Which TEFL/TESOL school do I choose?

Mr Martin Hejkal, Director Of Studies at St. James Language School in Prague (Pls note that St. James have recently merged with Spevacek language school), recommending ITTP TEFL Prague (one of the many English language schools which ITTP TEFL Prague works with in the city):

Recent ITTP TEFL Prague grad Sophie Gray being filmed in a typical paid teaching environment in Prague (segments of a typical class from a typical teaching day):

You should take into account all of the following points when making your final decision about which school to study with:

Internationally Recognized?

Onsite International TEFL/TESOL certification courses MUST be at least 100 hours in length and have at least 6 hours teaching practicum. The course MUST also be linked to a larger teaching organization. These can include Trinity, Cambridge, or the British Council.

ITTP enjoys Education Partner status with Cambridge University Press AND is Member of the British Chamber of Commerce in the Czech Republic. We are also additional Education Partners with the Elementary School Nam Curie Praha, faculty school of Prague's Charles University. Our Trainees are observed by leading English teachers in the field, such as Ms Mgr Vuckova who was awarded the title 'English teacher of the year 2006' (awarded by the European Commission EU, NA Socrates).

The ITTP Onsite International TEFL/TESOL Certification Course covers more than 130 hours, providing up to 20 hours of teaching practicum components. The teaching practicum components are teaching real students and in varying environments - teaching General English group classes onsite at the ITTP training Center, teaching one-to-one Business English classes at local companies, and teaching Young Learners and Very Young Learners at the local Elementary school. No other TEFL/TESOL school in Prague offers as much hands-on practicum as ITTP does and this is one way in which we stand out from the crowd: providing real teaching practice and in the type of
environment which directly relates to post-course employment. Our main Business English teaching partners include Cisco, Unicredit Bank and the offices of Tacoma.

The ITTP Online International TEFL/TESOL certification courses cover between 60 and 130 teaching hours and fully comply with International Online TEFL/TESOL training requirements: http://tefl-tesol-online.com/

Selection task?

A selection task shows that a school maintains high standards of entrance criteria and provides you with the confidence that upon acceptance that you will be at the level needed to successfully complete the course.
The process of booking your place on your ITTP Onsite international TEFL/TESOL course begins with completing the ITTP online application form. We will then arrange a mutually convenient time for a telephone interview (at our expense).
Primarily, the reason ITTP has a selection task is to have a better idea of an applicants' language awareness and language skills. We are looking for the ways in which applicants use the language and in the forms in which they express and describe their ideas. There is also attention to basic sentence structure and correct grammar usage.

It is also an important opportunity for you to personally talk to a member of the ITTP team and ask any further questions which you might have for us.

An additional reason for a selection task is to avoid offering a place to (and accept payment from), someone who we feel does not have a good chance of passing their chosen Onsite international TEFL/TESOL certification course.

When we ask students what they look for in a teacher, the most common answer is for a teacher who simply loves teaching. ITTP therefore encourages applications from anyone who has a passion for teaching whether they have university education/taught before or not.

 

Class Size?

Some TEFL/TESOL schools in Prague tend to accept as many Trainees as they can.

We accept a maximum of just 14 trainees per Course date. We think this is a sensible number and our small class numbers reflects our commitment to education.

 

Teaching Practice?

Who will you be teaching and will your teaching practicum be limited to just 1 type of classroom training?

 

On the ITTP course you will teach ALL learner levels/ types and teach REAL students. This is important as some schools do cut corners and costs and simply get Trainees to teach each other.

The benefit of teaching real students is clear and we don’t stop there. We also send our Trainees off to local companies and schools where they gain additional onsite teacher training and this makes the transition from classroom training to paid teaching a very smooth and natural process.

Good location?

As well as experiencing an excellent course, you will also want to experience as much of Prague as you can too. Cutting down on traveling to class time reduces Trainee fatigue and being surrounded by beautiful architecture inspires Trainees and encourages increased learning potential. Some schools may claim to have beautiful central Prague locations but in reality may be a 1 hour journey out of the centre.

