CIEE TEFL Course: A Comprehensive and Challenging Online Experience

I took the CIEE TEFL 150-Hour Certification Course because it was required for me to obtain a position to teach English in the Czech Republic. Before I begin my review, it is important to note that I did not expect the course to be challenging. Rather, I thought that it would be a quick and easy online class meant to satisfy any concerns of school administrators regarding my ability to adequately teach the subject matter. I was incredibly wrong!

I was pleasantly surprised by how comprehensive the course was. It covered a good balance of theoretical and practical material, provided plenty of opportunities to engage with my tutor and classmates, and supplied a significant amount of content within each of the units that made up the weekly modules. Additionally, the 20-hour practicum was incredibly helpful because it provided me with some real-life teaching experience.

With this in mind, do note that the comprehensiveness of the course also made it challenging. If you are working a full-time job and taking this course, you will do little else other than those two things. There were typically five units in each weekly module (they included presentations of the material, discussion posts, and/or quizzes) that each usually took 2-3 hours to complete. In addition, there was a module written assignment due each week and an online web-conferencing tutorial session that was held every Tuesday. Thus, while the work was extremely valuable and never too difficult, the amount of it definitely kept me busy.

Overall, this was a phenomenal course! I was very much impressed by the program. It far exceeded my expectations and I would recommend not only it, but any of CIEE's programs to anyone looking to teach abroad!