ESL Scam: Globaltefl.uk.com

Oh hey there, blogopals, didn't see ya there. Let me tell you a little story about GlobalTEFL.uk.com.

As some of you know, I got my TEFL (Teaching English as a Foreign Language) certification through an online course I bought off of Groupon. That course, which you can read about here, was pretty comprehensive, although there were some significant typos towards the end. Before I bought that, I had accidentally purchased a non-accredited TEFL course, but I quickly realized that it wasn't accredited, and I got a refund.

Fast forward two-and-a-half years to now.
I've been putting that online TEFL certification to good use, teaching English and test prep classes ever since I got certified. I found a Groupon for an IELTS specialist course that seemed to check out: it's accredited through what seems to be a legitimate body (ACTDEC), a couple hours of Googling "GlobalTEFL.uk.com scam" didn't really come up with anything, and the site has some good reviews. So, for $19, I figured hey, why not? My TEFL course was only around $79, so it wasn't too unreasonable to think that this much shorter, non-certification course might be legitimate for $19.

Then I started the course.

First of all, I noticed after the fact that it's a little weird to have .uk.com rather than .co.uk, which makes it seem like they're pretending to be a .co.uk and hoping people won't notice. But mostly...Well, I'll let these screenshots from the first few pages speak for themselves:

This is the very first thing I saw when I started the course: the course outline. Tell me, why IS so effective about preparing for the exam?

From the section on pacing. This sounds like a non-native English speaking high school student who didn't do the reading. I'm pretty sure that when you get down to it, the crux of the "training" on pacing is that pacing is good and you should do it. Thanks, Global TEFL! Who knew?

I spent about ten minutes giving it the benefit of the doubt, watching the Youtube videos that clearly aren't theirs, before asking for a refund, which, thankfully, I got. They refunded me in Groupon bux, which for me is fine, because I like Groupon in general.


tl;dr: GlobalTEFL.uk.com is bad and the material sounds like it was written by lazy high schoolers who are scraping by with a C in English in some country where English isn't spoken and workers aren't paid a whole lot. I haven't tried any of their other courses, but I sure wouldn't trust them or their accreditor, ACTDEC.

WOWair sale: $69 California to Europe!

Well, it looks like WOWair is upping their game what with all the news about $69 flights with Norwegian...because right now, they are offering $69 one-way flights in January through May
from LA and San Francisco to various locations in Europe! Yes, that's $69 including all fees and taxes. Holy guacamole! It's only $129 one-way from various East Coast cities, too. Check it out! These fares will probably get snapped up fast. Check the low-fare calendar for each city here. You can change the origin city at the top of the page.

HUGE Qatar Airways 40%+ off sale, now til Jan. 16

Qatar Airways is having their semi-annual massive 40% off sale, plus an extra 15% off for buying with a visa card and promo code VISA, plus a possible extra 10% off
for members of the Privilege Club with a code (join for free). I believe you can stack some of the discounts, but not the promo codes. Fly from the US, Europe, Australia/New Zealand, Asia, Middle East. Think $402 from Philadelphia to Kuala Lumpur (round trip). This is amazing, with actual fares sometimes even lower than what they list here. Check it out!

NOTE: You can get tickets for even cheaper than they list on their website if you check your preferred flights on Momondo.com.

Get some ideas for where/when to go here.

$69 transatlantic flights loom nearer: Norwegian adds 130 jobs in Edinburgh

Well, I'm sure you're all watching with bated breath to see how this unfolds. Are those $69 Edinburgh - New York flights real, or just a spectre?
Norwegian has added 130 jobs in Edinburgh, saying that they will be launching new "transatlantic routes from other UK cities, including Edinburgh Airport." Will those flights be $69? We should find out more details in "early 2017." Well, it's early 2017 and I'm waiting! Check out the whole press release here.

