Wednesday, April 11, 2007

Bridge-Linguatec Online TEFL Course: Part II

I received responses from my tutor last night regarding my essays submitted for module 1 and was very impressed. She responded within 24 hours of my submission, as Bridge Linguatec promises, and she provided very specific and knowledgeable feedback. I expected something to the effect of, "Looks good, fix this." Instead, she referred to specific parts within my essays and then offered helpful information to enhance my learning experience. For example, she told me that the technique of cutting up an assigned reading and distributing it among students is sometimes called "jigsawing." Very helpful.

Tuesday, April 10, 2007

Bridge-Linguatec Online TEFL Course

I just finished the first module of thirteen for my online TEFL through Bridge-Linguatec and, thus far, I'm very happy I made the choice I did. Instructions were clear and, as I suspected upon looking through the website, the interface was simple and visually appealing. I plan to complete a module a week, which should be doable even with work and school if I allocate some time to the course on the weekends.

The module 1 test was fairly simple, but I assume that difficulty will increase as I advance through the course. I felt that the two required essays were very worthwhile. They actually got me thinking about how I want to structure my lesson plans and what type of teacher I'll be. I have yet to hear back from my tutor regarding my essays, since I submitted them late last night, but she has been prompt and helpful in her responses to my e-mail queries.

Also, Bridge-Linguatec just added videos to the course that I have yet to watch but am excited to see. I'll report after module 2 to let you know whether or not they prove useful.