Apologies for another iteration of what must be a common question around here, but  I'd be very grateful if someone could advise nevertheless. 

For context, I'm looking to potentially teach at a College/University in China next Autumn after submitting my Doctoral dissertation. Ideally this would be in one of my subject areas, but (a) I now know that a TEFL/TESOL is pretty much a prerequisite for Visa sponsorship and (b)  I would be  interested in teaching English (academic, business, conversational) on the side or initially as my main gig whilst I make any Thesis corrections. At the moment I have university teaching experience (3-4 Semesters) and an internal teaching course in HE, with hopeful accreditation this Summer. None of these, though, formally qualify me to teach ESOL.

 I have an extremely limited budget but have seen  a number of highly reduced TESOL courses available online (120hrs/180hrs) as part of the extended Black Friday promotions. These need to be purchased within the next 12 hours. Are there any hard and fast rules about minimum requirements  a TESOL or TEFL needs to meet in order to be accepted. I've been told that you can be potentially hired with a Level 3 ( without CELTA etc), but I'm not sure about International Recognition - every site I've been on (from the expensive hybrid courses to the 'reduced to £/$20' 120 ESOLs  all claim that they're internationally recognized, even if the cheaper ones seem to be accredited by independent organizations and not 'regulated' in the same way.  Then internet searches appear to suggest that more or less every course which isn't around $2k and a hybrid run by a Cambridge Centre is a scam. Any and all advice is much appreciated...

Going through the guides. Seems like applying direct is better vs. recruiters for landing a better Hagwon job.

So plan is to go Seoul/Busan for a month with papers already Apostilled and massively apply for jobs directly.

After some research 2 things came up:

1. Doing a visa run to Japan might not be possible for people getting their FIRST visa, and can only be done on second or later visas. That true?

2. Will custom officers be weirded out that I stayed for a month then came back days later with an E2 Visa?

I know you've done this Ian. But just wanted clarification.

...

Context: I'm a Canadian, never been to Korea or taught English. And am strictly looking for a job in Seoul.

If you are in Asia or contemplating going there then you might enjoy this post on pollution in Asia. And if not then you might want to know what the effects of air pollution are.

And comment below if you want to share your location and how bad the pollution is.

I am applying to jobs in Tokyo to become an English teacher, but I currently live in the United States and have ADHD (I am medicated for it). Does anyone know if Japan allows foreigners to fill prescriptions for ADHD medications (they are controlled substances), and if so, could you point me in the right direction so I can get things lined up before going over to Japan?

Hi all/Ian, I was highly considering purchasing the course, but when I tried to make an account, it says a confirmation email was sent, although I am not seeing one. Tried a couple more times and nothing. Is the site still being maintained? Any help would be appreciated.

...mostly made up by the TEFL course providers themselves.

kimmandy says:

...I want to do a 120-hour course as this seems to be the industry standard.

Says who?

Primarily this is all marketing. You have to stop and think about who is telling you that you need a TEFL course that needs to be 120 hours or needs to be at least 100 hours.

Most of the time it's a TEFL course marketer told you that.

But you might say, I read it on a blog. Oh really? Who wrote the blog post?

Sure an employer might want that, but I can tell you based on experience teaching in China, Korea and Taiwan that TEFL certificates are not high on the list of preferred qualifications.

What is so special about a 120 hour TEFL course?

I think this has to be because everyone is trying to look like a CELTA. The key word is look. I think that may be where the 120 hour course came from because at one time it was actually 120 hours in a classroom.

Real classroom hours.

But online you've got people completing so-called 120 or 160 hours in a day or two.

Curious about some course on Groupon I completed a 120 hour course online in 8 hours.

Copycats.

Industry standard copycats.

Look-alikes.

And parrots.

There are a whole lot of them all competing for your attention. Thing is employers at least most of them don't care that much about TEFL courses.

The #1 thing they prefer most of the time.

1. Experience teaching English in their country
2. Experience teaching English
3. Teaching licenses
4. Master's degrees
5. Related experience
6. TEFL certificates

Of course it always depends on the school/position.

Oh...

And sometimes if you are charming or handsome or pretty then some may prefer that than the other guys experience or CELTA degree.

The TEFL courses are the middlemen

They aren't the school and they aren't the authorities. The schools are. Or the governments that issue visas are. Oh and in East Asia you don't need a TEFL cert most of the time to legally teach there.

A school could prefer it.

Some schools have bought into the hype. Some schools may want you to have a 122.5 hour course, hehehe.

Actually I collected some data on what schools really want.

Public data from thousands of job advertisements. Check it out.

