(331 Reviews)
(104 Reviews)
VM
Apr 9, 2020
Great course! Nice content and great presentation of the material. Useful not only for ESL teachers, but for all language teachers and even for teachers in general. Thank you for creating this course!
CR
May 12, 2020
Simply amazing. Loved every single minute of it. I feel myself a much better teacher, I’ve learnt how to see resources to give a better class as well as offer my students better practices of learning.
By Thandiwe L
•Jul 14, 2021
Dr. Dixon was very engaging. The examples, metaphors, and illustrations were entertaining and helpful. The doses of each module were just right. The technology could be worked on. There were times I finished videos but did not watch the credits and so the video was marked as not finished. The program should accept a video task as complete once you pass the content parts of the videos. The same for the quizzes. There were times that I finished the quiz but I did not select them button to go to the next item. Therefore, those quizzes were marked as unfinished and I had to do them over again. It would be good if the program did an autosave of your progress. Other than that, great setup with the peer reviews and opportunities to submit video.
By Alejandra R
•Apr 1, 2018
I would highly recommend this course to anyone who has little experience or really needs to learn classroom strategies for teaching language, or even teaching in general. I'm not giving it 5 stars because even though I can't say I didn't learn anything from it (I did), 39.99 per course for a few courses (is it 3, 4 total?) is a little much for me. I was seeking something for my professional development, I don't regret it. The teacher in this is very clear and charismatic, the information is easy to understand and never boring, and the strategies and theory, which is only discussed lightly (with additional resources) is extremely useful. I understand why it's a paid course, but it's pricey for my teacher salary.
By Paul J M
•Mar 14, 2016
Although much of the content seems common sense it is probably necessary to build a common foundation here for later courses. The peer assessments are potentially interesting but, in practice, the majority are so trivial--3 or 4 sentences repeating back material from the lectures--as to be hardly worth reading. Since there is no real qualitative assessment in the peer grading, the work put in by a minority is not acknowledged nor the shortcomings of many highlighted.
The instructor is unbelievably upbeat and animated which some will love and others. . . not. I tend to be in the latter camp but recognise this may be due to cultural differences or simply that I'm a boring old sod!
By Dicle Ç
•Mar 5, 2016
I think it's a really good opportunity to be able to obtain a TESOL certificate online and this course seems to be able to do it very efficiently. However, I have found the approach of the style of the lessons a little bit slow and too dramatic- and somewhat even childish. I'm sure the planning of this certificate program is to ensure that people who take it will remember it so that they can really make use of it in their profession- so they probably avoided long and boring lectures. But still, I must admit that the lessons look a little bit annoying sometimes :) Still, thank you for the opportunity.
By Ahmed N Z E
•Dec 16, 2021
Excellent and 'delicious slice of cake' of an introductory course - couldn't be happier to embark on my teaching journey (I'm switching careers to the teaching profession & become an English language instructor) with this group of brilliant passionate, no-doubt hardworking instructors, whom I wish all the best in everything in their lives as well as all course classmates & takers, & readers of this review - looking forward to course 2 out of 8! Can hardly wait (rhyme) all good I anticipate ;) PS. I gave a 4-star rating; I never give full-ratings because there's always room for improvement.
By LORA M L
•Sep 1, 2021
The course is helpful in providing the right mindset for becoming a language teacher. I learned a lot of techniques that I have started using with some of my students. I think the course can improve on its exercises and activities. It would be nice to have more essay activities instead of just objective quizzes (although they're very helpful in remembering). A good exercise would be interactive essay responses; instead of just providing a review for someone else's response to the essential assumption, you can provide a "response to the response," in order to start a dialogue or discussion.
By Seddik B
•Nov 29, 2019
This course was and still is a great start for individuals who want to start their teaching carriers. It contains amazing videos, readings and assignments. The missing 'STAR" was for the peer graded assignments. Even though my assignments were graded in a short time by my friends and peers, others really had to wait a bit longer. But their assignments were graded finally. To sum up, I recommend you to enroll in this course as well as to the other five courses by AZU.
By David L A
•Dec 5, 2015
The course is good enough--a means to an end. The 4-part, six weeks apart format is kind of bothersome because the wait period sort of dampens the momentum and enthusiasm created during the first course (especially if you complete the whole thing in a week-end). The course is well put together and infused with a little humor. The visuals are good and if you're in the right mood, the course is enjoyable and ifun to interact with folks from around the world.
By Ken M
•Jan 8, 2020
This is a fun, informative and helpful class for anyone wanting to become an effective language teacher. It's a nice mix of best practices and proven techniques that really work. I'm more confident and encouraged by this constructive approach toward teaching teachers how to most effectively help and motivate adult students to learn a new language. The ASU presenters and content team are very knowledgeable and passionate about teaching.