We are located right in the centre of Prague’s historical center and our Training Centre is a 5 minute walk to the Mustek metro station. The ITTP Training Center is located in Prague 1. What does 'Prague 1' mean? Prague is divided into districts 1-22 and Prague 1 is in the center: the place where you want to be taking your TEFL course as the center is the throbbing, pulsing, cobblestoned heart of the city - where all the historical sights of interest are and where the city's cafe culture and party nightlife gets its much deserved reputation from. You just can’t help but be inspired when walking through the front door of our building.

Job guarantee?

It's no good being linked to a larger teaching organization but lack having job assistance for grads. A job assistance program is essential and it is important to question a school if they can guarantee you a job after. If not, then they might not be internationally recognized.

ITTP provides an extensive job assistance program and to date ITTP has a 100% record of finding its grads, who wish to teach immediately and who are sufficiently active in their search, teaching positions within 4 weeks of finishing their course. This represents ITTP?s global reputation and extensive network of global educational contacts/ partners: ITTP sends its grads all over the world.

This applies to both ITTP?s Native English and Non-Native English Onsite and Online TEFL/TESOL grads

Is it also a language school?

It is important that your TEFL/TESOL school also be a language school as this means that your school will have a lot more experience in dealing with teachers and so will be more sympathetic and knowledgeable of your needs as a teacher in training. It will mean that you will also gain additional exposure and assistance from real teachers who are currently teaching and who can provide you with valuable inside teaching tips/ advice.

At ITTP we have had over 10 years of language teaching experience together with our education partner Global Teachers and we run English language classes at ITTP. The additional bonus of this cooperation is that teachers have an additional teaching option at the end of their studies.

Past Graduate Contact?

Some schools are missing testimonials from their websites. The more transparent a school the more trust you can have in their education record.

We have collected the testimonials of past grads and have published them in the borders of our web pages.

Some further reasons to choose ITTP:

ITTP provides a prompt, professional and personal service and promises to respond to emails within 1 business day. ITTP's team leaders have extensive professional experience of teaching English abroad in various corners of the world and are understanding of the requirements and expectations of trainees and grads.

All ITTP Onsite trainers have been carefully handpicked. They have a huge amount of international TEFL/TESOL experience and are understanding of the needs and requirements of trainees whilst in training and of our grads when they enter the global teaching job market.

In addition, we are all aware of the pros and cons of relocating and sympathetic and supportive of our trainees and grads throughout their TEFL/TESOL career.

For further information please refer to Our Team.

Accommodation: ITTP provides extremely affordable accommodation from just 4,450,-CZK INCLUSIVE per month (pls see photo's below for an example of our apartments offer). Our apartments are fully furnished, boast high- speed wireless internet, are secure, and are not more than 30mins from our Training Center (which is a 5 minute walk from the Old Town Square). Please let us know if you would like us to book you an apartment as they are very popular and tend to fill up fast. Inclusive btw means that there are no additional costs and quoted monthly rents include ALL bills and utilities and of course the wireless high-speed internet.

ITTP's after-sales service is excellent. From the time of your first enquiry - through to graduation - and then throughout your teaching career, the ITTP team are here providing you with ongoing professional support for the whole of your international TEFL/TESOL career. ITTP is regularly updating its global job contacts and local knowledge of global TEFL/TESOL destinations and this provides its grads with an excellent basis for advice from anything from which country to teach next, to where the best schools are in a particular city or town.

It is important to ascertain if you will need to pay anything additional once committing to a school. Some schools do have hidden fees.

It may also be the case that schools will sometimes hire agencies to act as negotiator between school and applicant, resulting in an additional finders fee being added to final course balances.

With ITTP you will always be in direct contact with a senior member of staff and there are no additional/hidden costs. Course fees are inclusive of VAT and are inclusive of all materials and external moderation/certification fees.

Please feel free to contact us should you have any questions.