Re: Brewster TESOL - ESL school review

I'm not surprised that the owner of this school would take the trouble to post a rebuttal of Mr. Duke's comments. If I were in his position, I would do the same thing; after all, it's about wanting to continue raking in the profits.

Personally, I found Mr. Duke's review of this online course to be not only informative and detailed but also written in a manner that left little doubt about his sincerity. He also provided considerable background information in terms of his own life experiences and education to further bolster his well written warning. Please note the following excerpts from Mr. Dukes post:

If it sounds like I am a consumer advocate, you are right. In my former life I was on my States Attorney Generals Office Consumer Fraud Task Force in addition to my other duties. You can gauge the level of my furor and commitment to justice from the length of this posting.

Further, Mr. Duke also asked some very pertinent questions in his post, and I must agree that his questions are well worth considering:

On the surface(website) the outline of the Course looks like a good value for the money ($103.99 USD) compared to schools costing $300- 500 USD and up for less hours. However what is the value when the Course materials are poorly written, organized or questions relevant to the content of the course? What is the value when Q&As submitted are submitted but rejected over 72 hours, much less graded in a timely manner?

Mr. Woodward, in his rebuttal, chose to add some testimonials a time honored method of luring potential clients, so I dont take issue with the fact of him having done so. I do however marvel at the fact that he seems unable to acquire testimonials from graduates with an excellent or even passing command of the English language. Heres a quote from one testimonial and, believe me, this is exactly how it is written in Mr. Brewsters post.

Which this was GREAT to EXCELLENT for me and I suspect from anyone wanting this certificate and to LEARN Something.

Another poster, Kate Manifacier, has chimed in and accused Mr. Duke of a smear campaign. I see nothing in his post that would indicate to me that he is engage in such an effort. Basically, he has stuck to the facts, explained the difficulties he encountered and offered opinions based on sound reasoning. Furthermore, he has done so in a manner that illustrates not only his comfort with the English language but also, again, his sincerity.

Due to the ESL/EFL business not having yet reached its peak, there are countless entrepreneurs ready to pounce on the uninitiated and those who rightly believe there are opportunities for travel and/or the furtherance of their teaching careers. The ESL/EFL landscape is becoming increasingly marred by charlatans be they in the guise of recruiters, shoddy school administrators or the like. Lately, more and more of these online TESOL courses are popping up, and the unfortunate truth is that many of them work hand and hand with shady recruiters or are at least cut from the same cloth. Granted there may be a few legitimate, well run TESOL courses online, but they are few and far between. Those that are legitimate or, in my opinion, worthy, are offered by reputable Western colleges or universities and require a certain amount of on-campus attendance to go along with the online work. Whether or not Mr. Brewsters business and do remember it is a business is legitimate is not a determination I can make at this time. I can only look at what little evidence is available. That little bit of evidence makes me suspicious.

If you are serious about teaching ESL of EFL, my advice is to find a school in your home town or nearby. There are many very well organized, professional courses available. Yes, they are more expensive than most online courses, but believe me the Certificate you gain will have far more value than any that you can get online. Many of these programs are four to five week intensive programs where you will be working with very experienced teachers and where you will have to opportunity to do real classroom work and usually will have the opportunity to do real teaching and/or internships. Furthermore, many of them offer additional study that can apply toward your MA degree. The school I went to provided the opportunity for me to extend my study after the initial period of five weeks. During that time, I was able to communicate with my instructor as often as I wanted. I feel fortunate to have received valuable advice from her concerning a project I was working on that ultimately resulted in my being awarded 12 Masters credits from a very reputable college in America. This is not a scenario that could have been manifested with an online TESOL course.

Speak to administrators at local colleges where ESL programs are offered for adult immigrants. Ask them what their opinion is about online TESOL courses. Ask experienced teachers what their opinion is. Ask teachers here in the teachers forum. Do not fall victim to the lure of an easily acquired certificate that may do you a little good while teaching abroad in a situation where your credentials are not seriously perused, but that has little to no value otherwise.

