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ESLinsider offers a few courses. It's first course is a basic online course that is free to start. The advanced course is still in continual development to make it even better.

The goal with ESLinsider's new advanced online TEFL course is to make it the best for teaching primarily a target group of children 6-13 in Asia. That's a large part of the job market in Asia. You can teach all levels, but I'd say many will probably spend some time teaching children.

Here is what has been done on it already

1. Videos

 

Some online courses like the one on Groupon that I took use only text to teach. There was no video. This might be fine for some, however it's a little boring for others. Text is not memorable.

Rich media such as video enables you to see right into the classroom just like you were there. 

ESLinsider's courses include how-to videos that were shot primarily in the classrooms of Korea. Most videos were shot in a combination of public school classrooms and hagwons in Korea. A few other videos were shot in buxibans in Taiwan.

Throughout the course you will find related videos to the topics on hand.

2. Practicality

There is an emphasis on practicality vs. teaching theory or English language study. The course I took prior to teaching in Taiwan was focused more on teaching theory, grammar study and things that went in one ear and out the other.

What are the things that I remembered the most from that first TESOL course that I took? They were the activities that I learned.

Sure it's important to know the language, but actually if you are a native speaker and you are going to teach mostly kids/beginners then being able to explain the differences between grammar tenses is pointless. The point is to teach them how to speak.

You want to demonstrate and show them how to use the language instead of explain it in abstract terms that they won't understand.

3. Feedback

The advanced course includes feedback on lesson planning assignments. This is a great way to get insight into what you may be doing wrong. You can get additional ideas and find solutions to problems that you may have.

Some online courses do not include feedback.

Recent changes

4. Gamification

Having fun while your learning is important. If you don't enjoy what you are doing then you probably won't learn much. On the other hand if you enjoy what you are doing you'll probably learn a lot and want to keep doing it.

The same can be said with teaching. If you don't enjoy teaching then you probably won't like it. However, these courses will teach you the tools to make teaching more enjoyable.

Recently the format of the course changed somewhat and some new features were added to gamify the course somewhat. 

Future changes

5. Audio

Audio will be added to many of the topics in the course in addition to the video and text that is already used. The great thing about audio is that you can listen to it while you wash the dishes, get ready for work, travel, go for a run, workout, etc. 

It is time efficient.

This will be used so that you can either review what you have learned via video and text or you can use it to get a preview of the topic on hand.

It will be another media rich layer that will be added to the course to make it more engaging and memorable.

6. Images

There is the plan to add more images to the course. 

Does it sound like an unfinished course to you?

Progress is part of the game. The advanced course is ready to go now, but just so you know it's only going to improve with time. 

If you would like to get a sense of what the course is like then you could log in and try out the basic course. This course is complete and it's not being developed anymore.

It is the basic foundation for the advanced course minus the new development, some content, and feedback.

You could get a taste of what it is like for free. Or you can learn more about TEFL courses here.