Kimmandy trying to choose a TEFL course says:

– $209 for the advanced course

– Focused on East Asian students

– Long term access to their resources

– I’m worried that they don’t really term their advanced course as a 120-hour program (though it used to be) and it might confuse employers

Kimmandy's comments on ESLinsider.

I changed the name of those courses because I honestly think it's BS. Despite the fact that everyone is doing I decided to rename the courses. It's possible that some school might not accept the course (if they only look at the name) however I think any school that's looking for a teacher to teach kids will be happy that you took a targeted course like TEKA.

Related:

• Will ESLinsider's course be accepted?

I saw that you are being targeted by a psycho. The lengths to which this guy has gone to develop a fake TEFL world online - fake reviews, fake schools, fake personas -- is creepy. Make no mistake, this is a criminal who needs to go to jail. You can file charges with the police, including harassment, fraud and defamation, among others which a prosecutor will determine. If this guy is operating from another country then the FBI can charge him with federal crimes. Make no mistake, you are not obligated to sit back and let this guy victimize you, his crimes are there in plain site to see, and he will certainly be prosecuted for what he has done. Go file charges on him and get the process going. He wont be able to escape this, and the ball is now in your court.

The scammer behind ACTEFLC is the same fraud behind TEFL online pro and "Trusted" TEFL reviews. TEFL online pro and "Trusted" TEFL reviews were started in March 2019 within 10 days from each other.

One is a review site where he writes fake reviews and awarded a fake "teacher's choice" award to his other fake site TEFL online pro.

Then in January 2021 ACTEFLC was created and when you search for it's accreditation then you will see the only mentions online about it are by TEFL online pro and "Trusted" TEFL reviews.

All three sites are owned by the same person.

The person behind ACTEFC and those other sites

Christopher Haines is his fake id on ACTEFLC. On TEFL online pro he goes by "Paul Murphy". And on "Trusted" TEFL reviews he calls himself "Mia Williams".

Is TEFL online pro accredited?

It's a fake accreditation.

ACTEFLC, Trusted TEFL reviews, and TEFL online pro are all a scam

Learn more about this crook:

• TEFL online pro
• Is TEFL online pro legit?
• TEFL online pro potential fraud
• Video on TEFL online pro and "Trusted" TEFL reviews

Update: I got this user report below from Neville. It's not posted publicly but I got it to my account. Basically anytime anyone tells the truth about his scams online he runs around to those sites and tries to get them removed. He'll threaten legal action and harass people while using one of his fake id's and sometimes these websites actually remove that content which enables him to keep his scam going.

He's gotten a video I made removed in England and a post removed on Medium that just mentioned him.

If you don't believe me then you can see the TPR link above towards the bottom of the post and you will see she was threatened too.

Projection

What he is saying in this report and many of his reviews about me is basically all projection. He says I do this? No, I tell the truth. You could actually reframe this to get the truth. Just change the word "he" to I and the grammar and you get what he does.

Psycho.

If you do a search for eslinsider reviews you'll see all the $#@! he has written about me on trusted tefl reviews, tefl online pro, and other sites. I made a new video about that here.

The reality is

The reality is you don't see these people: Mia Williams, Paul Murphy or Christopher Haines anywhere online because they are fake. There is no info on them prior to 2019.

Search those names with the keyword "TEFL" and you will see for yourself.

I found this interesting infographic from ifla.org on how to spot fake reviews.

https://preview.redd.it/949t89qwq4x61.jpg?width=440&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=a36303b41c5b98feebfa7715693fb16e3f0c22ac

r/ESLinsider - How to spot fake TEFL news and reviews ( helpful infographic)

1. Consider the source - Research the site
2. Check the author - "if you don't know who wrote it then you don't know what you read" - KRS-ONE
3. Check the date
4. Check your biases - your assumptions and snap judgements
5. Go beyond the headline - outrageous headlines get clicks, but what's the true story?
6. Check supporting evidence, but also check those sources because high level frauds often cite additional sources that they created on different sites with different usernames.
7. Is it a joke? - If it's too outlandish then maybe it is.

Written post.

Related:

• Fake tefl news (example sites)
• Fake tefl reviews example 1, example 2, example 3
• Fake TEFL accreditation example
• How easy is it to buy a fake rep online?

Searching for reviews? If so then I would read this if you want to become more aware of the deception that’s out there. This post will cover some things that you should look out for in your search for online TEFL/TESOL course reviews.

Do you trust all of the reviews that you read online?

What do you think about paid reviews?

From the video \"How many TEFL course reviews are fake?