Middle Eastern airline comparison (economy): Etihad, Qatar, Emirates

UPDATE: Well, over a week ago, Emirates, the so-called best airline in the world, mutilated my suitcase and promised that someone would come by the next day to fix it. After I didn't hear from them, I emailed them and was told it might take a few weeks, as there have been a lot of damaged bags lately. The big airlines really don't feel they need to do anything for the economy customers, do they?

If you're making the trek between Europe and Asia for cheap, chances are you're thinking about taking one of the gulf state carriers. The big three are Etihad Airways, Qatar Airways, and Emirates.
(Notice that all of them except Emirates have "Airways" in the title, because Emirates knows you know who they are. So suave.) As of this week, I have flown each of the three airlines from the UK to Bangkok at least once, so here's my review, from worst to best. Each one has a stopover in the Middle East, which can be short or long enough to visit, depending.

Worst: Etihad. Flying Etihad is fine. It gets you from A to B. But it sure ain't a good time. I've flown them twice now (well, one round-trip), and they just pack you in there like sardines - without a low price to match. Some of their planes are clearly packing in 10 people into a 9-person-wide row, such that even I, with my narrow ladyshoulders, am literally touching my shoulders against a stranger's shoulders the entire time. This sucks for a 14-18 hour flight (with stopover). The space issue, uncomfortable seats, and tiny, kind of unclean bathrooms, make this pretty unpleasant.

Food: They feed you with some frequency, and the food is fine, but not impressive.
Movies: The movie selection is OK, but is sort of like going through your cousin's DVD collection. There are probably a couple movies you want to see, but it's not exactly a smorgasbord. When I flew, my touchscreen was glitchy and kept skipping around the movie. They also play like ten minutes of annoying ads every time you start a new movie or TV episode, which is pretty annoying when you're trying to watch a 20-minute episode of something. The screens are small.
Sleepability: I couldn't sleep much, even when I had the row to myself.
Free tour/stopover? No. Stopover is in Abu Dhabi.

Middle: Qatar. Flying Qatar is fine, and the bathrooms are kind of nice, wood or wood-looking floors, I like wood-looking floors, and the doors don't always squash you against the toilet when you're walking in, and they're cleaner. Seats are way less cramped than Etihad.

Food: They feed you about the same as the others, and the food is fine.
Movies: The movie selection didn't stand out to me, and I kind of forget. I think it was reasonable. They play an annoying amount of ads, though, like Etihad.
Sleepability: I couldn't sleep much.

Free tour/stopover? Yes! This is a very big draw. I have not been able to take it yet, but Qatar Airways offers a free tour (complete with a free visa) of Doha if your layover is over 5 hours. It's easy to book a layover of over 5 hours, so this is great!

Best: Emirates. Flying Emirates is great...until you get off the plane! The plane looks big and airy (ha, air, because it flies in the air), and the seats are actually comfortable. It's just a pleasant time. The bathrooms on the plane I took weren't as delightful as on the one Qatar plane with nice bathrooms, but c'est la vie. We did have about 1-2 hours of delays, but I feel like this happens to everyone regardless of the airline. However, when I went to pick up my bag, I found it just demolished; there is no reason for luggage to ever be that beat up. When I went to baggage services, they took down my info and said someone would contact me to come by and fix it at 2 PM the next day, but I didn't hear from anyone and had to call them myself, and it also doesn't look fixable. There were also delays on not one but both legs of the journey, as well as delays in landing and getting off the plane. It was a busy travel day, but still.

Food: They feed you about the same as the others, but the food is good! Very good! My sticky toffee pudding was a great experience all around.
Movies: Wow! Movies! So many movies, and so many movies that I want to see! And big screens! And minimal ads! But I didn't get to watch many movies, because...
Sleepability: I slept so much! I was lucky enough to get almost the whole row to myself, and the seats are so comfy! Sleeping lying down! Sleeping sitting down! Sleeping leaning! All kinds of sleep!
Free tour/stopover? No, but they do offer kind of expensive tours of Dubai.


So there you have it! My personal reviews of each of the big three gulf carriers. Comment with your own experiences!