By JENNIFER O
•May 23, 2017
For a neophyte to online learning, I feel lucky to undergo a course where the instructor/ course presenter made the lessons easy to understand, the lectures were presented as if the instructor and the learner are in the same room and not just the presenter talking to the camera. It became easy for me to finish up the segment of the specialization and was driven to push through with the entire course because of it. Kudos to you all!
By Ann B P
•Oct 10, 2017
Excellent teaching but not as amazingly easy to access as the linguistics course or the Mandarin courses I took, probably because of the demand. I had to complain several times because I was sometimes directed to a module I had already completed. I was charged twice in September, once on the 2nd and again on the 10th. I supposedly began for free, so I think my first charge should have been on the 10th.
By Cecilia R G
•Aug 10, 2024
It's a good quality production and I enjoy the peer-review assignments which motivate you to critically think and discuss what's taught. However, I would personally enjoy more academic literature to be reviewed with some more advanced options. Still, it's very enjoyable and I recommend it to anyone that wants to prepare a TESOL to advance in their teaching roles!
By Weisi Z
•Dec 4, 2015
The course is very inspiring and educational. I do appreciate that coursera and ASU can put this course on site. It synthesizes education theories and actual teaching experiences. However, I do think this course would improve a lot if teaching practices could be incorporated because for teaching professionals the teaching itself is the most important thing.
By Hélio P B
•Apr 4, 2021
The course is really great. The pace is good, the instructions are clear and easy to understand and learn. But I believe there could be more materials for us to study, more discussions propositions so we could develop more on our understanding, and the tests and quizzes could be a little bit more complex. The final one only took me five minutes.
By Farah H
•May 2, 2021
As a holder of MA degree in ELT, this course has brought back,
in a more interactive and effortless way, the old theories techniques and methods of English language teaching I learnt in my study. So grateful to the SYA organisation sponsoring this course. Last but not least, this was my first coursera course, yet it will never be the last.
By Brittany J
•Aug 18, 2024
I learned a lot in this course. It was well presented and you can tell the teacher was passionate about the subject. However, the peer review system is terrible. I did have an AI review which I preferred over peer views. Hopefully, they lean into AI reviews as the course develops. Overall though I'm very excited for the other courses.
By Lukasz P F
•Oct 26, 2016
well organized, user friendly, brief but informative, based on videos (nevertheless, a transcription is always provided), if you are fond of metaphors you will definitely enjoy it. you have a choice to prepare a video clip (if you prefer the spoken language) or an essay (if you prefer the written language) for each assignment
By Betsy F
•Oct 29, 2020
This is the first time I am taking any course online and I enjoyed this course. I felt that it was a good introduction to how to establish the steps for a good foundation for ESL teachers. I am now taking the second course to further my progress toward my certification through ASU. Thank you for this opportunity!
By Carlos B
•Dec 22, 2015
Estuvo muy bueno, de pronto sería bueno incluir más videos en los que se pone en práctica los distintos principios. De todas maneras, debo reconocer que es una muy buena alternativa para aquellos que se inician en la enseñanza y quieren tener una idea más clara sobre lo que implica enseñar. Felicitaciones!!!
By Lingling Y
•Jan 23, 2020
The content is clear and the instructors are engaging. However, I was expecting the course to focus more onto how to teach English like how to teach grammars etc. Nonetheless, I learnt a great deal. It helped me to revise some of the things I had learnt in teaching college. I enjoyed the course thoroughly.
By Andres F J S
•Aug 18, 2020
The content of the course is really good, it has been really clear, well structured and made with the best information. I grade it with 4 starts because I think the peer reviewed assigntments needs some development and of course everything can be improved. anyway, this is a great course and I recomend it.
By eugene m
•Jan 16, 2022
First and foremost, many thanks to Arizona State University, Dr. Shane Dixon, Andrea Haraway, and many others for the opportunity to learn. Teach English Now has paved the way and taught several strategies for teaching, learning, and acquiring a language. I learned so many things in this course.
By Juergen S
•Dec 24, 2020
I liked the more practical view on teaching English rather than being too theoretical. I do not deny the need for a theoretical foundation but here and there some examples and stories from "the real world" is nice. Thank you, Dr. Dixon and Team. Enjoyed learning from you and learning with you.
By Polina v R
•Jun 9, 2020
I have been teaching for a while, and I am familiar with most of the information presented in this course. Nevertheless, I took it because I would like to complete the entire set to receive the TESOL certificate. It might be useful for those considering to become teachers in the near future.
By Phoebe G S
•Aug 6, 2020
Overall, I am satisfied with the course. Although I find the Quiz a bit unchallenging. I hope they don't just recycle questions at the end of the module but really ask deeper or more complex questions so that fellow students will really think more and analyze how to answer these questions.