TEFL INTL warning: Avoid breaking the law...

[Peace888]

I want everyone that is a teacher or planning to be a teacher about TEFL INTL. TEFL INTL is not what is advertised. I was in one of the courses and let me tell you it is truly a scam. I have read up on them and they claim that all the instructors are college educated and have at least five years of teaching. Our instructors did not have this and openly admitted it. The teacher was often corrected in class by the students. The one instructor has no knowledge of grammar and said you don’t need to know grammar. TEFL INTL claims to be the same school all over the world but the material are not the same from center to center. The trainers we had had no formal training by TI. The course was just terrible. To top it off we were not allowed to take the course with the visa we had. The truth is you need a student visa. The problem is that in many countries you have to be a real school to issue a student visa. You cannot take this course on a tourist visa in most countries. My friend has a worse sitiuation he is in one of the China speicial projects. This is completely illegal. They make my friend work on a tourist via which is 100% illegal and if they don’t work they call the cops and throw them out of the housing. We went to the China PSB and they told us to leave or be thrown out for working illegally in china and it is not the chinese citizens job to babysit us it is our job to watch our own backs. They did say it was completely illegal for a company to take a teachers salary and that TEFL INTL who is in shanghai, Zhuhai and Beijing to issue a cert in china. So they are breaking the law and we get in trouble if something happens. Please don’t take my word for it you can email them and ask them email the china PSB. Look at the visa entry and exit rules.

[Torsten]

Hello Peace,

Welcome to english-test.net and many thanks for your interesting message.

Best regards,
Torsten

TOEIC listening, photographs: A family picture

[Bruceveld]

To all readers:

My name is Bruce Veldhuisen and I am the Chief Executive Officer of TEFL International.

It is my understanding that, mainly due to changes in government policy leading up to the Olympics, our center in Beijing ran into some troubles. it is also my understanding that the former managers of the center did not handle the problems well. For this reason TEFL International chose to move in a new direction with new management in Beijing.

As the largest course provider in the world, with 27 active locations, there are bound to be occasional glitches. And even though I am based in Thailand, I am ultimately responsible for them all--that's the responsibility of a CEO.

If any course participant feels they were treated unfairly or somehow cheated, please contact me directly at brucev@teflintl.com. I will do anything within my power to resolve the problem fairly.

If you still feel unsatisfied, please contact the Better Business Bureau. As members in good standing, we are obligated to resolve disputes in a fair and equitable manner.

For those wondering about our overall course feedback, just check online at TEFL International Alumni Portal. you will find that.overall, our courses are very well thought of by our participants.

[Peace888]

The laws have always been the same they have never changed. The TEFL courses in China are and always have been ilegal.

[Torsten]

You probably mean 'illegal'?

TOEFL listening lectures: A lecture from a social sciences class (2)

[Bruceveld]

I was in the new center in Beijing last week and they have full legal documentation from the Chinese government including the documents from the government to assist students in getting a student visa.

But some people know everything. LOL

[Peace888]

You are still making them take the course on an F visa that is illegal. I talked to the PSB and they said TEFL International does not have these documents and never will. They said LOL that oh yes TEFL INTL is so powerful we will change the Chinese laws to help to them any way we can Ha-ha. To confirm I emailed your staff asking them what kind of visa they would give me and they said an F. So to be clear guys if you want to go to the course you need a Student Visa and if you do the Slave camp projects you need a working visa. I understand you have to lie Bruce it is ok. I guess you could prove me wrong and post these docs.

Anyone taking the course just go to celta I think they have two in Beijing and are backed by Cambridge. No legitimate educational institution will associate themselves with TEFL INTL so your cert is worth nothing and it is illegal. It is not cheap to do these kinds of things so guys you need to invest wisely ask your friends compare. Don’t take my word for it. Keep an open mind. TEFL INTL is a marketing company first so keep that in mind.

[Henrytefl]

This is Henry from TEFL INT'L Beijing School. I would like to clarify some of the visa issues here to everyone. especially to someone who does not know much about visas in China. I'm Chinese, and have worked as a teacher trainer at a few ESL schools before taking this job, I also helped some of my former colleagues sort out their visa problems. Basically there are mainly four types of visas in China. They are: Student Visas, Business Visas, Tourist Visas and Work Visas. Below is from the best of my knowledge, please correct me if I'm wrong.

Student Visas (this is the type visa that is given to foreign students who study at any Chinese public universities): Only Chinese universities are entitled to issue Student Visas, this visa is valid for a year.

