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In the online TEFL space, there are bound to be a fair amount of unscrupulous characters and scammy programs out there. It appears there is a new player on the field, TEFL Online Pro, which might take the cake as being the pinnacle of a fraudulent company backed by a fake review site — Trusted Tefl Reviews.
There is mounting evidence that suggests that TEFL Online Pro's entire operation is poorly conceived scam, run by one individual pretending to be both graduates and staff of this made-up online TEFL company. This individual appears to also be the creator, and operator, of the potentially fake TEFL review site, Trusted TEFL Reviews, creating multiple fake personas to give the review site (and TEFL Online Pro) the optics of looking credible.
Even more troubling is that TEFL Online Pro and Trusted TEFL Reviews might indeed be the work of a man named Neville David Thomas, a past scam artist in the online TEFL space {proof below}.
Let's take a step back and unpack how we got here. Trusted TEFL Reviews — trustedteflreviews.com, appeared on the scene in mid-2019 as a credible review site that didn't accept advertising dollars. The owner of the site was a very active woman named Mia Williams. Shortly after this review site's inception, it became clear that this site was nothing at all to be trusted. The review site's real intended use is to prop up Online TEFL Pro and write fake negative reviews about legitimate TEFL courses. Evidence below.
i) Both TEFL Online Pro and Trusted TEFL Reviews were created in the same month (March 2019) within 10 days of each other. Both domains were purchased from the same website company, registered anonymously and registered in Panama of all places. This can be verified by searching the WHOIS records for these domains.
* Already this is quite a coincidence, surely a smoking gun. Why would a TEFL course pay extra money to hide the true identities of their owners?
ii) Mia Williams and Paul Murphy {the head trainer at TEFL Online Pro} do not exist until 2019. There are no LinkedIn profiles, company registrations, bios, pictures, blogs, work history, for either of them. If people have decades of experience + are active on the internet, it would make sense for them to have a teaching history/professional profile, wouldn't it? Well, there's nothing. They simply did not exist until both websites were created in March 2019 {within 10 days of each other}.
*Some people do not have LinkedIn, but 'Mia Williams' has been incredibly active on social media with over 280 posts on Quora since March 2019. Wouldn't it be reasonable for her to also have a LinkedIn account? Wouldn't the head trainer/owner of a TEFL course also have a professional profile? Neither of them does and that's because they are made up people.
iii) Shortly after Trusted TEFL Reviews was created in March 2019 (although they write and lie that they have been around for years) TEFL Online Pro just happen to win their fake Teachers' Choice Award. You can currently view those details on the review site. Ironically, TEFL Online Pro have no other reviews on the internet. There are no Google reviews and they are not listed on any other TEFL course review website. That's strange.
*It is so obvious at this point what is going on that it's kind of humorous.
iv) Negative reviews for other online TEFL courses begin to pop up frequently on Trusted TEFL Reviews.
v) Finding it peculiar to see multiple negative reviews coming from unknown graduates on a new review website, a few legitimate online TEFL courses questioned the authenticity of the reviews on Trusted TEFL Reviews.
Instead of offering proof that these negative reviews were credible, Trusted TEFL Reviews decided to attack the other online courses, creating both a scam and blacklisted section. You can currently view this content on their website. Needless to stay, the information in these sections is false and Trusted TEFL Reviews refuses to make any counter argument from the online companies public — they are not allowing us to add comments on the site. When an impartial review site creates a scam section about your company for questioning the legitimacy of some reviews you've received, you know there is something up.
*This is where it became clear what Trusted TEFL Reviews M.O. was. Review sites do not attack courses directly.
vi) While 'Mia Williams' {the potentially fake persona of Trusted TEFL Reviews} has created a scam section and blacklist section for certain courses who questioned the validity of the review site, she has gone out of her way to defend TEFL Online Pro on various forums and platforms on the net. So much so, that the mods at Reddit have banned all mention of TEFL Online Pro and have added both TEFL Online Pro and Trusted TEFL Reviews to their 'avoid like the plague' section. You can view this in the r/TEFL section on Reddit.
I think the case has been made that there is indeed something very strange about these two entities.
Connection with Neville David Thomas?
i) In an effort to find out the real owners of TEFL Online Pro and Trusted TEFL Reviews, a few online courses decided to do some research. It was quite easy to conduct. We just went on Facebook and searched for these terms in various TEFL/teaching groups. Low and behold, a man named Neville kept popping up recommending both TEFL Online Pro and Trusted TEFL Reviews, saying he was the owner of TEFL Online Pro.
A quick google search of his name brought up a history of Neville creating multiple fake review sites for fake TEFL courses in the past.
These go back as far as 2012. There was even a review site {circa 2015} where he created another female persona as the creator. You can view this evidence for yourself here — https://teflonlinereviews.wordpress.com
*Note that this review site uses the word 'trusted' in its description and is managed by another female persona. There is also a scam and blacklisted section as well.
So, there you have it. All of these claims can easily be thwarted by Trusted TEFL Reviews and TEFL Online Pro. All that is asked is for Mia Williams and Paul Murphy to prove that they are real people. This can be solved immediately by a link to a LinkedIn profile (something created before 2019) or official registration docs/articles of incorporation of their companies.
We believe that neither of these entities will produce this basic information and that proves that these websites are at least lying about who they really are. We would also ask that Trusted TEFL Reviews provide proof of the many negative reviews that other legitimate online TEFL courses have received and remove the scam/blacklisted sections on their review site. At the very least, they should allow us to add comments and defend ourselves. They won't, because they appear to be lairs.
The complaint has been investigated and resolved to the customer's satisfaction.
eTeacherHebrew
12 reviews
Rosetta Stone
24 reviews
Pimsleur Approach
53 reviews
Busuu
91 reviews
Flow Languages
3 reviews
In this screenshot we see Neville David Thomas trashing his Czech competitor when he run ITTP TEFL.
In the same article, Neville promotes his “award winning” “#1 course” on a previous fake review site he created with a different alias
The pattern shows similarities with the current scheme perpetrated through Trusted TEFL Reviews to promote TEFL Online Pro as an “award winning” “#1 course” and “special discounts”.
Mia, where is the next gala for the awards? Would be my honour to meet you in person.
We now know that this comment was written by TTA The TEFL Academy - one of our business competitors.
Hi
It does seem a bit suspicious. Below is the complete history of my interaction with them. Start from all the way down where I try to submit my initial experience.
Thanks
Peter
Peter.
Try contacting other schools then and see if you can get better answers from them instead.
I think you will find though that every school you contact will react in a similar way.
It's worth a try though.
Trusted TEFL Reviews can't help you any more because we only publish reviews from customers of online TEFL courses.
There are lots of TEFL courses out there. Good luck with your search!
