Czech Republic

Firstly, I would like to comment on the actual academic teaching. I found Mila an outstanding teacher, and had it not been for him and his ability, my experience would have been an unmitigated disaster. As far as learning what you need to know to get a teaching job, you get what you need. Everything else about ITTP is a complete rip-off and a disaster of an experience - and I have been around the world and experienced a lot. I took the course Spring 2011. As I did not feel confident in selecting a place to live over the internet, I thought it would be a safer bet to go for the ITTP accommodation. Had it been next to free, which it should be given what you get, I would not say a word. However, given that you pay on the upper end of the scale for shared accommodation, it is just ROBBERY. There was one bathroom/one toilet for 9 people. And yes, the ceiling was moldy even last year. We were expected to clean the apartment ourselves, though no supplies to do this were provided. You can just imagine! For the price Neville was charging he should have had a cleaning lady come in daily. Most things in the apartment were broken, or teetering on the brink. If anything did break, it was deducted from your deposit at top price. Our wifi suddenly stopped working, and yes at first we had to badger Neville to fix it, and then he blamed it going out on us, and charged everyone for a repairman to come out and reset it - I don't remember now how much it cost , but it struck me as a lot. We later learned the same thing "oopsy", happened to the last class, and had to be reset that time as well, at their expense. The beds were terrible quality, some broken. I did not have a single hook to hang a single piece of clothing, so for one month just lived quite literally right out of my suitcase. I was lucky enough ( hah!) to have the cozy room, so I had a measure of privacy. When I first saw this room, I thought they were joking. It is the size of a broom closet! This , plus sharing a bathroom and toilet with so many people and no other services???!!! For what he charged??!! I am surprised he has the guts to offer this at all. It was only marginally bearable because the group staying in the flat were a good bunch, and we all realised we had to get through, but there were moments when people were at each other's throats in frustration. Neville's brazen attitude and despicable customer service is well crafted to just shut students up. And in fact we all got an email that flat out told us that anyone who complained about the living conditions may be kicked out of the course. ( are you kidding??) You are there for only one month, everyone's main goal is to just get through and get their certificate, so everyone just grits and bears it. Next month he gets a fresh batch of innocents, and another set of installments in his bank accounts. My advice: TAKE THE COURSE. UNDER NO CONDITION TAKE THE OFFERED ACCOMMODATION!!!

I heard first about ittp tefl from a friend who took their course way back in 2007 and who had nothing but good feedback. I graduated and meant to take the course a few years back but some things cropped up and i ended up putting it off until this past fall when i realized that if i didn't do it now then i probably never would. So i took the plunge and signed up for their prague april program. I graduated from the course friday. Now i've never taken a tefl course before so i really can't compare courses but from the other teachers i met in prague who took different courses i did feel fortunate that the teaching practice i got through the ittp program seemed to be very much above average in terms of number of hours taught and variation of teaching setting. Once again though i can't compare ittp with other courses and the other courses might be better or worse. Who knows. All i can write is that i personally had a blast on the course and it helped me to achieve what i had traveled to prague to do and that is to teach in europe. Also, i'm not sure if this is a particularly good time of the year to take the course or why logically it would be but pretty much everyone from our group has either started teaching or has interviews lined up. As well as providing excellent job finding services the school also provide visa support but it seems that essentially the visa aspect is down to the language school which decides to employ you. Speaking with other teachers from the states i get the picture that the visa requires jumping through a few hoops and all but isn't as half as difficult to obtain as some people claim it is. Plus my school is helping me with it and it is only costing me around 40 bucks. My only negative experience was unrelated to the course and was more concerned with pricing in the city. You really have to watch where you go because a night out in some parts of the center can be SO much more expensive than a similar night out in other parts. I did get a bit fed up being seen as a walking dollar sign in these places but soon learnt where the tourist spots were and how to avoid them. As long as you avoid these spots you will generally be ok. Yesterday i had my orientation day and signed the teaching contract and i officially start teaching tomorrow morning. My one bit of advice for anyone thinking of taking the plunge and taking a tefl course abroad is JUST DO IT! I am just kicking myself for not doing this earlier. Ittp was an excellent decision and i have very fond memories of my 4 weeks at the school which i will hold dear for a very long time and essentially what really made the course were the other people studying with me.

