The annual TEFL Blacklist Oscars were delayed owing to a late flurry of worthy (or should it be worthless) candidates. In truth your noble sleuth has been spoilt for choice this year. The TEFL Blacklist has attracted tales of woe galore.The TEFL business is riddled with sharks. Be very careful when accepting a job and remember to read the contract carefully.
THE WINNERS
1. WORST JOB BOARD. The winner by a mile is TEFL.com. They are worse than Dave's ESL Cafe in that at least Dave Sperling does provide a forum and allow some debate. TEFL.com allow none. The list of crap jobs they advertise is endless and they accept adverts from anyone.
2. WORST FRANCHISE. International House. Call it an affiliate if you will, it all amounts to the same thing - money. The Covent Garden flagship centre is good but after that who knows as standards differ so widely. As long as anyone can pay the affiliate fee then they are allowed to use the name with lip service being paid to quality. Abuse of what, used to be, a hallmark of quality.
3. WORST SCHOOL. A really tough one this. There were so many candidates. The winner is New Zealand Centre for Culture and Education in Gangnam, South Korea. This outfit should be avoided at all cost.
4. WORST TEFL COURSE PROVIDER. i to i. Rip off merchants making megabucks through selling worthless TEFL certificates. A disgraceful outfit whose "certificates" are total crap. If you want a decent TEFL certificate, make sure that it is at least Cambridge or Trinity certified. Avoid all online courses, correspondence courses, weekend courses etc. unless you only want to go to some rubbish school in the middle of nowhere.
5. SPECIAL MENTIONS.
