Very well structured and useful content. Come prepared to work!

I find the mark of a good course is usually that it makes you realise how much you don't already know. If you are sitting there and everything is old news, then it's probably a waste of your time. That is not the case with this course. For someone new to EFL there is a lot to learn. And this course exposes you to wide areas quickly and intensively. Luckily, the tutors are adept at both explaining and demonstrating the concepts and everything is explained in a way that made it easy to get your head around.

The College packs a tonne of content and practical training into the course. By the end of it all, you'll probably be surprised by how much you've managed to pick up in just 16 weeks. You're launched straight into the course on the first day with First Aid training and the first session of the Unknown Foreign Language Unit. The tutor for the UFL walks into the classroom and instantly starts running off a spiel in a foreign language (they don't even tell you beforehand what the language will be!). It starts off quite confusing but this is actually a good thing because it gives you a lot of insight into how the students in the schools will feel when you walk into their classroom and start speaking English at them. It reminds you how important other forms of communication are like body language. As the lesson continues, things should become clearer. The teacher plays games that will be used in the classroom during practical hours (this part is really fun!). It definitely starts things off on a high and sets the tone for the rest of the course, i.e. it's gonna require lots of energy, enthusiasm and concentration, but students feel like they've learned something by the end of it all.

There are more sessions for the UFL several weeks later. In the meantime, you will have already learned a lot about the course and the teaching programme, so at this point you get to do the activities ourselves that are being taught in schools from the student's point of view. This helps you to see what works and what doesn't, and it will definitely give you some ideas of how step your game up in the classroom, just like with the feedback from the senior teacher observations. Since you are treated as 'young learners' for the purposes of the UFL, i.e. have no prior knowledge of the language, the teacher uses flashcards, body language, singing, etc. and even though she never speaks a word of English for the entire course. Even though you only use the target language, first time students seem to understand all of what is being said because of the teaching techniques and methodologies employed.

The College tutors are all themselves really good teachers in a practical sense (I really appreciate that after dealing with some pretty clueless lecturers at uni in England) so I feel like this is a huge bonus alone that you get the opportunity to tap into all that knowledge and experience.

The English College really puts you through your paces. Don't expect to come to Austria and just enjoy a holiday... although I definitely recommend exploring the place a bit on weekends. Expect to work hard. But the more you put in, the more you'll get out of it. I definitely recommend this course. You're not just absorbing information, you're also developing skills for the classroom. Places fill up fast so sign up early!