#eslinsider reviews

[trustedteflreviews]

Trusted TEFL Reviews - 2023 Year in Review

2023 Year in Review – Trusted TEFL Reviews Trusted TEFL Reviews – 2023 Year in Review, written by Mia Williams. Trusted TEFL Reviews wishes all of our readers a New Year filled with personal and professional accomplishments. Without you, we wouldn’t exist. Therefore, we want to sincerely thank all of you who continue to support us in our development as the leading independent, not-for-profit…

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It was soon after when TEFL Online Pro won the Teachers’ Choice Award, 2019, when we first noticed the Reddit and forum posts appearing – attacking TEFL Online Pro with conspiracy theory slings of mud. At first, we didn’t really take much notice of them – they were so ridiculous that we brushed them off as prank posts.

But the false accusations grew over time and it has only recently been the case that we have been able to identify exactly who is behind the publication of this online abuse.

It is actually four schools – four of our Online TEFL/TESOL program competitors:

ESLinsider, ITTT TEFL, MyTEFL, and the TEFL Academy.

As the online attacks originated with Ian Patrick Leahy from the ESLinsider TEFL program, and the other three competitors have simply copy and pasted his misinformation, we will focus on ESLinsider in this article.

[eslinsider]

Reviews on ESLinsider’s courses

ESLinsider is the site that I started working on 10+ years ago. My name is Ian and I am that colorful blue guy that you see above.

This is a collection of reviews that I have put together from various sites on ESLinsider’s online TEFL courses. I’ll point out the positive reviews and address some of the negative ones that were mostly written by trolls.

Most of the reviews on ESLinsider can be found here.

Gintare said:

At first I was sceptical about taking this course mainly because you have to dig quite deep to find it. However, once again by finding and taking this course I realized that not all good things are easy to find and not all very well advertised stuff is necessarily of good value.

Having said that I am really happy that I have chosen to take this course. Content in this course is well structured, includes loads of practical material as well as practical tasks that let you to comprehend and memorize learned content even better. No boring stuff. Moreover, Ian was always very attentive and helpful with any questions I would have. Thank you very much for not wasting my time, but teaching useful skills!

My thoughts…

True, you do have to dig deep to find it. I don’t advertise, use 3rd party review sites (more on that later) or do affiliate marketing like most courses do.

George’s answer from Quora.

ESLinsider is a legitimate company. I took the course in 2016 and learned a great deal from it despite already having been in Korea for six years at that point. The information is concise and practical with many videos of Ian actually in classrooms demonstrating the material he is presenting.

Not only is there a wealth of teaching material available in the course, he provides you with information on classroom management (something basically non-existent in most TEFL courses) and tips on how to avoid bad jobs (again, non-existent in other courses).

Ian is also constantly updating the course in order to improve the material. As a side note, I have personally met Ian and can vouch for his character. With this course you are learning from someone who has been there and done that which is far more than I can say for any other course I’ve seen. I would highly recommend ESLinsider’s courses to anyone considering teaching in Asia.

George also left a review on ESLinsider here.

3–4 years ago I did initially name my courses with “hours” like 60 and 120 hours. But didn’t like that because I felt that is a little lie in the online tefl course industry that I didn’t want to perpetuate any more.

You can’t really call them “hours” if there are not scheduled class times so I’ve changed the names from, for example, the 120 hour to “advanced” course but again some other courses used this so I wanted to be more original and changed it again to TEKA (short for teaching English to kids in Asia).

120 hour — advanced — TEKA

And since then that course has been updated.

Here are some comments from Quora.

Some of these were left originally as “answers” but Quora removed them because I guess they were new accounts and new accounts aren’t allowed to answer??? Strange policy. Anyways I told them and they came back and left them in a comment under my answer.

Karolina said:

I had to add my comment again, it has been deleted.

But as I said before, Ian’s course is100% legit. I bought it last year and still use it, Ian has always been extremely helpful and insightful, sharing his vast knowledge and experience. I haven’t tried aby other TEFL courses, so I can’t really compare, but I can say that Ian’s course is really useful, not just theory, not like read, pass some test and forget. I actually learned a lot, since I had to also submit lesson plans etc.