Leaving America and starting a new life abroad wasn't a decision that I took lightly. I did many hours of research to find out not only the most suitable location for my new adventure, but also the best school to enroll in. Eventually, I decided on Prague. Since traveling to this amazing city in the past, she has been quietly calling me back ever since. The culture and beauty of this city cannot be put into words. Also, the cost of living in eastern Europe is much lower than other European cities. After deciding on the city, I search relentlessly for the perfect school. I soon found ITTP, and after reading some info on the website, I became very interested. The courses offered combined with the Prague experience was very intriguing to me. I looked into other schools, but I chose ITTP in the end. I am very glad that I did. The courses are quite intense, but this motivated me to succeed. I worked hard, but also played hard on the weekends. Overall, I received an A in the class which is something I am very proud of. The Prague 1 location made it ideal to have lunch on the river or to do a little sightseeing. I really enjoyed most of the teachers there, but Mila stood out as the best. He really is a great teacher and really fun to hang out with after class. I also loved living in the same area as the Czech locals. I really got away from the touristy feel that I got when backing in the past. I got to live the European lifestyle, if even just for one month. I would have loved to stay, but the Philippines called me away. I was given job assistance and found a job quickly upon arrival. I have been working for the same company for almost three years now, and I am making a good living that exceeds most people here in the city. If I had to do it all over a again I would have done it the exact same, well, maybe I would have stayed in Prague just a little bit longer :D

ITTP (TEFL-Prague) did a good job of preparring me and fellow students to enter the field of English teaching. This TEFL course can take you as far as you wish to go. Upon my graduation in 2005, I spent a year teaching in Prague. As cut-throat as it seemed, I recommend this to anyone. The course teaches you about grammar and gives you practice teaching experience, however, that first year, in retrospect, was an essential period of fine-tuning my teaching skills and giving me the needed confidence for future endeavers. The following year I spent a year teaching English in beautiful Mokpo, South Korea. I found myself using the skills I learned at TEFL-Prague and saw myself becoming an asset to the hogwan I was teaching for. I used my TEFL experience to teach at several schools in my hometown of Philadelphia, PA; even gettimng a contract to teach for $25/hr at a public-school subsidized academy. I didn't know that attending TEFL-Prague would start me on my way for the glodal adventures and successes I reached. To this day I recommend friends to take the ITTP course!

i finished up on the ittp combined course on tuesdaz this week. it§s the course where zou studz online and gasin teaching practice in prague. personallz i would have preferred to have taken their onsite program but time was of an essence for me and i just couldn§t afford to take a whole month chunk out of mz schedule for the residential option. well, i did take the residential option in a waz because i stazed for a week in the school§s apartment. as someone else wrote, i kind of prettz much took with a large grain of salt the reviews on this site because it seems obvious from their other reviews on other sites that people are recommending the course. i can though relate to a few of the negatives which were brought up but overall i am completelz happz with mz ittp experience and i would without hesitation recommend this school. one word of warning though for anzone thinking of taking the prague online-onsite course... the online section of the course is prettz demanding and at times i wasn§t sure if i would complete it. i did but i reallz had to applz mzself. it was tough going and i§m sure comparable to their onsite course offer. i had a lot of help with finding work. i don§t know if this was a companz policz change or somwething but compared with earlier reviews it feels like thez are writing about a different companz. like i wrote, i completed the course earlier this week and this afternoon i have mz first paid class. i know the visa will be a bit of a pain but i§m readz for that bridge and i have help offered both from ittp and the companz which i§m going to teach for. i don§t believe in 10 out of 10 reviews so i am giving ittp a strong 9. recommended!