Business Visas: This visa applies to people who plan to come to China for a short business visit, such as seminars, trainings (a TESOL program, Mandarin Classes, Cultural Exchange programs etc), internships, this visa has to be applied with an Invitation Letter issued by any legally-registered organization (Domestic, Joint Venture or foreign companies). The length of this visa varies from 1 month up to a year.

Work Visas: Any legally-registered organization (Domestic, Joint Venture or Foreign companies) can sign an agreement of employment with a foreigner, and then with a permit of the Department of Labor of PRC, the applicant can get a year-long work visa.

Tourist Visas: People who come to China to travel need to get a Tourist Visa.


Now let's talk about our own training center, we run 2 projects here. One is called "Intensive TESOL Certification Program", which is a four-week course; the other one is "TEFL Internship Program/Special China Project", this is a three-month program where trainees come to Beijing to complete an internship with the us and some of our affiliated ESL schools where they practice teaching and get observed periodically, at the end they that come to take these two programs have to get a Business Visa. TEFL INT'L Beijing is a training institute that is registered and approved by the Department of Education, we are entitled to issue invitation letters to people who come to take our courses. For the past two years, we have gained good reputation and helped approximately 200 applicants become better ESL teachers,some of our graduates are now working at some internationally renowned ESL schools like: EF, Berlitz and Wall Street Institute. Of course, we always do our best to satisfy our participants, because this is our job. I regret that I saw some negative feedbacks from some websites, we will definitely improve our service, we also welcome any well-founded advice, please email me at: henry@teflintl.com. I'm glad that you shared your experience with us. Thank you all.

[Peace888]

Listen henry you are not answering the questions. If you give a certificate of any kind you have to give the student a S visa. That is a fact. So are you saying tefl intl does not issue cets. If you just give some sort of lecture and do not give them a cert then you can get by on an F. The main problem is this if you the student get caught talking this course on an F you are responsible for yourself. Tefl Intl will not get in trouble.

For your slave camp project as I have heard you call it Henry. That is just 100 percent illegal. You are not allowed to take the salaries from the students. This is very clear in chinese law. So the Beijing speicial project is 100 percent illegal. Again you the worker are responsible for yourself. As henry did before when alot of people got in trouble he ran away and turned off his phone and blamed everyone else.

The projects for TI make no sense. You are just better of going to china and doing it yourself. It is really easy to do and you will not have the trouble of dealing with people that have no interest in helping you.

For all reading this keep in mind I really gain nothing from informing you of the truth. However tefl intl has to lie to keep this scam going. I have talked to the PSB at length and said this kind of business practices are something to stay clear of. Feel free to contact the PSB like I did. Also the Embassy in your country can inform you on the current laws. China is another world guys and can be tricky please do your homework before making an investment

[Peace888]

Also I got all my information from the public security bureau in Beijing china. Also know as the PSB. which is the department that handles foreigners visa regulations. I would think the department that makes rules would be the best place to go and when they tell me the rules it is fact. I know henry is Chinese so that means he knows all the laws of china. Ha Ha LOL. Seriously this is illegal and you will get caught. I did so I am trying to warn you guys.

[Peace888]

If you plan to attend the course they need to get you a Student visa.

If you want to do the beijing projects or what ever they want to call them. You have to have a working Visa. Also they cant take your salaries legally and you cannot teach only watch.

The Business visa or F visa is very easy to get.Any person can write you a letter and you can get it But really you cant do anything on this visa. I had this Visa and I had to prove I spent a hundred dollars a day in china or I would be fined and thrown out of the country. At this time I tried to contact henry but he turned of his phone and ran away from the problem. Leaving us to take the fall.

So Bruce the CEO is just not truthful in his posts. His says that they just got the docs from the govt to get visas for students but they give you the same visa. The fact that he makes an issue of it says alot. Why would you log on and announce that you have solved the problem when you give the same visas?

If you look I took along time to reply to this. This is because I wanted to make sure I was right. I Had several meetings with the officials in the PSB before posting this. They told me 100 percent this is not legal. I asked them why dont they just shut them down? He said it is only a matter of time. He also made it clear that I should stay as far away from things like this as I can.

Please go to the PSB and ask them if you dont think I am being truthful.

[Henrytefl]

With all due respect, as far as what I can tell from your reply, I don't think you are not one of our previous graduates, because you are being really ignorant here!