Program Details
Welcome to the Intensive Teacher Training at ILI
What is the Intensive TESOL Teacher Training Program? The 4-week course fast tracks your passport to teach ESOL anywhere in the world.
It’s an intense, rewarding experience to take the intensive TESOL Certificate Course. Every day you and your SIT-certified trainers delve into a comprehensive learning, teaching, speaking, pronunciation, grammar, listening, reading, writing, and culture modules.
Based on a core philosophy of experiential learning and reflective teaching, ILI’s 4-week intensive TESOL Certificate program provides the essential teaching tool kit for an effective ESOL instructor.
The course runs Monday through Friday for 4 weeks, from 9:00am to 4:00pm. Participants teach 6 hours during the program, with group planning sessions before every practice class and group processing sessions afterwards.
After a month of learning core TESOL concepts, teaching frameworks, and language acquisition tools, graduates receive an internationally recognized TESOL certificate. You may also choose to pursue graduate credit, but need to decide before the course begins.
Program Info
Online
Taking classes online means receiving live lessons with your ILI teacher via a video call at a pre-scheduled time.
In-person
In-person lessons take place at our campus in downtown Northampton, MA and require your physical attendance.
Group Size
Course Timings
Our TESOL Trainers
Our SIT-certified teacher trainers bring decades of teaching experience and commitment to international education.
Feedback
“I can’t imagine a better course. I can confidently say I learned more in these four weeks than in any class I’ve ever taken.”
Michaela
Good reasons to choose ILI for your TESOL Certificate Course
- Four decades of experience in language instruction and teacher training
- Partnership with World Learning and SIT (School for International Training)
- SIT-qualified teacher trainers to support and encourage you
- Warm, welcoming atmosphere with individual attention
- Dynamic, hand-on classes with a student-centered methodology
- Choice of online part-time or in-person intensive TESOL teacher training
- ILI’s mission to promote intercultural education through quality language instruction and teacher training
- Great Northampton location with a lively downtown and lovely natural landscape
Graduate Credit
Five Graduate Credits are available through the World Learning SIT TESOL Certificate.
You have the choice of whether or not to pursue graduate credit, but need to decide before the course begins. Regulations state that once the course has begun there is no reconsideration on the part of the World Learning SIT Graduate Institute Registrar’s Office. If you wish to pursue graduate credit you will be given a link by the Training Center at which you have enrolled in the course, and will register for credit on an online World Learning SIT registration site.
Choosing the credit option means that you will pay an additional $500 fee directly to World Learning SIT, and upon successful completion of the course you will be awarded five graduate credits. Ordinary payment method is by check, but as a convenience, SIT offers the choice of credit card online payments by Master Card, Visa, or Discover with a flat convenience fee of $50 per transaction for payment of the registration fee.
In submitting the graduate credit application you indicate that you have chosen to take the course for graduate credit, and that you understand that if you change your mind or fail to complete the course credit requirements the cost of credit will not be refunded.
For more information please contact German Gomez, TESOL Operations Manager, at the SIT Graduate Institute: german.gomez@worldlearning.org
Telephone: 202-464-5242
Please note:
The World Learning SIT TESOL Certificate is graded on a Pass/Fail basis. Credits earned from the World Learning SIT Graduate Institute are transferable only at the discretion of the receiving school.
Program Info
Online
Taking classes online means receiving live lessons with your ILI teacher via a video call at a pre-scheduled time.
In-person
In-person lessons take place at our campus in downtown Northampton, MA and require your physical attendance.
Group Size
Course Timings
Formats
In-person, or Online?
Our intensive TESOL teacher training courses at ILI are available as:
- group classes you attend in our school in Northampton, Massachusetts, or
- live online group classes held on Zoom.
Note: the part-time extensive TESOL teacher training is available only as an online course.
In-person TESOL intensive course in Northampton, Massachusetts
Located in downtown Northampton, our school is filled with the welcoming people, hands-on resources, and instructional materials to take your teaching to the next level.