I just finished my TEFL course with ITTP a week ago, January 27th. I have read all of the other reviews and while I understand some of the criticisms I feel my group is lucky to have a different sentiment. First of all, my fiance John and I took the course together, and we quite literally sold everything that we own to get here. We burned all of our ships, you could say, so there is not really any going back to the States anytime soon. I do agree that their could have been more transparency regarding the accommodations. I think that we all were a bit surprised at just how intimate the living situation actually was. However, it seems that ITTP is in a transitional stage and this is not their usual accommodations. Regardless, there was another couple besides us, and we both had the two bigger rooms. There was a smaller room, and then a large communal room (sort of like a hostel) where all the other beds were. We were also surprised that our class took place in the actual apartment- though we actually thought this was rather convenient. On the other hand, it would be nice to have the extra space of our classroom for accommodation space. But once again, this doesn't seem to be how things usually are. Our class had 9 students, which seemed to be a good amount. On the first day, one of the co-owners of ITTP, Alena, gave us an introduction. It may have just been an off day but she seemed really flustered and was a bit overwhelming, she had us all really nervous. However, Mila was a really excellent teacher. As soon as she left he eased all of our worries. We were a bit surprised at how fast paced the course really is. You start teaching immediately, as in the second day of the course. This is what had us all a bit flustered at first. However, the students were very nice and easy to work with. I think in the end that the "sink-or-swim" method really helped us all. We felt confident teaching just after two weeks. Two criticisms I have for ITTP is that I also recommend (like someone else mentioned earlier) that they consider getting a printer and keeping it in the flat. That would have been very beneficial to us all for using online authentic materials (such as news articles, speeches, etc.). Secondly, the classroom was locked when Mila was not there, and so the library of books and materials were only at our disposal during class times. It would have been nice to have those materials available to us during the times we spent planning lessons the most (after classes, the weekends, and on Thursdays). As far as job placement goes, there is no job placement in the sense that you will be assigned to one. The job process is just as it is back home, you search for a job, you apply, and you interview. ITTP has correspondence with many language schools, that they provide to you on the list that has been mentioned. I also noticed that some of the sites did not work. I emailed Neville just yesterday to ask him about a school that I have an interview at and he said that he will add it to their list, as he is in the process of updating it. I won't pretend like I didn't also think that there would be more active assistance then there was. However, every time I have contacted Neville with questions or asked Mila about anything they have been prompt with their responses and helpful. Everyone who took the course this past January gets along great. My fiance and I have been staying with the others in their amazing flat that they rent together, right across from the Zizkov TV tower in Praha 3. I believe that the more "intimate" accommodations that we were initially upset about is what actually led to us all becoming great friends. As I've said, my course ended exactly one week ago. My fiance started working the Monday after we graduated with a school, and is interviewing for another. I am starting private lessons that I set up myself and have an interview tomorrow. All of my flatmates either have work or have had many interviews. You do need to be proactive in your job search, just like with anywhere else. Though there seems to be no shortage of English teaching opportunities available in Prague if you just look for them. In fact, I didn't even use the list that ITTP gave us, I just found open positions myself and had no problem. As for the visas, I was confused about that as well. I was surprised to learn that I had to travel out of the country in order to apply for it, which wasn't an expense that we had budgeted. It is true that some jobs will help you get this, but others do not. There are many different options regarding the visas. I can say that I have talked to many people I have met who are English teachers, (not from ITTP) and they have said that visas aren't much of a problem and there isn't the strict time limit like some seem to think. As long as your visa is in process it doesn't really matter, you won't get deported or anything. My best advice to anyone is to do a lot of research regarding visas and such for your country before you come. I do recommend ITTP, I have thoroughly enjoyed my experience here; the city, the people I've met, and the teaching knowledge I've gained. I would not recommend ITTP accommodations to anyone who must have a lot of privacy, but if you're relatively social and low maintenance it will be fine. Neville also gives great recommendations which is something you will really need when applying for jobs. I wish everyone the best of luck with their new teaching career! Kendra

I took the ITTP programme in 2011. I chose this course because of the high ratings it got in various reviews. Now I know the reason for such unbalanced ratings. I had no problems with the programme itself. As with many people who wrote a review on this website, I had a lot of problems, however, with the accommodation provided. Little did I know how small the room was. Picture this: when I stretch my arms out, they touched both sides of my room. And mind you, I am only 1.64m tall. Another person from my cohort who also took the accommodation provided had his bed collapse from under him on the first day and he is 70 years old. Luckily he did not suffer any injuries or Neville would have probably found himself in a lawsuit. I would also like to confirm that the bathroom ceiling was covered in mould, which was a major health hazard. During the course, I realised that among the people who took up the accommodation provided by ITTP, my room was the smallest, but, if you recall, that is not what I paid for. So I emailed Neville about it, thinking he may have mixed me up with a student from another course. Neville replied, and I quote: "You paid for the Small and Cosy Room. You have the Small and Cosy Room. The other Small room option (4,450) is in another part of the building but we are no longer offering those cheaper rooms." I then told Neville that I thought that was a fair enough reason but I would have appreciated it if this was what I was told in the first place instead of some story about how it was taken by another student and that by pointing this out I hope that it would not be repeated with another student in the future. And this was Neville's reply: "Thank you for your email. If the reason given was that it was taken then it was taken. We don't appreciate the insinuation that it was otherwise. We have a lot of students coming through the program, not only Onsite students but also combined students and we need to accommodate them too. We also have quite a lot of movement of accommodation options within the building and at other locations in the city. Now, I politely suggest that you please focus on your course studies and I trust this now clarifies everything. There is no need to respond to this email. Thank you." Excuse me, but I think that I, as a consumer, have every right to demand an explanation if I feel that something is not right with my purchase, and for Neville to tell me in no uncertain terms to shut up and accept his reason for taking more of my money is unacceptable. In addition, we met locals during our course and they all told us that for that price, we could have gotten much better accommodation in that area or much less. I was really lucky to have wonderful coursemates who made my experience there positive. So my advice is: take the ITTP course if you want to, the programme itself is great but please please PLEASE do not take the accommodation provided.

