Cheap TEFL Course International Open Academy review, written by Samantha.
This online TEFL course was on promotion on Groupon, and the heavy discount was seriously enticing. Only $19 for a distance learning TEFL course! What did I have to lose? I grabbed the deal!
It was when I opened the first module that I knew that there was a reason why the course was only $19.
Each of the modules contain about a page of text, followed by quiz questions that were an insult to my intelligence. They were just ridiculous.
Still, I soldiered on and completed the course in 2 days. If you do decide to pay the $19 for this course, just skim the reading and take the quizzes. There really isn’t much value anyway in the texts.
I then printed out the certificate, which looked like a template you would find if you Googled a TEFL certificate template. It just didn’t look believable at all.
I again soldiered on and started the process of job hunting.
I began a conversation with a school based in Chengdu, China, which was looking for a native speaker from the US or Canada, to teach in an international school – teaching kindergarten kids and teenagers.
The pay was very good and there were other perks, such as free airfare, subsidized accommodation, an end-of-year bonus, and so on.
A college degree and international TEFL certificate, as well as a clean criminal background, were the main requirements for the job. Tick, tick, tick! I forwarded copies of the documents to the school.
And, my application was rejected. All on the basis that my International Open Academy TEFL certificate wasn’t accepted. I asked why. The school replied that it’s not on the official list of recognized TEFL programs.
So, I asked for the list. The school obliged and I couldn’t see International Open Academy (IOA) anywhere on that list.
What could I do? I had to write off the $19 I’d spent on the cheap TEFL course with IOA and chose a different school, from the official list.
I chose https://trustedteflreviews.com/category/tefl-online-pro-teachers-choice-award-winner-2022/ because they have won awards and have very good student reviews.
I took the course with Tefl Online Pro, it was obviously a much more in-depth course, and it took me 2 weeks to complete. I worked on it 6 days a week.
I then went through the process of resubmitting my documents to the school.
And, I got accepted! 🙂
The one big take from this whole experience is not to be fooled by a really cheap TEFL course.
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