TEFL Online Certificate

Our online Teaching English as a Foreign Language (TEFL) certificate offers a flexible path for aspiring teachers to gain the skills and confidence needed to teach English to learners around the world. Designed for busy adults, it allows you to study part-time while building practical classroom techniques, lesson‑planning strategies, and a strong foundation in language teaching methodology. Whether you’re preparing for travel, a remote teaching career, or a new professional direction, this format makes high‑quality training accessible from anywhere.

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Program Highlights

• Course is fully virtual – can be taken anywhere in the world
• Meets one night a week, 4:00 – 9:00pm over 15 weeks
• Individualized lesson-planning appointments with trainer
• Individualized and detailed feedback on lesson plans and lessons
• Taught by CELTA trainer with Ph.D.
• Lesson planning assignments with AI
• 6 hours of assessed teaching practice over 8+ lessons
• Experience teaching a range of lessons including reading, listening, speaking, functions, vocabulary, grammar, and writing
• UT backed quality – a world renown university
• 140-hour program

Coursework

Teaching Practice

Trainees teach 6 hours of assessed lessons over 8+ lessons, with a total of 140 hours of course time. On a typical course, students teach a 45-minute lesson every other week. Students are required teach a range of lessons including receptive skills (reading or listening), vocabulary, grammar, speaking, functional language, and writing. To help students in the planning stage, guided lesson planning sessions are scheduled with their trainer. Trainees receive detailed feedback on lesson plans and the lesson.

Input

Each week, trainees engage in asynchronous units online, which includes recorded lectures and follow-up activities. These units are carefully designed and segmented to help trainees plan and teach their lessons for the week. For example, in the first weeks, students engage in a unit on receptive skills, and then plan and teach a receptive skills lesson.

AI Assignments

At the end of most units is a short AI assignment. These are designed to help trainees implement AI throughout the planning process and take many forms, including creating a personalized context with AI generated graphics, designing materials for a pronunciation activity, or analyzing student errors to help plan upcoming language lessons.

Class Topics

• Lesson Planning & Frameworks — How to design effective lessons using common TEFL frameworks, set clear objectives, and sequence activities for different learner levels.
• Teaching Language Systems — Approaches for teaching grammar, vocabulary, and pronunciation, including how to present new language, check understanding, and guide practice.
• Teaching the Four Skills — Strategies for developing learners’ reading, listening, speaking, and writing abilities through communicative, level‑appropriate tasks.
• Core Teaching Principles — Foundational concepts such as effective error correction, contextualizing language, balancing accuracy and fluency, and fostering learner engagement.
• Classroom Techniques & Procedures — Practical methods used throughout lesson stages, including classroom management, giving instructions, monitoring, drilling, and pronunciation practice.

Program Logistics

Dates & Cost

Dates

Term: Spring 2027
Dates: January 4 - April 20, 2027 (no class March 16)
Time: Tuesdays, 4-9pm
 

Term: Fall 2027
Dates: August 17 – November 30, 2027 (no class November 23)
Time: Tuesdays, 4-9pm
 

Cost

• Tuition is $2595 ($2295 + $300 non-refundable deposit)
  The special early bird rate is $2295, if paid in full 45 days before the start of course ($1995 + $300 non-refundable deposit

Application Process

Send your completed application to tefl@austin.utexas.edu. After reviewing your application, the instructor will contact you to set up a phone or Zoom interview. The interview lasts approximately 45 minutes and will give you the opportunity to ask questions about the TEFL program.

Once accepted to the program, you will pay a $300 deposit to hold your spot. Payment may be made online via TXshop.

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Grading

Our TEFL Certificate grades according to the traditional U.S. grading system of A through F – a grading system that employers understand. Teaching practice is weighted more heavily than the assignments from input and AI assignments. Lesson and lesson plans are graded based on the syllabus and grading criteria.

Instructors

The certificate program is designed and delivered by Dr. Curt Reese, who holds a Ph.D. in Applied Linguistics and is a CELTA trainer and who has taught on more than 60 CELTA courses. He has trained over 1000 teachers and 500 CELTA trainees. He has worked on training programs for public school teachers in Brazil, Mexico, Japan, and Korea. He has also trained Fulbright English teaching assistants. He is passionate about helping new teacher acquire skills necessary to be effective in the classroom.

Job Opportunities

With the UT TEFL Certificate, you have the same job opportunities as with the CELTA and other trusted certificate programs. Candidates often apply to places such as EPIK (Korea), JET (Japan), and Fulbright. A bonus of the UT TEFL Certificate is that the instructor offers a letter of recommendation for all candidates who pass the course.