Transworld Schools

Transworld School has been absolutely wonderful in my opinion and here is Why...

Ceri, Phoebe,Julie,Jarrod,Peter,Rick, and Marisa are all extremely knowledgeable, friendly, constructive, and a pleasure to have as teachers. I am so thankful to have come across Transworld schools and will be recommending it to everyone I know.

Ceri is very helpful in helping every student find a school that is the correct match for them. Of course ultimately, finding the "best fit" is up to you to filter through the jobs out there, but I think that its just like finding any other job.... The harder you dig.... the bigger treasure you will find. Thanks again Transworld School for helping me to explore my dreams and the world!

-Barrett Manning
Class of 2009-Tesol Certification

Posted 08/25/09 | Report Abuse

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I went to Transworld Schools to do the CTESOL program. Laid off from my previous job, I was looking to get back into teaching, and ESL had been recommended to me by a friend who taught with the JET program in Japan.

It was a good program: the teachers were smart and friendly, and the classes did a good job of cramming you on English grammar, as well as instructing you on their teaching methodology.

The most fun, and sometimes stressful, part was working with real ESL students. You get to design your own lessons, and present them to ESL students, and actually get practice teaching. So you practice doing the job, and you get to meet foreign, interesting people along the way.

Overall, I enjoyed my TESOL experience. I am still in touch with my classmates from the course, and that was also a fun way to meet new people and get some contacts/peers in the ESL field.

Posted 04/11/09 | Report Abuse

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Late last year (2008) I completed the C-TESOL (Certificate in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages) program at Transworld Schools in San Francisco.

I am very satisfied with my experience at Transworld. The program manages to combine training in ESL theory/pedagogy and practicum. You are specifically trained in lesson planning, and then teaching in front of real ESL students who are living and studying here in the Bay Area. Even if you have teaching experience, this in an invaluable opportunity to practice the ESL teaching in a professional environment which is then often expected from employers as a given part of professional certification in ESL.

The C-TESOL instructors I worked with were engaging, and conveyed a strong and diverse perspective on ESL teaching. The course itself is also an excellent crash course in grammar, if thats not your professional background!

I also believe its a good professional development step, in terms of spending money on job-related training. ESL is a good profession for travelers (high demand abroad, especially China), and I managed to find employment almost immediately here in the Bay Area (San Francisco and Berkeley.)

Posted 03/27/09 | Report Abuse

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I have many international friends in San Francisco who are or were ESL students at Transworld, who complimented some of their ESL teachers but said many other classes were boring or unchallenging ... some of them also had conflict issues with the director of the school in which they found her insulting and unhelpful. I don't know about their TESOL course.

Posted 11/02/08 | Report Abuse

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CTESOL courses tend to shift contents (rescheduled teachers) without prior notification, and the director is at times rude and inconsistent about information on attendance and rescheduling policy.

Posted 11/02/08 | Report Abuse

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This is a great school to get a high education with the low price...Mostly people think that if the price is higher the school or teachers are better than other.I am the one of them who think that way. Thats why I came to US by the most expensive language school and then what I did,just wasted a lot of money.Did I get very good and qualitified education?Unfortunetly NOT...
In Transworld Schools,the teachers have a good qualitifacation to teach and also they are very energetic in the class.The other thing that I like about Transworld S. sometimes we go out or have dinner,it is more than school with real social life.
After a while I took my toefl score which is high enough to get in to a university...Now I am in advanced class and trying to make the best decision which university I should go.Thank you Transworld I had a great experience with you guys and made a lot of friends.

Posted 08/08/08 | Report Abuse

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I attended Transworld for over a year as an ESL student and I can tell only positive things about my learning experience. In the beginning I was unsure which class I should take. The director gave me a brief introduction to each course and answered all of my questions. I really got the feeling I am taken care of from the day one. The Proficiency 4 and TOEFL classes I decided to attend weren't too crowded averaging 6-10 students. Before I went to Transworld I tried 2 other schools. Intrax Institute was too pricey for my limited budget and at the other school teaching process was like a boring routine. One of my friends recommended me to check out Transworld. They have reasonable pricing and a very friendly and knowledgeable teaching staff. I made some good friends and in the course of the year I felt my English was getting better and better.