The intensive TESOL course is indeed intense, and our campus will make a comfortable home base for the four weeks of your program. You and your classmates will work every day with an SIT-certified instructor in a real, as opposed to virtual, classroom.
With the in-person TESOL intensive, you’ll benefit from face-to-face collaboration, access to our resource room, and experience in a classroom setting. Your practice classes with ESOL students will take place live and in person as well.
We’re just a few minutes’ walk from ample dining options, the Roundhouse parking lot, and the Peter Pan Bus Terminal (Peter Pan line, R42, R44).
Online intensive TESOL training classes with ILI
The online version of the intensive TESOL program is not all that different from the -in-person, except for the Zoom and your home’s environs. You work online in real time, with real humans, every weekday for 4 weeks.
One benefit is that you can participate in our online intensive TESOL training at home from anywhere in the world. If you’re eyeing online job opportunities, this course help prepares you teach on Zoom as well as in person, increasing your value as a candidate with diverse skills and experience.
Graduates of the online TESOL teacher training receive the same internationally recognized TESOL Certificate as participants in the in-person option do.
Northampton, Massachusetts is in the Eastern Time Zone (ET) and observes daylight saving time (DST). You can join our online TESOL Certificate course from anywhere in the world, so long as you’re comfortable with the regular times the classes run. You can check out the compatibility of your time zone here.
If you’re not sure whether to opt for the online or on-campus TESOL training course, please contact us and we can weigh the pros and cons.
Dates & Fees
IN-PERSON Intensive course dates:
- Spring Intensive: March 3 – 28, 2025
- Summer Intensive: July 7 – August 1, 2025
ONLINE Intensive course dates:
- Online Winter Intensive : January 13 – February 7, 2025
- Online Spring Intensive: May 5 – 30, 2025
- Online Summer Intensive: August 4 – 29, 2025
- Online Fall Intensive: October 6 – 31, 2025
Daily Schedule
Monday through Friday from 9 am to 12 pm. Lunch from 12 to 1 pm. Afternoon from 1 to 4 pm. There are no classes or meetings on the weekends.
Program Fees
Program cost is $2,500, which includes a $300 non-refundable application fee. The full payment is due no later than one week before the beginning of the course. If the candidate is not accepted or the course is cancelled due to low enrollment, the $300 deposit will be returned (along with the $125 housing search fee, if applicable).
Looking for financial aid for your training? The TESOL Certificate Course is an approved training course for the following programs in Massachusetts:
Individual Training Account (ITA)
Career counselors at MassHire Career Centers can help you apply for an Individual Training Account (ITA), which provides financial support to job seekers who need occupational skills training in order to successfully re-enter the workforce. Eligible individuals choose from a pre-approved list of training courses, and tuition costs are paid directly out of the ITA. To find out if you are eligible for an ITA, please contact a MassHire Career Center.
Section 30
Section 30, also known as the Training Opportunity Program, allows you to enroll in an approved training program while collecting unemployment insurance benefits, and may enable you to collect up to an additional 26 weeks of benefits. Section 30 does not provide funding for tuition, however.
Financial aid is available for Vermont residents through VSAC (Vermont Student Assistance Corporation).
If SIT TESOL Certificate graduates later pursue a Master’s degree in TESOL at the SIT Graduate Institute, a $2,000 discount will be applied to their tuition.
ILI TESOL Certificate (3 or fewer participants)
This course is offered, instead of the SIT TESOL Certificate course, when 3 or fewer participants register. This course is very similar to the SIT course in that student-centered teaching is also the focus. The same trainers provide both courses.
With fewer participants, the ILI course offers even more individual attention and more practice teaching hours. In the ILI course, participants also examine existing methodologies and investigate integrated activities while looking at the components of a lesson. Like the SIT course, the ILI course covers the cornerstones of language teaching: Eliciting, materials, error correction, feedback and evaluation, as well as grammar (how, when and why we teach it), pronunciation, intonation, speaking styles, and understanding and recycling vocabulary. Both courses address learning styles and provide suggestions for multi-level classrooms.