There are actually lots of “paid” reviews in TEFL and many don’t even look like it at first. And “accreditation” is actually the biggest paid review in TEFL that many people don’t even talk about.

They just assume “oh, it’s accredited”.

“Must be fine…”

But they know nothing about the people who “accredited” it, what they actually did or the fact that it could be a fake accreditation (example).

So…

In this post we’re going to talk about your peers getting paid to do reviews, people willing to write fake review$, how easy it is to buy a rep online, fake reviews on massive sites like Amazon and a whole lot of fakery going on in the TEFL industry.

An okay video I made about online TEFL course reviews and there is more updated info below

So here’s a question for you…

Would you trust a review created by an employee of the same TEFL company you’re considering?

Because that’s basically what affiliate marketing is.

Affiliate marketing in TEFL is all over the place. It is used on third party review sites, on blogs, Youtube, Reddit and on Quora.

What is affiliate marketing?

This is when the author of the page you are reading leaves a certain kind of link and if you click on that link and then purchase the product (course) they will get some money.

It’s common in TEFL land.

You’ll find pages and pages of companies that offer this.

Basically I see affiliate marketing as a kind of bribe.

Your peers (the bloggers) who may seem independent and more trusting than a company are sometimes getting paid either directly or indirectly from a company with an affiliate program.

You can usually spot an affiliate link by the url.

Here’s an example.

Here’s a screen shot of a vlogger on Youtube using myTEFL’s affiliate marketing. 20% off, 35%, etc. TEFL course sales are a dime a dozen.

​

https://preview.redd.it/1of8g26gi7s61.png?width=600&format=png&auto=webp&s=bb8cbb3aac3434a89dc1baab8ef2438454033e59

What do these links look like?

Some examples:

• shareasale.com/r.cfm?b=712139
• bit.ly/7CCm7ay
• tephlcourse.net/?cu=sallygoesesl

Here’s Matt Cutts a former employee of Google talking about paid links.

”…They link to something because it inspires passion in them, it’s interesting they want to share it… Now if someone was going to come to a newspaper reporter and say I am going to give you some money can you link to me in your story… that would be deceptive. — Matt Cutts

PEOPLE WANT TO “GET PAID” TO WRITE REVIEW$

Isn't this sad?

Or sick?

https://preview.redd.it/9gmzfps9k7s61.png?width=1071&format=png&auto=webp&s=5250309de572c696ea27b9ae1c2e7264a2b0aceb

Check this screen shot out. Here’s a bunch of people looking to make money writing reviews.

• get paid to write reviews
• get paid to write “fake” reviews

“Searches related too” are based off of what people are searching for. People are looking to make money by writing reviews and some of them don’t mind writing “fake” reviews.

But how legit is a paid review regardless if it’s “fake” to begin with?

If there is money involved then you are basically getting a review of the company or product by an employee.

Check this out.

"In fact, this entire story is about deception and how companies use it to get your money..."

https://preview.redd.it/ineim5cgvju61.png?width=975&format=png&auto=webp&s=d66040eaf01abfd3c1923fd8130615e504d18348

Fake online reviews: How easily can you buy a reputation? (CBC Marketplace)

Here’s an interesting video to watch about online fakery.

There are MILLIONS of fake reviews…

https://preview.redd.it/kqzwv9i2l7s61.png?width=1125&format=png&auto=webp&s=5be333938a3a6166073b2254e32af7e4e5b9b00c

Check out these figures on big review sites.

• Yelp estimates 25% of its reviews are fake.
• This source suggests Amazon has 200+ million fake reviews and here’s another interesting post.
• Some companies may offer discounts or pay customers who write reviews.
• Some companies hire PR firms or someone on Fiverr to write fake reviews that are either positive or negative. Sometimes people will try to make a company look bad by writing a fake negative review.
• There are even FAKE VIDEO reviews.

Here’s someone referring to video reviews on TEFL courses on Youtube.

I have not seen very many of these on YouTube I have looked and looked and looked and all I can find a lot of them are the ones that are directly from the website you know like propaganda but not really propaganda… but they’re meant to sell it rather than it seeming like from a normal actual testimony.

Katie P.

I’ve seen reviews like that by myTEFL and TEFL online pro on Youtube. I think they were most likely paid to do those. For a few reasons:

1. Why are they reading a script?
2. Why is the video review on a company channel and not the reviewer’s channel?
3. Why were multiple course reviews uploaded to their channel in a short period of time?
4. Do you think they were paid or compensated for those videos? I definitely do.

What does a paid for video review look like?

