Bolivar square in Bogota Colombia

Win a TEFL Course in London or Bogota!

Would you like to win a TEFL course in one of two fantastic worldwide locations?

Cactus TEFL is bringing back our popular Suzanne Furstner Scholarship in January 2016, and this time we are excited to be giving away not one, but two TEFL courses!

Become a qualified English teacher in the vibrant heart of London, or jet off to Colombia’s historic capital to gain your prestigious CELTA qualification – the choice is yours. These are two of the best teacher training courses available and will equip you with the skills and confidence you need to launch a career teaching English.

Scholarship Prizes:

4-week Trinity CertTESOL course in London, UK

4-week Cambridge CELTA course in Bogota, Colombia

Win a TEFL Course – How to Apply:

  • Create a video of 3 minutes maximum on the subject: ‘Why I want to become a teacher’
  • The video can be as creative as you choose, as long as it is relevant to the subject
  • Videos should be posted on YouTube with the following hashtags in the Comments box: #cactustefl #winacourse
  • Check ‘Also share on Google+’ below the Comments box
  • If you prefer to keep your video private, there is an option to select ‘Private’ in the Privacy Settings
  • The link to the video should be sent to info@cactustefl.com with the subject line ‘Suzanne Furstner Scholarship Entry 2016: [your name]’
  • Please specify your preferred course location (London or Bogota)
  • Dates for entry 1st January – 31st March 2016

Winners’ Criteria:

  • The course prizes must be taken in September, October or November 2016
  • The winning videos will be published on the Cactus TEFL website, Cactus blog and social media channels
  • The winners will be required to create a video diary of their course to be published by Cactus.

Suzanne Furstner Scholarship

An annual scholarship that gives aspiring teachers from all the world the chance to win a TEFL course, the Suzanne Furstner Scholarship was set up in 2006 in memory of our much-loved colleague Suzanne. To date, we have sent winners to take CELTA and CertTESOL courses in locations ranging from Spain and Italy to San Franciso and Playa del Carmen.

Remember, entries are accepted from 1st January 2016, so you have plenty of time to start thinking and make your dreams come true in 2016!

Win a TEFL Course: Suzanne Furstner Scholarship 2016

Win a TEFL course in London or South America

Cactus TEFL is delighted to announce that the Suzanne Furstner Scholarship will be back in 2016 – with not just one course, but two courses to be won!

If you have ever dreamed of qualifying to become an English language teacher, this is your chance to win a TEFL course in London or South America. London is our most popular location to take a TEFL course – an exciting city with opportunity everywhere – while South America is exotic and thrilling, and already in the spotlight with the Rio Olympics less than a year away.

Win a TEFL Course: entry requirements

The competition opens in January 2016 and full details will be released shortly, but our sneak preview can tell you this: entrants will need to make a video of 3 minutes maximum to show us why they want to teach English!

An annual scholarship that gives aspiring teachers from all the world the chance to win a TEFL course, the Suzanne Furstner Scholarship was set up in 2006 in memory of our much-loved colleague Suzanne. To date, we have sent winners to take CELTA and CertTESOL courses in locations ranging from Spain and Italy to San Franciso and Playa del Carmen.

Keep posted for more details of the Suzanne Furstner Scholarship 2016!

Cactus TEFL is an admissions and advice service for quality teacher training courses worldwide. Cactus works with well-known course providers to offer CELTA, TESOL, equivalent and online courses in over 90 locations across 36 countries. Cactus TEFL also offers free post-course careers advice and support, as well as access to our very own TEFL jobs board and job alerts.

If you have a language learning or language teaching query that you can’t find the answer to, please get in contact with us either by Facebook or by Twitter, or contact us here.

Free Language Courses: 11 Courses To Win!

Cactus is giving away 11 free language courses in exciting locations across the globe!

This is a fantastic chance to learn a language for FREE! To enter, visit us at the upcoming Expat Show or Language Show Live or simply complete the entry form below by 22nd November – and you could be jetting off to learn one of seven languages in some of our best locations:

Chinese Mandarin Prize
Learn Chinese in one of China’s biggest and most exciting cities – Shanghai. Feel the buzz of its vibrant music and club scene, shop til you drop, admire the city’s beautiful architectural heritage and indulge in delectable food – this should be on everyone’s ‘to-do’ list!

Free language courses Shanghai

1 x 1 week General Mandarin Course (20 lessons) in Shanghai with Mandarin House. Prize includes 6 nights’ accommodation in a shared apartment.

 

 

 

 

French Prizes

Whether you want to enjoy the glamorous Côte d’Azur in Nice, be chic in Paris, sip wine in Bordeaux or catch some waves in Biarritz, we have a fantastic choice of prizes to learn French in France!

Free language courses Biarritz

1 x 1 week General French Course (20 lessons) in Nice, Paris, Bordeaux or Biarritz with France Langue. Prize includes 6 nights’ accommodation in a host family.

1 x 1 week French & Cooking Course (20 language + 2 cooking lessons) in Nice with France Langue. Prize includes 6 nights’ stay in a host family.

 

 

German Prize

There can be fewer exciting places than Berlin to learn German, a city of fascinating history, cutting edge architecture, first class food and nightlife like no other – and we have two courses to be won in this captivating German capital!

