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Last year, 2021, I got my Level 5 TEFL Certificate at Premier. It took me almost 6 month to finish the course, but It was an excellent decision for me. In this post I am going to talk about Premier TEFL, the institute where I studied a Level 5 TEFL course.
¿Why did I decide to take a TEFL course if I design educational materials?
Although I got my Undergraduate Degree in Modern Languages (English-German), my major is Linguistics and Cultural Studies. This means that I did not take any courses about teaching English or German as foreign languages, since I was supposed to be a language researcher or philologist. I was a university professor, and for many years, I also was a private tutor focused on teaching technologies applied to the translation field.However, I wanted to change my career, but still focused on languages as foreign languages.
First, I took a Certificate on Teaching Spanish as a Foreign Language online at the same university where I got my undergraduate degree, that was in 2018. After that course, almost a year later, I decided to start my career in designing educational materials to teach kids English and Spanish as foreign languages. I created my online store at Teachers pay Teachers.
While I was designing materials, already in 2020, during Covid-19 pandemic, I felt that I needed to know more about teaching English as a foreign language, but I wanted a fast track course, online, that allowed me to know more about how to teach English as a foreign language to kids, so I first decided to take four 30 hour TEFL courses, at Premier TEFL. And, finally I took their TEFL level 5 course.
30-hour Specialist TEFL courses
Premier TEFL offers six 30-hour specialist TEFL courses that help EFL teachers to specialize in high-paid niche areas and provide teachers the skill set needed to become independent English teachers, to work online and onsite.
The ones that I took were:
- Teaching English Online Course, now the course they offer is Become and Online English Tutor.
- Teaching Young Learner Course
- Teaching Business English Course
- Advanced Grammar for English Teacher Course
The other two courses offered are:
Advanced TEFL course
Premier TEFL offers a course specially ideal for non native speakers, whose English language minimum level is fluent or B1, according to international standard of intermediate or advanced fluency.
If you are a non native speaker of English, you can test your English level by clicking here.
This course is great for those who do not have previous knowledge of teaching English as a foreign language, and it may be ideal if you want to be an online EFL teacher.
Ofqual Regulated Level 5 TEFL Course
When I tested my English, I got a C2 level, so according to the English level test, I was ready to take the Level 5 TEFL course. Right now, Premier TEFL offer courses with different duration. There is a main couse that comprises ten modules. If you want to include specialist courses, then duration will vary.
This course is ideal if you want to work in a more competitive environment. This course is regulated by The Office of Qualifications and Examinations Regulation), an English Government body. According to Premier TEFL “Ofqual’s qualifications framework states this course to be of the same level and difficulty as the following: a diploma of higher education (DipHE), a foundation degree, 2 years at university and the CELTA and Trinity CertTESOL qualifications.”
It took me almost 6 moths to finish the course, since I was also taking some postgraduate courses, so the course was flexible enough for me.
Price was also a key factor to choose this course. A CELTA (Certificate in Teaching English to Adults) course is typically completed over a 4-week full time study schedule, but it costs around $2,000 and is aimed at educating adults, and I wanted to learn about teaching younger learners and payed a fraction of a CELTA course.
Premier TEFL frequently offers sales. Depending on the course you choose, it may cost up to 50% less.
According to Premier TEFL, “A Level 5 TEFL course has the difficulty level of the first year of university and requires more commitment and effort to pass. The essay style questions on a Level 5 course will be reassessed if the answers do not meet the required standard.” But , they give review all your tests first, and tell them to correct the answers that do not fit the requierements, before sending it to the official reviewer.
By the way, materials are included and you can study your course on your cell phone, thanks to their app. Material are also sold in their shop.
Other courses and services from Premier TEFL
Premier TEFL offers interships in Asia, Europe and South America, after completing the level 5 TEFL Certificate. And, if you want to have previous experience teaching online, they also have a 10 hour Virtual TEFL course to teach teaching methods and practice.
Visit Premier TEFL site if you want to know a little more how to be a EFL teacher, and my shop if you want to plan a class for kids in English or in Spanish.
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