Accomodations
Welcome to Northampton!
Our language school is located in downtown Northampton in a historical building with easy access to Main St. shops, cafes, restaurants and galleries.
Northampton is the cultural center of Western Massachusetts with a lively community of 30,000 inhabitants. Fourteen colleges and universities contribute to the rich cultural atmosphere of this area, commonly called the Connecticut River Valley.
It has all the cultural, business, and educational amenities of an urban area surrounded by a beautiful, rural landscape with incredible recreational opportunities. Northampton is known as the #1 small arts town in the U.S.
Accommodations
Homestay
ILI can assist you in finding local accommodation. *Rented rooms for $165 per week are within a short distance of the school. There is a $125 housing search fee for this service. If you need this service, please fill out the homestay portion of your application. Two months notice is required for homestay requests.
Bed and Breakfast & Hotels
There are also many comfortable hotels and Bed and Breakfasts nearby.
Questions
Got a question?
We’re here to help make it as easy as possible for you to start your TESOL training sessions in-person or online.
Here are some questions other students have asked us:
Selected FAQs
Five Graduate Credits are available through the World Learning SIT TESOL Certificate.
You have the choice of whether or not to pursue graduate credit, but need to decide before the course begins. Regulations state that once the course has begun there is no reconsideration on the part of the World Learning SIT Graduate Institute Registrar’s Office. If you wish to pursue graduate credit you will be given a link by the Training Center at which you have enrolled in the course, and will register for credit on an online World Learning SIT registration site.
Choosing the credit option means that you will pay an additional $500 fee directly to World Learning SIT, and upon successful completion of the course you will be awarded five graduate credits. Ordinary payment method is by check, but as a convenience, SIT offers the choice of credit card online payments by Master Card, Visa, or Discover with a flat convenience fee of $50 per transaction for payment of the registration fee.
In submitting the graduate credit application you indicate that you have chosen to take the course for graduate credit, and that you understand that if you change your mind or fail to complete the course credit requirements the cost of credit will not be refunded.
ILI does not offer financial aid for the TESOL Certificate Course. However, the TESOL Certificate Course is an approved training course for the following programs in Massachusetts that may offer grants:
Career counselors at MassHire Career Centers can help you apply for an Individual Training Account (ITA), which provides financial support to job seekers who need occupational skills training in order to successfully re-enter the workforce. Eligible individuals choose from a pre-approved list of training courses, and tuition costs are paid directly out of the ITA. To find out if you are eligible for an ITA, please contact a MassHire Career Center.
Section 30, also known as the Training Opportunity Program, allows you to enroll in an approved training program while collecting unemployment insurance benefits, and may enable you to collect up to an additional 26 weeks of benefits. Section 30 does not provide funding for tuition, however.
Financial aid is available for Vermont residents through VSAC (Vermont Student Assistance Corporation).
If SIT TESOL Certificate graduates later pursue a Master’s degree in TESOL at the SIT Graduate Institute, a $2,000 discount will be applied to their tuition.
Program cost is $2,500, which includes a $300 non-refundable application fee. The full payment is due no later than one week before the beginning of the course. If the candidate is not accepted or the course is cancelled due to low enrollment, the $300 deposit will be returned (along with the $125 housing search fee, if applicable).
Participants teach 6 hours during the program, with group planning sessions before every class taught and group processing sessions afterwards.
ILI has many requests to observe classes. Participants in our TESOL program and tutors in our Volunteer Tutor Program may do this without charge, after which they process their observations in their respective programs.
For those not part of TESOL or the Volunteer Tutor Program, the procedure for independent observers is the following:
- Submit the short observation application form, which you can fill in here .
- Upon receipt of the application, an ILI trainer will arrange a class for the observer to watch. Upon confirmation from the teacher, the ILI trainer will notify the observer and discuss the observation process.
- For a single class observation: after the class, the trainer and observer will talk again to process the observation. (This can also be done by email.) The charge for this is $50.