Mia Williams
On Tue, 8 Sep 2020 at 13:51, Peter Shankar wrote:
Mia
The whole point of the review was that I wasn't allowed to do the course because not enough information was given. The review should be based on anything from the first interact to last experience not just completing the course or not.
Peter
Sent from Yahoo7 Mail on Android
On Fri, 4 Sep. 2020 at 12:14 pm, Mia Williams
wrote:
Peter.
Trusted TEFL Reviews only accepts reviews from people who have completed a TEFL course.
When you have completed a TEFL course, submit your review.
Mia Williams
On Fri, 4 Sep 2020 at 04:10, Peter Shankar wrote:
Hi Mia
I will be happy to submit the extra words. I have not completed a course from pro tefl. This review was based on my initial course inquiry experience with them.
Thanks
Peter
Sent from Yahoo7 Mail on Android
On Fri, 4 Sep. 2020 at 12:05 pm, Mia Williams
wrote:
Peter Shankar.
Reviews need to contain a minimum of 300 words to be published.
Resubmit your review and attach a copy of your course certificate.
I have published your content as a comment:
https://trustedteflreviews.com/2020/08/31/teaching-english-online-tefl-online-pro/
Mia Williams
On Thu, 3 Sep 2020 at 15:06, Trusted TEFL Reviews wrote:
Name
Peter Shankar
Email
pankaj233@yahoo.com
Comment or Message
Sounds very good on the phone. Won choice awards as well. After exchanging a couple of emails and having a phone conversation with Paul, I wanted to know where my course would take me in terms of working hours. I explained this in a email to Paul. At first he didn't even bother replying. When I sent him a reminder email he said they don't 'provide job guidance' to international clients and that I should enroll in the course first. When I told him that this could hardly be considered 'job guidance' and was part of the initial course inquiry, he again chose not to reply. Unfortunately, this guy prefers to ignore emails rather than dealing with them directly. Coming from the education industry myself, I dare say he's more a business man a educationalist.
Peter
Hello Peter,
My attention was directed to your complaint about our admissions process.
I'm sorry to hear that you were dissatisfied with your experience.
I feel, though, that I do need to correct a couple of points that you brought up.
1. We arranged to have a phone call and this call took up one whole hour. You spent the majority of this time asking about teaching jobs and related work visa questions. You didn't really ask any questions about the course content. We had a couple of follow-up email exchanges and the main topic of these was also focussed mainly on teaching jobs and related work visa questions.
2. We definitely didn't write to you that we "don't 'provide job guidance' to international clients and that I should enroll in the course first". What we wrote is that we provide international job guidance to our customers only.
3. I apologize if you felt that I was ignoring your emails. After our phone call and subsequent email exchanges, I felt that you were more interested in gaining job guidance information than information about our TEFL/TESOL courses.
It's been almost two years now so I hope that you have found your niche in the TEFL teaching world.
Wishing you all the best,
Paul Murphy | Operations Manager | TEFL Online Pro
Ian Leahy didn't write the post above or any of those comments, but I did write this:
https://www.eslinsider.com/blog/is-trusted-tefl-reviews-tefl-online-pro-a-scam
That "Teacher's choice award" is fake.
Ian Patrick Leahy, ESLinsider TEFL, you are notorious within the TEFL community for writing trash about your business competitors. Come on, why try to hide it! :)
It is there for all to see.
Pick any reputable Online TEFL/TESOL company and Ian will have written some trash about it at some time in the past 10 years.
You ran an unaccredited TEFL (TEKA) course for a while, and to promote it you wrote damning articles on your business competitors so that those articles would show up in the Google search results for those companies - resulting in redirected traffic to your program.
You also frequent complaints websites and Reddit - posing as anonymous users with a grudge against (fill in blank) company.
Now that your ESLinsider TEFL program appears to be dead in the water, you have spent the last two winter and summer seasons working temporary manual jobs in Montana/Idaho.
This has all been documents on the authoritative Trusted TEFL Reviews website:
https://trustedteflreviews.com/2020/02/03/eslinsider-reviews-scam/
You have been banned from Facebook since 2017, for publishing misinformation on the platform, and we successfully had one of your YouTube videos deleted because YouTube viewed it as going against their community guidelines.
You have been harassing our company for the past two years! :)
I would recommend taking a read through our rebuttal to your accusations:
https://teflonlinepro.com/refutation-of-allegations-made-by-our-business-competitors/
Kind regards,
Paul Murphy | Operations Manager | TEFL Online Pro
Before the TEFL online pro scam he was doing another review scam called ittp tefl. Same story. See for yourself:
ITTP TEFL — Fake Reviews and Terrible Accommodation
There is no TEFL Online Pro scam.
TEFL Online Pro receives consistently positive (verified) customer feedback; Trusted TEFL Reviews, Facebook, and YouTube being three good examples of this.
There are, however, a small number of business competitors that have far too much free time on their hands and who are most certainly not shy about spreading false information online about their competitors.
TEFL Online Pro has responded to these baseless and misleading accusations, on the TEFL Online Pro school website:
https://teflonlinepro.com/refutation-of-allegations-made-by-our-business-competitors/
It's really unfortunate that ESLinsider/Ian Leahy, MyTEFL, and The TEFL Academy/Thomas Gibbons/Caitriona McTiernan choose to market their (unaccredited) TEFL courses by launching attacks on their business competitors.
Please stop. Thank you.
TEFL online pro is a scam! I am currently a student and have learned absolutely nothing. There is absolutely no way that these lessons that constantly give contradictory lessons, unnecessary information, and tons of grammatical errors won a Teacher's Choice Award. Peter is running a one man scam show.
Hello Lillian,
Thank you for your feedback.
It is a shame that you felt that you needed to post this review here, as well as on our Google business page and on our company Facebook page.
One of our recent graduates, that left a review on our Facebook page, was a refugee fleeing the war in Ukraine, and you added a LOL emoji to her review.
Not every customer can feel absolutely satisfied with every course, but we politely ask you to respect our customers that have enjoyed the course and who have left an honest review of our services.
Also, to be fair, you are only halfway through the course - having completed just 7 modules and one lesson plan assignment.
We wish you success in the remaining 7 modules and with the Module 11 lesson plan course work assignment.
Kind regards,
Paul Murphy | Operations Manager | TEFL Online Pro
To address your other concerns, here is a copy of our response to your Facebook review, Lillian:
Thank you for your review, Lillian.
I’m sorry to hear that the course you are taking hasn't lived up to your expectations so far.
To be fair, you are in the middle of the course - having only completed the first 7 modules and one lesson plan coursework assignment, so you still have another 7 modules to go and one more lesson plan coursework assignment to complete.
Regarding your claims that our reviews are “fake” and we are a “one-man-show-scam”, this just isn’t true.
Those "articles" that you have read, are blogposts written by our business competitors.
Yes, smear campaigns also occur frequently in the TEFL course industry.