WARNING…!!!!!!!! I had put this whole experience behind me until Neville brought it to mind again recently by looking for positive feedback from all of us on that November course. I thought it was a complete waste of my time and money. Mila was great and did his job well. I did,nt quite get it and because there where 20 in the class, did not want to bother him as he had enough to do it seemed. Had there been a maximum of 14, then perhaps i could have asked for a little extra help from him. I did not like the large class and felt quite intimidated and embarrassed to ask for help and even if I had, would he have had the time to give me.? What Howard Black wrote is spot on and I cannot disagree with any of it. I didn’t get to see the cramped, expensive accommodation that was dangled as a carrot to get us there and by all accounts, am glad I didn’t. (The pictures he posted looked nice). From the outset, and even before I arrived in Prague, I felt like Neville was scamming us. He offered this cheap accommodation and once he had my deposit, told me that it was full. I researched accommodation prices and found them to be a lot more than he was offering. I asked him for help and suggested I might not be able to afford the course if I had to pay so much, that the whole thing was based on “the cheap accommodation” he had offered. (Dangled). We ended up, thanks to Bob, finding a great appartement but at 3x the price. Thanks Bob. To my surprise, Neville came back to me saying that someone had moved course and that a small room had become available and if I sent another deposit, he would secure it for me. I sent another lump of money and low and behold, guess what, he thanked me for it and said that someone had got there before me. Do not get sucked in by promisses of cheap accommodation. Others, who were in the accommodation offered have written about that. When I suggested I might not be able to do the course for financial reasons, so giving him the opportunity to reduce the numbers OVERBOOKED on the course, instead of accepting that and letting me cancel it, his simple reply was,…” It would be a shame for you to cancel, especially as both your deposits are non-refundable”…and he gave me a link to a site that would definitely be able to help me. There are, of course, loads of sites that will help you, at a price. Who says our deposits are non refundable and why can,t they be? Particularly when he has made that guarantee of promising a maximum of 14 pupils several times on his website, and is overbooked. The course fee was $1990 but of course if we paid within 3 days, we would “make a whopping saving of 291USD”. I think a few fell for that one and took advantage of it. Then the remainder was to be paid “in full, in CASH” before the course started. Whenever anyone asks me for ‘cash’, my first thoughts are, this sounds a bit dodgy. 20 people paying this amount….Quite a lot by my calculations. I wonder if there is an element of greed involved here. When we went to look for it, the office he referred to did not exist, ‘right in the heart of Prague’. So another lie. I could go on but enough said.. Others have their comments to make. Some appear to be good. This is my opinion only. Shame, on the surface it looked good but BE WARNED..!!!!!! Don,t make the same mistake. Don,t get sucked in by lies and false promisses. LOOK ELSEWHERE...!!!!!!

I enrolled in the Language House TEFL program during the summer of 2011, and took the course during the month of October 2011. During the summer, Chris Westergaard, the owner of The Language House, was very helpful and answered any questions I had about the program, Prague, or anything else my somewhat confused and uncertain brain could come up with. The course itself was very difficult, but it was difficult in the sense that I knew I was getting my money's worth and learning as much as possible in its one month duration. All of the instructors on the course are very knowledgeable, helpful, and very good at what they do. After graduating, I gained an interview at a reputable language school in Prague and felt very comfortable during the presentation of my lesson plan to the director of the language school, thanks to my time at The Language House.

My TEFL experience at ITTP has been thoroughly worthwhile and fulfilling. I had no problems with the accommodation; the room was exactly as it was described to me and everybody else here was able to live together in a happy, civilised manner. The course training itself even managed to exceed expectations. Our teacher, Mila, was professional, super-intelligent, well organised, well informed, and above all, was always willing to lend his help and support with regard to lesson planning and job hunting. I have recommended this course to friends of mine also interested in pursuing this career, and would happily recommend it to others.