Feedback: the Cactus online TEFL course
Wednesday, 3rd June 2009
Mario Arribas is a recent graduate in English Philology, who hopes to become an English teacher in his home country of Spain. He explains why he chose the Cactus Online TEFL course to supplement his existing teaching qualification, and how useful he found it.
When I first searched the Cactus TEFL website, I was impressed by the great number of TEFL courses they offered, so the next step was to contact them. I explained my situation and it only took them a couple of seconds to give me their recommendation for what would suit me best: the Cactus Online TEFL Course.
COTC is divided into two different parts which are equally useful: English Language Awareness (ELA) and English Language Methodology (ELM).
On one hand, ELA was especially useful for me because I had never been trained by a native English teacher before and this part of the course really offers a different and a more pragmatic view on English grammar, as well as refreshing the key concepts.
Regarding this course, I would like to highlight that the concepts are not explained from a solely theoretical point of view, in fact, this part of the course is especially useful because it was designed by native teachers. We are lucky to enjoy the best pieces of advice given by the people who know most about English, the most reliable source: native speakers.
On the other hand, as far as ELM is concerned I can only say that it is excellent for a number of reasons. The main ones for me:
Written and multimedia theory and examples: Theory is really worthless without an example; that is why this course is so valuable, because learners are given some video excerpts to better grasp the theory.
Assignments: The best way to learn something is trying it yourself and COTC designers´ knew it; that is why there are some assignments that help to better understand the role of the teacher in the class and to develop some in-class strategies.
Feedback: COTC tutors – who are experienced EFL teachers- will read and comment on students´ assignments. It is the best way to learn from the mistakes. Apart from being really helpful and useful, tutors are really quick posting their feedback on the assignments.
Last but not least, I would like to highlight the O in COTC, because although it may seem that the fact of being an online course makes it less valuable than a face-to-face course, this is definitely not right – at least from my point of view.
You can do the course at your own pace and rhythm, and if some doubts pop up, there is a forum where you can place your questions, and tutors and other students will gladly help. Besides, we are very much in the online era. If you can do the shopping on the internet, why not taking a course in front of the screen?
Tags: online, cactus tefl, course, language, cactus, tefl, english
Posted by Laura Lippert 2009-06 under Types of Courses, Teaching Languages,
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