Finally, remember that although Mr. Woodward may be providing what he considers to be a quality program, it is doubtful that he is motivated by little more than profit. I saw nothing in his post that convinced me that he is a serious educator. Is he seriously concerned about ESL/EFL students and the quality of English education that will be provided for them by graduates of his program? There is no real evidence to answer that question one way of the other. My advice, and I'm sure the advice of Mr. Duke, is to be very discerning.

Good luck!

Re: Brewster TESOL - ESL school review

I am Ernest Woodford, Director of the Brewster TESOL Institute. Lest anybody be under the mistaken impression that the foregoing dilatory allegations have driven us underground, let me assure you we are still alive, well, and fully operational. Before addressing Mr. Dukes claims below Id first like to inform the TESOL community of our new location at www.tesol-tefl-tesl.indo.bz and invite you to see the site for yourselves. The new site is still under construction, though it is fully linked to our original site at http://tesol1.tripod.com.

The reason we are changing domain names is not to escape any of this publicity (We have nothing to fear or hide), but simply because we have changed hosts to serve you better, but the domain of tesol1.net is still locked with the previous hosts. Within a few months it will become available again and we hope to reclaim it.

I would also like to cite 2 testimonials from recent graduates to bring this entire matter into balance and perspective.

Honestly I never thought that in 120 hours I could go from not knowing the first thing about teaching English (besides speaking it!) to feeling comfortable knowing what to teach and how to teach it in front of a group of students. I am really amazed at how much the course helped me. Plus, it was immediately accepted everywhere I went to get a job. I am now working in a very prestigious company here in Chile, and making good money to boot. I have just referred your program to a friend who is interested in teaching English in Eastern Europe. Jacki, in Chile

I say simply this...
Want to get a personal opinion from a past student, whom was just as lost as you are right now???
Well, just ask me.
I will tell you how it is, the TRUTH. I am not into Lying or Jerking anyone around ...
... be it Good, Bad and GREAT.
Which this was GREAT to EXCELLENT for me and I suspect from anyone wanting this certificate and to LEARN Something.

I already did the work and I did was searching all over. Online and Offline for a few months.
I had all the same Questions I know you have:
- WAY High Prices all over online,
- But something so affordable is it good?
- Worried if I bought a course then what,
- Maybe I could not get a job,
- Maybe the qualification is not accepted where I want to go,
- It might not be accepted - Period,
- Not Sure About Much of ANYTHING...
Well, I did my Home Work. It took me some time.
Even saw FAKE Degrees, YUP Fake, real degrees that cost 4x's as the real course here. AND FAKE IS FAKE. But to charge 4x's the amount for a piece of paper and NO REAL DEGREE and KNOWLEDGE.

I decided to try The William Brewster Program,

I even went all out and got me that High Dollar Degree. Mind you, any other online cert would cost you at least 5x to 10x's more than Brewster. No Joke.

I checked before I purchased it and it was accepted at several places I was interested in. Never heard it was not from anyone yet, either. So the certificate is accepted by ALL places that I know of.

Well, I am totally SOLD HERE.
I was Lucky to have time taken [by the tutor] to answer, my seeming silly questions I had and kept in touch and guided me.
I LEARNED SOMETHING, too. That is Worth the Price of ADMISSION, so to speak.
The course is Very Fair. Not to overly hard, but I consider myself to be pretty bright and I was very challenged. It was also a very fair, even well done set of courses, in every way. Like I said I learned something, that I will take with me into ever class.
You do the Work, Make the Commitment and Follow Through and you will walk with the confidence, knowledge and DIPLOMA to TRAVEL EVERYWHERE.
Personally, I am considering moving to China in the next few years if all keeps going as planned. Something I could have only Dreamed of, and I did.
This Chance and this certificate has given me a life, great pay, wonderful perks and a great new life with many great new friends worldwide.
The William Brewster Program has been a blessing for me and the price is unbeatable for all you get with it. REAL TRAINING and EDUCATION.
ENJOY ALL. Feel Free to ask me anything. I am a REAL STUDENT and HATE BS and GAMES, so I Promise to give you the real scoop.
Ciao and Peace - out
* May I suggest, get a email pal or 2 and help tutor them online via email or live voice chat. It helped me to gain even more confidence and experience in the begining. Dyana, in Ohio

The foregoing are real testimonials and have not been solicited, compensated, nor remunerated in any way.

