Before you compare TEFL course prices, ask what you will actually be doing when an English learner needs help. Will you be teaching, watching a teacher, or rehearsing with a classmate? A course can include all three, but they give you different kinds of experience. Observed teaching practice means teaching while someone observes your work. When comparing courses, go further: establish who the learners are, how much teaching time is yours, who observes it, and whether it is assessed. A course’s total hours do not tell you those details. This guide gives you a practical way to check the answers before you book. Start with the person doing the teaching. If you watch someone else lead a lesson, you are observing. If you lead it yourself, you are practising teaching. Then check whether the people responding are learning English or taking part in a training simulation. These categories can overlap. A lesson with English learners may also be observed and assessed. The useful question is which elements are actually included in the course you are considering. Rehearsing with peers gives you a place to try out instructions, explanations and activity transitions. You can stop, ask a question and try again. That makes it a useful preparation activity. Teaching people who are learning English asks a different question: can they use what you have taught? Their responses give you information about the level of your explanation and the task you set. A smoothly delivered presentation is not enough if learners cannot begin the activity. Ask providers to explain how rehearsal connects to teaching English learners. Avoid treating a photograph of a busy classroom, or the phrase “hands-on training”, as a description of your personal teaching responsibilities. Ask for a breakdown that separates taught input, independent study, lesson preparation, observation, peer rehearsal and your own teaching. If several trainees share a class, ask how the provider records each person’s contribution. A group’s classroom time and your individual teaching time are different measurements. For a concrete qualification-specific example, Cambridge English’s CELTA course description lists six hours of assessed teaching per candidate, supervised by a tutor. It separately lists observation of experienced teachers and describes teaching adult classes at a minimum of two levels. Trinity’s CertTESOL overview specifies at least six hours of supervised practice with real English learners, alongside observation and structured feedback. Those are requirements of the named qualifications. They do not establish a universal minimum for every TEFL certificate, show what another provider includes, or establish that TEFL Madrid offers either qualification. For any course, request the specification for the exact programme and intake you would book. These questions help you compare arrangements. They are not a new accreditation standard or a scoring system for deciding whether a course is legitimate. Yes. “Online” describes the setting; it does not tell you who is learning or whether a trainer observes you. Cambridge’s ways to take CELTA explicitly include live teaching with groups of learners, observed by a trainer, in its online format. For another online course, ask the same questions rather than assuming the arrangements match CELTA. Check who recruits the learners, how sessions fit your time zone, how the observer joins, and what happens if the connection fails. Also distinguish watching a recorded lesson from submitting a recording of your own teaching. Both involve video, but you do different work. Ask how each activity is counted and how any recording is handled with participants’ permission. A clear answer should let you connect the course description to a timetable and to your individual work. Ask to see the relevant part of the specification, a practice timetable and the criteria used to assess teaching. Documents should identify which programme they describe and whether they apply to your intake. An anonymised teaching record can show how a provider distinguishes teaching, observation and feedback. A classroom photo can show the setting, but it cannot establish who was assessed, how long they taught or what feedback they received. For feedback, one useful comparison question is enough at this stage: will you receive specific comments linked to what you did, with an opportunity to act on them? The detailed work of interpreting comments and revising a lesson plan belongs to the next stage of training. For each course, mark the five questions above as confirmed in writing, unclear or not included. Keep the supporting document beside each answer. Do not turn an unanswered question into an assumption. If one provider reports total contact time and another reports individual assessed teaching time, ask for a comparable breakdown before deciding. More activity on a timetable does not tell you which activities you will undertake. Once you understand the practical component, compare the full price, schedule and other terms that matter to you. A course decision is easier when you know what each number describes. Its presence alone tells you little. Look at its purpose and how the provider describes it. The important distinction is whether simulated work is clearly identified rather than presented as teaching English learners. You cannot establish that from the number alone. Ask for the breakdown, the individual teaching allocation and the observation arrangements for the named programme. Ask what the observation is for. Feedback to help you develop and a judgement contributing to a qualification are different functions, even when they occur in the same lesson. Evidence of what you taught can help you describe your experience accurately. It does not establish a hiring outcome. Ask a provider to document any separate employment promise and its conditions; do not infer it from the practice component. Use these questions when you compare TEFL Madrid’s course options and dates. Then ask our team to confirm the practice arrangements for the specific programme you are considering, including your individual teaching time, learner group, observation and assessment. Before booking, make sure those answers match the written course details and terms you receive. You should be able to explain what you will teach, to whom, and how it will be reviewed.
Observed Teaching Practice: How to Check What a TEFL Course Really Includes
What counts as teaching practice?
Activity
What you do
What to clarify
Observation of an experienced teacher
Watch a teacher work with learners.
Is it live or recorded, and is there a task to guide what you notice?
Peer teaching or roleplay
Rehearse an activity with fellow trainees.
Are classmates acting as learners, and is this counted separately from teaching English learners?
Teaching English learners
Plan and lead a lesson or part of a lesson for people learning English.
Who arranges the learners, what are their needs, and how much do you personally teach?
Observed or assessed teaching
Teach while your performance is reviewed.
Who observes, how do they observe, what criteria apply, and does the result contribute to passing?
Real students and roleplay serve different purposes
Separate your teaching time from the course’s total hours
Five questions to ask before paying a deposit
Can online TEFL teaching practice involve real learners?
What useful evidence looks like
Compare the answers without being distracted by a bigger number
Questions prospective trainees often ask
Is roleplay a warning sign?
Does a “120-hour TEFL course” include observed teaching?
Does an observed lesson always count as assessed teaching?
Can teaching practice guarantee a job?
Considering a TEFL course in Madrid?
