Yes, I agree with you, Rheno. If anyone wants to enter the TEFL industry, he or she should 'test drive' teaching first. This means getting a fake certificate instead of paying through the nose for a real one. I spent my hard-earned money on a certificate, and a good one, too. But I've learned one hard-core reality the last year.......TEFL teaching has two sides--teacher and student. Getting a fancy, overpriced certificate may make you a better teacher or give you the skills to even BE a teacher. However, much must still be done on the student side of the coin. Only when your students CARE enough to learn English in the first place should you plop down your hard-earned greenbacks or Euros on a little piece of paper that 'proves' you can teach them.

I would get the fake TESOL and test drive TEFL first. You can buy bunch of SCUBA lessons with the 1600 you'll want back later if you don't like teaching, and you probably won't like it.

If you can accept the fact that most students, at least in Asia, will view your English classes as 'play time' or 'sleep time' and view you as their babysitter for an hour a day, go ahead and spend, spend, spend.

After a year in Thailand doing the thankless TEFL thing, I know now there is NO WAY I should have dropped 16 DOLLARS on a certificate, let alone 16 HUNDRED dollars.