The TEFL Academy - 168 Hour Online TEFL Course Breakdown

What sets The TEFL Academy's course apart from the countless others is the experience of their trainers. All their trainers are not only experienced EFL professionals, they are also DELTA qualified assessors. On top of this they have all spent plenty of  time teaching in the classroom (where it really counts) and bring their expertise in teaching to all TEFL course enrollees.

The TEFL Academy - 168 Hour Course Breakdown

This meaty 168 hour course will enable you to teach English in as a foreign language in most countries in the world. It is a level 5 course which ranks it as a higher national diploma.

Furthermore it's  internationally recognized and regulated by Ofqual, a UK government department, and awarded by Qualifi, a UK government recognized awarding body.  It's the only TEFL program recognized by government regulated awarding bodies both in the US and the UK. 

How Long Will it Take to Complete the Course? 

That depends on how hard you study and how hungry you are to jump into your new adventure in teaching ESL abroad.  168 hours is a sizable chunk of time. If you're grinding at it at a healthy pace, 4 to 6 weeks usually will cut it for your typical student.

But not everything goes according to schedule in our lives so TEFL Academy gives you a generous 6 months to get it done to try to account for what is unaccountable. After all we all have different work schedules in our lives and absorb information at different paces. The 6 month clock starts running on the day you pay for the course.

I am Very Busy!  What Options Do I have With the TEFL Academy Course? 

If you are strapped for time, you can do it completely online if you want to and complete the course at a pace that fits your schedule.
You can also combine it with a 20 hour practicum. (Hands on teaching where you are actually face to face working through a given teaching objective.)

How is the Course Broken Down?

TEFL Academy breaks its course down into 10 units, covering everything you need to know to kick-off and succeed in your TEFL career. The course is assessed with a mix of short tests and coursework and is equal to 168 hours of study. Every student is assigned their own online tutor who you can contact throughout your course for any academic enquiries. 

What Happens if I Fail the Test?

TEFL Academy does their best to make sure no one gets left behind. Enrollees do fail some of the tests. However if you do fail a section of the test you'll be told which parts you failed and then given a chance to restudy and revise those parts. You can take as many times as it takes to pass it.

About their submitted work assignments, there are three of them, if you don't pass a submitted assignment your TEFL Academy tutor will give you very clear feedback on what you need to do to pass and they give you the opportunity to resubmit. You can make up to three submissions for each assignment. An overwhelming majority (over 90%) of the students who submit the final assignment pass the course. 

If you choose to take the course with the practicum, there is no pass/fail to this part of the course. It is meant to expose the enrollee to the more real part of teaching and serves the purpose of absorbing teaching experience which of course goes hand-in-hand with the practical knowledge like teaching methodology that is taught in the online part of the course.

Many say it's the fun part of the course as it's interactive, is filled with a healthy dose of group work and your tutor's will give you any positive feedback to help you get the most out of your practicum.
Click here for course locations. https://www.theteflacademy.com/course-location. The level 5 course will qualify you to teach all ages and levels. It will qualify you to teach in the classroom, one to one and online with optional upgrades.

             What?  Optional Upgrades?  There's More??

The TEFL Academy - Cutting through the Coursework

Yup. Why stop when you're on a roll? TEFL Academy now offers a little extra leverage for those who completed the level 5 course. They now offer TEFL top-up courses which are designed to build on the knowledge and experience you already gained from the main level 5 TEFL course.

The courses have been built as follow-on courses for our existing students to deepen your knowledge base and really drive home more advanced levels of teaching  English.  Top -up courses are open to anyone that has studied a similar TEFL course at the same level and not just TEFL Academy graduates.

With successful completion of the top-up course you will be able to specialize in teaching areas that interest you, give your TEFL CV a professional edge and develop new or existing TEFL skills. https://www.theteflacademy.com/top-up-courses. You will be able to choose from one of the three top-up courses, as this is included in the course fee.   

How is the Course Organized?

The course is broken into ten units with the first unit being lesson planning and this is composed of:

• How to select and formulate appropriate lesson aims. 
•  How to plan a lesson to achieve the aims you have selected.

The Second Unit Focuses on Teaching English Vocabulary

•  What it means to “know” a word or phrase.
• How to teach a new vocabulary and get students to practice it.

The Third Unit Focuses on the Teaching of Pronunciation

• The symbols from the International Phonetic Alphabet used to represent the pronunciation of British English 
•  How the sounds are formed 
• How to help students with pronunciation 

The Fourth Unit Focuses on Understanding English Grammar 

• Introduces the aspects of grammar you will need in order to cope with English language teaching coursebooks and identify syllabi confidently. 
• It also covers parts of speech (verb, noun etc.), the different tenses in English, passive forms and basic sentence structure. Transitive and intransitive verbs, use of modals, conjunctions, particles definite and indefinite, adjectives, adverbs as well as other common aspects of  grammar.

The Fifth Unit Focuses on Teaching Receptive Skills

•  Listening and Reading 
•  Examining the process of reading 
•  Presenting the lesson procedure most commonly used for reading comprehension lessons. 
• The processes involved in listening to and interpreting spoken language. 
• Different types of listening 
• The basic procedure for a listening lesson.

The Sixth Unit Focuses on Functional English 

• What type of classroom activity a teacher can use to provide students with teaching practice? 
•  Why we need to teach students to write. 
• Different types of writing 
•  What features characterize written text and how written language differs from spoken language.
• What should be covered in writing lessons.

The Seventh Unit Focuses on Teaching English Grammar. While the fourth unit examined English grammar from a functional/ mechanical point of view a sort of nuts and bolts point of view, the seventh unit examines English from the view point of application

• How to apply grammatical knowledge to grammar teaching. 
• Ways of teaching grammar to teenagers and adults.

The Eighth Unit Focuses on Principles of Teaching English as a Foreign Language

• The history of the English language.
• The many ways the English language is used in the world both today and will be used tomorrow.
•  The importance in economic, social and cultural terms 
•  A brief examination of the main trends in foreign language teaching methodologies/philosophies including behaviorism, audio-lingualism, the “natural way”, and humanistic approaches.
•  How you can apply these methods in your own teaching.

The Ninth Unit Focuses on Materials and Aids for Teaching English/Classroom Management Strategies 

• Traditional and modern teaching aids and how to use them.
• Useful classroom activities to engage the students in their learning.
• How to avoid some of the problems inexperienced teachers often have and coping strategies with dealing with behavioral problems in the classroom.
•  How to establish good behavior in your lessons. 
• Planning points that will help to ensure your lessons run smoothly.

The Final Unit Focuses onUsing Resources Efficiently When Teaching English as a Foreign Language

• The meaning of the labels used to refer to students’ language level.
•  Ways of finding out what your students wants and need are.
• Selecting teaching material appropriate for your students and your teaching aims.
• How to use course books effectively.
• The use of computers in language teaching .
• Introduction of Useful procedures and activities you can easily integrate into your teaching. 
• Different types of testing and teaching exam classes.

The TEFL Academy Certificate

And lastly of course the final unit aids the TEFL Academy enrollee in finding and applying for work abroad.

Accredited by Qualifi an Ofqual (The Office of Qualifications and Examinations Regulation, a UK government department) regulated awarding body allowing you to work all over the world.