For sure it’s not a scam, I have no idea why would anybody think like this. You pay for the course and you get great content, reviews and help from very responsive creator. What’s more, Ian keeps updating his course, so once you make purchase you keep getting some extras later.

Couldn’t recommend more, it’s sad that somebody has an imaginary problem with it. Keep the vibes positive, people.

Kelli said:

I added paragraphs to this one for readability.

This is a completely legit course and worth every penny I paid when I completed the course in 2019. It actually makes me sad to see the reviews on here that are not from people who actually took the course.

This course was well planned by someone who actually teaches and knows what is needed to be successful. The course not only how provided how to teach English to students in a thorough and concise manner but also what to expect traveling to another country and interacting with other cultures. I found this part fascinating and exciting. He also spent a section on getting a job and how to avoid trouble.

The owner of the course provided lengthy and detailed feedback to all of the lesson plans I created. His video examples are real examples, not just paragraphs of reading and underlining nouns and verbs.

Classroom management was also covered. I spent much time deciding on a course and I don’t regret it one bit that I stumbled onto this one. I do have a college degree in Education but still found a wealth of games and ideas in the course. I truly believe I learned things about English I didn’t even know, I am a born English speaking American! Its easy to take forgranted how easy we learn our own native language.

Living in America and teaching American children English is much easier than in another country. English is everywhere and children can learn being exposed to the language in our culture. Teaching English to students in their own country requires preperation and skill to be an excellent teacher. I feel wholeheartedly that ESLinsider gave me the knowledge and skills to do exactly what his course says it will prepare me to do. I also know that I can reach out to Ian and he will continue to help me if I needed it.

This is a legitimate course, not unreasonable in cost nor fraudulant. It was not just busy work to make money and provide a certificate. I highly recommend to anyone looking to teach English as a second language.

Comment on ESLinsider on Reddit

This one was added here.

Getting a job is the easy part, but doing your job is the hard part and that’s why I think you need a visual course that makes learning easier.

Some criticism

Here’s an email I received once.

She said:

I understand the level of difficulty between the courses. However, in the 20 hour course, when answering the questions, the answer could be easily seen in the text that was meant to be studied. I would suggest more of a challenge where studying the context is mandatory to correctly answering the question. Not just searching for the match to the question.

That is my personal opinion. Other then that, the material was well put. Thank you. Sarah G.

My thoughts…

That course she took is old (3 years+) and doesn’t exist any more. And I think there is zero value in making something more difficult for the sake of it. In the case of text I try to minimize it (since people don’t read) and make it easy to find the answer so you don’t end up searching outside the course like people do here.

Here are a few other emails I’ve received.

Thanks Ian, got it. Course was spot on. Just the website (enrollment, payment & processing) could do with being more user-friendly. Smiles Steph S.

My thoughts…

Yeah, maybe that’s true.

I try to make it as efficient as possible, but there is only so much I can do with the software. First step is to create an account and then pay with Paypal and enroll.

Here’s another comment.

I have to say, the Grammar section was my favorite. There was a lot to take away from it. While I wish the technical vocabulary has more in depth definitions/explanations, being able to work out the differences between “present tense simple” and “present tense continuous,” (etc) was completely satisfying and felt quite rewarding.

Jeremy M.

There is a small section in the course on grammar which I’ve thought of completely removing. I think studying grammar for TEFL is useless. It’s the kind of thing that goes in one ear and out the other for me and it’s commonplace with many courses.

If you do a search for “ESLinsider” and reviews...

You might find some attacks written by trolls (people that don’t reveal their true identity) and I figured out who one of these troubled trolls is.

One guy owns a review site with so-called “Trusted” reviews (which are fake), a fake “Teacher’s choice award” that he uses those to promote his course tefl online pro.

You can learn more about that here or...

Learn to identify fake TEFL reviews.

A review of ESLinsider on Youtube

People say the how-to videos used in the courses on ESLinsider are super “practical”.

ESLinsider reviews

[teflonlineproreviews]

The TEFL & TESOL certification course industry is highly competitive.