Here’s a fake (or paid for) video review by TEFL online pro. It’s pretty easy to see she is reading a script if you watch the video. See my comment below it?

Example of someone willing to write fake reviews:

Does this look like a real TEFL review to you?

​

https://preview.redd.it/xhpzuv9zm7s61.png?width=257&format=png&auto=webp&s=176d095d5ecb56df86588292e58eac3072c1921e

It says:

"After finishing university I was looking for an affordable way to see the world and a friend recommended I take this course. Two years later and I'm living and working in amazing Vietnam".

It was found on TEFL online pro.

How do I know it’s fake?

Because I read that then did the math and knew the site was less than a year old and checked the Whois records.

How can someone take a course there and two years later be teaching abroad when the site is less than a year old?

He has since removed this review from the front page of TEFL online pro, but you can still see it with the Wayback machine.

See for yourself.

If you found the site called, “Trusted TEFL reviews or TEFL online pro” then know that they are run by the same person. The owner of “Trusted” tefl reviews refers to themselves as “Mia Williams”, but that is a FAKE name.

Companies may also manipulate their customers to write reviews.

I remember I read a post once on Reddit that a TEFL course company held her certificate ransom until she left a review.

In TEFL some popular review sites are:

• goabroad/gooverseas
• teflcoursereview

These sites make money through advertisements (courses pay for a better position on their site) and affiliate links. The courses themselves also write some of the content there.

I doubt every review on those sites is real. I did not create accounts with them as I am kind of adverse to 3rd parties and middle men.

No matter how hard you look you won’t find “unbiased” reviews

The truth is that “unbiased” reviews don’t actually exist because everyone is biased in one way or another.

That includes you and I.

However…

There is a difference between a “bias”, a lie and a fake review.

Don’t think you’re biased?

Search for:

everyone is biased

People who leave “anonymous” reviews or comments are hiding their identity for better or worse

Now it’s not always a bad thing. Some may want to remain private and I can respect that, but some create anonymous accounts because they don’t want any blow back and it’s easy to create a fake image.

I would take any “anonymous” review or comment with a grain of salt (especially if it's very negative and maybe very positive.

Anybody can write an anonymous review because they don’t have anything to lose when they can hide behind a faceless account. An anonymous review is often just as good as a troll’s review especially if it’s a negative review.

Why You Can’t Really Trust Negative Online Reviews

I’ve had internet trolls attack me, lie and write fake reviews on me, but of course they use anonymous accounts or fake aliases to do so.

That above comment by “Da vinci” was left on eslwatch.info. That site plus China scam patrol, CFTU (China Foreign Teacher’s Union), China fraud patrol, Chin scam watch, China scam central are all owned by same person who used multiple fake identities to comment on his own stuff and create fake reviews and attacks on various companies, schools and/or people.

He also uses other forum sites like scam.com, realscam.com, reddit.com and other sites under fake identities to publish content that usually links to his stuff or attacks someone.

It’s all very similar to what is on “trusted TEFL reviews” and TEFL online pro. Never will you see a real person who is actually in charge of those sites.

You can buy “likes” too

​

https://preview.redd.it/23k906uhm7s61.png?width=318&format=png&auto=webp&s=6f46d8139e409940d2a7738a2453f71c371370ef

It’s not only reviews. You can buy Facebook likes, Youtube likes, etc.

Geez, all this fakery. How do you find a “trustworthy” online TEFL?

I’d say look at who built the site and who runs it.

Look at the about page.

The more you can find out about who actually runs the site/company then the more you know. But good luck with that because many of the about pages I’ve seen on TEFL course sites all look the same.

They are totally impersonal.

You have no idea who runs many of them because they are not transparent about who they really are.

Many try to look and sound as if they are some large company or prestigious institution.

That’s blue pill TEFL.

How can you spot a fake review?

• Fake reviews are often overly glowing or overly negative.
• They often (but not always) lack detail.
• They might be anonymous. Pay attention to the details of the review or lack of them and who wrote it. Do you know who wrote it? Is it a real person? Or is it anonymous or could it be a fake name?
• Look at the user’s history. Sometimes they may “astroturf”, “shill” (example) or pretend to be a real person.
• The writing style might all be the same or similar if there are more than one review.

I found this video recently that talks about some similar topics.

Conclusion

There are a lot of lies and misinformation on the web and it’s no different in TEFL land.

Related:

• Are paid or fake testimonials illegal?
• 50% of the internet is fake
• How much of the internet is fake? (a lot)
• https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2018/12/how-much-of-the-internet-is-fake.html
• Reviews on ESLinsider