Firstly I would like to thank Mr. Duke for bringing the issues that needed updated on the FAQ section of our site to our attention. Please view the updated version at if there are any questions.

I would like to clarify on no uncertain terms that any continued mention of paypal on our part was a mere oversight (I will shortly have a merchant review posted on a website; Ill post the url details later) You may also see independent reviews of paypals business practices at http://paypalwarning.com and http://paypalsucks.com .

We have also discontinued our services with paypay to bring you several safe, convenient, reliable and buyer-friendly services, which can be viewed at
We are adding as many payment options as possible for your protection and convenience, though Google checkout remains our processor of choice at the moment due to the extraordinary degree of convenience and buyer security/protection they offer. We urge you to go to our alternative payment options page at http://tesol1.tripod.com/online_onsite_tesol_tefl_tesl_alternate_payments.html and check each company individually to see what their policies are.

Paypay may have temporarily suspended our account as cited in Mr. Dukes allegations, but we have informed them on no uncertain terms that we have no interest whatsoever in continuing their services. As Mr. Duke has already stated, the service offers no credit card processing, which is generally a lose-lose situation for merchants and buyers.

Moreover, they did not offer dispute resolution, but simply and arbitrarily closed our account without any attempt at an objective review and arbitration. Is there a merchant alive that would continue to risk doing business under those conditions?

Dont get me wrong. I am all in favor of objective dispute resolutions. Both merchants and buyers require this to feel safe and comfortable doing business online, therefore the entire multi-billion dollar industry depends on these checks and balances for its very existence and viability. We at Brewster actually PREFER to do business with a system that allows for dispute resolution (It is much safer for the buyers), which is why we have included so many payment options that do. (There are also very few dispute resolution boards that would have found in favor of the above case)

Regarding the libelous assumption (folks remember what happens when you assume?) that we have prior history of buyer issues with Paypay, this is completely spurious and unfounded, and the fact is that Mr. Dukes case is an isolated incident.

The reason we did not offer credit card processing at the time of Mr. Dukes enrollment is that we had just discontinued utilizing paypals services due to an ongoing dispute. We were still in the process of evaluating and registering for satisfactory programs.

I also would like to apologize to any who may have had difficulties with a full mailbox that week. Rest assured that was an isolated incident. We have now switched hosts to serve you better, and our new email addresses are:

admin@tesol-tefl-tesl.indo.bz, enrollments@tesol-tefl-tesl.indo.bz, inquiries@tesol-tefl-tesl.indo.bz, advertising@tesol-tefl-tesl-indo.bz, and tutor@tesol-tefl-tesl.indo.bz (enrollees only, please) alumni@tesol-tefl-tesl.indo.bz, (alumni only, please) and director@tesol-tefl-tesl.indo.bz, my personal mailbox for official business. Should this system be temporarily out of service we are alternately available at brewster_tesol@yahoo.com Please be advised, however, of our zero tolerance spam policy. We have made this information available to assist you; please do not abuse the system.

I might also add that the entire issue of being dissatisfied with the materials is absolutely ludicrous. The first two modules appear in their entirety on our free course at http://tesol1.tripod.com/free_online_tesol_tefl_tesl_course.html so enrollees have the opportunity to thoroughly peruse these modules before enrolling in a course. More modules will be added to the free course by early 2007 for even further transparency. Several enrollees have actually told me that their viewing of the course modules in the free course area was what prompted them to enroll.

