Vantage | 120-Hour TEFL/TESOL Certification | Hybrid Option

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.