How To Know If Your TEFL Course Is A Scam
It’s hard to trust anyone online, am I right?
With all the scams and scandals that involve bots and hackers, you’re more cautious than ever to hand over your email address, never mind your credit card. And you should be.
Deception is easier today than at any other time in history.
And while many companies and third-parties try to spot fraudulent behavior, the task is moot; it’s as if a new TEFL course is created daily making it impossible to keep up with which ones are legit, and which ones are total scams.
How do you protect yourself against TEFL companies who take advantage of your naïveté? What questions can you ask to make sure your hard-earned cash isn’t stolen from some basement dweller looking to get rich?
In this article, we’ll look at several factors you can use to determine if a TEFL course is a scam.
Too cheap or too expensive.
Photo by Nathan Dumlao on Unsplash
For many of us, the number one determining factor in choosing a TEFL course is the price, and understandably so. Prices for TEFL courses can range from $59 to $3500.
So how do you know what price is reasonable for your budget and also isn’t a total ripoff?
To answer this, you should be aware of a couple of things.
First, anything that’s under $200 is suspicious.
Consider that for $200 or less, this company needs to provide not only your learning material but the man hours to grade whatever work you turn in.
During a TEFL course, your tutor should spend 3-4 hours grading your work and corresponding with you on your progress.
Do you think $200 will take care of that cost? If it does, then you should question the quality and capability of your tutor.
Second, if the TEFL course is extraordinarily expensive, they could also be ripping you off, though this might be a bit more difficult to determine.
I paid about $2200 for my CELTA course in Beijing which made my eyes water. But a CELTA is the equivalent of an associates degree in the states which would have cost much more.
Some courses charge $3000 or $4000 for a TEFL certificate and it doesn’t even count as a continuing education credit, so they use other “benefits” to justify the cost, such as job placement, room and board, or course add-ons, but note:
Job placement should be included with any reputable TEFL course. Never pay extra for them to provide it.
If your TEFL course will take place in a country that isn’t your own, having the company arrange room and board could be beneficial and worth the premium price.
Course add-ons like teaching young learners should also be included in any course that’s worthwhile so I don’t recommend you pay extra.
Too short.
Most schools who hire ESL teachers are looking for those who are certified with a minimum of 100 course hours (which is quickly becoming a minimum of 120 hours).
TEFL courses that are taught in person can regulate these hours and guarantee they’re met. However, online courses don’t have that ability. When the course claims to be 120 or 200 hours, they’re only estimates and cannot be independently verified because of the nature of the course.
While doing my own research, I came across many reviews where students claimed to finish a 150-hour course in about eight hours.
That might sound appealing, but remember this is a certification that’s supposed to prepare you to teach.
Do you think that can happen in one workday? Sure you can learn something, but you’ll be far from ready to teach it!
The truth is, if you’re just looking for a certificate to say you’re able to teach without actually putting in the work, you wouldn’t be reading this article.
My advice is to think about the people you’ll be serving. If you were them, and you spent time and money to learn English, wouldn’t you want someone who was well qualified and could get you results?
No mention of accreditation.
Accreditation isn’t something you think about when considering a course because it’s a monster all on its own.
If you don’t want to spend weeks researching this topic, I have a great way to get through it in minutes.
If you’re keen to do your own accreditation research, there are some things you should ask when considering a TEFL course.
If they have an accreditation, what kind is it? Government-backed or a private company?
If it’s a private company, how rigorous are the requirements to get accredited?
Does a third-party regularly audit these private companies?
Is the TEFL course promoting membership to an organization rather than an accreditation?
For example, if a TEFL course tries to legitimize their curriculum via membership to an entity like TESOL International Organization - that don ‘t accredit courses - that course isn’t worth your time (or dime).
No way to communicate with a tutor.
Photo by jose aljovin on Unsplash
You must - and I mean must - have someone during your TEFL course that you can communicate with.
If a course is worth two pennies, there will be some things you simply don’t understand.
Unless you already have a degree in TEFL (to which I would say, why the heck are you getting a certificate?), you should have plenty of questions about the material. And when you do, who can you talk to?
Believe it or not, plenty of courses do not offer the services of a tutor.
Teaching isn’t something you should just figure out. You should be guided through the best practices and be given a way to communicate your fears and frustrations with another human being.
Not having the guidance and instruction of an actual person renders any course useless.
No teaching practicum.
This last point may be a little controversial, and I’m sure I’ll get a lot of flack for saying it, but I believe if your course doesn’t have some sort of teaching practicum you’re getting scammed with a capital S.
Like I said before, teaching isn’t something you should “just figure out.”
You don’t get to be a doctor just because you finished school. You have to train in a hospital and actually do the things you learned.
That’s exactly how teaching works. You can learn all the theory you want, but it will never match what happens in your classroom. Ever.
You need to learn about yourself and how you react to certain situations and then how you can learn from those interactions to be a better teacher. That kind of reflection can only happen when you actually teach.
I’ll give you a perfect example of what I’m talking about.
Have you ever had a friend tell you a story where all this bad stuff happens and when the friend finishes you say something like “I would’ve punched that idiot in the face!” And the friend says something like, “Yeah I thought I would have too, except I was so shocked I couldn’t really move!”
That’s kind of like how teaching is. Not to say you’ll be punching kids in the face, but that in your head you’ll react one way only to find out you actually respond differently in real life.
That’s not a good or a bad thing. It’s just something you need to understand before you enter a classroom as a full-time teacher.
The best possible scenario for this kind of reflection is through a teaching practicum in your TEFL course where you can also get feedback from your tutor.
Take it from me, I know how painful it can be to fork over hundreds, or even thousands, of dollars for a certificate that isn’t even a degree. It sounds more appetizing to go with the cheapest available option that could get the job done.
The problem with that approach is that you could be setting yourself up to pay more than you would’ve paid in the beginning, had you just spent a little more time researching what reputable TEFL courses were out there.
Don’t be afraid to invest in yourself and your future. Taking shortcuts can lead to big scams.
Spend less time researching and more time making decisions with:
✅ Done-for-you charts for quick, side-by-side comparisons
✅ Expert guides to help you choose the course that’s right for you
✅ Powerful workbook to turn your plan into action
Are there other ways to spot scammers? Comment below.
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