The only thing that was kind of frustrating was slow Internet connection in the computer lab.

Oh yeah... and there is a Subway on the ground floor so you can get a nice sandwich in a matter of minutes which is a real bonus. :)

If you're looking for a reasonably priced school combined with quality teaching Transworld is the school of choice for sure. You'll totally get your money worth there.

Posted 07/27/08 | Report Abuse

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

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I highly recommend this school to anyone who wants a high quality course with great staff. I did my research and Transworld Schools is an accredited schools, which basically means they have to perform to the highest standards. If you dont believe me, contact ACCET (the accrediting agency) or go in and see for yourself. I was lucky enough to live locally and went in and met with the director. She also happens to be the owner and I have to say that she is great. She has so much knowledge about the field and was very happy to take the time to talk to me about the different kinds of courses and what I could expect once I graduated.

The teachers were fantastic. They were friendly and very professional. They took time to work with me on an individual basis. I found the classes to be interesting and very informative. Until I took this course, I never knew how fun grammar could be! I kid you not. I had a great experience at this school. Thank you to everyone at the school for giving me such a wonderful experience. I look forward to a long and prosperous carreer!

Posted 07/24/08 | Report Abuse

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Go in and check out the school. It is very hands on and you can go and sit in on a class before you sign up. I did that because I really wasnt sure if it was something that I wanted to do. When I went in for the first time, I was also given a list of graduates to contact. I contacted a guy in Japan and he was really honest about his experiences - at the school and overseas. I found that to be really helpful when making my final decision.

I was really impressed with the fact that we got the chance to practice teaching on real ESL students. It was such a valuable experience! The instructors gave me very useful feedback after these sessions and I learned so much from them. I found the staff to be very friendly and helpful. In addition, even though the director is a very busy person, I was able to schedule time to meet with her and talk about jobs. I ended up working locally in the Bay Area and have been working at 2 schools for the last 3 months. The ESL schools were really interested to meet with me because Transworld Schools has such a good reputation in the area. At one school, I was asked to teach a demo lesson in front of the schools director, and it was so easy after all of the practice I had gotten.

Now I have landed a job in Japan. The job placement assistance that Transworld Schools offers is on-going and Ceri helped me find this job in Japan too! I hear the money in Japan is really good, so thats an added bonus! I am so excited about going overseas, which was my reason for doing the course in the first place.

All in all, money well spent!

Posted 07/24/08 | Report Abuse

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

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hi everbody, it s me, Kaan. !First of all, i just got shocked when i read the `first` review about transworld and to be honest i thought the one who wrote it was drunk or very high:)i graduated from Seljuk University in 2006 with a degree in english teaching, some time after my graduation i decided to do something different instead of being a regular teacher in Turkey and came to San Francisco, to Transworld Schools.Because my uncle and my brother have been living here in San Francisco for such a long time, they chosed Transworld Schools right away for me when i asked them to find me a good school to get the international english teacher certificate.Mrs. Odeh helped me very much with the process of getting the F-1 visa, (like: what i should bring with me to the consulate, what i should say in the interview, how much money i should have in my account, life style in sf, hostels in sf. . etc.) then she explained everything about the certificate program by sending me e-mails or sometimes over the phone. Couple days after i arrived here, i realised that my english (especially my speaking and writing ability) was not good enough although i was an english teacher. Then i changed my mind and instead of getting the TESOL certificate, i decided to take some ESL classes. first i met the teachers and decided to take their classes. In a very short time i got what i wanted.Then i felt more confident, and became a student of TESOL certificate program. i finished it with a very good grade after 14 weeks.Now i am a student of City College of San Francisco , Department of Supervision and Management.i have lots friends from different parts of the world , i am taking a very serious certificate program, my books are not like the simple ones that you guys see in the regular bookstores, and I DON'T HAVE ANY COMMUNICATION or COMPREHENSION PROBLEM!!! There is a saying in Turkey,it is like: Do you speak English?What are you talking about? I live in English:) (which means basically, ``not only speaking``, but i can also write, listen and read )Thank you transworld!!!