- For a block of 20 hours: the observer will meet with the trainer at the beginning, twice during the observation time frame, and once at the end. The observer may, upon a teacher’s agreement, teach a 20-min. observed lesson. The charge for a 20-hr.- observation block is $400.
If you are a prospective or novice teacher, the course offers practical teaching techniques to help you enter the classroom with confidence, even if you have never taught before.
If you are an experienced teacher, you will explore a wide range of teaching and classroom management techniques. Through a process of reflection, you will critique your teaching, deepen your practice and principles, and implement positive changes in a supportive environment.
There is a minimum of 4 participants required for ILI to run the SIT TESOL Certificate course. However, ILI may offer the ILI TESOL Certificate for 3 or fewer participants. This course is very similar to the SIT course in that student-centered teaching is also the focus. The same trainers provide both courses.
With fewer participants, the ILI course offers even more individual attention and more practice teaching hours. In the ILI course, participants also examine existing methodologies and investigate integrated activities while looking at the components of a lesson. Like the SIT course, the ILI course covers the cornerstones of language teaching: Eliciting, materials, error correction, feedback and evaluation, as well as grammar (how, when and why we teach it), pronunciation, intonation, speaking styles, and understanding and recycling vocabulary. Both courses address learning styles and provide suggestions for multi-level classrooms.
ILI’s trainers are certified by SIT, a world leader in the TESOL field. Our trainers have worked together for many years and bring a wealth of practical teaching and cross-cultural experience to the course.
Your daily schedule will be Monday through Friday from 9 am to 12 pm. Lunch from 12 to 1 pm. Afternoon from 1 to 4 pm. There are no classes or meetings on the weekends.
View all our Frequently Asked Questions >
Ask Macey a question about our Intensive Teacher Training Program (TESOL)
If you can’t find what you’re looking for, please get in touch with us.
"*" indicates required fields
Refund Policy
TESOL Cancellation and Refund Policy
If you decide not to attend a course to which you have been accepted, you may apply the $300 non-refundable deposit to another course within 6 months.
If you are not accepted or the course is cancelled due to low enrollment, the $300 deposit will be returned (along with any tuition paid, and the $125 housing search fee, if applicable).
- Intensive Program: If you withdraw in the first two days of the program, ILI will retain 50% of the tuition ($1100) and the $300 non-refundable deposit. There will be no tuition refunded after the first two full days of the course.
- Part-time Program: If you withdraw in the week of the program, ILI will retain 50% of the tuition ($1100) and the $300 non-refundable deposit. There will be no tuition refunded after the first week of the course.
If you must withdraw mid-course for serious medical reasons or because of a family emergency, and can provide a doctor’s certificate confirming the situation, you can re-enroll within 6 months without payment of further fees. There will be no refund.
Ready to get started with our Intensive Teacher Training Course?
Registering for the ILI Intensive Teacher Training Program (TESOL Certificate) couldn’t be easier! Simply follow the steps below to get started:
- Apply for our Intensive Teacher Training Course (TESOL Certificate) program by completing the application form.
- A trainer will contact you to set up an interview to discuss the course expectations and answer your questions.
- Upon acceptance, you will receive a confirmation email and invoice.
Still not sure?
Not a problem! If you are searching for more information you can:
- View our frequently asked questions and ask us a question
- Check our Intensive TESOL start dates and fees
- Learn about our TESOL refund policy
The ILI Promise
At ILI, we believe that all our actions should stem from grace and loving kindness.
- We operate as an equal opportunity organization.
- We nurture relationships beyond the classroom.
- We are committed to providing the highest quality language instruction and teacher training.
- We promote intercultural understanding and celebrate the diversity in our local communities.
- We work collaboratively to build and sustain the communities we serve.
- We believe in life-changing teaching and learning.
Other ways to get a TESOL certificate
Part-time Teacher Training Course (TESOL Certificate)
Our Part-time Teacher Training Course (TESOL Certificate), is a 15-week program with comprehensive curriculum and hands-on experience. Online only.