You probably don't want to take one of ESLinsider's courses for the following reasons.
1. It's not really an "official" course
"Official" in the sense of probably what you consider "official", academic, or institution like.
ESLinsider is a one man show. ESLinsider is not a company or an institute. It is run by one person, I Ian Leahy spent the last 7 years of my life working on this site.
Prior to when I started teaching abroad in 2004 I didn't even have a background in teaching English. My background was in art. How about you? What's your background in?
Don't worry most people who teach abroad have no background in teaching.
2. It's not accredited
I was trying to tell you that it wasn't "official" and despite the fact it's guaranteed it's NOT ACREDITED and I am NOT trying to get it accredited either.
Here's why:
- I don't feel like I need to get someone else's stamp of approval on it especially if I have to pay them.
- It costs money.
- I value autonomy not authority. I prefer freedom to structure and rules. There's a place for structure and rules at times, however I don't feel the need to conform.
And I can tell you most of what you think you know about accreditation and TEFL is probably wrong. In this industry you'll hear many TEFL, CELTA, TESOL providers say that a course MUST be accredited.
But...
There's no rule that says it must be accredited or not. There's also no one overarching accrediting body in TEFL. It's mostly just "private" organizations that do the accrediting. Most of them are businesses just like the companies they accredit.
And sometimes in the worst case scenarios they are even run by the same people like this one likely is. Accreditation is business.
The differences are:
- TEFL course providers do business to consumers. (B2C)
- Most TEFL accreditors do business to business. (B2B)
Anyways don't take this course.
Read this article on TEFL accreditation. Or if you don't want to take my word on it read this one.
And...
3. It's not "Internationally Recognized"
"Internationally recognized" is a vague marketing term that doesn't actually mean anything. Actually I could say that it is internationally recognized, because any "TEFL" certificate is whether you got it from a university or made it yourself.
Don't get confused though. There's no certificate that is recognized everywhere. Every school is different. If you are still confused you should probably learn more about "internationally recognized" TEFL certification.
If an "accredited" or "internationally recognized" course is what really matters to you then you can get an accredited and internationally recognized TEFL course on Groupon for $5. Go buy it.
4. It doesn't even have typical TEFL course "hours"
It used to have a 20, 60, and 120 hour course, but I decided to remove or rename them because it wasn't accurate and I don't want to perpetuate the industry lie. And that's the case for a lot of online courses and even some in-class courses out there like the one I took.
I spent 2 days in a classroom and was given what they said was a 60 hour certificate. The rest of the course was take home and the certificate didn't even say the hours on it.
The hours mean nothing. For example, chances are you could complete a "150" hour course in as little as 20 hours.
Unless a course has set times where you actual go to a class or watch it online I don't see how these could be accurate.
Do these hours matter? Not in my experience. I taught and applied to a lot of schools in Asia and only one ever asked me, "How many hours was the course?"
It depends on the school.
It's possible a school may want a 100 or 120 hours, but in my experience teaching in Asia for the most part they don't matter and most schools don't care.
I am just a sort of average guy who went through the education system. Prior to teaching abroad I took a course. And when I actually got to Taiwan and started teaching I realized it sucked.
I believed there could be something more suitable for someone following in my footsteps.
I guess that's what ESLinsider is.
If these things don't matter, "What does matter?"
In my experience accreditation, an "internationally recognized" certificate, or the course hours didn't matter. They might for you, but what matters the most is what you'll learn from the course.