Based in two great locations near the centre of Barcelona, we offer a friendly, dynamic and professional environment in which to obtain your TEFL qualification.
We are not a TEFL “production line”. At TEFL Barcelona we are committed to our students, providing quality TEFL job guidance for Spain and abroad during the course, and giving ongoing career support for as long as it is needed.
History
TEFL Barcelona was set up in December 2005 by Spanish born, EFL teacher and teacher trainer Erwin Ebens. Erwin had been teaching a very popular TEFL course in Paris and decided that the characteristics of that course - a very personal approach and a friendly, relaxed atmosphere - could function equally well in his home city, Barcelona.
Our Approach
True to our principles, we aim to offer a refreshing alternative to the "industrial" feel of larger TEFL operators. We make every effort to ensure our students get quality, personalised training, restricting our groups' size. We encourage trainees to develop their own natural teaching style, and we provide them with an ongoing, international job guidance service. (See what past students have said about us: testimonials)
Our Teaching Philosophy
We may give you information, guidance, and support, but we believe that you learn most by doing the thing yourself. That at the core of a learning process, there is an experiential cycle of trying things out, reflecting on the results, using feedback and information to prepare for the next time and then trying it out again. This is applied both in our approach to teaching English to students and our approach to training in general. This is why we have scheduled daily teaching practice sessions, where you can immediately put the theory into practice.
Support and Guidance
This also implies that input sessions are structured less like lectures but more like interactive workshops where you are encouraged to actively participate and, where possible, to discover language and methodology for yourself, and through interacting with your fellow trainees and the trainer, who will be at hand as a resource and mentor, to support and guide you.
A Reflective Approach
We also encourage you to develop analytical skills toward your teaching and reflect on the outcome of your lessons as the results of your lesson planning, teaching techniques, people skills and class management.
Humanist
Moreover, we believe in a humanistic approach to learning and teaching, (teaching the whole person as opposed to solely their mental processes). This implies that not only knowledge of subject matter and methodology are important, but also learning to listen to your students, empathizing with them, building rapport and in general finding ways of enabling learning are equally important.
