Contents

• An accredited course;
• Experience;
• Top quality trainers;
• Staff approachability;
• 24 hours of  teaching practice;
• Teacher/Student interaction;
• International recognition;
• Student intake quality;
• Training quality;
• Student satisfaction;
• Great cities to study and work in;

and lastly but most importantly

• Worldwide TEFL job placement - Our unrivalled, lifelong commitment to helping you find work.

An accredited course

Accreditation is a signal to you, a future EBC accredited English teacher, that we care about the quality of the education we provide.

The EBC TEFL course has been accredited as being at NQF level 4 by Ascentis (OCNW) a National Awarding Body.

Ascentis (OCNW) is a National Awarding Body, approved by the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority (QCA) and is licensed by the Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education (QAA).

• The QCA and QAA are both British Government organisations
• The QCA oversees the National Awarding Bodies
• The QAA ensures that higher education qualifications are of a sound standard

Ascentis is listed on the British Council Website as a recognised examination board.

>> top

Experience

We have been providing EFL training, language translation and other language services in Madrid, Spain since 1995. EBC is now a successful and well known language centre. Don't believe us!, look at EBC y Asociados clients. We now want to share our wealth of knowledge and practical experience with people like you who would like to enter the English as a Foreign Language teaching profession by offering the EBC International TEFL Certificate.

Since our EBC International TEFL certificate course started we have trained and placed over 2,500 satisfied teachers throughout the world. We get a continual stream of requests from language schools throughout the world requesting lists of our graduates. Why? because we are one of the very few TEFL courses in the world that insists on an applicant having a degree/5 years professional work experience and being at least 21 as a standard entry requirement. This means that prospective employers know that our intake standards are high and therefore our graduates will be top quality.

>> top

Top quality trainers

As you are the best, we believe that you should be taught by people who are experts in TEFL. Our trainers each have, on average, 10 to 15 years experience teaching English as a foreign language. In addition to TEFL experience, our EBC TEFL trainers hold BAs and Masters degrees in just about every language related area you can think of.

Our trainers also give external lectures on teacher training, organise UNICEF English summer camps and have authored TEFL text books and audio tapes. These people know their subject and even more importantly, they know how to teach it effectively.

By comparison, other courses insist on 5 years or even less TEFL experience and in some cases don't even insist that the prospective trainer has a degree.

>> top

Staff approachability

We want you to feel comfortable from day 1. Our centres are in Spanish speaking countries but if you don't speak Spanish don't worry. You will find that all of our TEFL trainers, support staff and management all speak advanced level Spanish so if you need help with anything in Spanish that you don't understand you can ask anyone.

In addition, if you have any other questions relating to life in general, our campus locations, how you're getting on, study problems, you name it - you will find us there for you. If you have any problems, great or small, let us know and we will be happy to help you resolve it.

>> top

24 hours of teaching practice

"Practice makes perfect", so we've made sure you get a fair crack at perfecting your teaching style by the time you graduate. Compare what we offer to the 6 or so hours you'd get taking a CELTA or Trinity course.

An outline of the practice sessions

EBC has scheduled a total of 24 hours teaching practice time into the course. This comprises

• 8 hours of EBC trainer demonstration classes;
• 8 hours of peer group practice sessions (rehearsals);
• 8 hours teaching 8, 1 hour classes to groups of non-native English speakers.

EBC trainer demonstration classes

You may never have taught before, so rather than throw you straight in at the deep end, we introduce you to teaching in a gradual manner. The EBC trainers will give you demonstration classes in order to highlight do's and don'ts in the classroom. The classes also serve to introduce you to different approaches to teaching the main aspects of English to non-native speakers.

The first demonstration class you will be given serves two purposes: it serves as a vehicle to show you how to teach and it also serves to help you understand the difficulties in learning a foreign language as you will not be taught in English. Instead you will be given a language lesson in one of a few rather obscure languages.

There is an open analysis and feed-back session after each demonstration class.

Observed peer group practice sessions

Prior to delivering each one hour class, you will be given the opportunity to rehearse your lesson in front of your peers and course trainer. You'll be asked to stand up and teach a segment of your planned lesson and walk through how the plan will help your students reach the lesson objective.

