Saturday 28 April 2012

ITTP Prague: Latest Onsite ITTP course review

> 27/04/2012 : Steph
5 out of 5 (5 stars)
ITTP Prague TEFL Int.CertTEFL/TESOL Onsite course Review 


I heard first about ittp tefl from a friend who took their course way back in 2007 and who had nothing but good feedback. I graduated and meant to take the course a few years back but some things cropped up and i ended up putting it off until this past fall when i realized that if i didn't do it now then i probably never would. So i took the plunge and signed up for their prague april program. I graduated from the course friday. Now i've never taken a tefl course before so i really can't compare courses but from the other teachers i met in prague who took different courses i did feel fortunate that the teaching practice i got through the ittp program seemed to be very much above average in terms of number of hours taught and variation of teaching setting. Once again though i can't compare ittp with other courses and the other courses might be better or worse. Who knows. All i can write is that i personally had a blast on the course and it helped me to achieve what i had traveled to prague to do and that is to teach in europe. Also, i'm not sure if this is a particularly good time of the year to take the course or why logically it would be but pretty much everyone from our group has either started teaching or has interviews lined up. As well as providing excellent job finding services the school also provide visa support but it seems that essentially the visa aspect is down to the language school which decides to employ you. Speaking with other teachers from the states i get the picture that the visa requires jumping through a few hoops and all but isn't as half as difficult to obtain as some people claim it is. Plus my school is helping me with it and it is only costing me around 40 bucks. My only negative experience was unrelated to the course and was more concerned with pricing in the city. You really have to watch where you go because a night out in some parts of the center can be SO much more expensive than a similar night out in other parts. I did get a bit fed up being seen as a walking dollar sign in these places but soon learnt where the tourist spots were and how to avoid them. As long as you avoid these spots you will generally be ok. Yesterday i had my orientation day and signed the teaching contract and i officially start teaching tomorrow morning. My one bit of advice for anyone thinking of taking the plunge and taking a tefl course abroad is JUST DO IT! I am just kicking myself for not doing this earlier. Ittp was an excellent decision and i have very fond memories of my 4 weeks at the school which i will hold dear for a very long time and essentially what really made the course were the other people studying with me.