IQ TEFL Academy — Smart Certification. Global Classrooms.

25000+ Alumni Worldwide

70+ Teaching Destinations

4.8/5 Average Rating

15+ Years in Education

Tuition & Fees

Clear, one-time pricing with no hidden costs. Choose the programme that fits your goals and study timeline.

120-Hour TEFL Certificate

^£139_one-time

Everything you need to start teaching English abroad or online.

✓ Core TEFL methodology
✓ Classroom management
✓ Lesson planning fundamentals
✓ Grammar instruction module
✓ Tutor support via platform
✓ Internationally recognised certificate
— Young Learners module
— Business English module
— Job placement assistance

Enrol Now

How It Works

From registration to your first teaching contract in three straightforward steps.

Register & Begin

Pick your programme, complete a quick online application, and gain immediate access to your learning platform. No waiting, no complicated prerequisites. You can be reading your first module within an hour of enrolling.

Master the Methodology

Work through structured modules covering lesson planning, grammar teaching, classroom management, and learner psychology. Your tutor reviews every assignment and gives personalised feedback — the kind you actually learn from, not generic template responses.

Teach Worldwide

Download your internationally recognised certificate, access our job placement resources, and start applying. Our placement team has connections with partner schools across Asia, Europe, Latin America, and the Middle East — plus guidance on the best online platforms if you prefer remote work.

Compare Programmes

See exactly what's included at each level so you can pick the right fit first time.

Feature	120-Hour	180-Hour	300-Hour
Core TEFL Methodology	✓	✓	✓
Classroom Management	✓	✓	✓
Lesson Planning	✓	✓	✓
Grammar Instruction	✓	✓	✓
Tutor Support	✓	✓	✓
Young Learners Module	—	✓	✓
Business English Module	—	✓	✓
Job Placement Assistance	—	✓	✓
TESOL Specialisation	—	—	✓
Online Teaching Module	—	—	✓
Observed Practice	—	—	✓
Priority Placement	—	—	✓

Your TEFL Knowledge Hub

Everything you actually need to know about TEFL certification, the job market, and what teaching abroad looks like in practice — without the fluff.

What Is TEFL — And Why Does It Matter?

Essentials

TEFL — Teaching English as a Foreign Language — is a qualification that prepares you to teach English to speakers of other languages. It's the entry point for the vast majority of teaching jobs outside your home country, and increasingly for online English tutoring roles too.

The alphabet soup of TEFL, TESOL, CELTA, and DELTA confuses most new teachers. Here's the short version:

Qualification	Hours	Format	Cost (typical)
TEFL 120-hour	120	Online	£100–£300
TEFL/TESOL 180-hour	180	Online	£150–£400
TEFL 300-hour	300	Online	£250–£600
CELTA	~130 (intensive)	In-person/blended	£1,200–£2,000
DELTA	~300+	Blended/distance	£2,500–£4,500

TESOL (Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages) covers the same core competencies as TEFL — the terms are often used interchangeably. CELTA is Cambridge's own 4-week intensive course, widely respected but expensive and time-consuming. DELTA is the advanced professional qualification most teachers pursue after 2+ years of classroom experience.

Key fact: For most first teaching jobs — whether in a language school in Vietnam, a hagwon in South Korea, or on an online platform — a 120-hour accredited TEFL certificate is the standard minimum. The 180-hour and 300-hour levels open doors to higher-paying positions and universities.

The 120, 180, and 300 designations refer to study hours — not classroom contact hours. They represent the volume of coursework, assignments, and assessed materials you complete online, at your own pace.

Teacher standing in classroom with students

Where the Jobs Are — and What They Pay

Career

The TEFL job market is genuinely global. Demand for English teachers spans East Asia, Southeast Asia, the Middle East, Europe, Latin America, and increasingly the online space. Pay varies enormously by region, school type, and your qualification level.

Region	Monthly Salary (approx.)	Benefits
South Korea	£1,800–£2,500	Free housing, flights, pension
Japan	£1,700–£2,200	Free/subsidised housing
UAE / Saudi Arabia	£2,500–£4,500	Tax-free, housing, flights
China	£1,400–£2,400	Free housing often included
Vietnam	£1,000–£1,800	Low cost of living (high savings)
Thailand	£700–£1,400	Lifestyle + low cost of living
Spain / Italy	£900–£1,600	Popular, competitive market
Online (VIPKid, Preply etc.)	£800–£2,200	Work from anywhere

The Middle East consistently offers the highest salaries — often tax-free with housing and flights included. If maximising savings is your primary goal, the UAE, Qatar, and Saudi Arabia are worth the cultural adjustment. South Korea and Japan combine strong pay with excellent infrastructure and a high quality of life.

