Moderation
The Via Lingua Group is fully committed to ensuring that both the content and delivery of its CTEFL program meet the highest possible international academic and industry standards. It is important for us to be able to demonstrate the quality of the Via Lingua program to the end-users of our CTEFL qualification - trainee teachers, future employers, colleges and universities. We seek to do this through reference to internationally accepted standards so that our stakeholders can be confident in the final certificate and what it represents. Our accreditation process includes both internal and external verification, standardization and validation elements.
The Via Lingua Group is proud to have articulation agreements with graduate-level programs at several universities; our commitment to Via Lingua CTEFL candidates is that their final certificate will not only recognize their development and achievement as language teachers, matched against standardized statements of attainment, but will also be recognized as a high level graduate qualification by tertiary education institutes and employers.
Via Lingua Florence at Istituto Americano is associated with Eduitalia. Eduitalia is an Association of Schools and Universities offering courses for foreign students. It offers students from all over the world a varied offer of academic courses in the most beautiful cities in Italy.
The Via Lingua International network of centers is accredited and certified by local, national and global organizations and government agencies.
The Via Lingua CTEFL Course is officially endorsed by Learning Resource Network (LRN).
LRN (www.lrnglobal.org) is an awarding body creating qualifications for educational institutions, independent learning providers and employers. These qualifications are internationally recognized as providing proof of the skills and abilities required by educational institutes, professional bodies and governments. The British Assessment Bureau (BAB) has awarded LRN the international ISO 27001: 2013 certificate for the provision and online verification of certificates and awards.
Moderation Report
A central element of the Quality Assessment process is the provision of external moderation visits, undertaken by reputable and highly qualified experts in the field of TEFL / TESOL.
The following extracts are taken from the external moderation report produced Ms Alison Rice, former director of the ELT Institute and International English Language Institute, Hunter College, City University of New York. The report was produced after a three day moderation visit to the Via Lingua International CTEFL training centre in Florence, Italy, from June 22-25, 2012.
Overall endorsement:
" ...I am delighted to report that I found Via Lingua to be an exceptionally effective program, both academically and administratively. Most importantly, Via Lingua?s CTEFL course fully meets its promise to students, to prepare them for classroom teaching after only 120 input hours and 10 practice teaching hours."
"I believe that the CTEFL curriculum provides well-thought-out training in best practices for classroom management, and a good basic introduction to the language awareness knowledge teachers need in order to teach language skills (reading/writing and listening/speaking) plus a thorough review of English grammar and phonology."
The curriculum:
"I was positively impressed to see for myself that the Via Lingua curriculum addresses the needs of future classroom teachers, both in language knowledge and in classroom management."
The trainers:
" ...are completely professional and well-versed in TEFL methodology and good practice. Equally important, they are caring and sensitive mentors, and excellent classroom role models themselves."
The administrative staff:
" ...provide services to students such as immediate response to individual questions and needs, and help in finding employment and housing, that I have not seen in comparable programs."
The students (trainees):
" ...brought in visuals, music, charts etc. that demonstrated how seriously they had worked on their lesson preparation."
Post teaching practice feedback and reflection:
"The focus was on what the (trainee) teacher felt went well and why: areas where he or she asked for help were then discussed in round table."
"I was given samples of the extensive written feedback students also receive on their submitted lesson. Each contained both praise and concrete examples for ways to improve."
Assessing trainee competence:
"In order to graduate, students (trainees) must pass a grammar test, produce a portfolio of their work, show competence in their practice teaching, pass quizzes and participate actively in class. I am confident that only worthy candidates receive the CTEFL."
Commitment to success:
" ...a very impressive commitment that Via Lingua makes to all its students is the guarantee that they can retake the entire course, without charge, if they are not able to pass their initial program."
Alison Rice, Former Director ET Institute and International English Language Institute, Hunter College, City University of New York