The TEFL Course
Asian Explorer

Accreditation

GVI’s TEFL/TESOL program is recognized as both a teacher training ground and a provider of quality English classes to local people. GVI is listed as an Institutional Member of the International Association of Teachers of English as a Foreign Language (IATEFL) and is a Member of the College of Teachers (CoT). All the work GVI conducts is on behalf of, and with, a range of governmental and local associations and organizations.

Job Placement service

GVI offers a job placement service to all GVI TEFL graduates, assisting them in finding placements in local communities around the world or paid positions in the TEFL industry.

GVI will supply information on a range of present placements with remote communities and paid vacancies in the TEFL industry around the world, and additional information on where to look for placements and jobs independently. GVI TEFL graduates are also assisted with CVs and applications. A full report detailing the GVI TEFL components, plus confidential character and / or professional references, will be supplied for those interested in pursuing a TEFL or environmental education career path.

TEFL Course Summary

The GVI TEFL course is a unique product written to train people to teach with minimal resources, so attracts people with an interest in sustainable development and conservation, and those wishing to enter the commercial TEFL industry. The goal of the course is to produce teachers to teach in communities which are developing rapidly in response to tourism, and to assist local people in accessing the revenue, so become involved in the changes in their community and benefit from it.

The 100-hour course is run in the first four weeks, within the five or ten week community development and conservation expedition. The end result provides high quality teachers who can use their skills to teach in a range of environments, from communities with few resources to commercial TEFL posts. GVI assists TEFL graduates in finding placements in local communities around the world, or paid positions in the TEFL industry. GVI is listed as an Institutional Member of the International Association of Teachers of English as a Foreign Language (IATEFL), and the 100-hour TEFL course complies with the UK’s College of Teachers code of conduct (CoT), and is endorsed by the University of Quintana Roo in Mexico. The local community development program built around the TEFL training was created to meet the aims of GVI's local Thai partner organisations and enjoys their strong support.

The GVI TEFL course takes participants with no formal preparation in teaching from ground zero to being a highly skilled teacher of English as a foreign language, and assists them to find a placement or paid position where applicable. It equips the participants to teach with limited access to resources, focusing mainly on speaking and listening skills, and to teach people through predominantly oral techniques. There is no one methodology taught and course participants are exposed to a variety of widely-recognized teaching approaches in the industry today, based on relevant theories on second language acquisition (generally within humanistic and communicative approaches). They are trained through learner-centered principles and techniques and, likewise, are expected to teach using learner-centered means.

The course content is delivered through daily input sessions. Course participants’ practice teaching within an existing English program in the community (administered by GVI), and are provided with feedback from peers and experienced TEFL teachers.

Course Objectives

At the end of the course the trainees will be able to:

• Understand and apply language learning theories when designing EFL courses and lessons
• Use appropriate teaching strategies according to course and student needs
• Design consistent curricula to enhance language learning
• Plan class activities using a variety of resources – published, authentic and self-made.
• Evaluate students’ achievements using varied strategies.

How is the GVI TEFL Certificate Course Unique?

The GVI TEFL course offers participants a unique opportunity to learn to teach with minimal resources in a commercial setting or in remote communities, using current methodologies in the industry. The premise of the course is to offer high quality training to trainees and local students, to raise the quality of English teaching and simply offer affordable, high quality English tuition to people in remote regions and developing communities around the world, allowing them access to tourism and revenue. The course is also of benefit to local areas due to its uniqueness because:

• Participation on the TEFL course assists GVI and local partner organizations in an overall goal of sustainable development in remote and developing regions
• Practice teaching classes on this course are part of an existing and ongoing English curriculum delivered by GVI in the community, making this course not only a more holistic teacher training ground but a means to provide the local community with much-needed, affordable English tuition
• Instead of students coming to the training site, classes take place at the cultural center in town, to give you a natural connecting point in the local and indigenous community
• The TEFL course is part of an expedition which also focuses on environmental conservation projects
• Although the course focuses on preparing participants to teach in communities; the content, rigor and quality of the course prepares trainees for teaching in many EFL contexts, including paid jobs in developed areas
• You will learn to teach using few resources. This is not only a realistic aim for teaching in small or remote communities, but will also benefit you in terms of sparking your creativity in lesson planning. Also, there is a trend in the TEFL industry of teaching without paper in lessons – so this will be good preparation in that regard and could be an impressive asset when job-seeking
• GVI offers a job placement service to GVI TEFL graduates who qualify, and assists all graduates in locating vacant teaching positions around the world, volunteer placements in local communities or paid positions in the TEFL industry.

Expedition members will spend a lot of time working at the local community center where English language lessons and cultural activities occur, such as local art and sport lessons for the local youths, plus dance, music and theater. The local community members are very excited about the assistance efforts of GVI's expedition members, and are keen to share their culture and region in return.