Review: Getting TEFL Certification at Text and Talk Language School, Bangkok

TEFL Certification is Required in Most Countries to Teach English as a Foreign Language

When you decide you want to teach English as a Foreign Language (EFL) and live in another country to do so, one of the things you need to take is TEFL certification. TEFL stands for Teaching English as a Foreign Language and courses are offered all over the world. Full TEFL qualification is a 120 hour course, which includes intensive class work and student teaching. You can take the TEFL in your own country before you leave, or you can take it in the country you're going to. I got my TEFL certification at Text and Talk Language School in Bangkok, Thailand, and it's the best decision I made for my EFL teaching career.

There are a few language schools in Bangkok that offer TEFL certification but, after much research, I decided that Text and Talk's was the best course. Text and Talk Language School in northern Bangkok offers a 120 hour TEFL certification course and an 80 hour TEFL Diploma course over 16 Sundays. I took the 120 hour TEFL certification course, which meant five days a week in the classroom for six weeks, and a couple of evenings every week doing practice teaching to real students.

The course itself covers everything from basic classroom management skills, to how to write a lesson plan, effective teaching strategies, teaching children, teaching adults, teaching corporate English and much more.

The one thing I really loved about the course, which was only offered at Text and Talk, was the module on how to teach Thais. Thais make mistakes when learning English that are actually quite easy to correct once you know why they are doing it. On Text and Talk's course, they specifically addressed what problems Thais have, how to spot them, and how to correct them. Since I started teaching in Bangkok almost 5 years ago, this information has been invaluable to me, yet none of the other language schools in Bangkok offer this.

During the six week course, you will have a trainer who will be with your class for the entire time. The class sizes are small, usually between 10 and 15 students, so you get a lot of individual attention, with plenty of chances to ask questions and get clarification.