You will receive feed-back from both your peers and your EBC course tutor.

Observed 8 x 1 hour classes to groups of non-native English speakers

These 8, 1 hour classes are the real thing. You will teach each of your planned lessons to groups on non-English speakers. You will teach at least 2 groups of beginner, 2 groups of intermediate and 2 groups of advanced students. The remaining 2 classes are  allocated at random but they will also be beginner, intermediate or advanced students.

Every class you teach will be observed by a rotation of the EBC course trainers and your training centre's Head of Training. This means that you will be observed by a substantial number of people, therefore the analysis and help we can give you during the feed-back sessions will be immense. Everything is designed to help you get into the swing of teaching as quickly as possible. We don't like leaving things to chance.

You will receive formally documented feed-back from your EBC course trainer in a private review session.

>> top

Teacher/Student interaction

We believe very strongly in giving you as much feed-back as possible regarding your course progress. There are times planned into our 4 week schedule when you will have private tutorial sessions with your course trainer in order to discuss your progress. The tutorials are two-way so you'll get the opportunity to be frank with your trainer and ask questions you possibly would not like to ask in class.

All criticism will be given in a positive manner. It should also be taken positively and acted upon accordingly. Teacher/student interaction is there because we want to help you pass the course. We take teacher/student interaction very seriously and we do follow up to make sure that you've taken it on board.

>> top

International recognition

The EBC International Certificate in TESOL that we award through the Ascentis is recognised by the British Council as a valid teaching certificate for its accredited schools in 109 countries.

We get a continual stream of requests from language schools throughout the world requesting lists of our graduates. Why? because we are one of the very few TEFL courses in the world that insists on an applicant having a degree/5 years professional work experience and being at least 21 as a standard entry requirement. This means that prospective employers know that our intake standards are high and therefore our graduates will be top quality.

Most language schools throughout the world will instantly hire someone who is an accredited English teachers.

The quality of our course is recognised by the companies that hire our graduates because if our graduates were second rate, they would not be entertained as TESOL TEFL job applicants.

>> top

Student intake quality

We believe that the best people get the best jobs. Our  entry requirements are stricter than most other TEFL Certificate courses, including CELTA and Trinity because we want to attract quality rather than quantity. EBC requires you to be at least 21 and to either have a degree or a minimum of 5 years continuous, verifiable work experience. CELTA and Trinity both state in their brochures that 18 year old high school graduates are admissible.

The reason we have a higher set of requirements than most is because we know that the job market will almost immediately hire someone who is 21 or older, has a degree and/or 5 years work experience and is an accredited English teacher. We don't want anyone who takes the EBC course to suffer the lack of job offer frustrations others have suffered due to taking lower quality certificate courses.

We accept the fact that stricter entry requirements will attract people who are more demanding and who have higher expectations. Indeed many of our students have had Masters and to date we've had several PhD students. We have proved that the EBC International TEFL Certificate course meets both higher demands and expectations.

>> top

Training quality

A course designed and delivered by teachers for teachers

EBC is a language training company that was founded by teachers and employs highly skilled teachers. This means that EBC has first hand experience of what the EFL job market requires. This special knowledge has allowed us to develop our course as an intensive, practical and hands-on programme that trains you to be an effective ESOL EFL teaching professional.

Our one month intensive TEFL certificate course exceeds international certificate course guidelines which state that you have to complete a 100 hundred hour course that includes 6 hours of teaching practice. The EBC TEFL course is 150 hours including 24 hours of teaching practice.

We do not cancel courses

For financial reasons, some TEFL Certificate course providers may cancel courses at short notice due to lack of numbers. Some course providers have a right to cancel clause in their contract.

Cancellation causes stress, inconvenience and financial penalties to the people who may have signed up for a course and already made travel arrangements. We will not cancel courses even if we lose money. Why? Because if you want to come and study with us, why should we inconvenience you because we will suffer financially. It's greedy and immoral to do this, so we don't do it.

The only reason we would not run a course is if no-one signed up for it. So far we haven't had this problem.

>> top

Student satisfaction

After each course we ask all course participants for feedback. The reason we do this is not to make us feel good (although it does) but to look for areas in which we can improve existing course areas and add new services/facilities. We take every survey response very seriously.