The competitiveness between TEFL programs has several implications. On one hand, it can drive innovation and encourage institutions to improve the quality of their programs. On the other hand, it can lead to the proliferation of subpar programs that do not adequately prepare graduates for the challenges of teaching English online or abroad.

[trustedteflreviews]

ESLinsider TEFL Course

ESLinsider TEFL Course ESLinsider review, submitted by Caroline. Even though I don’t usually write poor reviews for companies, I feel completely overwhelmed by the sheer audacity of the ESLinsider TEFL course. Was going down the @ rabbit hole, as you do, and came across the ESLinsider website. It comes across as being a sort of fact-checking vigilante website for everything TEFL. It appears…

[teflonlineproreviews]

ESLinsider reviews and tefl online pro reviews defamation.

Only one thing will prevent Ian Leahy from continuing to spread false information about his business competition: legal action.

[teflonlineproreviews]

ESLinsider reviews and tefl online pro reviews defamation.

What do you do when you discover that someone has been spreading false allegations (defamation) about you online? You expose them.

tefl online pro has recently been the target of harassment from one of our business competitors - ESLinsider.

Fortunately, we were able to quickly ascertain who the perpetrator was and we are now moving forward with legal preparations against the individual who runs ESLinsider.com - Ian Leahy.

If you ever find yourself the unwanted attention of false online rumors, face them head on and expose the person/people behind them.

further information regarding this can be read on the lastest tefl-online-pro-reviews blog:

ESLinsider reviews and tefl online pro reviews online defamation.

[trustedteflreviews]

"My ESLinsider TEFL certificate wasn't accepted for my work permit"

“My ESLinsider TEFL certificate wasn’t accepted for my work permit”

Ian Leahy ESLinsider review, submitted by Caitlin.

My ESLinsider TEFL certificate wasn’t accepted for my work permit.

I got scammed by Ian Leahy from ESLinsider, and looking back, I really should have noticed all of the obvious red flags.

I first got to hear of Ian Leahy’s TEFL program from one of his posts in Quora. He came over as being very knowledgeable, and I liked it how he was…

[teflonlineproreviews]

The good, the bad, and the ugly when it comes to TEFL Online Pro reviews.

[trustedteflreviews]

"The course contains very poor video quality"

“The course contains very poor video quality”

Is ESLinsider Legit? ESLinsider review, submitted by Todd.

Is ESLinsider legit? The course contains very poor video quality.

I kind of feel bad writing this review, because I think ESLinsider are trying to build up their TEFL course online presence and I don’t want to be someone who comes in the way of that. But, this is a TEFL course review and I need to be objective here.

At first, I…

[teflonlineproreviews]

Earlier this week, we found out who has been defaming us online.

The information was truly shocking...

[eslinsider]

ESLinsider?

ESLinsider was created by and is maintained by me^^ Ian Leahy. I started making the videos that you will find on ESLinsider or on Youtube in 2009 and ESLinsider.com has been online since 2011 - almost 10 years.

ESLinsider is especially focused on teaching English in East Asia. 

Why?

Because that’s what I did. 

I try to stay close to my experience and only write about and talk about things that I know about and or have done. 

I once read...

“A man of knowledge lives by acting, not by thinking about acting”. - Ifor Got

And I remind myself of that.

I’ve taught English in China, Korea, Taiwan and I’ve lived in Japan for a grand total of 8 years.

What will you find on ESLinsider?

There’s an insightful blog, teacher training videos, resources and interactive online courses. 

Here’s a how-to video I made with over 305,000 views. 

It’s called...

“Teaching English to Kids in 5 Fun Steps”

I made it while teaching in Korea.

Remember this...

The easiest way to learn how to teach is by watching other teachers. It’s not by reading a book (especially if you are a beginner) or by listening to some fancy lecture. 

It’s simple.

Monkey see, monkey do.

That channel now has over 2,000,000 views.

I might have only met 1 or 2 of those people, but not bad eh? 

You can watch many of those on Youtube or at ESLinsider below where you will find some other features.

There are over a 100 how-to videos there.

Those videos are short and simple and they are neatly organized by category and purpose. Most of those videos were shot in hagwons and public schools in Korea.

I used those videos and more in ESLinsider’s courses.

