5 Reasons Why You Can't Afford to Buy a $300 Online TEFL Course

You have done it.  You are going to change careers and teach English online!  Or even BIGGER, you have finally decided you are going to teach English abroad. You have told your friends and family you are following your dreams! Congratulations! Next step…wait, I need a TEFL certification? Why are tuition prices on one website $300 and over $1,000 on another? HELP!

Yes it is confusing, yes it is overwhelming, but yes there are ways to navigate all of this information and that is…COMMON SENSE. Let me share with you, 5 reasons why you can’t afford to buy a $300 online TEFL course.

1. You want a job as an English teacher.

Schools hiring English teachers abroad and online want their employees to be trained to do the job. Schools are not naïve, they know the difference between a professional certification class and an automated online class. They can simply look up your school and see its curriculum, syllabus, tutors (because a $300 class WILL NOT have professors).  Better yet, in the interview as they are inquiring about your knowledge of teaching English as a foreign language, they can see right away how well you were trained.  “Can you explain how you would best go about teaching intonation of syllables”?  

If you're considering teaching English online, it's important to mention that as the industry becomes more and more popular, getting hired with top online language schools is getting more competitive. If you're planning to private tutor online, it's all about attracting students and then keeping your students. You can really only do that with a strong resume and ultimately running your classes at a high level.

Or perhaps you were thinking of teaching in one of those big money making countries like South Korea.  Well, you’ll have to pay to get re-certified once you realize the curriculum of your $300 course does not qualify you for the majority of jobs.  Not to mention, do you know HOW to find a job overseas or online?  That’s what we do best.  We have a salaried staff that works with every enrolled student on their job search.  A $300 a pop school can’t afford that support, and you can’t afford the risk of not getting a job after you have told your friends, family, and co-workers YOU ARE DOING THIS.

2. You don’t know how to teach English as a foreign language.

Am I right? So basically you have some work to do.  Real work, real assignments, real curriculum, and you need real professors to teach you and grade your assignments.  That’s what you will get from a REAL online TEFL certification course. These are real jobs that require real teaching skills.  If you insist on going for a $300 certification, you'll spend more money buying a last minute flight home after being fired from your job for not knowing what you're doing.  Or you will be spending 90 minutes a day preparing how to teach your 20 minute lesson as an online English teacher.  Suddenly your $25 an hour job teaching English online is more like $10 an hour with the extra work you have to put in to teach yourself how to teach.  It goes back to common sense – you can’t do your job, you lose your job.  Can you afford to be fired from your English teaching job abroad?  Can you afford to spend your free time daily figuring out how to teach the phonemic chart, grammar rules, differentiated learning styles?  Wouldn’t it be wiser to invest in the best training and certification for this venture you are about to take?  If I wanted to move to Asia to start my job as a dentist, I would make sure I knew how to use a drill.

3. You want to connect and network with fellow English teachers around the globe.

No other TEFL school has the alumni support and networking we have created.  We have over 35,000 students living in over 80 countries around the world.  Does the  $300 course you are considering have that reach?  We have country-specific alumni groups hosted on Facebook where some of our smaller groups have 300-400 members in them and the big ones 1000+ alumni to network within specific countries and for online teaching.  We also have hired Alumni Ambassadors who work with our students to give them on the ground information.  If you are wondering what it’s like to be a single female living in Asia, you can ask Deandra in South Korea.  If you are worried that being a vegetarian may not be easy if you taught in South America you can ask Camille in Chile.  If you want the real scoop on VIPKid you can ask Robert in the online teaching discussion group.  We invest in our alumni’s success abroad and teaching online.  We invest in our community of teachers so they can assist and help one another.  That’s what you get with a real TEFL school.  Call and ask a potential $300 online TEFL class option about their alumni opportunities for connecting and networking with your peers.

4. You want to enjoy your time abroad or as an online English teacher.

What is your main goal here?  We all know!  You want to HAVE A GOOD TIME in this new career, earn money, sure, but you also want to be happy.  Or was your plan to get certified, get a job, and …spend sleepless nights trying to figure out how to create a lesson that works or trying to figure out how to get your director off your back for your student's poor performance?  When you imagined this in your mind, you didn’t want just a piece of paper and a job, you wanted to have a positive experience.  Being in a foreign country and not knowing what you are doing every day at work is miserable.  Teaching English online without the basic skills needed to make that 6 year old student progress and show his parent's his new skills is terrible.  Going home at night from your school overseas and trying to figure out how to teach the past participles instead of having dinner and drinks with your new friends in this NEW country doesn’t sound appealing.  A $300 training is not going to set the foundation and give you the preparation you need to be a professional abroad or online.   Are ITA graduates having a good time?  Oh, yes they are!  Check out their videos and reviews as they teach abroad and online!

5. If you are going to teach abroad, you don't want to come home and hear...

"I told you so" from some of your naysaying family, friends, and coworkers that thought you were crazy in the first place.  You do not want to crash and burn overseas with your $300 certificate. This is the OPPOSITE of your intentions for this move.  A $300 class can’t possibly give you the training needed to be a trained English teacher.  If the first 4 reasons haven’t resonated – this must.  

If you want to learn how to teach English, get a job abroad or online, be supported abroad or as an online English teacher from home, have an AMAZING time, and make this a successful adventure check out our Online TEFL Class Overview, our extensive Job Search Guidance, our stellar Teaching English Online Specialty Class the authentic stories from our graduates having a great time, and of course now that you have looked at what class NOT to take, check out 5 Key Tips to Choose the Right TEFL School so nobody will be telling you “ I told you so”.