Shane Training Centre

Hello I have recently completed my TESOL Diploma Unit 3 and 4 and would like to share my experience for those who are thinking about embarking on the ‘DIPLOMA JOURNEY’. Quite undoubtedly the days and months preceding the external exam is going to be few of the toughest days and months of your life but at the end there is boundless joy and happiness of having completing the exams successfully.
The diploma has been a very self-awakening experience for me. When I had started teaching at Shane I had zero experience. Doing the diploma alongside my daily teaching has helped me identify my strengths and weaknesses and has helped me grow professionally.
10/10, would recommend it to all those looking for more in an ESL career.

Recommendations (for those in the early stages of the course):
1. Communicate with your tutors. The more you communicate the easier life becomes for you.
2. Don’t procrastinate and try to complete your TP well before time.

As of this Sunday, I've now completed the Trinity TESOL Diploma with Shane. The two years spent working on this alongside a full-time job have been really challenging but ultimately rewarding.

I had been teaching for four years when I started. I felt like I wanted a new challenge and a way of moving forward. Now that I've finished, I've transformed my teaching (the phonology section of the course was especially enlightening) and hope to progress into management in the future.

If you're thinking of taking this course, then it's definitely a worthwhile investment. It will be a battle, though, and you'll need to fight hard. The assignments are demanding and I had to overcome several setbacks in order to defeat them. Luckily, Sophia and Gavin prepare you for everything and help you push yourself to become a better teacher and achieve the course objectives.

The course was very intense but really interesting, even having a decent experience in teaching, I could learn a lot and I feel more confident and overall that made me a better teacher. The group of students we did our practice with is just amazing, kind and willing to learn. Big thanks to the tutors for their support. It felt overwhelming with all the papers at first, but with their help it become doable and easy to understand. Totally recommend for all who wants to develop their career as a teacher. The best teaching training in Tokyo.

I had completed the TCL Certificate TESOL with Shane English Schools Japan and found the experience rewarding yet challenging. I knew that the Diploma course would be twice as difficult, but helpful for my career change. I decided to give it a go, thinking that I would finish it within a year. Sadly, the course took much longer than anticipated, particularly with Section 2 - the Portfolio, and after a number of failed attempts, I was on the verge of giving up, and was lacking motivation to complete it. I was also working in a team-teaching environment and rarely taught independently and didn't have the opportunities to observe peers who were native speakers, so it was not easy to find the hours needed.

However, having said that, the other three parts of the course were innovative and practical. I gained much experience and opportunities to refine my EFL teaching, particularly to adult learners. I was able to reflect on habits (too much teacher talk, not making best use of monitoring time) that I wanted to change. The phonology component also gave me a lot of insight into pronunciation teaching, particularly in identifying and refining strategies in teaching problem sounds to Japanese learners. In addition, I got timely feedback from my tutors and much encouragement from them every time I made draft submissions.

I would recommend this course for those who are serious with developing their career in TESOL education and have already had a few years of experience in the field, particularly in immersive education. I rushed straight into the course with the bare minimum required and found it slightly discouraging when the expectations were so high. I also ended up changing careers before finishing the course, so I became highly unmotivated to finish it for the sake of not wasting the 80% I had already completed.

As a teacher I felt stifled and wasted, no opportunities for promotion or self growth, I needed an outlet for my energy and enthusiasm. So I started the TESOL Diploma in 2018 to grow and develop as a teacher. Initially I found it hard to get into a study routine, and making the time to read and research was also a challenge with work and family commitments, however I found my rhythm and have managed to clear three of the four parts of the course. The written grammar exam and the research projects are self paced and it is easy to skip studying or take a week off, a better plan is a little study everyday and more as you reach your submission dates. The teaching practice and phonology are on a schedule and the teacher trainers keep you on track, but the last 4 weeks are pretty intense so be prepared to pull out all the stops! I just completed the assessed teaching practice and phonology and with it comes a heightened sense of awareness in the classroom. I can see what is happening, understand why it is happening, and make educated decisions on where I need the lesson to go and how to get there. This is eminently satisfying and the blood, sweat and tears invested have paid back dividends ten fold. The course exposes you to some of the many publications on English teaching and as you read and reflect you realize this is a way for you to continue to grow and develop as a teacher after you complete the course. If you are considering self improvement and are prepared to invest the time and energy I would highly recommend this diploma course. Though it is an English teaching specific course, I believe many of the principles or lessons you learn will be of benefit to you outside this area of specialization.