Weekend Courses
There are different ways in which you can train to be a Tesol / Tefl teacher. The main choice is between whether you opt to take a taught course or a distance-learning programme. Both can provide excellent training courses as long as they are accredited by an independent professional body.
Cambridge and Trinity/RSA are the main providers of taught courses in the UK, while the College of Teachers and ACTDEC are the only two bodies in the UK that provide professional accreditation for distance-learning Tesol courses.
Other bodies may register companies providing these courses but they will not go through the course materials with a fine-toothed comb to ensure the quality of the programme and the competence of the course providers.
You may have noticed that weekend courses are also offered as another Tefl / Tesol training option. This is where it is important to be cautious. If weekend courses are offered as an adjunct to a distance-learning programme then that is fine as long as the whole course is a minimum of 150 hours.
However, some firms offer weekend courses of about 20 hours as full training programmes and these should be treated with caution and, ideally, avoided. This is particularly the case when the providers describe them as ‘internationally recognised’ or words to that effect. The reality is that such short courses will not be recognised.
These weekend courses may be interesting in their own right, and an adequate introduction to Tefl / Tesol, but it would be a mistake to regard them as full Tefl / Tesol training programmes that would provide a new teacher with a full understanding of Tefl / Tesol and how to work effectively in a classroom.
If you find that a provider is asserting that their stand-alone weekend course is all that a new teacher needs, it would be wise to be cautious.
ETC provide an introductory Tefl / Tesol course which you can complete by distance learning and we also offer Tefl / Tesol teaching practice opportunities.