04/11/09

Good times in the CTESOL program

by Claire4One

I went to Transworld Schools to do the CTESOL program. Let go from from my previous job, I was looking to get back into teaching, and ESL had been recommended to me by a friend who taught with the JET program in Japan.

It was a good program: the teachers were smart and friendly, and the classes did a good job of cramming you on English grammar, as well as instructing you on their teaching methodology.

The most fun, and sometimes stressful, part was working with real ESL students. You get to design your own lessons, and present them to ESL students, and actually get practice teaching. So you practice doing the job, and you get to meet foreign, interesting people along the way.

Overall, I enjoyed my TESOL experience. I am still in touch with my classmates from the course, and that was also a fun way to meet new people and get some contacts/peers in the ESL field.

• Pros: Good teaching experience, grammar cram
• Cons: Old building, uphill from BART

03/27/09

Great professional certificate in ESL

by octopoe

Late last year (2008) I completed the CTESOL (Certificate in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages) program at Transworld Schools in San Francisco.

I am very satisfied with my experience at Transworld. The program manages to combine training in ESL theory/pedagogy and practicum. You are specifically trained in lesson planning, and then teaching in front of real ESL students who are living and studying here in the Bay Area. Even if you have teaching experience, this in an invaluable opportunity to practice the ESL teaching in a professional environment – which is then often expected from employer’s as a given part of professional certification in ESL.

The CTESOL instructors I worked with were engaging, and conveyed a strong and diverse perspective on ESL teaching. The course itself is also an excellent crash course in grammar, if that’s not your professional background!

I also believe it’s a good professional development step, in terms of spending money on job-related training. ESL is a good profession for travelers, and I managed to find employment almost immediately here in the Bay Area (San Francisco and Berkeley.) It is my sense that the CTESOL at Transworld is respected in the field.

• Pros: Excellent teachers, respected certificate in the field
• Cons: What are the drawbacks?

07/19/08

not recommended

by m94

Their competitive pricing structure makes them seem like an attractive choice for ESL students, but think twice. The place is unorganized, teachers have little interest in or regard for the needs of the students. Placement tests are essentially worthless, as students will likely end up being placed into one of the few course levels that happen to be running at the time. Guidance is minimal at best. No regular course materials are offered, no homework is assigned, the learning progress is correspondingly slow. You may be able to take advantage of the low prices and the limited choices they offer as an advanced student who knows exactly what they want and need (and who has the guts to be insisting), but beginning to intermediate-level people will most likely feel very much lost. The owner/director is unprofessional to the degree of being outright rude and personally insulting. Bad experience, not recommended.

• Pros: price
• Cons: organization, course structure, staff