Posted 07/24/08 | Report Abuse

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

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I am currently a student of the CTESOL teacher program and I have nothing but good things to say about the program, the teachers and the director of the school herself! Such a terrible review brings a few questions to my mind personally. It seems to me that the individual giving the review has a fine grasp of English for one thing which makes me wonder why they were taking an ESL class in the first place. Secondly, I can personally attest to the nature of the director as she has been nothing but accommodating to me and my needs as a student and prospective teacher. I have talked with Transworld students who have completed courses before I came to the school , and they also have nothing but glowing recommendations and in fact have returned to take more. I think it's pretty safe to say this person's opinion is extremely one sided for some reason. Perhaps someone wants to tear down their good name only to build up another school? I'm not sure, but I think someone would have to be taking a great leap to say the teachers or director of this fine school are anything but accommodating and helpful. As with any institution there are guidelines they follow or else they would not remain in service so long. Transworld school methods are tested and proven effective in real world situations. I have been teaching Intermediate students myself and they are very responsive and can make themselves easily understood.
I also must make a note on the school itself. I don't know when BB went there but they have two entire floors devoted to the school now. I don't know how things started out there, but have you ever tried to procure rent space in SF? It's sky high! I feel they utilize space very effectively. To address the book situation, I heard a teacher mention that books were being stolen from the school because they were previously located in a hallway, but are no longer kept there. As far as BB not getting a position afterwards I would say that no one should ever walk into a situation without being willing to get their own hands dirty so to speak. If you really want to be an ESL teacher you will make it happen. You may not find yourself in a luxurious position at first ( what profession do you ever start at the top in?) , but the school does direct you to the best prospects available. If you are a good student, I am sure you would get a great recommendation- They can't be expected to train us and do the hiring for schools overseas- it's just not logical.I think it's very unfortunate that one person has such a negative attitude about just about every aspect they could possibly think of, and the other seems to share the same sort of " hand me everything on a silver platter" attitude. Learning and teaching English is fun, or it should be. In my experience it has been very pleasant at the school and I would highly recommend that if you have an interest in learning/ teaching English you make an appointment to check a class out and go judge for yourself. Best Wishes!

Posted 07/23/08 | Report Abuse

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Their competitive pricing structure makes them seem like an attractive choice for ESL students, but think twice. The place is unorganized, teachers have little interest in or regard for the needs of the students. Placement tests are essentially worthless, as students will likely end up being placed into one of the few course levels that happen to be running at the time. Guidance is minimal at best. No regular course materials are offered, no homework is assigned, the learning progress is correspondingly slow. You may be able to take advantage of the low prices and the limited choices they offer as an advanced student who knows exactly what they want and need (and who has the guts to be insisting), but beginning to intermediate-level people will most likely feel very much lost. The owner/director is unprofessional to the degree of being outright rude and personally insulting. Bad experience, not recommended.

Posted 07/18/08 | Report Abuse

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I was less than pleased with my experiences there. We were thrown into actual teaching situations with non-English speakers almost immediately. Furthermore, their "library" consisted of a couple of waist-high shelves out in the main walkway. The computer lab was essentially useless as they'd simply kick you out of it while you were preparing a teaching section in order to have a class in there. Two copy machines were all the other resources they had. The bathrooms were "one-holers" and only one person could therefore use it at a time. The owner, Ceri Rich-Odeh was very "British" to the point of being outright rude. Plus, you are more or less on your own with respect to finding a job. The "placement" that they tout consists of little more than a few three-ring binders with names of schools and contact information. I was dismayed, too, at the fact that there were no refunds to be had unless you decided to quit the FIRST DAY. Unfortunately, that isn't really adequate time to decide if this sort of thing is for you or not. That said, I will admit that I probably entered this course with unrealistic expectations. I'd hoped to land a really upscale job that paid very well plus would give me an internationally flavored career experience. To have that probably requires an actual degree in teaching ESL/EFL rather than merely a certificate which is all this school is licensed to issue. Plus, I would have liked more help with landing a job - BEFORE I completed the course. I had absolutely no luck in procuring a position on my own once I returned home and subsequently abandoned seeking an EFL position entirely.

Posted 07/03/08 | Report Abuse

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