Reviews on ESLinsider’s courses 

In this video I talk about some of what I consider to be some of the best reviews on ESLinsider’s courses.

Here’s a more recent review.

“Loads of practical material...”

Yes!

That’s the goal.

You don’t need theory. You don’t need to study grammar or jargon.

I want to make teaching easier for you than it was for me (especially in the beginning).

Because there were lots of noisy kids and headaches.

Cool.

Any negative reviews?

Yeah, mostly by anonymous competitors (trolls and frauds).

So apparently I go by the “identity” of Ian Leahy...

Yeah, since I was born and given that name by my parents.

The person who runs that site that claims to be “Trusted” is a fraud who calls himself “Mia Williams” on that site and “Paul Murphy” on another site he owns.

He ironically claimed that I was writing “defamatory material”. 

No.

I was telling the truth on my blog in a post I made about him. What he does is write defamatory material under anonymous or fake accounts. You don’t see a real person operating those sites.

He uses the review site to write fake reviews on competitors and promote his other site the winner of some fake award on that review site.

FYI.

It’s not only TEFL. Fake reviews are widespread on the web. And some people are willing to write them as long as they get paid. Some sources claim Amazon has over 200,000,000 fake reviews and counting. And on Yelp about 25% of the reviews there are fake.

Any other bad reviews?

Yeah, here’s one.

Was this written by the same guy above?

No.

It was written by an anonymous user. But I had a hunch who wrote it based on what they said so then I decided I would compare some of the unique vocabulary used on that site and the myTEFL site and I found many of the same unique terms being used.

I wrote a detailed post on my blog about this.

Why did he do that?

Probably because I wrote a review on his brand and noted that much of his popularity is due to his affiliate marketing. Affiliate marketing is a way to bribe people into reviewing your product.

I made a video about that.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n8d9fVyJ30I

Some more positive reviews from ESLinsider

Dolly is a licensed teacher and that’s what you need to be to teach English in a public school in Taiwan. But even if you have a teaching license which is often a good qualification to have, it’s still not specialized training for teaching English in Asia.

You can learn more about ESLinsider here.

[teflonlineproreviews]

Is TEFL Online Pro Legit?

Well, this has been a rather eventful week :)

The week began with a business competitor (ESLinsider) deciding that this was going to be the week that he (Ian Leahy) would start on a nuclear attack on TEFL Online Pro.

Ian Leahy has a well documented record of shamelessly attacking his competition, so it was eventually no surprise to us that he had decided to head down this low path.

Nothing could have prepared us, though, for the shocking news that Ian Leahy from ESLinsider is a wanted man in China:

https://trustedteflreviews.com/2020/07/29/tefl-tesol-in-japan-scam/

According to the accusation, which has been confirmed by a veteran Captain who has worked more than 8 years with the PSB in a Tier 1 city of China, Ian Leahy from ESLinsider is wanted in China for recommending to his Online TEFL/TESOL clients that they use fake diploma documents if they haven’t actually completed their college studies.

How did the Chinese authorities find out about what Ian Leahy was up to?

They recently arrested a teacher from America, working on the basis of having supplied her school with a fake diploma - on the recommendation of Ian Leahy from ESLinsider - who spilled her guts to avoid a felony conviction and deportation four months before her wedding to her Chinese boyfriend.

The full story here:

https://chinascampatrol.wordpress.com/2016/02/11/warning-fake-diplomas-to-get-3000-china-foreign-esl-tefl-teachers-arrested-great-job-eslinsider/

As Ian Leahy has been attacking TEFL Online Pro, we have been more than happy to share this story online.

What has been Ian’s response to the story’s publication?

Has he issued a public apology? An apology to the people whose lives were overturned by his advice?

No.

Not at all.

In response, he has decided that the best thing he can do is continue spreading misleading information online about TEFL Online Pro.

[eslinsider]

This review of ESLinsider by Kyle was mentioned in this video I made on Youtube where I point out some of what I consider to be some of the best reviews and comment on them.

Click the image above to watch some of those reviews.

[eslinsider]

“I have the ESL insider TEFL, and…

More reviews on ESLinsider on Reddit.

Learn more about ESLinsider’s course.