We have responded to the smear-campaign allegations, in an article published on the TEFL Online Pro school website:
https://teflonlinepro.com/refutation-of-allegations-made-by-our-business-competitors/
We sincerely hope that you enjoy the remaining half of the course, and please feel free to reach out to us if you experience any further frustrations or if you require any further support.
Kind regards,
Paul Murphy | Operations Manager | info@teflonlinepro.com
I am writing to respond to the false accusations made toward me and my TEFL Reviews website.
The accusations made against me and trustedteflreviews.com are incorrect.
Trusted TEFL Reviews is an independent TEFL Reviews website.
It was established by myself and a few other teachers that live and work in Vienna, Austria (Europe).
We are all English teachers.
The motivation behind establishing Trusted TEFL Reviews was to provide people with a non-biased reviews website where they would be able to read verified customer reviews and then make up their own minds about which TEFL/TESOL certification course they felt suited them best.
I understand first-hand the frustrating and stressful process of choosing a TEFL company to take the certification with.
Trusted TEFL Reviews was birthed from this frustration and stress.
I would like to make note that the majority of TEFL companies do (mostly) follow and stick to better business practices.
This, for Trusted TEFL Reviews, means that they take negative customer reviews for the constructive criticism that they almost always are intended to be.
There are, though, a few notable TEFL companies that have tried to gain an unfair advantage by trying to have fake (positive) reviews of their company published on Trusted TEFL Reviews.
Three companies in particular spring to mind:
ESLinsider
MyTEFL
TTA The TEFL Academy
Some other TEFL companies are no angels either, but the poor business practices of ESLinsider, MyTEFL, and TTA The TEFL Academy really does stand out from the crowd. You could say that they are award-winning in this category.
All three of these companies have had multiple reviews of their TEFL program denied publication because of alarming red flags.
All three of these companies appeared to take this backlash as a personal affront to their company.
My understanding is that they were so used to having their reviews published automatically on other TEFL Reviews websites that our verification steps were a complete shock to them.
The fake reviews kept filling up my email Inbox and we had little choice other than to issue a public warning notice on the Trusted TEFL Reviews website- exposing these three companies for their continued pattern of fake-review behavior.
I only planned to have the warnings showing on the website for a few weeks because I thought that would have prevented any further abuse of the review submission process.
How wrong I was!
What followed was months, turning into years, of online abuse directed at Trusted TEFL Reviews and me.
ESLinsider was the first.
It is a one-man-show business that has been run to the ground by its owner, Ian Patrick Leahy.
MyTEFL was next, and TTA The TEFL Academy joined the defamation party from March 2021 onwards.
MyTEFL and TTA The TEFL Academy just regurgitate what ESLinsider wrote.
I wasn’t really up on the TEFL gossip at the time that Ian began writing false accusations about me and my reviews website, so at first, I did actually wonder if ESLinsider was an industry expert. The name sort of implies it.
Of course, I did my due diligence into ESLinsider and I discovered that he had/has a long history of attacking TEFL review websites, attacking TEFL accreditation websites, and attacking his TEFL company business competitors.
It appears that he does this to attract free advertising for his TEFL program.
I immediately understood that I wasn’t dealing with a TEFL expert at all.
Instead, I was dealing with a conman.
In fact, having read some of his articles and having watched some of his YouTube videos, I discovered that Ian is in no way qualified or experienced enough to even run a TEFL certification program. He didn’t finish college, he took a dirt-cheap TEFL course, he has very limited knowledge of TEFL, and (if the rumors are true) he is not exactly Bill Gates when it comes to managing his and his customers’ finances.
MyTEFL is also run by one individual- Ben Glickman.
TTA The TEFL Academy is (sigh) also run by one individual- Thomas Gibbons.
So out of all the TEFL companies listed on Trusted TEFL Reviews, I only have had major issues with three TEFL companies, and these three TEFL companies are each run by a head honcho that can’t take criticism.
It is, therefore, no wonder that ESLinsider, MyTEFL, and TTA The TEFL Academy have reacted in the way that they have- taking the rejection of the publication of a review of their company personal and then reacting in a very unprofessional and completely uncalled for way.
Instead of just ignoring the warnings that I had written about them, and instead of encouraging their TEFL graduates to submit real reviews for inclusion on Trusted TEFL Reviews, all three TEFL companies responded with a smear campaign- just as they have done in this thread on this public complaints website.
TTA The TEFL Academy has really gone the extra mile by having one of its employees (Caitriona Maria McTiernan) establish a website aimed specifically at promoting its TEFL courses and spreading false information about Trusted TEFL Reviews.
Now that is dedication!
Some of the false accusations written about me:
I am not Mia Williams.
Trusted TEFL Reviews is operated by a TEFL company.
I write all of the reviews on Trusted TEFL Reviews.
1. Just like any other individual, I am entitled to my personal privacy and I don’t expect to be harassed.
I do use my real first name, but I am not going to allow people like Ian, Ben, and Thomas to know my real full name.
I don’t know how they managed it, but Caitriona Maria found out where I live in Vienna and she wrote me a threatening email.
You can read all about this in the latest TTA The TEFL Academy post on Trusted TEFL Reviews.
2. I co-own and co-run Trusted TEFL Reviews.
None of us have any connections whatsoever with any of the TEFL programs that we have listed on the Trusted TEFL Reviews website.
The two TEFL companies that have been falsely accused of owning and running Trusted TEFL Reviews are TEFL Online Pro and OISE University of Toronto TEFL.
These are the 1st and 2nd top-rated TEFL programs on Trusted TEFL Reviews, so I assume that the false claims are just sour grapes on the part of TEFL programs positioned lower down in the TEFL course food chain.
3. To claim that I, or one of my colleagues, writes the reviews on Trusted TEFL Reviews is just so absurd and I highly doubt anyone believes such nonsense anyway.
If ESLinsider, MyTEFL, and The TEFL Academy would only have their graduates write a real review of their TEFL Course experience then all of this mess could be avoided.
The fact that they haven’t done this, that they have, instead, chosen to try and convince readers that Trusted TEFL Reviews is biased and not trustworthy, is a poor sign that they, instead, choose to try and cover up their bad customer reviews and is a possible indicator that the reviews they have on other TEFL Reviews websites are questionable in terms of their authenticity.
I see there is also a lot of hate directed at TEFL Online Pro, and that TEFL Online Pro is experiencing similar smear campaigns and fake accusation attacks.
TEFL Online Pro (teflonlinepro.com) has won the Teachers’ Choice Award three years in a row- 2019, 2020, and 2021.
It is the top-rated TEFL program on Trusted TEFL Reviews.
Is this because I have a preference for them over other TEFL companies? No, of course not.
TEFL Online Pro is a three-time winner and currently the top-rated TEFL program because its TEFL customers think so and vote for TEFL Online Pro and write positive feedback about their experience with this company.
