All TEFL Courses & Certifications

A TEFL course is your ticket to a life living and teaching abroad.  Working as a TEFL teacher gives you the freedom to live wherever you want, with the confidence that you’ll be able to support yourself. In many cases, living the TEFL course is living your best life - because it’s your life on your terms.  Even if you don’t think you’ll teach for the rest of your life, teaching abroad gives you transferable skills which look great on your resume - and you will have had the best adventures traveling the world. 

Yes, TEFL is recognized in the United States. Many English language learners are living and working or studying in the US who need additional language lessons.

When it comes to the quality of a TEFL course, important considerations are:

• accreditation
• reputation
• course content
• value for money

In the United States, The TEFL Academy offers face-to-face courses in Boston, Philadelphia and San Francisco. This 10-hour classroom course is done in conjunction with an online course to make up the Level 5 168-hour Combined TEFL Course.  Of course it’s possible to do a TEFL course totally online. The TEFL Academy offers a Level 3 120-hour online TEFL course, and a Level 5 168-hour online TEFL course. If you would like to do an online course but you’d still like to get practical teaching experience, you should consider our Level 5 40-hour Observed Teaching Practice Course on top of an online course.

TEFL courses are not intrinsically hard. However, they require a time commitment and dedication to your studies. An easy way of failing a TEFL course is through absenteeism, missed deadlines, or plagiarism.

A TEFL qualification does not expire. Once you have completed a TEFL course and are officially TEFL-certified, this is for life. 

How do I know if my TEFL certificate is legit, is a common question among soon-to-be TEFL teachers. The legitimacy of a TEFL course can be verified through its accrediting bodies.  The TEFL Academy courses are approved by the DEAC as meeting the criteria for Approved Quality Curriculum Status.  We are further accredited by UK-government-recognized accrediting bodies.

TEFL courses are totally worth it - ask any TEFL teacher! A TEFL course is an intensive, comprehensive course which prepares you to teach in the EFL classroom. At the same time, teaching English gives you transferable skills which you can take with you in whichever direction you can go.  With a TEFL qualification, you are not restricted to teaching: you can train teachers, write, blog, manage a school - the opportunities are endless.  But a TEFL course is not just a means of employment. A TEFL qualification is a ticket to a life you’ve always dreamed of, living and working wherever you want, with as much flexibility as your heart desires.  Even better, a TEFL qualification is for life - it never expires!

The TEFL Academy offers the following online courses:

• A Level 3 120-hour online TEFL course
• A Level 5 168-hour online TEFL course
• A Level 5 40-hour Observed Teaching Practice course
• 30-hour Top Up courses, namely Teaching Business English, Teaching Young Learners, and Teaching Online & 1:1.

The TEFL Academy offers a Level 5 168-hour Combined TEFL course. This course has an online component, as well as a 10-hour in-class training session. In the US, our in-class component can be taken in Boston, Philadelphia and San Francisco.

With a TEFL certificate, you can teach in Berlin or Bangkok or Buenos Aires, and anywhere in-between. You can even teach in countries which have English as one of the national languages.  That’s right, you can use your TEFL qualification to teach in the United States. In the US, you can work in language centers teaching English to foreign students who come to the US to learn English, or international students, or immigrants or migrant workers.  And, of course, you can teach online.

The TEFL Academy courses cost between $350 and $1,000, depending on the course. Of course prices will vary across TEFL course providers, but it is only a waste of your time and money to go for a dirt-cheap TEFL course. 

You are able to teach abroad or online with both a Level 3 and a Level 5 TEFL certificate.  However, a Level 3 qualification is more suited to volunteer teaching and other less-formal teaching positions. A Level 5 qualification is better for TEFL teachers who want to apply for long-term or well-paid teaching positions.  If you’re not sure yet where your TEFL adventure might take you or how long your TEFL career may be, we recommend doing the Level 5 TEFL course.