The TEFL Academy Review 2021
Outstanding courses that can pave the way to a new career.
The TEFL Academy 2021:
The first choice for anyone wanting to teach English as a second language.
Languages Available: English
Classes start from: £45.
60% off deal for all courses is available until January 21st!
Introduction
Teaching English as a foreign language – or TEFL, as it more commonly referred to – is an incredibly popular career choice for many individuals. After all, TEFL provides ideal opportunities for those seeking to travel the world and earn a wage in different countries. High-quality teachers are always in-demand, too, so there’s no doubt that TEFL has plenty to offer those who choose to pursue it.
However, like any form of teaching, qualifications are required to teach English as a foreign language – and that’s where The TEFL Academy enter the picture.
Rather than offering a broad range of different courses, The TEFL Academy are specialists, seeking to offer a one-stop-shop for anyone interested in learning to teach English to students across the globe. Offering recognised qualifications for first-time learners as well as “top up” courses to supplement existing knowledge, The TEFL Academy have everything that a prospective English teacher could require.
The main offering from The TEFL Academy is the Level 5 TEFL Course. This course is equivalent to CELTA, CertTESOL, and Trinity Cert, and comprises of 168 hours of tuition; upon completion, students are fully qualified to teach English as a foreign language. For added flexibility for students, The TEFL Academy offer both online and offline variants of this all-encompassing course.
In terms of reputability, The TEFL Academy pass with flying colours. They are regulated by Ofqual, are awarded by Qualifi, and the Level 5 TEFL Course is DEAC (a US Department of Education National Accreditor) approved. As a result, choosing to study with The TEFL Academy ensures you will be studying with the best of the best, and can thus look forward to outstanding quality teaching and an internationally recognised qualification when the course is complete.
As we have seen above, there’s no denying that The TEFL Academy perform well at first glance, but how do things look when this renowned course provider is studying in depth? In this piece, we’ve sought to find out, so read on to find out more.
Understandably, The TEFL Academy focus on discussing their courses on their website rather than listing significant information about the provider themselves – so information regarding their founding is hard to come by. However, The TEFL Academy registered their Twitter account in 2012, so it’s reasonable to presume that they have been in operation for just as long, and likely longer still – so this is an established, trustworthy, and long-term operation.
The TEFL Academy specialise in qualifications for those seeking to teach English as a foreign language, with their Level 5 course the most prolific and beneficial.
The combined Level 5 course is £520, while the online-only version is £360; though promotions are frequently available that can lower these costs significantly. For example, in January 2020, the company is offering a 60% discount on both courses: this works out at £234 for the combined course, and £162 for the online course. Additionally, the top-up courses are usually £100 each, though discounts can also apply.
The course materials are provided in English, though The TEFL Academy do not require students to be native English speakers in order to apply.
The TEFL Academy does not seem to include a specific offering for corporate or business clients.
The TEFL Academy: How Expensive is The TEFL Academy?
The TEFL Academy prides itself on its ability to offer a high-level, recognised qualification at a reasonable price. The costs of the Level 5 courses are incredibly impressive, especially given just how much students receive: in addition to course materials and support during qualification, those who complete the course can also receive assistance with TEFL jobs and internships across the globe. The TEFL Academy are clearly dedicated to going above and beyond the standard requirements of an online course provider, but have managed to do this while also maintaining their commitment to keeping the costs of each course at an affordable level – an impressive feat.
Furthermore, the already-excellent course costs can often be lowered further with the promotional deals that The TEFL Academy frequently offer. At the time of writing, a 60% discount is available to new students, significantly reducing the costs of both the combined and online Level 5 courses to £234 and £162 respectively. Such reductions ensure that anyone choosing to enroll on one of The TEFL Academy’s courses can be absolutely certain that they are accessing the TEFL training they require at a fantastic price that would be nigh-on impossible to beat elsewhere.
What Courses Are Available At The TEFL Academy?
The courses offered by The TEFL Academy are, as would be expected given the name of the course provider, focused on equipping students with the qualifications and knowledge required to teach English as a foreign language. To find out more about the courses that are available, how they differ from one another, and which may be the most suitable for your purposes, read on…
Online Level 5 TEFL Course (168 hours)
This course offers the ability to achieve an internationally-recognised TEFL qualification, with the course completed entirely online. Students also receive access to the international jobs board; support from EFL professionals; access for six months to the online campus; a specialist grammar unit; assistance from The TEFL Academy’s recruitment team, and a 30-hour top-up course included in their course fee.
Combined Level 5 TEFL Course (168 hours)
The combined course offers all of the benefits of the online version, such as the specialist grammar unit and assistance from the recruitment team upon course completion. However, the course is not completely entirely online: while some online work is involved, students also receive 20 hours of face-to-face training, which is conducted by an experienced EFL professional, at their chosen UK location.
