were photos and videos of me teaching a real class that I agreed to have posted online. I can show these to prospective employers and they can see me actually teaching. The fact that the practice teaching is done in a real nursing college will also be impressive to an interviewer. This will be far more persuasive than interviewing with an online earned certificate with which requires no real practical teaching experience to acquire.

I attained world-class teaching certification from an internationally recognized school. As a result of Vantages professional training, time-proven techniques, and expertise in job placement, I already had a full-time teaching job only days after finishing the course. I can’t imagine a more satisfying experience.

Vantage TEFL was both a challenging yet a highly rewarding experience.

I first learned how to create a lesson plan that I could resource materials for and then successfully deliver to a class. I received the right tools to effectively reach all age groups of students.

The observed teaching practice was extremely helpful and this is where I really developed the skills I needed to learn how to teach. I found myself improving every lesson—both through my self-evaluations and the excellent feedback provided by the course instructors.
In addition to critiquing my last performance, I was always given a new challenge to incorporate into my next teaching session.

I am confident that the knowledge I’ve learned and the skills I have formed in this course will stay with me throughout my teaching career.

Even before I left Texas, I was getting all the information from Vantage I needed to get me to Thailand and enrolled in the course effortlessly.

In the course, we learned about what teaching EFL involves and reviewed the basics of English. I liked the way we alternated between the two. Chris, the lead trainer, is incredibly versed in all the topics introduced. His whiteboard work offers shortcuts and mnemonic devices to remember things (like key grammar points). To top it off he has a good sense of humor so the class flows along nicely with a few laughs between and during unit teaching
That brings me to the heart of the course—the six observed teacher lessons. This was the heart of the course in my opinion. It started the second week of training so I had near instant classroom experience. In the end, you had the knowledge and the skill of what teaching EFL was all about. I would never have been able to get in front of a class without an experience like this.

Kevin is their Jobs Coach—the trainer for the resume writing and interview techniques portion of the course. This information and preparation were excellent as it is geared toward finding a teaching position in Thailand. He is a wealth of information about Thai job sources and the global EFL industry.

This course absolutely opened my eyes to everything about teaching.

The Vantage trainers are highly experienced both as teachers and in career coaching and job sourcing. The TEFL course itself is really well-structured and highly organized. I've learned a lot about teaching methodologies, teaching techniques, and classroom management.

I enjoyed the course toughly even though it was a little intense to finish up the 120 hours of study and 6 hours of teaching practice in just one month. Vantage always kept its classes engaging and even, for the most part, fun.

I’ve gained a ton of self-confident from this course. During my 6 hours of teaching practices, I saw myself getting better with each teaching lesson. I got a lot of great observations from Vantage’s trainers and advice on enhancing my teaching to the students.

I made some friends for life in this class. More importantly, I’m ready to teach in any classroom any time. If you want to become a professional teacher, I believe Vantage is your best TEFL option.

This is one of the most intersting and useful courses I’ve ever taken. The course book was very well structured and helps trainees approach new skills for teaching later. The materials also brought clear insights of how to prepare lesson plan as well as to manage class professionally.

My observed practice teaching sessions was where my knowledge was turned into skill. It started with a first day so full of anxiety and thinking I could never do this to my last session where I felt supremely confident. That was also a sad day in that my practicum was over and I wouldn’t be with my students anymore.

Vantage really stand out in their quality of their trainers. They are incredible in terms of knowledge, and teaching experience. He guided trainees with his heart and never said no when trainees asked for help. You couldn’t ask for anything more.

I will strongly recommend this course to my friends. I strongly believe that they will benefit from all the knowledge I gained during the course.

This review may be a little different. I was already TEFL certified and I’m an experienced teacher. My goal was to observe a top-notch TEFL training program in action so I could become a full-time TEFL trainer in a center in the Philippines.

I chose Vantage as it was recommended by TEFL international who certify some 30+ training centers around the world. Moreover, it’s the top-rated program in Thailand according to some of the major review sites like this one.

One of the first differences I noticed at Vantage was their workshop style of presentation—instead of the lecture approach I had when I did my TEFL. This promoted a lot of discussion with the students and it allowed the lead trainer to share his over two decades of experience on a topic basis. We ended up learning a lot more than just what was in the course book.

Vantage’s curriculum emphasizes the ESA teaching methodology (engage, study and activate), which is an evolutionary development out of the older PPP (presentation, practice, and production) technique. In the ESA methodology, the teacher tries to motivate the students and arouse their interest. Language is studied and practiced and then used freely without correcting comments. A key benefit is that students learn how to communicate successfully without fear of mistakes.
In the ESA method, there is more emphasis on student-led language discovery, eliciting the grammar and vocabulary from students rather than giving a detailed (and often boring) teacher-led presentations.