The help link being referred to by Mr. Duke is www.bogglesworldesl.com . Previously it was simply bogglesworld.com, and Mr. Duke was inadvertently sent the outdated version of the link. Unfortunately this honest mistake became regarded as a crime against humanity. Excuse us for living.

BTW, I have a question regarding hucksters and con artists operating in third world countries. Does this mean anybody in the ESL community teaching overseas, as well as those engaged in volunteer work and community service abroad, or only those operating nonprofit TESOL courses and trying to serve & educate the community where they live who occasionally experience technical difficulties with their servers?

Our job placement guarantee and the conditions that qualify one for a refund are clearly outlined on our website. To my awareness refunds are seldom if ever issued by any other online TESOL courses on grounds of satisfaction with materials or because the enrollee had a one-time technical issue with email responses. If, however, I am wrong about this and somebody can submit evidence to me of any online TESOL courses offering 100% satisfaction guaranteed I will gladly reform the Brewster TESOL Institute policies to bring them in line with the industry norms.

What is also not mentioned in Mr. Dukes diatribe is that I went to great pains to personally take time out of my weekend to ensure that I got back in contact with Mr. Duke. Would any other online course provider even go to such trouble?

Regarding the questions in the modules requiring research to answer, this is a common academic practice not at all new to the learning process. Heaven forbid that we should have to strain our cerebral faculties with the need to research or exercise our deductive reasoning and problem solving skills to proffer a response. In the TESOL field there are inevitably matters that require research and deduction, as well as some effort to come up with (such as grammar, methodologies, or how to meet the needs of a particular class, to name a few) One of the purposes of this course is to develop teachers abilities to not only understand TESOL by rote but to actually be able to think in each scenario that may not be exactly textbook.

My goodness, if anybody were to suffer a brain hemorrhage from cerebral overexertion we would probably have a major lawsuit in our hands.

Mr. Duke has stated in his remarks that he wants not only to become certified, but to learn something as well. We admire this, and urge all TESOL candidates on all courses to adopt this attitude, as the ESL community will be a better place for it.

Our courses are designed to fulfill this end. In fact, as you can see from the testimonials above, the overwhelming majority of our candidates find that they learn quite a bit. We have also had many experienced ESL teachers on the course who found that, even with all their experience, they have still learned a lot from the course. Again, allow me to direct you to the sample modules at: http://tesol1.tripod.com/free_online_tesol_tefl_tesl_course.html so you can personally be the judge of that.

Obviously, had Mr. Duke labored as diligently on this course as he has on this latest smear campaign he would have graduated the course with high honors. I still, however, offer my complete support to Mr. Duke to graduate and get placed should he choose to do so (we still have yet to be unable to fulfill our job placement guarantee)

The response time for a typical online TESOL course is usually 3 days. We diligently strive to keep our response times to 1-2 business days, and often respond even on weekends (though we cant always guarantee that). Even when we experienced the technical difficulty we still were well within typical industry standards for response times.

I would like to add in closing that we are (to the best of my knowledge and awareness) also the only online TESOL course provider who backs these online courses with onsite, residential intensive TESOL courses. More information about these courses may be viewed at http://tesol1.tripod.com/onsite_tesol_tefl_tesol_sukabumi_indonesia_certificate.html

I look forward to hearing from anyone who has any questions at all about this or anything else relating to us or TESOL in general. Again, we have nothing to fear or hide, and stand before the world ready to respond to any inquiry whatsoever. Thank all of you for taking the time to hear our side of the story.

Once again, I personally invite all to visit our website at http://tesol-tefl-tesl.indo.bz or http://tesol1.tripod.com. Or to email us with any questions, comments, concerns, suggestions, etc. at admin@tesol-tefl-tesl.indo.bz, enrollments@tesol-tefl-tesl.indo.bz, inquiries@tesol-tefl-tesl.indo.bz, advertising@tesol-tefl-tesl-indo.bz

Most Respectfully Yours,
Ernest Woodford
Director, Brewster TESOL Institute.