WOWair 20% off sale until Jan. 5

WOWair, the uber-discount Icelandic airline, is having a 20% off sale between now and January 5, flying any time up to May 31, 2017. With one-way flights as low as $99 from many US cities to Iceland as well as many European cities, this is a heck of a deal. Use promo code WOWSALE. Check it out!

Greyhound buses: 40% off, buy TODAY ONLY

Greyhound bus, America's iconic crappy interstate bus experience, is having a 40% off sale
on travel between January 9 and February 28, but you have to book before midnight on January 3. Greyhound ain't fancy, but it gets you there: there are Greyhound stations in nearly every large town and city in America, and it even goes to Mexico and Canada. To get 40% off, your trip has to start in the US. There are a limited number of seats, so go now!

£289 round trip UK to Asia with Qatar Airways

Hi, all! I'm sitting in Dubai International Airport on a short layover between Birmingham, UK and Bangkok, and I found this gem of a sale.
Qatar Airways is flying from various UK cities to various cities in Asia starting at £289 round trip. I just snagged a flight for April from Manchester to Bangkok for £327 round trip, using skylordtravel.com. It's worth noting that you can fly to Kathmandu, Nepal, for only £303 round trip with this sale, which is pretty incredible. Fly any time from January to May 2017.


I can't tell if they're the same sale, but Qatar also has a sale on for economy and business class flights all over the world, flying any time up until November 2017, buying by January 3. Check it out!

Angloville: Get a free TEFL certification in exchange for chatting in English in Central/Eastern Europe

Last time, I told you about my experience with an online TEFL course, but maybe you want something a bit different. Angloville is a cool program that a friend of mine did and highly recommends. Basically, you (a native English speaker who may or may not have a certification or experience) apply/volunteer to spend a few days to a few weeks chatting in English (NOT teaching formally, just hanging out) with some folks who want to improve their English
and paid a bunch of money to do so. In exchange for hanging out with different people all day, Angloville puts you up in a fancy hotel in Poland, Hungary, Romania, or the Czech Republic, gives you a free tour, free meals, and otherwise treats you real nice. You can wander around the lovely fancy hotel grounds with your English-learning pal, get some drinks, maybe even splash around lavishly in a lavish pool. My friend claims that the people who you talk to are real nice, too, and it's basically just a big fun hangout party. The only potential problem is that you are scheduled basically all day long, from breakfast to late night, so if you go with another English-speaking pal/husband/wife, you may not really see them for most of the day.

Now how does this get you certified? Well, Angloville has partnered with an online TEFL certification provider, Premier TEFL, and if you apply and get accepted, they'll pay for your online TEFL course in exchange for you doing three weeks of Angloville. You do have to pay a £15 fee, but that's pretty reasonable considering you get treated like a prince for three weeks and get a certification for not only a 120-hour course, but also for 210 hours of "teaching." Sounds pretty fancy to me! Angloville is relatively well-known, too, so having that on your resume would definitely help. Check it out here!


Angloville also offers a short weekend business English TEFL certification course, but it looks like it costs £304, which is not free. I think it used to be free, though, so maybe that will change. Who knows.

Fly one-way Boston to London for $80! + a suggested 2-city Europe vacation for $218

Norwegian is having a heck of a sale, with one-way flights from Boston to London for only £65, or $80!
It's a bit more to come back (£134 or $165). The £65 flights are only in January and February, but prices for later months start at only £99, so that's not so bad! Check it out on the UK site here!

Suggested itinerary:

Boston to London, January 22 (£65, Norwegian)
London to Gothenburg, Sweden, January 26 (£15, Ryanair)
Gothenburg, Sweden to Boston, January 29 (£97, Norwegian)

Total cost of two-city vacation: £177 or $218. Not too shabby!

From Gothenburg's tourism site: http://www.goteborg.com/

Note that these are discount carriers, so you will have to pay extra for things like checked and overweight bags, food, etc. The links will direct you to book in whatever currency is cheapest.