TEFL Courses in Costa Rica

International TEFL and TESOL Training:
International TEFL and TESOL Training (ITTT) offers a four-week TEFL certificate course in Manuel Antonio, located on the central Pacific coast of Costa Rica, just south of the city of Quepos in Puntarenas province, and 132 km from the national capital of San Jose. Our TEFL certification program provides participants with an internationally recognized certificate in Teaching English as a Foreign Language. The course has a very practical emphasis and features a high proportion of actual teaching practice hours in the classroom.

ITTT TEFL Certification Course (4-weeks):

We have an internationally recognized 4-week TEFL Certificate course that has a very practical emphasis and deal primarily with the real skills and knowledge needed by teachers in the classroom. 

The TEFL course is divided into six main areas:

1. Teaching Practice
The most practical and fundamental area of any TEFL/TESOL course. Course trainees teach real students of English and put into practice the skills learnt on the course.

2. Language Awareness
a) Grammar. Covers word classes, simple sentence elements, complex sentences and clauses, verb time and tense, aspect and conditionals and modals, phrasals and voice.
b) Phonology. Covers phonemics, word stress and intonation, sentence stress and intonation, rhythm and intonation, and connected speech.

3. Student Profile
Trainees work with individual students on rapport-building, error analysis and correction and addressing individual student needs. Three meetings with the student are required including transcription and error analysis of audio and written samples, culminating in a 60-minute session observed by a trainer.

4. Teaching Techniques
This component of the course covers areas such as:
- Lesson planning 
- Classroom management
- Establishing rapport
- Managing equipment and teaching aids
- Discipline in the classroom
- Creating materials
- Correction techniques
- Evaluation and testing
- Teaching receptive skills (reading and listening)
- Teaching productive skills (speaking and writing)
- Teaching vocabulary
- Teaching grammar
- Songs in the classroom
- Games in the classroom
- Teaching individual students
- Teaching beginner students 
- Teaching business English
- Teaching young learners

5. Foreign Language Experience
The trainees receive training in an unknown foreign language to reflect on the experience of being a learner, and how this might direct their own teaching.

6. Materials Project
All trainees must develop two sets of materials used during the teaching practice. Each set must be durable, capable of being used for more than one lesson context and easily portable. The materials may include visuals, audio or video tape, cue cards and class handouts, but may not be photocopied from published sources.

Trainees are required to adapt from commercial sources, or develop original materials. The summation of this project is a presentation to the trainers on how the materials were used, how they could be improved and how they might be used in another context.

Sign up for any one of our TEFL International 4-week residential courses, now available in over 30 international locations worldwide, and receive an additional certificate course free of charge: 
You may choose from the following free courses: (a) Introduction to TEFL. (b) Teaching Business English. (c) Teaching English to Young Learners.

Optional Spanish Language Course:
TEFL students who would like to learn some Spanish during their time in Costa Rica have the option of attending a Spanish language program either before or after your TEFL course. Language courses start most Mondays, and are available for two, four and eight weeks. This TEFL course / language program offers you the opportunity to become TEFL qualified with an internationally recognized TEFL certificate and immerse yourself in the local culture, improving your language skills.

For further information on our TEFL / TESOL courses in Costa Rica, including dates and fees, please contact us quickly via our Contact Page.