Teaching Business English
The Teaching Business English course is offered as a top-up course, focusing – as you would think – on teaching English for business purposes. The course is taught online and is 30 hours long, and students receive a certificate (in PDF format) when the course is completed. Teaching Business English can be studied as a solo course, or chosen as the free top-up course included with a Level 5 course.
Teaching Online & 1:1
This 30-hour online top-up course is designed to assist those who would like to teach TEFL online (which is incredibly popular) rather than in a conventional classroom situation, covering everything from planning lessons to applying for work. The course is available as a standalone course or can be selected as a free option when completing a Level 5 course; when registered, you have six weeks to complete your studies.
Teaching Young Learners
Another of The TEFL Academy’s top-up courses, Teaching Young Learners is an excellent choice for those looking to teach children or young people. The course, which is 30 hours in length and is completed online, can be included as part of a Level 5 qualification or studied independently if preferred. Topics covered include increasing motivation and how teaching can differ when working with younger individuals.
Content Quality at The TEFL Academy?
The TEFL Academy are a specialist course provider with a singular focus on their area of specialisation, so it comes as no surprise that they have been able to go to great lengths to offer an excellent quality of course content. The Level 5 courses cover every possible aspect of teaching English, while the top-up courses allow the opportunity to specialise – resulting in a well-rounded learning experience. The only downside we could find about the course is that you only receive access to the online campus for six-months, but this is a small issue that is easily resolved by completing the course before this access expires.
- Suitable for all levels of experience
- Includes special grammar module
- Comprehensive modules that cover all aspects of TEFL
- Only six-months access to online campus
Reputation of tutors at The TEFL Academy
The tutors – or “trainers”, as they are referred to – at The TEFL Academy are seasoned EFL professionals, many of whom have enjoyed years of experience both teaching English as a foreign language and teaching the next generation of teachers too. As a result, students can expect the best of both worlds: trainers who know the ins and outs of the TEFL industry and what it’s like to work in, but who are also adept at assisting those seeking to qualify and become teachers for the first time.
Students seem to speak highly of the trainers at The TEFL Academy too, which is encouraging; there are overwhelmingly positive reviews for those who conduct the offline classes at various locations across the UK. Overall, it is clear that The TEFL Academy have sought to ensure their trainers are able to provide a huge amount of value, insight, and expertise to bring to any student who chooses to enroll.
Course length — too long, too short?
The courses at The TEFL Academy are formulated to make sure students learn everything they need to know about teaching English as a foreign language and useful information about actually working as an EFL teacher. While it cannot be argued that the courses offered by this provider are fairly lengthy – the Level 5 courses include 168 hours of study, while the top-up courses are 30 hours – it can be argued that such course lengths are entirely out of necessity given the importance of the subject and the value of the eventual qualification. It would be nigh-on impossible to qualify to teach students without such a significant amount of time spent studying, and rightly so.
We can thus conclude that the course lengths are exactly what they need to be in order to impart the necessary information, but without providing more information than is necessarily required – a fact which is very much to The TEFL Academy’s credit.
Reputation of The TEFL Academy: What Are The Students Saying?
There are a lot of different providers of TEFL courses online, which is unsurprising given the popularity of travelling the world or even living the “digital nomad” lifestyle. However, if you glance through the reviews for many of TEFL course providers, they’re far from impressive: students observe major problems with the course materials, or find that the course does not provide a qualification that is recognised around the world and fully qualifies them to teach.
Given the high volume of suspect course providers, we are delighted to be able to confirm that students who chose The TEFL Academy are overwhelmingly positive about their experiences. Such positive reviews make it clear that while there might be disreputable TEFL providers out there, these “fool’s gold” providers only exist because the real gold does too – and The TEFL Academy is definitely a 24 karat-quality course provider. Students often comment on the quality of the course materials, the excellent interactions with trainers, and are especially keen to praise the top-up course that is included with the Level 5 courses.
Criticisms are few and far between; where students do comment on issues, these tend to be unrelated to The TEFL Academy themselves, and are mostly related to the student’s individual experience (for example, struggling to find the time to study). After going through numerous reviews, we found that those who choose The TEFL Academy report that they are more than happy with their choice,and we also found it encouraging that many reviews mention that former students are now teaching English as a foreign language professionally – which suggests that The TEFL Academy’s Level 5 qualifications offer the real world benefits one would hope.
Considering all of the above, it seems likely that any new enrollee to The TEFL Academy can look forward to a wonderful experience that results in a life-changing (and recognised throughout the world) teaching qualification.
The TEFL Academy Final Score:
9.5/10
Yes, you will be qualified to teach students of all ages upon completion of either the online or combined Level 5 course.
Yes, though the countries you can teach in may be restricted – The TEFL Academy provide full information on which countries allow people to teach English without a formal degree.
No; non-native speakers are welcome, though The TEFL Academy do suggest that students have a certain level of English proficiency before enrolling; see their website for more information regarding this.
