A worthwhile experience

I went into the CIEE program on a lark. I had studied a TESOL program at university but "life got in the way" as they say. I've always been interested in language and culture, and so I had been forced to put my goals on the back burner. In December of 2017, I decided to shop around for a certification program just on a whim, and saw that there were an assortment of different online courses I could take. Many of them were little more than diploma mills shelling out pieces of paper for $100. CIEE seemed reasonable, with its accreditation, and manageable $1000 cost.

So, I enrolled, and started January 2018. I didn't know what to expect--after all, I was a university dropout with little experience. I was anxious about taking a class that involved a lot of group activity; I just wanted something I could complete on my own online. Of course, I was naively unaware just how unprepared that would have made me.

CIEE did its job in preparing me for a career in teaching. The website took a little to figure out how to navigate, and the workload seemed intense--that coupled with the fact that nearly all of my classmates were university graduates and I was just some poor kid from the hood without any travel experience really made me overwhelmed. But let me tell you--I thrived.

If you take this course, the first thing you'll probably realize is that you need to take it seriously. The freedom to do course work whenever you want is a double-edged sword: deadlines will be impossible to meet if you don't have several hours a day to set aside. Regardless, balancing this and work (for me, a tutoring job that I got because of my practicum; I'll talk more about that later) was easy as long as I had discipline.

Those first two weeks were eye-opening. The learning curve isn't bad at all, I felt completely scaffolded every step of the way, not like I was dropped into the deep end and expected to swim. But there is a LOT of work involved. When they say it's a short, intensive class, don't take that lightly. It really helped me curb my terrible procrastination habit.

As the class went on, I got to know my school mates, participated in many group discussions, and kept on top of my work. I learned so many things in those short few weeks, about teaching, culture, and even about my own biases.

The course would have not been the same without such amazing teachers. My instructor Annette was wonderful, and Allie who also spoke with me on many occasions was a great help. I was never kept waiting on responses, they were always prompt, direct, and went above and beyond to help me with my individualized issues. Don't expect to do this course on your own--you don't need to. You will have so many opportunities for help along the way.

At the end of the course, I felt wholly prepared to teach. I've since kept a volunteer tutoring job at my local university for far longer than the required 20 hours (which I was able to complete in a week and a half), of which 19 I was directly teaching students. I still work there, and will be continuing after the brief break, in which class resumes on May 30. I use all of the information I learned in the CIEE course regularly--I found none of it to be fruitless or artificial. They teach you more than the bare minimum, but just enough that you will flourish if you put your mind to it.

If you're even considering this program, do it. Seriously, do it. There's nothing to lose--the price tag is worth saving for. I was just some uneducated guy from the poorest county in my state, and now I've received my certificate and graduated with distinction. I'm in the process of waiting to hear back from Murcia in the hopes that I will have my first teaching job this October.

Here's my advice to anyone who thinks this is the right fit for them. First, make time for your class. To keep on top of it all, you'll need around 2-3 hours a day to work on your assignments. I did this five days a week, with my weekends being relatively free, unless I had a particularly large paper due. I was one of those kids in high school that always finished quicker than the others, so I thought going into this "They recommend 2-3 hours, but I'll probably need about 1." I was wrong--2-3 is a completely valid estimation.

You will need to stick to a schedule, because the deadlines will be tough to meet if you don't. You have five "units" a week (essentially one class a day), a video conference on Monday, and a paper due on Wednesday. The teachers will make adjustments for you if "life gets in the way" but seriously, I cannot stress enough that keeping on top of your school work is important. Like I mentioned earlier, I graduated with distinction so, trust me when I say this works.

Next, ask questions. The instructors are there to help you, and they will, but they can't read your mind. If you have a problem, whether it be technical or otherwise, ask them and they will get back to you quickly. I had problems with my passport on the application and Allie helped me immensely to get that all sorted, and I had some technical problems as well which Annette was very gracious enough to help me with. They are one of your resources, so use them.

Take good notes. Seriously, I was the worst note taker ever in high school, so I made sure to be extremely organized with my notes during this course. After the first few days, I started to learn how to take better notes (this became obvious when I was studying for the finals!), and they will seriously come in handy. Not only for your weekly quizzes, papers, and finals, but also just as a resource for your future career. I still have all of my notes saved with the intention of using them this October.

Lastly, don't get discouraged. If you like learning, language, and online courses, you will do fine. It isn't a difficult class at all, so long as you take it seriously. I thought I wouldn't do well because of my upbringing, but you'll find that no matter where you come from, this course can work.

I cannot recommend this program enough. If you like culture and language, do it. If you want something extra to put on your CV, do it. There are so many worse ways to spend your money--so why not put it to something useful?

Have fun, and see you in the alumni network.