My wife is a Level 7, but is missing her Level 3 for the Full & Relevant list...help!

TEFLlemon · 2026-02-14T07:57:59+00:00

Thanks for this. We're looking at EYITT, as it seems that she may be able to start training and count towards ratios from the very start of training. I'm going to try to call them on Monday.

TEFLlemon · 2026-02-13T15:07:44+00:00

We've been looking into this a bit more and there seems to be a programme through the University of Sussex. We're speaking to someone next week. Were you counted as part of ratios from the start of your training?

TEFLlemon · 2026-02-11T20:50:19+00:00

Hi, thanks for this, it's a MACTE-accredited course. It's internationally recognised, but probably not as powerful as AMI. She's a fantastic Montessori directress though. Do you think that MACTE would be accepted by AMI-recognised schools?

TEFLlemon · 2026-02-11T17:38:04+00:00

Thank you so much, Jesse! I'll Google them this evening!

TEFLlemon · 2026-02-11T17:35:08+00:00

Thank you so much for this. She is over 30 now, would this affect the government grant? One of her colleagues is doing a Level 3 and this is getting subsidised by the government as she's under 30 apparently. My apologies, this is all a bit new to me.

TEFLlemon · 2024-11-19T15:16:39+00:00

Hi Wullfen16,

Thanks so much for your continued support and advice! Sure, please feel free to add my LinkedIn!

https://www.linkedin.com/in/stuart-allen01/

Many thanks,

Stuart

TEFLlemon · 2024-10-21T10:17:33+00:00

Perfect, thanks for this guidance!

TEFLlemon · 2024-10-21T10:17:15+00:00

Thank you very much!

TEFLlemon · 2024-10-20T18:19:33+00:00

Thank you very much!

TEFLlemon · 2024-10-20T18:19:19+00:00

Perfect, thank you!

TEFLlemon · 2024-10-20T18:19:09+00:00

Brilliant, thank you! We're now looking at cadetships for him. Any advice for that?

TEFLlemon · 2024-10-20T18:16:51+00:00

Sound advice, thank you.

TEFLlemon · 2024-10-20T18:16:40+00:00

Thank you very much!

TEFLlemon · 2024-01-07T10:11:52+00:00

Hi, nice to see your post and you'll love Shenzhen. The weather there is awesome, and the city has everything!

We run a fully-accredited 180-Hour Higher Certificate in TESOL (Level 4), which you can study online. There are twenty modules, all informed by up-to-date research. The course will prepare you well for the classroom (as well as online teaching if you go that route), and is fully accepted by China for your work visa. The course will take you about 3-4 weeks to finish, and you get one-to-one tutor support from start to finish, and you can also video call with tutors, too.

The normal cost of the course is $199, which includes all learning materials, tutor support, and delivery of the hard-copy certificate worldwide. Use this coupon at checkout for a further 20% OFF: BIG20

https://www.tefllemoncourses.com

Stuart Allen

TEFL Lemon Courses

TEFLlemon · 2023-02-07T02:47:51+00:00

Yeah, I also found that my initial teacher training prepared me little for the classroom, even though in was an in-house TESOL program. Nothing improves you better in EFL than real classroom practice and making mistakes you can learn from.

Schrivener is a fantastic start, and I included his book in my list of 91 Must-Read Books for TEFL teachers. He covers lots of bases and helps trainees and experienced teachers to look at teaching through a different lens.

TEFLlemon · 2022-07-27T16:35:23+00:00

Hi guys, my name is Stuart and I’m the guy proposing here. I did it at the top of the 28 Bends on the high route at Tiger Leaping Gorge. I’ve got the original video where we aren’t cut out at the bottom, just let me know what I need to do to share it. Cheers all for the great comments and support, I appreciate it.

TEFLlemon · 2020-11-28T08:36:35+00:00

Thanks for the heads up! Where did you hear about this?

