Post: #1

Are these online courses that give you an English Teaching certificate worth the paper they are printed on?

There is a Groupon deal on for one at the moment, $599 value for $79.

http://www.groupon.com/deals/tesol-expre...?c=dnb&p=3

Post: #2

(10-27-2011 08:29 PM)ManAbout Wrote:  Are these online courses that give you an English Teaching certificate worth the paper they are printed on?

There is a Groupon deal on for one at the moment, $599 value for $79.

http://www.groupon.com/deals/tesol-expre...?c=dnb&p=3

The value of a TESOL certificate largely depends on the place you're planning on teaching. In more competitive places in Asia the online certificates aren't worth much, but in a place like Brazil just saying you have a TESOL certificate is enough to get you a job.

Post: #3

years later. This deal is still being peddled

https://www.groupon.com/deals/tesols-com-us-atlanta

For the price. It looks interesting..even as just a fun thing to fill your time an learn some new shit.

But I cant help to think that either its useless and they offer it at such a low price.
Or the class was never worth 500+ to begin with and TESOL is inflating the price because someone is dumb enough to pay for it

Has anyone ever done this?

Post: #4

I've done a TESOL cert from another provider (i-to-i). As another poster mentioned earlier, they are only as good as the place you use them in. In most of Asia it is a prerequisite before you can get a teaching job these days. So it is basically a foot in the door. The TESOL certs themselves cover all of the same kinds of material, so where you get it from and how much it costs you is pretty much irrelevant to employers, so this is a good deal at $79 - I paid around $200 for mine 5 years ago.

But this is only good for entry level teaching jobs. I would suggest a CELTA or a TrinityTESOL instead, as you will have far more options with those certs and you can find better work opportunities. They are much more expensive though at around $2000 each.

I skipped the CELTA/Trinity route and went a higher level up to an MA TESOL with Applied Linguistics. This master level degree will allow you to get great UNIVERSITY teaching jobs in most of the world. 3-4 months paid annual leave, quality furnished apartments, health insurance, pension benefits and round trip flights, with a salary of around 3-4K usd a month.

Teaching is a good way to travel the world and earn money while you do it. Try not to commit to long periods of time to one job, stick to 3-6 month contracts and move around as much as you can. You'll gain much more experience and have a more enjoyable time than committing to a 1-2 year placement, unless you can land a uni gig, in which case the hours are low and the holidays are long!

Post: #5

(01-10-2014 11:18 PM)2014 Wrote:  I skipped the CELTA/Trinity route and went a higher level up to an MA TESOL with Applied Linguistics. This master level degree will allow you to get great UNIVERSITY teaching jobs in most of the world. 3-4 months paid annual leave, quality furnished apartments, health insurance, pension benefits and round trip flights, with a salary of around 3-4K usd a month.

I thought that wasn't true anymore. I was told, and under the impression, that all these credentials led to were language institute jobs these days. I guess it's by country. I, too, recommended this in another thread.

As for the groupon, look at the course, but also look at the testing and other fees involved.

lowbudgetballer