A Successful Career Change

I wanted to make a career change into teaching English abroad, but I had no formal training nor experience. A friend’s recommendation and my subsequent research pointed me to Vantage.

Vantage turned out to be an impressive program. I cannot overstate the support I was given and the overall quality of their TEFL training. My self-confidence grew dramatically as I went through the course, and I had a solid job offer by the time I finished.

Last year, in a pre-COVID era, I wanted to do some advance study. At Vantage’s suggestion, I enrolled in their Combined Course, which allowed me to access their online TEFL course book for self-study. The plan was to come to Bangkok early this year and do my observed teaching practices in Thai schools.

COVID put a halt to the Bangkok training. However, by that time, Vantage had developed their virtual program. I switch to Virtual Vantage, which allowed me to get practical teaching experience—with real students in a live class--via Zoom.

Kevin and Chris always went the extra mile. They directly monitored every class I taught and followed up with a one-on-one video conference to discuss my strengths and identify areas for improvement. A lot of what you read about online teaching is really about one-on-one instruction. Teaching a group online is way different—definitely more challenging than individual coaching and also being in a traditional classroom.

If you can succeed in online group teaching, you definitely will excel at classroom teaching. And at rate, I’m really glad I now have online teaching skills as I see this as rapidly growing market for teachers.

I’m already putting all my training to good use. The week after graduation I’ve had my first classes and Vantage’s teaching materials, methods, and invaluable feedback enabled me to guide engaging and productive classes. The ESA teaching formula I learned allowed me to quickly ascertain the student’s language level, and guide a conversation that included my being able to practice some grammar points.

Most importantly, Vantage’s program has given me the self-confidence to rapidly refine my teaching ability. People skills are crucial, as is the willingness to listen to the student. The deceptively simple approach of asking the students what they want to get out of the classes, along with their interests, is worth its weight in gold.