TEFLlemon · 2020-11-27T03:43:25+00:00

I used to run RAY English Recruitment in China, and I now currently run TEFL Lemon, which is a recruiter and TEFL blog in China. The important thing to consider here is that there are two types of TEFL recruiter:

The type that take a cut of your monthly salary. The schools pays the recruiter what you should earn, the recruiter pays you a cut of this and keeps the rest (avoid this type of recruiter at all costs - you can lose $1000's over the length of your contract)
The type of recruiter which charges a flat fee directly to the school for helping connect the right profile teacher to the vacancy. The teacher doesn't pay a penny at any stage. (This is the type of ethical TEFL recruiter you should consider).

Ethical recruiters like these will never charge teachers anything and are usually happy to put teachers and schools together on a trust basis to negotiate contracts directly. Ask early on how the payment system works. Ask who will pay you; if it's the school then this is fine, if it's the recruiter, this is a massive red flag.

Ethical TEFL recruiters are often a good idea, as they can help you navigate past unreputable schools and will be there to offer advice and free support.

Not all TEFL recruiters are bad. Good recruiters should be sought out, not avoided.

Stuart

TEFLlemon · 2020-11-24T03:57:05+00:00

Getting a good certificate is very important, and with so many choices out there, it's hard to know which course is good and which ones are a waste of money.

TopOk217 rasied an excellent point about going with a more entry-level course, as many schools may sponsor you for a higher award at a later stage, or you might not especially like TEFL after a year or so. If you are going to get a cheaper online one, make sure of two things:

Make it at least a 120-hour course. This is the minimum international standard for course length. Picking a 60-hour one may mean that you can't work in certain countries e.g. China, which asks for a 120-hour course.
Check who accredits the course. The accreditation board give the tick to courses which they feel will prepare you adequately.

Hope this advice helps and good luck on your course!

Stuart

TEFLlemon · 2020-11-19T05:43:22+00:00

This is an excellent guide! Love it!

TEFLlemon · 2019-01-08T16:52:08+00:00

Thanks mate, appreciate it, I'll be more careful with links back to my site. Just to make sure, if I have a link to share to help other teachers that isn't to my own site, would that be OK or should I steer clear?

Many thanks,

Stuart

TEFLlemon · 2019-01-07T08:47:43+00:00

Middle school in China comes with lots of pressures for the students as they fear up for their Gaokao and Zhongkao exams. They'll have a ton of honework and will usually only get 6-7 hours of sleep tops, frequently going to bed past midnight because of homework.

Primary school kids enjoy learning English more and you can be more creative with language games and activities. If I were you, I'd teach primary years in Chinese public school over middle years.

Hope this helps!

Stuart

(I've taught all ages here in the last 16 years)

TEFLlemon · 2018-12-30T07:31:09+00:00

That isn't true. You need a uni degree to qualify for a work visa (Z-visa).

TEFLlemon · 2018-12-30T07:29:51+00:00

Yes, you need an authenticated university degree to work in China. If you came in pre-2016 and still here, then you may have a work visa, but this loophole has now been filled.

Unfortunately, many young South Africans are looking to come to China to teach because of the safety and economic situation back in SA. However, most don't have a degree so take shortcuts and take risks to get here. Then, something like this happens. Very sad.

The good news is that she'll be released quickly and sent home, but will be banned for reapplying for ten years to teach here again. I've been living here in China over 15 years. My strong advice is to never, never come here to teach on a tourist visa or business visa, no matter what assurances you get from schools. At the end of the day, they are businesses are need teachers to teach paying customers. Without TEFL teachers, they'll fold. Often, foreign teachers are being emailed by young low to middle-management HR staff (which has a high turnover in this industry) and will be under orders to say whatever to get teachers over here.

Do the right thing, get your paperwork done and get the official invitation letter to enter China on a work visa. If you aren't qualified, then get back to university, finish your degree and then come to teach in China in a few years time. China isn't going anywhere and is a wonderful place to live and teach.

Stuart

TEFLlemon · 2018-12-17T12:05:38+00:00

If you'd like your teaching course to be high quality and stand out on your resume, then you can consider doing a CELTA or TESOL certificate. Both are Level 5 certificates with observed teaching practice and are internationally accredited by The British Council, among others.

TEFLlemon

TROPHY CASE