TEFL Online Pro is not a scam, just as Trusted TEFL Reviews is not a scam.
Oh, and I have FaceTimed with the TEFL Online Pro team three times now (after each time an award was won) and I have seen their team and their school offices.
I also had the opportunity to have a few minutes of FaceTime with Paul Murphy, the Operations Manager at TEFL Online Pro.
I think that public complaints websites definitely have a purpose on the internet.
They are a valuable medium with which to expose dishonest people and dishonest companies.
But, they can also be abused and I see that this complaints thread has been completely abused.
The thread was begun by ESlinsider (it is his MO) and MyTEFL and TTA The TEFL Academy have chimed in also anonymously.
All three are unaccredited; meaning they are not obliged to adhere to strict accreditation codes of conduct.
TEFL Online Pro, btw, is fully accredited and has to adhere to strict accreditation codes of conduct.
I can only see one complaint that might be authentic, written by a TEFL Online Pro customer (perhaps) who it appears wasn’t satisfied with the course content, having just completed half of the course.
Does that warrant a claim of “scam!”? No, not at all.
I would wager that the person only wrote their complaint because they had read the other false complaints, written by ESLinsider, MyTEFL, and TTA The TEFL Academy, and believed their false narrative.
IMO the person should have left a review on Trusted TEFL Reviews.
That way, their complaint would have been a verified review.
Not everyone can be satisfied with literally every product or service.
I see that the TEFL industry has not changed that much since the time when I created and ran ITTP.
It is still dominated by a few bad-actor TEFL companies that feel it is morally acceptable to character-assassinate someone because they have calculated 2+2=5.
I am Neville David Thomas, and I created and ran the ITTP TEFL program in Prague.
The program ran for ten years and in that time ITTP trained and certified hundreds of TEFL students.
Toward the end of the ten years, we had one awful group.
Every on-site TEFL program has a group like them.
They complained about everything and expected everything in Prague to be like it was back home home for them.
Yes, ITTP made money from the accommodation that they were renting.
ITTP was a business.
Accommodation was an additional revenue stream.
The accommodation was located bang centre in Prague's Old Town quarter, around the corner from Paziska street- where shops such as Burberry and Prada are located.
It was short-term accommodation, so it was charged at a higher rate than long-term accommodation.
Despite the relatively high cost of the accommodation, it still represented a good value-for-money option when considering the location.
One group didn't agree with this and they did things like leaving the oven on 24 hours a day and other activities that were a middle finger to the ITTP staff.
After moving out of the apartment and receiving back their deposits in full, and after receiving their TEFL certificates and job guidance, a few members of the group attacked me online via complaint websites.
It was the first time in ITTP's 10-year history that this had happened.
ITTP was not a scam.
Over a 10-year period, it helped hundreds of people start a new life overseas teaching English.
I have never run a TEFL reviews website.
Now, I want to address the OP of this post.
I am 99.9% certain that it was written by The TEFL Academy (TTA).
The TEFL Academy is a joint UK/Irish TEFL enterprise.
It was either written by Rhyan O'Sullivan or Thomas Gibbons.
Rhyan is one of the TEFL Academy's business partners, and Thomas Gibbons handles the day-to-day running of the school.
Subsequent comments were published by:
1. Paul Murphy, who is the Operations Manager at TEFL Online Pro.
2. Mia Williams, who runs the Trusted TEFL Reviews website.
3. The TEFL Academy.
4. Ian Patrick Leahy, who runs the ESLinsider TEFL program.
5. Peter Shankar, who has a bizarre obsession with TEFL Online Pro; despite never having taken one of their courses. With my 20+ year experience in the TEFL business, I would wager that Peter is a TEFL course provider stooge.
6. More comments written by The TEFL Academy, using ridiculous usernames.
One of the main problems with the TEFL industry is that it is largely unregulated and highly competitive.
This combination leads to complaints like this that have been written by business competitors, and where my name has been dragged through the mud for absolutely no reason whatsoever.
I would recommend that the TEFL Academy consults with its lawyer because I will be bringing defamation charges against the school and Thomas and Rhyan.
Thank you for your time.
Neville David Thomas
But why would anyone write negative posts or comments about TEFL Online pro? They are irrelevant and not really considered a competitor. Just look at organic rankings, TEFL online pro doesn't even get 100 organic users per month. This whole thing started when you created a fake reviews website and began to slander legitimate TEFL courses. You are a poor business man and a stupid one at that! You have no idea how to run a successful business and if you did, you wouldn't be needing to write your comment. It's very fitting that as soon as a complaint is made for Tefl online pro, you come and make a comment, making it so obvious that you are indeed the owner of tefl online pro and trusted tefl reviews.
You seriously need help from a Psychiatrist.
The guy who wrote this comment is James Anthony Dwyer a British ex-pat living in the Philippines.
James owns and operates the ITT International TEFL and TESOL Ltd program website.
You can read all about James' TEFL program scam here:
https://trustedteflreviews.com/2022/10/09/itt-international-tefl-and-tesol-ltd/
It really is a sorry state of affairs when competing TEFL programs - especially ones that are known for spamming the internet with their fake 5-Star reviews - attack their business competitors online.
Do read the article.
It is a fascinating read.
James falsely claims that he donates money to Save the Children, he operates fake Level 3-5 TEFL courses, and he has been caught writing fake reviews for his TEFL program.
Anyone reading this thread can see just how competitive the TEFL marketplace is and the depths that some business competitors will sink just to promote their own courses and attempt to destroy their competitors.
I would also like to point out, that TEFL online pro is not a registered corporation, which means they are selling courses illegally and skipping paying tax.
The real owner Neville is known for being a psychotic individual and when I have reached out to Mia Williams aka Neville I have had some psychotic responses. I'll attach an image of one of them. The image I'll attach is Neville being nice, some of the other emails I have received from Neville are too disturbing to post.
Of course, TEFL Online Pro is not selling courses illegally.
This post was written by yet another business competitor: James Anthony Dwyer from ITT International TEFL and TESOL Ltd.
He is a well-known scammer, living in the Philippines:
https://trustedteflreviews.com/2022/10/09/itt-international-tefl-and-tesol-ltd/
Why don't you prove you're not selling courses illegally and show an image of your corporation from companies house or the IRS? You won't do it because you're not a registered company and are not paying taxes. Therefore, you are selling courses illegally.
I don't consider you a competitor. Your websites are outdated and look like an amateur built them and you don't get any traffic to your websites, so to be considered a competitor is a joke. The only reason people comment about you is because you started writing fake reviews about legitimate course providers on trustedteflreviews.com
I actually feel sorry for you and think you need help!
We don't have to prove anything to you, James Anthony Dwyer from ITT International TEFL and TESOL Ltd.
You are one of our business competitors and you are a scam artist!
