10 hour virtual TEFL course reviewed by our student Fiona
How did you find the virtual TEFL course? What was your favourite part?
I really enjoyed my experience completing the virtual TEFL course. The tutor Michelle was very friendly and knowledgeable and the small class size was great as it gave everyone a chance to talk and practice the different exercises. My favourite part was the teaching practice component as it really gave me an idea of what it would be like putting a lesson plan together and teaching a class and it was really interesting to see everyone else’s ideas and concepts too.
Do you feel more confident after completing this course?
Definitely. As I had no previous teaching experience, I felt that the course provided me with a great opportunity to learn some teaching techniques and games to use in the classroom or online from a tutor who actually uses them regularly. We also left the course with lots of useful resources for going forward with our teaching careers such as lesson planning templates, worksheets, and lesson planning guides.
How did you find the TEFL tutor Michelle?
I found Michelle to be a great tutor for the course, you could clearly tell that she was experienced and excited to pass on her knowledge. Michelle provided us with lots of great teaching tips and Idea’s as well as being very open to listening to the class’s suggestions and giving everyone a chance to share their thoughts and idea’s as well as answering all our questions and just generally making everyone feel very relaxed and at ease. For many activities, she thought us as though we were students in her English class which I found very useful as it showed us exactly how to go about teaching a class to students with limited or no English.
I know you were due to attend in-class day course but because of Covid-19 this couldn’t go ahead. Do you feel the virtual TEFL course was satisfactory?
I was a bit apprehensive at first about the course being done over zoom but ultimately, I felt that my experience was just as good as what I would have had in an in-class day course. There was 8 people and Michelle on the zoom which I felt was a good number as everyone got their chance to talk and share their idea’s/ask questions and it never felt to crowded on the zoom call, We also had the breakout room function which allowed us to easily split into smaller groups for exercises when it was necessary and Michelle was able to go between the virtual rooms so it almost felt like we were really in a classroom.
Did you get a chance to exercise your teaching practice?
Yes during the second part of the course we were split into pairs and set an assignment of coming up with a 10-minute class to teach to the other people on the course as if they were our students. We were given the opportunity to choose our own topic and given a sample lesson plan to follow, so we had to start with an Icebreaker game, present our topic to the others as though they were our class, get them to practice the concept we were teaching in pairs and then come up with a group activity for the whole class to practice our concept that we were teaching together.
I also found it really useful to get the feedback from Michelle at the end of our teaching practice class as it showed you what you could change and improve on for the actual classroom as well as pointing out what you had done well.
Would you recommend this course to others? Why?
I would 100% recommend this course to others. A lot of employers even online are looking for previous teaching experience as the online market is getting more & more competitive and It can be hard to get practical teaching experience during the current pandemic so this practical TEFL course done via Zoom is the perfect opportunity to gain teaching experience without leaving your house! I also received a certificate of completion and feedback from the tutor Michelle at the end of the course and ultimately I left the course feeling so much more confident in my ability to enter the classroom and teach a group of students.