Southeast Asia — Vietnam, Thailand, Cambodia — pays less in absolute terms but offers a dramatically lower cost of living. Many teachers build genuine savings there. Spain and Italy attract those prioritising lifestyle over earnings; competition is fierce and contracts are shorter.

Online Teaching: Real Earnings and What to Expect

Career

The pivot to online English teaching after 2020 was dramatic and permanent. Platforms like Preply, iTalki, Cambly, and VIPKID now employ tens of thousands of TEFL-certified teachers worldwide.

£12–26/hrAverage Preply rate

£8–20/hriTalki teacher rate

2.5M+Online students globally

Online teaching suits those who want geographic freedom, no visa complexity, and the ability to set their own hours. The downsides: you're building a client base from scratch on most platforms, early months can be slow, and you're responsible for your own tax and insurance.

"Starting on iTalki was slow — maybe 4 students in the first month. By month 6 I was fully booked at £22 per hour and had a waiting list. The platform works if you put in the profile work." — Milos V., Serbia, teaching online since 2021

The 300-hour IQ TEFL programme includes a dedicated online teaching module covering platform selection, profile optimisation, and how to structure engaging video lessons for learners you've never met in person.

How Much Does TEFL Certification Cost — and Is It Worth It?

Investment

TEFL course prices range from suspiciously cheap (£10 Udemy jobs that aren't worth the PDF) to eye-wateringly expensive (£2,000+ for CELTA). The sweet spot for most people is a properly structured online course in the £139–£299 range.

What actually determines whether a course is worth paying for?

Accreditation: Is the certificate recognised by employers in the countries you're targeting?
Tutor feedback: Are assignments actually marked by a human, or does the system just award points for completion?
Curriculum depth: Does it cover grammar teaching, phonetics, and lesson planning — or is it 20 videos and a quiz?
Job support: Do they actually have connections, or is "placement assistance" a PDF of job boards?

Tip: The ROI on a £199 TEFL certificate can be enormous. A South Korea position paying £2,000/month with free housing — your course cost is recovered in under 4 days of teaching.

IQ TEFL Academy programmes range from £139 (120-hour) to £299 (300-hour). No upsells, no subscription model, no hidden costs for certificate downloads.

What You Actually Learn: The Curriculum Breakdown

Curriculum

A good TEFL course doesn't just teach you about teaching English — it gives you the frameworks to plan a lesson at 11pm for an 8am class, handle a mixed-ability group, and explain the present perfect to someone who's been confused about it for years.

The IQ TEFL Academy 120-hour course covers:

Foundations of TEFL: language acquisition theory, communicative approaches, task-based learning
Lesson Planning: PPP (Presentation, Practice, Production) and TBL frameworks, timing, staging
Grammar Instruction: how to teach tenses, conditionals, modals — as a non-native speaker who knows the rules but needs to explain them
Classroom Management: seating, pacing, error correction, motivation, dealing with disruption
Skills Teaching: reading, writing, listening, speaking — how to structure each type of lesson
Assessment & Testing: formative feedback, simple diagnostic tests

The 180-hour and 300-hour courses add specialist modules on Young Learners, Business English, Online Teaching, and TESOL — each designed as standalone units you can return to throughout your career.

Choosing a TEFL Course: Green Lights and Red Flags

Tips

The TEFL industry has its share of questionable operators selling certificates with no actual assessment and no employer recognition. Here's a quick filter for evaluating any course you're considering.

Red Flag	Green Light
No tutor assigned to your work	Named tutor with response guarantee
"Certificate" with no assessed coursework	Written assignments + feedback
Price under £50 (usually no accreditation)	Transparent accreditation details
Vague claims: "globally recognised"	Specific employer/country acceptance info
"Placement in 48 hours guaranteed"	Realistic job support with actual process
No contact information or UK/US address	Physical address, phone, real email

"I bought a cheap course on a deal site and the Korean recruiter laughed. 'We don't accept this,' she said. I had to take a proper course. Cost me more in the end." — Petra H., Czech Republic

Life After Certification: Getting Your First Teaching Job

Growth

Passing your TEFL course is the start, not the finish. Here's a realistic timeline for what happens next — based on what our graduates actually experience, not glossy marketing copy.