You were recently exposed for running a TEFL course scam and you are now lashing out at your business competitors:
https://trustedteflreviews.com/2022/10/09/itt-international-tefl-and-tesol-ltd/
Let's see, what has the evidence proven?
1. You run fake Level 3-5 TEFL courses.
2. You have only made one donation to Save the Children, despite claiming otherwise.
3. You have been caught writing 5-Star reviews for your own TEFL program.
4. You run the accreditation website that "independently accredits" your TEFL courses.
James, if we were running TEFL courses illegally, don't you think that after all these years Paypal and Visa and Mastercard would have stopped doing business with us?
You are just writing rubbish about us online and then clicking the little green Like button so it appears that other people care as much about your post as you do.
Again, we do recommend reading the latest scam news on James Anthony Dwyer and ITT International TEFL and TESOL Ltd:
https://trustedteflreviews.com/2022/10/09/itt-international-tefl-and-tesol-ltd/
James, btw, is a British ex-pat, living in Lapu-Lapu, Cebu City in the Philippines.
We are far too busy attending to our customers to respond to any further comments from our business competitors.
ITT International TEFL and TESOL Ltd is a scam.
The program is operated by James Anthony Dwyer- a British scam artist living in the Philippines.
James has just lost a partnership with ESL Base and more are likely to follow.
There are many Online TEFL certification programs out there.
Just avoid ITT International TEFL and TESOL Ltd.
You can read all about James Anthony Dwyer and ITT International TEFL and TESOL Ltd here:
https://trustedteflreviews.com/2022/10/09/itt-international-tefl-and-tesol-ltd/
I have experience of the ITT International TEFL and TESOL Ltd online program; the one that was created by James Anthony Dwyer- a Brit living in the Philippines.
It is a scam!
Type "ITT International TEFL and TESOL Ltd scam" into Google and you will see many complaints about the program and its owner.
I was sucker-punched by the course fee and the certificate fee because I couldn't get the certificate legalized. Why not? ITT International TEFL and TESOL Ltd is a fake TEFL company operating out of a unit in the Philippines Cebu City.
Go with a reputable TEFL company.
Some much better programs are CIEE TEFL, Maximo Nivel TEFL, OISE University of Toronto TEFL, TEFL Online Pro, Vantage TEFL.
Avoid ITT International TEFL and TESOL Ltd like the plague!
James Anthony Dwyer is a scam artist.
When I was choosing the right TESOL course to take, I did come across this complaint.
At first, it was a bit shocking but then I saw that a student hadn't written the complaint and no students had written comments.
I read the reviews on trustedteflreviews and on Facebook and went with my gut feeling and enrolled in the program.
I just completed the 120-Hour Professional TESOL course from TEFL Online Pro.
Everything went smoothly.
The support has been excellent and so was the course.
Already have a few job interviews lined up and one job offer.
It's such a shame that competing TESOL programs would write like they have on this complaint.
It put me off even considering them when I was making my program choice.
I recommend TEFL Online Pro's TESOL program.
(A real customer and not a competitor)
Hello Angela,
Thank you very much for your 120-Hour Professional Online TEFL/TESOL certification course review.
We really appreciate your feedback!
Wishing you teaching English success, and we look forward to working with you again in the future!
Happy New Year!
Kind regards,
Paul Murphy | Operations Manager | TEFL Online Pro
info@teflonlinepro.com
https://teflonlinepro.com/enroll/
https://www.facebook.com/teflonlinepro/reviews/
The Teachers’ Choice Award winner in 2019, 2020, 2021, and 2022
https://trustedteflreviews.com/category/tefl-online-pro-teachers-choice-award-winner-2022/
It's incredible the lengths that TEFL Online Pro will go to hide who they are. All of these comments from students are most likely fake. As a reminder, TEFL Online Pro is owned by one guy and his name is Neville Thomas. He is a scam artist with a long history of ripping people off. Trusted TEFL reviews is also Neville Thomas. The 'accreditation company' for TEFL Online Pro is also Neville Thomas.
There is no Mia, Paul, or anyone else. It's just Neville Thomas.
Do a google search and you'll see problems with this guy going back 10 plus years.
The story of Neville would be tragic if he wasn't such an unethical person. I believe it's clear that Neville has something legitimately wrong with him, a person who simply cannot function as a normally or ethically. In short, a real case of a pathological liar who can't help himself. Seriously, who lies this much? Why? Think of all the work that went into hiding his identify only to have it blow up in his face.
I understand that the internet is filled with lies and mistruths. It's easy to read what I am writing and think I'm just trying to 'slander another online TEFL course'. Here's the proof though...
Aside from everything that has been written about TEFL online Pro and Trusted TEFL Reviews, if you want check the validity of these claims, just have Mia or Paul prove who they say they are. They won't. Try to speak to them on the phone... they won't do it. Ask them for any kind of proof that they exist... they won't provide it.
They will write endlessly how they are attacked online by other TEFL courses and bla bla ba bla, but they never address the concerns levied against them. Trust me, I've tried.
Is this a TEFL course or TEFL review site that you can trust? Of course not. It's all Neville Thomas, so don't be fooled. Neville, you need help.
It really is incredible that one of our business competitors took the time, on December 24th, to write yet another attack comment; continuing then to spend probably an hour or so clicking the little green Like button for their comment so as to make their comment appear popular.
Yes, this is where we are with regards to competing Online TEFL program drama.
For verified TEFL Online Pro reviews, please read and view our customers' feedback on our Facebook page, Trusted TEFL Reviews, and on our YouTube channel.
https://www.facebook.com/teflonlinepro/reviews/
https://trustedteflreviews.com/category/tefl-online-pro-teachers-choice-award-winner-2022/
https://www.youtube.com/@teflonlinepro
TEFL Online Pro does not own or operate Facebook, Trusted TEFL Reviews, or YouTube.
Regarding the conspiracy theories, written by our business competitors, we will leave it up to you, the reader, to weigh the legitimacy of our verified customer reviews and the legitimacy of our competitor attacks.
I must add that I did hold a face-to-face with one such competitor, but at TEFL Online Pro we have far more important tasks on the agenda - customer service tasks - than to spend our time answering conspiracy theories and clicking little green Like or little red Dislike buttons.
The Online TEFL marketplace is supercharged-competitive and this is plainly obvious from the original post and subsequent comments.
What does bother us is when a customer takes the time to write a review and then is accused of being a fake persona by our business competitors.
This is simply our competitors projecting.
Despite this, we do sincerely wish the business competitors that have written an attack comment and who have feverishly clicked on the little green Like button on their posts a happy, healthy, and successful 2023!
Kind regards,
Paul Murphy | Operations Manager | TEFL Online Pro
This complaint was written by James Anthony Dwyer; owner of ITT International TEFL and TESOL Ltd. and World TEFL Institute.
It was written on December 24th.