In the PPP method that I was taught, there is a lengthy introduction to the given topic where the students are given a model how to do/say something and then practice it almost mechanically in written/spoken exercises. It’s effective, but not as engaging, and it’s arguably harder to motivate students to continue their language studies over the long term.

The trainers at Vantage are world class. This is truly a great program and I hope to incorporate a lot of what I’ve experienced into my TEFL classes.

I couldn’t be happier that I have completed my certification at Vantage.

The curriculum is comprehensive and well written. Vantage spice this with a lot of great practical ideas for the application of the teaching methodologies taught. And the special supplementary material that Vantage has created covers emerging new teaching technologies and assessment techniques that most TEFL coursed don’t cover.

But any course is only as good as its trainers. Here Vantage really stands out. The course was brilliantly delivered. Trainer Chris delivered dry content in a highly engaging way. I know this first hand as I am an experienced teacher who has done corporate training for 20 years. I learned new teaching techniques from this courses. I also gained as a native English speaker through Vantage’s logical presentation of English semantics.

Of equal value is that they also have a specialized Jobs Coach. This added part of the course focused on resume writing and interviewing techniques classes. These are highly unappreciated tools for launching a career as a professional teacher.

They also have what they call their ‘definitive lists’ for a lot of different types of employers from private and public schools, to private language academies, to universities, to demonstration schools…even online teaching and they even have an agreement with a major Chinese institute for those who want teach there.

I’m so satisfied with Vantage TEFL that I’m signing up my daughter for an upcoming course for the sole purpose of improving her English language skills.

My first choice was to do a TEFL course in Thailand’s Eastern seaboard area where I live. However. TEFL accreditation was a key issue for me, and as none of the Pattaya-based schools had global affiliations, I chose Vantage as it’s accredited by two universities.

I taught before where I tutored students one-on-one without much, so I realized I needed to learn how to teach successfully in a classroom.

The course itself was very informative. The trainers made the grammar easy to understand and it was taught very logically. The lead trainer was very knowledgeable and took the time to answer all our questions. I learned a lot about learning methodology and teaching techniques.

In addition to the course curriculum, I also found the additional supplements developed by Vantage very and important, especially the lessons about resume writing and job interviews. After the course was over, I sat down with their Jobs Coach to create my resume and cover letters.

It was in the practicum (observed teaching practices) where my new knowledge was fused into teaching skills. At Vantage, I first learned how to formulate a lesson plan and to source the needed materials for my class. Then, after each practice session, I got great feedback from the trainers, which helped me to develop my teaching skills quickly. I would highly recommend this TEFL course to anyone who really wants to be a good teacher.

I was skeptical about going to Vantage. For one thing it seemed so far away from downtown Bangkok, which was were I wanted to be. For another it seemed to have too many good reviews on sites like this and this made me a little uneasy because I thought this was fake. I scoured the reviews looking for similarities or fake looking names to no avail.
My first option was full though and other institutes took a while to get back to me, so on a whim I decided to study at Vantage... lucky me. This place deserves the glowing reviews. Instructors are not only very knowledgeable, they are walking models of what it means to be a great teacher. Sure it wasn't all breezy, there some parts of the course that were essential but boring . But instructors worked hard to keep us engaged even when we encountered such material. Overall a solid TEFL course. Keep it up Vantage!

Vantage’s TEFL course is very well structured. I first learned teaching techniques and methodologies, which I found extremely important and helpful. I would soon discover that they were more than important when I first went into a real classroom.

The qualifications and personality of the trainers are really excellent and it shows throughout the course. I thought much of the curriculum would be boring and even though it was a lot of work, I was so engaged that I really enjoyed every minute.

For me, I really learned how to teach during my practice sessions. Importantly, the feedback I got from my trainers helped me improve over each of my seven teaching sessions. The teaching environment was superb as these Thai students were so polite and attentive. They are a joy to teach.

There are some additional things Vantage did which I found very important, too. First of all, there was a high level of patience from the trainers who answered a number of my emails, solving all my concerns before I took the course. They were willing to help me with accommodation on my strict budget—giving me different options. They helped me arrange bus and train connections which would work best for me. They even let my 5 years old daughter come with me to the school for the first week, as her sports camp started a week later than TEFL course.