Week 1–2 after graduation: Update your CV with your certificate details. Use the country-specific guides in your placement resources. Apply to 10–15 positions across 2–3 countries you're genuinely interested in.

Week 3–5: First interviews start arriving. Language school interviews are usually informal and conversational — they want to know you can communicate, not that you've memorised theory. Demo lessons are sometimes requested; prepare a 5-minute activity, not a full lesson plan.

Month 2–3: Most IQ TEFL graduates who actively apply have a signed contract by this point. Asia is fastest; Europe can take longer due to visa timelines.

First month tip: Over-prepare your first three lessons. By week four you'll have found your rhythm. The mistake most new teachers make is trying to fill every silence — let students think.

The 180-hour and 300-hour programmes include direct CV review by our placement team and introductions to partner schools — which noticeably shortens the application timeline for most graduates.

What Our Graduates Say

Teachers from 40+ countries have built their careers with IQ TEFL Academy. Here's a handful of their stories.

"As a Polish teacher, I was worried English schools wouldn't take me seriously. The IQ TEFL course gave me frameworks I could actually use on day one. Got my first position at a language centre in Hanoi and haven't looked back."

Zofia M. Teaching in Hanoi, Vietnam

"The grammar module was what I needed most — explaining English grammar to Korean students when you learned it as a foreign language yourself is genuinely tricky. The tutor feedback was specific and practical, not vague encouragement."

Dmitri S. Teaching in Seoul, South Korea

"I changed careers at 38, moving from accounting to teaching English in Tokyo. Priya's module on teaching adults was directly applicable to my classroom from week one. My school renewed my contract for a second year without hesitation."

Clara V. Teaching in Tokyo, Japan

"Completed the 300-hour programme while working full-time in Madrid. The self-paced format was essential — I studied on weekends and evenings over four months. Aiko's placement guidance helped me secure a position in Busan before I'd even finished the course."

Mihail B. Teaching in Busan, South Korea

"I teach business English online to corporate clients in France and Germany. The Business English module gave me confidence in vocabulary, register, and professional scenarios I hadn't encountered in regular ESL training. My clients pay premium rates."

Yuki T. Teaching Online, Japan

"The support team answered every question I had during the course — and I had a lot. Moving from IT to teaching felt like a big jump but the structured modules made it manageable. Now teaching in Abu Dhabi, earning more than I was in tech."

Andriy K. Teaching in Abu Dhabi, UAE

Frequently Asked Questions

Straight answers to the questions we hear most often.

What is a TEFL certificate, and do I need one to teach English?

TEFL stands for Teaching English as a Foreign Language. A TEFL certificate demonstrates to schools and language institutes that you have been trained to teach English to non-native speakers. While requirements vary by country, the vast majority of reputable employers — both abroad and for online positions — expect at least a 120-hour certificate. Our certificates are recognised internationally.

Do I need to be a native English speaker to enrol?

Absolutely not. IQ TEFL Academy was specifically designed with non-native English teachers in mind. Roughly 80% of the world's English teachers are non-native speakers. Our curriculum addresses grammar instruction, confident classroom delivery, and teaching strategies that work particularly well for those who learned English as a second language.

How long does it take to complete a TEFL course?

The 120-hour course can be completed in as little as 4 weeks if you study full-time, or up to 6 months part-time. The 180-hour and 300-hour programmes offer more depth and flexibility. All study happens at your own pace — you are not locked into timetabled sessions.

Is the course 100% online?

Yes. All IQ TEFL Academy courses are entirely online. You access materials through our learning platform, submit assignments electronically, and receive feedback from your tutor via the platform and email. There is no requirement to attend any physical location.

What job support is included?

Every course includes access to our job placement resources: CV and cover letter templates, country-specific application guides, and connections to our partner school network. The 180-hour and 300-hour courses include personalised CV review and priority access to job listings.

How is my certificate recognised internationally?

Our TEFL certificates are accepted by schools, language institutes, and online teaching platforms in over 70 countries. We include a detailed breakdown of acceptance on our Certificate page, along with sample verification letters for employers who request them.

Teach English with Confidence — Whatever Your Background