James then paid a click farm to upvote his complaint.
He has done this on all of the posts that have either a high number of upvotes or a high number of downvotes.
He has been called out for this when responding to one of his customers, whose information he doxed and sold on the dark web:
ITT International TEFL and TESOL Ltd — Level 3-5 tefl courses online
We have reported James Anthony Dwyer to the UK Trading Standards, and are proceeding with legal action against him for defamation.
Paul Murphy | Operations Manager | TEFL Online Pro
It's incredible the lengths that some Online TEFL programs will go to, in order to try and discredit a competing Online TEFL program; writing an attack post on the day before Christmas and then clicking repeatedly on the green Like button for an hour or so to make it seem that their comment is popular.
People are not silly, competing Online TEFL program.
They can see that this is an attack job by one or more competing Online TEFL programs.
It's actually pretty embarrassing that, as a business competitor, you choose to waste your time like this.
Perhaps, you could spend another hour clicking that green Like button?
The proof is always in the pudding.
Check out verified customer reviews and make up your mind for yourself.
You can read and view these on Facebook, Trusted TEFL Reviews, and YouTube.
TEFL Online Pro does not own Facebook, Trusted TEFL Reviews, or YouTube.
https://trustedteflreviews.com/category/tefl-online-pro-teachers-choice-award-winner-2022/
https://www.facebook.com/teflonlinepro/reviews/
https://www.youtube.com/@teflonlinepro
I have already had a face-to-face video call with one competing Online TEFL program and I am not going to waste more of my time trying to disprove conspiracy theories.
I have much more important work to do as the Operations Manager at TEFL Online Pro.
It is 100% certain that the competitor attacks will continue in 2023, as they have done so since 2019, but, regardless, I wish all our competitors that have written comments and that have feverishly clicked the green Like button a happy, healthy, and successful 2023!
Kind regards,
Paul Murphy | Operations Manager | TEFL Online Pro
I'm a TEFL teacher, living in Seville, Spain. I graduated from the TEFL Online Pro program over summer 2022. It was an affordable training program compared with some of the others I saw online and I felt I received very good bang for my buck. Included in the course was 24-Hour access to my online tutor and post-course jobs support. I wanted to move to Spain for a while and having the international TEFL certificate gave me a reason to be here. I decided on Seville because of the climate and its closeness to the southern beaches/coastline. There is a lot of work here for TEFL teachers. Schools do expect you to have a 120-Hour TEFL/TESOL certificate and one that is fully accredited, and my TEFL Online Pro teaching certificate was accepted as the main document for my work visa. I also recommend TEFL Online Pro's TESOL program online. My advice is to ignore its business competitors and believe the customer reviews. I fully understand that the TEFL business is cut-throat competitive. I used to own an online business and I know how ruthless competitors can be. Always go with your gut and take on board the verified reviews. Don't get distracted by other programs that are just basically trying to grab your business. I wanted to write a tip for anyone thinking of making the move to Seville, and that is to be aware that the school year starts in September and ends some time in June. So try getting here in early September if you want the pick of the best jobs. I've heard a second hiring season starts in January, but I can't guarantee whether that's true or not because I've just been teaching here since September. Good luck all new TEFL teachers and definitely take a look at the TEFL Online Pro program!
Elissa, thank you for the great review! We're so happy you loved your TEFL Online Pro experience.
Yes, as you can see from all the comments (and the original post) that have been written by our business competitors, we are operating in an extremely competitive field.
It looks extremely likely that one of our competitors paid a click farm to vote up (green) all of the negative comments and vote down (red) all of the positive comments in this thread.
This is where we are with regards to competing Online TEFL program drama.
For verified TEFL Online Pro reviews, please read and view our customers' feedback on our Facebook page, Trusted TEFL Reviews, and on our YouTube channel.
https://www.facebook.com/teflonlinepro/reviews/
https://trustedteflreviews.com/category/tefl-online-pro-teachers-choice-award-winner-2022/
https://www.youtube.com/@teflonlinepro
TEFL Online Pro does not own or operate Facebook, Trusted TEFL Reviews, or YouTube.
Wishing you continued teaching English success in Sevilla, and we look forward to working with you again in the future!
Happy New Year!
Kind regards,
Paul Murphy | Operations Manager | TEFL Online Pro
info@teflonlinepro.com
https://teflonlinepro.com/enroll/
https://www.facebook.com/teflonlinepro/reviews/
The Teachers’ Choice Award winner in 2019, 2020, 2021, and 2022
https://trustedteflreviews.com/category/tefl-online-pro-teachers-choice-award-winner-2022/
Fake review obviously. TEFL Online Pro sell courses illegally https://internationaltefltesol.com/tefl-online-pro-reviews/
This is yet another comment posted by James Anthony Dwyer, the owner of ITT International TEFL and TESOL Ltd. and World TEFL Institute.
We have reported James to the UK Trading Standards and are proceeding with a defamation case against him.
Related content: ITT International TEFL and TESOL Ltd — Level 3-5 tefl courses online
Hello Neville, pretending to be someone that took the course.
All these positive comments on here have been written by the scam artist Neville.
TEFL online pro and trusted tefl reviews are a scam. If you ask them to provide id or a business registration number from a government website, they won't provide this very easy to access information. This is because it's a scam. It's as simple as that.
Hello James Dwyer,
It's Saturday and you have decided to spend your free time to continue your online defamation.
You are projecting. Just because you fake reviews for your company, it doesn't mean that other companies do the same.
Please leave our customers alone and focus on your own customers.
Related content:
ITT International TEFL and TESOL Ltd — Level 3-5 tefl courses online
GoAbroad — Fake reviews and promotes tefl programs with fake accreditation
https://trustedteflreviews.com/category/itt-international-tefl-and-tesol-blacklisted-warning/
Paul Murphy | Operations Manger | TEFL Online Pro
This is obviously a fake comment written by the scam artist crazy Nev
TEFL Online pro sell online courses illegally https://internationaltefltesol.com/tefl-online-pro-reviews/
This is shameful self-promotion by the owner of ITT International TEFL and TESOL Ltd - James Anthony Dwyer; one of our business competitors.
As you can see, the TEFL marketplace is extremely competitive and some rogue programs act in the way that James does; writing made-up garbage that anyone can see is without merit.
All we will add here is that we would never contemplate purchasing from a company that so openly defames a competitor online.
Related complaint:
ITT International TEFL and TESOL Ltd review: Level 3-5 tefl courses online | ITT International TEFL and TESOL Ltd — Level 3-5 tefl courses online
I was thinking of taking TEFL Online Pro, but I have found so many negative things about them. When I searched for reviews, most of the first page on Google was negative. I honestly don't know who to believe any longer. Their director, Paul, says that all of these complaints are from competing schools and that he is not this scammer Neville Tomas. Paul, why not just prove you are a real person? You must have ID or a LinkedIn as a professional person? Everyone has this. I don't know why you just do not do this and win the argument and defend TEFL Online Pro. I
This is (yet again) another post by James Anthony Dwyer - owner of ITT International TEFL and TESOL Ltd., and World TEFL Institute.