Vantage provided an excellent primer about Thai culture as well as basic Thai language expressions. I also sat with their Jobs Coach and created my own individual resume, cover letter and I got a lot of support as far as finding a teaching job. I would highly recommend Vantage TEFL to anyone who wishes to become a professional English teacher.

Having been a computer science teacher for the past three years in Thai schools, this course made me realize how I previously taught was not very effective.

I did an extensive online research of TEFL schools in Bangkok, I then made some follow-up phone calls and shortlisted a few programs to actually visit. Vantage always quickly responded—and in detail—to all my questions. They seem to be the most professional and their alumni reviews seem to bear that out.

The ESA (engage-study-activate) method I learned at Vantage really showed me how to first formulate a lesson plan and then efficiently deliver into a live classroom.

The Lead trainer, Chris, is a “teacher extraordinaire.” He is funny, considerate, engaging while being thorough and serious. He motivated us through each stage of our training. He made the curriculum easy to understand…probably because he teaches from over two decades of classroom experience.

Vantage was also unique in their observed practice teaching sessions. We taught real nursing students at one of Thailand’s most prestigious medical colleges. It gave us an excellent opportunity to put into practice all the teaching theories we learned.

My Vantage TEFL training has been one of those best things that have happened to me in Thailand. For future professional teachers, I would recommend this program without hesitation.

It's a common misconception to assume that anyone who can speak English has the skills to teach the language. I knew, for example, that even though I’ve eaten all my life, I couldn’t just walk into the kitchen and become a great chef.

I needed professional training to develop my own foundational skill set in language teaching. And to do that, I required a TEFL course that would not only enable me to revisit grammar but also introduce new pedagogics.

After making numerous phone calls and meeting with different training schools, I was sure that Vantage was the right program for me. Vantage’s lead trainer alone has more than 20 years of experience in education. They knew how to motivate and inspire their TEFL students by empowering them with the tools needed to become great teachers. Any question or problems I had, these guys were patient and always there to help.

We were taught how to create effective lesson plans, which were then put into practice with non-English speaking students in a real classroom at a local University. There are very few courses that give their students such live training to prepare them for real-world classrooms.

This course has far exceeded my expectations. It applauded me where I was strong and it developed me in areas that needed attention by challenging me to try different things. In the end, I felt I became the whole teacher I needed to be.

I would definitely recommend this course to anyone who is serious about embarking on a teaching career.

I was looking to teach English in Bangkok to Thai students as I believed I could made a difference to these individual learners. I wanted to motivate them to become something more than they were by helping them learn English. And being a young teacher, I thought it would help me connect with the students better too.

So my aspirations were good. The problem was I didn’t really know to teach—outside the years I spent observing as a student on the other side of the desk.

Vantage took care of all that—and more. I was taught to create lessons through the communicative approach. The program breaks down into six key areas of study from language awareness, to teaching materials, one-to-one tutoring to teaching techniques. I was also surprised to learn that the skills I learned go further beyond just teaching. I also came away from the course as a better presenter and public speaker.

The heart of turning teacher candidates like me into full-blown professionals is, however, the observed teaching practices. Here theory meets practice. And I got detailed feedback after each session from the Vantage trainers. They highlighted what I was doing well and gave me a challenge for my next session on areas that still need to be worked on. After six observed teaching practices, I was ready to begin fulfilling my aspirations.

The trainers at Vantage have decades of experience. They’re world class. They also experts in testing and know how to use language proficiency systems to test students and to source teaching material appropriate to the level of the students were teaching. No other TEFL program I looked at covers this key area.

I’m a non-native English speaker and I had no previous teaching experience, so I was more than a little worried about my new career choice.

I found that Vantage TEFL was the right place to take the course. A read a lot of their reviews—and even online videos—where non-native speakers were talking about the advantages of not being a native speaker of English. I knew then these were the guys for me.

Vantage first built a strong foundation. I first learned how to create great lesson plans. Only after learning this phase, did I enter the classroom and do the most rewarding part of the course—my observed practice teaching classes. I was consistently building up teaching mythologies, grammar knowledge and training techniques that were both powerful and effective. The detailed feedback I got after each lesson in order to improve my teaching skills made me even better after each session and gave me even more confidence.

It was during these practice teaching sessions that my confidence as a teacher really grew. By the sixth practice, I felt I was ready to teach anyone anywhere.

Vantage was also absolutely fantastic in their job preparation. During my last week, we created my own personal Power Resume with a Cover Letter. I was then coached in effective interview techniques.

Something worked! I got hired the Monday after my Friday graduation.