Part of the survey asks for a brief testimonial comment about the course. Click here to read the testimonials from some of our previous students. We don't have room to put all of them up.

>> top

Great cities to study and work in

Our campus locations are terrific cities to study and live in. In addition to learning how to be an EFL teacher you'll get exposure to an entirely new perspective on life. Our campus location cities are cultural melting pots and have deep historical ties.

It'll take you a long time to get bored with our campus location countries, so come prepared to stay for a while.

>> top

Worldwide TEFL job placement- Our unrivalled, lifelong commitment to helping you find work

Our job placement assistance scheme is unrivalled. We do not know of any other training organisation that goes to the same lengths that we do in order to help you get working as quickly as possible after finishing the course.

Lifetime assistance

EBC's belief is that if you come to us to study, we try our hardest to help get you working as quickly as possible after finishing the course. We can assure you that we will be here if you need us and we will always be happy to answer questions and help you look for work in other areas if you want us to. It's all part of the job placement assistance service, whether you want it or not, once you study with EBC you become part of our ever-growing family of globetrotting teachers.

Our job placement assistance scheme is only for EBC graduates. Many people who have taken other courses (usually CELTA and Trinity) write us asking for help to get jobs. Unfortunately for them we have to turn them away. Here's an example sent in by someone called Linda:

"I have just recently become Cambridge CELTA certified (Eastleigh College, UK) & would like to secure a TEFL position in Spain to improve my Spanish. ....... In hind-sight I now realise that it would have been more productive to enrol for my TEFL course with an organisation like yours :-)  Oh well, I guess that's life!"

There are many people like Linda who write to us. If you study with EBC you won't share their lack of job problems.

EBC believes you should not have to knock on doors looking for jobs

At EBC our belief is that if you train with us you should get a job with us. Our sister company is EBC y Asociados Idiomas, a Madrid based EFL school. This means that (unlike other TEFL certificate training companies) there is a good chance that you will get hired (subject to availability) as soon as you graduate. Isn't this better than having to go around knocking on doors like a vacuum cleaner salesman using a list of schools you've been given?

As with all good companies we have contingency measures should EBC y Asociados not have work immediately available. We are also a supplier of TEFL Certified teachers to hundreds of EFL language schools in your campus location's country and the rest of the world. The list includes internationally recognised companies.

Our procedure is to send your applications including your CV to these organisations along with a cover letter from us stating that you (subject to passing the course) will be an EBC International TEFL Certificate course graduate. The cover letter has been requested by the EFL companies so that they know your application comes from us and that you trained with us. It helps them sort out the "street" applications from serious job placement applications.

EBC manages the process on your behalf so you don't have to waste shoe leather pounding the streets knocking on doors. As you can see, we go that extra mile to open the doors to jobs for you. After that the rest is up to you at the interview. You aren't left entirely on your own regarding interviews as our job workshop training explains what you should and should not do when interviewing for TEFL positions in EFL companies.

Your accredited English teacher status plus working with internationally recognised companies via EBC y Asociados Idiomas will give you a powerful CV/Resume. The prospective employers you meet when you begin your professional career favour candidates with international work experience. Should you at some point choose to change careers, the experience you have gained through teaching, working and living in different countries will always be one of your strongest assets.

EBC believes in helping you get a job regardless of where you are

In addition to a real job placement programme, as a graduate you will also get access to our web based list of TEFL schools around the world so you can instantly apply for jobs anywhere.

EBC believes that getting a TEFL job is not a matter of knocking on doors or using shot-gun CV/resume mailing strategies hoping that someone will hire you. We want to really help you, our future graduates, get a job. We are in the process of establishing relationships with ESL schools around the world. Our relationship management is ongoing and aims to establish relationships with ESL schools in most non-English speaking countries that require good EFL teachers.

The objective of establishing relationships is to help your application get to the top of the list.

>> top

"EBC has wonderful trainers who are professional and very knowledgeable. The course is truly geared towards helping you to find a job right away. I have been surprised by how much I have learned and how well prepared to teach the tutors have made me."

Kelly Vassar (USA)