James has been spreading misinformation about our company for the past few months.
He does this on a regular basis to his business competitors.
Related complaint: ITT International TEFL and TESOL Ltd — Level 3-5 tefl courses online | ITT International TEFL and TESOL Ltd — Level 3-5 tefl courses online
This is (yet again) another post by James Anthony Dwyer - owner of ITT International TEFL and TESOL Ltd., and World TEFL Institute.
James has been spreading misinformation about our company for the past few months.
He does this on a regular basis to his business competitors.
Related complaint: ITT International TEFL and TESOL Ltd — Level 3-5 tefl courses online | ITT International TEFL and TESOL Ltd — Level 3-5 tefl courses online
I think it's funny how you think every comment is made by me James Dwyer. The fact is, you have many haters online because of the way you trash reputable TEFL course providers. But when you trashed me online that was it. I am now exposing your scam by way of Facebook and Google ads and I don't care how much money it costs.
Every time Someone types TEFL Online pro into Google they will see my ad. Anyone that is interested in a TEFL course will see my ad on Facebook which has very concluding evidence that you are a complete scam artist. I will not stop!
I have already had quite a few of your potential students thank me for exposing you and I'm really happy that I could help them people from being scammed by a psychotic human being that frankly needs help.
Anyone that reads this and has been affected by Neville should contact me at contact@internationaltefltesol.com and we can work together to take this scam artist down.
Hello James Dwyer,
Yet again another defamatory post from you and yet another one without any merit.
Yet again another post that you have had a click farm upvote.
We advise everyone reading this to take everything that James Anthony Dwyer (a business competitor) says or writes with a healthy dose of skepticism, and to read the related content so that you are fully aware of the type of individual whom you are dealing with.
We would advise James to spend some time with his family and not to spend it, instead, writing rubbish about our company online and then paying a click farm to upvote his content.
Related content:
ITT International TEFL and TESOL Ltd — Level 3-5 tefl courses online
Paul Murphy | Operations Manager | TEFL Online Pro
Anyone can get a business PayPal account but you cant get a credit card processor like stripe on your website without a business registration. TEFL online pro claims to have an office in New York. This must mean you have a business registered in the US. Why don't you simply reply to my comment and tell us your business registration number so we can confirm online? What is your tax number? The fact is, you are not a registered company and is therefore selling courses illegally. You're a sad sad person, you have no business sense and youre a loser. The companies you mention are not your competitors. Your fake tefl course is right at the bottom of the chain. My ads are really working well and I have saved many people from your scam. I will continue to run my ads until you are no more.
Yes it's true of you apply for a basic Paypal account but if you want a Paypal business account, you need to supply proof of business registration and a copy of the previous year's tax records. Stripe is exactly the same. teflonlinepro.com has been with Paypal since 2019 (they mention it on their website) so it wouldn't be possible to run their company on a basic Paypal account for so many years. When I had my online business, I started out with the basic Paypal account and I just had to get the Business account or I wouldn't have been able to operate as a business. I have a suspicion that the person writing this false comment used to have a Paypal Business account but was kicked off the platform. How do I know? I read it here in the Paypal forum - https://www.paypal-community.com/t5/Security-and-Fraud-Archives/Scam-website-lt-removed-gt/td-p/2287428 . Catherine.
This comment was so obviously click farmed and so obviously written by a competing company.
When I was choosing which TEFL and TESOL course to take, I found many positive reviews for teflonlinepro.com, on their Google Page, on their Facebook page, on Trusted TEFL Reviews. I just ignored the negative comments on this page because anyone can see they are just written by other TEFL companies. what a way to spend your time on this planet that God have given you! I will pray for you. Catherine.
I'm a teflonlinepro.com graduate, having taken their 120-Hour Professional certification course earlier this year. I don't understand all the hate on this page because the course content and tutor support was as promised (excellent). It did what it said it would and for the price I paid I was super happy with the course and the outcome. I started teaching English online and I have recently been accepted for a full-time ESL teaching position in Germany, starting in September 2023. I can see that the TEFL space is very competitive and it is a shame when I read comments written by teflonlinepro's competitors that are clearly designed to discredit the company. I paid for the course with my credit card, but Paypal was also an option. Over a million and a half companies within the USA use Paypal and WooCommerce as their payment gateway. I used to use Paypal for my online company and I know first hand the documents that I had to supply just to be able to run a Paypal business account. I don't know anything about the TEFL Academy or ITT International TEFL and TESOL, but if this is the way they attack a business competitor then my advice is to stay well clear of both those companies. Thanks for reading my teflonlinepro.com review. Catherine.
This comment is really from Neville Thomas the owner of TEFL online pro and trustedteflreviews.com. Neville you can try to write fake comments all you like but the evidence is stacked against you. The fact is, you're a fraud! The tone of this comment pure defensive
To see factual evidence of this fraud, read this article.
https://internationaltefltesol.com/tefl-certification-scams/
Hello Catherine,
Thank you very much for your TEFL Online Pro review. We really appreciate your feedback!
Wishing you teaching English success in Germany, and we look forward to working with you again in the future!
Kind regards,
Paul Murphy | Operations Manager | TEFL Online Pro
The Teachers’ Choice Award winner in 2019, 2020, 2021, and 2022
https://trustedteflreviews.com/category/tefl-online-pro-teachers-choice-award-winner-2022/
Wow! :)
That's really clutching at straws!
Catherine.
Thank you, TEFL Online Pro!
You folks are awesome!
Just ignore the business competitor noise and continue your excellent work!
Catherine.
I was scammed by TEFL Online Pro. The course was terrible and I wasn't learning anything. However, I did complete the course because I had a job offer from an online company. I finally received my certification 2 months after completing the course, but the certificate looked like it was simply printed out of a poor low cost printer. It was embarrassing to look at.
I gave it to my employer and he said they would not accept the certificate because TEFL online kro has a bad reputation and is not a registered business corporation. I wasted so much time with this fraudulent company.
Luckily I filled a dispute with PayPal and got my money back.
You should stay away from TEFL online pro, it's a big scam
We can confirm that we have never had a customer take one of our courses with the name 'Jeff Peterson'.
Considering the inconsistencies in "Jeff's" review, together with the sudden surge of green tick Likes for his post, we can only assume that this is yet another misinformation attack post by James Anthony Dwyer - ITT International TEFL and TESOL Ltd., and World TEFL Institute.
You can read all about him:
ITT International TEFL and TESOL Ltd — Level 3-5 tefl courses online
World TEFL Institute — Fake tefl courses and fake accreditation website
Please, do your research when choosing which Online TEFL/TESOL certification course to take.
It is a crowded marketplace and some unaccredited programs, such as the ones run by James Dwyer, will write any old trash online about their competitors; the sole intention of which is to sell more of their subpar courses.
We feel we have said all we need to regarding this complaint now.
Anyone interested in further resources can refer to the TEFL Scams notice on the TEFL Online Pro website:
https://teflonlinepro.com/scams/
Paul Murphy | Operations Manager | TEFL Online Pro
You stated on your website
When TEFL Online Pro established a business account with PayPal, in 2019, we had to provide documents showing our business registration, as well as a recent tax assessment statement.
However, when I try to find your business registration I can't find your company anywhere. Why don't you just tell the people your business company number? Why when people send you emails asking you to prove your real name and business registration, you don't reply? All these accusations could be squashed by you if you just prove who you really are.
The fact is, you're a scam and the evidence is clear. You would have to be completely stupid to think otherwise.
And btw, you do not need to show evidence of business registration to have a PayPal account. Anyone with ID can create a PayPal business account.
This comment by one of TEFL Online Pro's competitors is pure misinformation.
You can fact-check it on the Paypal Business website - https://www.paypal.com/us/business/open-business-account.
I should know - I opened a Paypal Business Account and had to submit a lot of documents before they would grant me a Paypal Business account.
If I had to guess, ITT International TEFL and TESOL Ltd and World TEFL Institute had their Paypal Business Account rescinded, and that is why they are now claiming that Stipe is a better alternative.
Paypal and Stripe have the exact same requirements for companies when they want to open a Business Account and accept online payments.
I experienced business competitors trying to damage my business because they wanted my business, so I know what it is like.
They will write anything and hope people fall for their lies.
Why do I think ITT International TEFL and TESOL Ltd. and World TEFL Institute (both run by James Anthony Dwyer) were kicked off Paypal?
Here is a big clue - https://www.paypal-community.com/t5/Security-and-Fraud-Archives/Scam-website-lt-removed-gt/td-p/2287428
Folks, if you have to choose between TEFL Online Pro and ITT then choose TEFL Online Pro.
I took the course and am having success with the certificate.
All of the negative comments on this page that have obviously been written by their competitors just don't make any sense and don't add up.
If you see a comment with a large number of upvotes or downvotes, it's because someone (James Dwyer) paid a click farm to have it done.
Trust me and take the TEFL Online Pro course.
It's Fully Accredited and the post-course job support is excellent.
Catherine.
Are you certain you have the right company?
I'm writing about TEFL Online Pro.
Last week I decided to get the hardcopy certificate and it arrived in the post today.
It's heavy certification paper and it looks very professional.
Definitely not what you have described.
I wanted to write a TEFL Online Pro review because I completed the teflonlinepro.com program and I am shocked at many of the comments written on this page.
My TEFL Online Pro experience was similar to Catherine and Elissa's. That is to say that I thought the program was excellent. Perhaps this is why this program gets a lot of heat from its competitors? I can understand it. If I were a competitor of TEFL Online Pro, I would be worried if I were not able to up my game to their level.
I'm going to briefly go over the positives of the program and then list a few areas in which I thought there was room for improvement.
The positives were:
A. The course (120-Hour Professional) was mid-priced when compared to other program options. I didn't want to buy a really cheap course and I didn't want to overspend either. The course fee was in the Goldilocks zone for me.
B. There were various options with which to purchase the course. I chose to purchase using my Amex card, but I could also have paid via my Paypal account. I view both options as safe and secure. It was just easier for me to pay with my credit card.
C. The course has online tutor support at no extra charge, so it's included in the course price. My tutor was only a phone call, email, or private message away. Never had to wait more than a few hours for a reply when I sent an email or PM. Phone calls were always answered.
D. I really loved the self-paced study aspect of the course. This meant I could log in to the course whenever I wanted and start off from where I last left off.
E. Within a few seconds of purchasing my course, I received an email with my login password and username. This program doesn't have specific start dates so you can begin when you want to. I chose to begin right away and it took me about three weeks to complete everything.
F. The course works on the modular system with multiple-choice questions after each one. These mini tests after each module were a lot less stressful and a lot more fun than having to do one final exam at the end.
G. The course is interactive with many activities and games that I have been using in my classes since completing the course.
H. My course certificate was delivered to me within a day of course completion. I opted for the digital certificate. There is also the option of a hardcopy certificate. I might get this one as well later on but so far the digital certificate has been good for online and in-person teaching jobs (Cambodia and Vietnam). I did think I needed a physical copy of my TEFL/TESOL certificate for the Vietnam work visa application, but as it turns out the digital TEFL/TESOL certificate is fine. Some teachers have said they were asked for the physical copy, so definitely check before you apply. It looks like it depends on where you are applying for your work visa and which type of school you will be teaching at?
I. As well as support being excellent during the course, it was also excellent after the course. Paul Murphy helped me find my first online teaching job and he also helped me find my in-person teaching job where I'm teaching now (Cambodia).
The room for possible improvements were:
A. I would have liked to have had the option to pay for the course using crypto currency. I checked and none of these TEFL/TESOL programs offer this payment option. As mainstream adoption of crypto advances, I hope TEFL Online Pro embraces it as an additional payment option.
B. The first module was too easy and it made me question whether I had made the right choice of TEFL/TESOL program. I understand the need to gradually assimilate students into the course, but felt the first module was generally a filler module.
C. One of the questions in Module three seemed to me like it was a trick question. I took it up with my tutor and she replied that it is there to prevent students from skim-viewing the content and heading straight for the quiz and that it encourages students to fully take in the content in the modules. I do understand this logic, but I still think there is no need for (what I saw as being) a trick question.
As you can see, the positives of the TEFL Online Pro program outweighed the negatives.
I'm currently living and working in Siem Reap, where I teach English to a range of students. I also teach some online classes still because I developed close relationships with these students and I want to keep improving their lives through my English teaching.
I am moving on from Cambodia very soon. I've been accepted for a teaching job (teaching English) in Hanoi and all of my paperwork has now been given the green stamp of approval by the powers that be in Vietnam. I move there in two months to begin teaching at an international school.
I hope I can still keep a hold of my online students. I'm gonna try my best to but the job in Vietnam means more in-person teaching hours and some mandatory teacher meetings.
I recommend teaching in Cambodia. I've absolutely love the people, culture, food, and the general vibe.
My reason for moving to Vietnam is purely financial. I'll be earning three times more there than what I've been earning here, and Vietnam isn't so much more expensive than Cambodia.
Do I recommend TEFL Online Pro? Yes.
Have I recommended TEFL Online Pro to other people? Yes.
Do I recommend teaching English online? Yes.
Do I recommend teaching English in Cambodia? Yes.
Do I recommend teaching English in Vietnam? I'll find out very soon!