Free language courses Berlin

2 x 1 week General German Course (20 lessons) in Berlin with GLS. Prize includes activities but not accommodation.

 

 

 

 

Italian Prize

If your idea of heaven is a twinkling blue sea, pastel coloured buildings adorning the hillside, bougainvillea tumbling over balconies and mouthwatering food and wine, then this Italian course in Salerno should be yours!

Free language courses Salerno

1 x 1 week General Italian Course (20 lessons) in Salerno with Accademia Italiana. Prize includes 6 nights’ accommodation in a shared apartment OR host family.

 

 

 

 

Portuguese Prizes

Portugal’s colourful capital is an inspiring place to learn Portuguese, with its cobbled streets, iconic yellow tram, traditional bars and leafy plazas. Learn Portuguese on its own or take painting lessons too – we have two fantastic prizes to be won here!

Free language courses Lisbon

1 x 1 week General Portuguese Course (20 lessons) in Lisbon with Portuguese Connection. Prize includes 6 nights’ accommodation in a host family.

1 x 1 week Portuguese & Painting Course (20 language + 6 painting lessons) in Lisbon with Portuguese Connection. Prize includes 6 nights’ accommodation in a host family.

 

 

Russian Prize

If you want to learn Russian in stunning surroundings, Latvia’s capital, Riga, fits the bill perfectly. A treasure trove of art-nouveau architecture, this is a city of elaborately carved façades, funky gargoyles, winding cobbled streets and stately boulevards – as well as the most unexpectedly brilliant nightlife.

Free language courses Riga

1 x 1 week General Russian Course (20 lessons) in Riga with Durbe Latvia. Prize includes 6 nights’ accommodation in a shared apartment OR, for students under 18 years, in a host family.

 

 

 

Spanish Prizes

It’s impossible not to fall in love with Valencia, and we’re delighted to be able to offer two people the chance to jet off to this charming city on Spain’s eastern Mediterranean coast. Home of paella, fabulous festivals, a bustling port and excellent beaches, this is one our favourite places to learn Spanish.

Free language courses Valencia

2 x 1 week General Spanish Course (20 lesson) in Valencia with Taronja. Prize includes 6 nights’ accommodation in a shared apartment.

 

 

 

Evening Language Course Prize We are also offering ONE free evening course in any location in the UK! The lucky winner will be able to choose their preferred language and location for a 10-week evening course starting in January 2016. See our evening courses website for full details of courses near you.

Free language courses: please note

  • Our free language courses are available on selected dates and we ask all winners to check dates with us before confirming flights
  • Accommodation is included in the prize where stated
  • Entry is open to all visitors to the Cactus stand at the Expat Show (11th-12th September) and Language Show Live (16th-18th October) who complete an entry form, and to everyone who signs up using our entry form below
  • The deadline for entering is Sunday 22nd November
  • The lucky winners will be announced on Monday 7th December
  • Please consult our Terms and Conditions for full details of the competition and individual prizes.

We look forward to seeing you, and good luck! If you have a language learning or language teaching query that you can’t find the answer to, please get in contact with us either by Facebook or by Twitter, or contact us here.

Win a free language course with Cactus

Everybody likes something for free, and even better if that something will boost your brain power, improve your job prospects and enhance your holidays! Yes, it’s a language course – a 10-week evening course, in any language you choose and in any of our 19 locations across the UK.

This is a fantastic opportunity to improve your skills in an existing language or try something completely new – the choice is yours!

How to win a free language course with Cactus

To be in with a chance of winning one of our popular evening courses, simply sign up here by 30th September 2015.

The winner will be picked and contacted on 1st October and should choose their language course by 3rd October, to start in October 2015 or January 2016.

Language course locations

Cactus offers evening courses in 10 locations across London and other UK locations including Manchester, Brighton, Bristol, Oxford, Leeds, Liverpool and Sheffield. Win a free language course in the location closest to you!

If you have a language learning or language teaching query, please visit our blog or get in contact with us either by Facebook or by Twitter. Alternatively, feel free to contact us here or call to speak to one of our advisors on  00 44 (0) 1273 830 960.

Learn a Language Your Way Video

Learn a language with the experts

Cactus is a leader in language learning, with many years’ experience designing and implementing language courses for all needs and interests. We know that different people learn in different ways, and we can help you to learn a language your way. Discover all the options with our Learn a Language Your Way Video.

Learn a Language Your Way Video

Watch > Learn a Language Your Way Video

Your language learning options

Whether you are looking for a 10-week evening language course to fit into your working week, a private language course via Skype or face-to-face, a TEFL course to enable you to teach English the world over, or a language course abroad where you can truly immerse yourself in the language and culture, Cactus has the language learning solutions you need.

 

 

 

If you have a language learning or language teaching query, please visit our blog or get in contact with us either by Facebook or by Twitter. Alternatively, feel free to contact us here or call to speak to one of our advisors on  00 44 (0) 1273 830 960.

 

CELTA Course Winner – LIVE Prague Blog

Do you want to know first-hand what it’s really like to take a TEFL course?

Follow our 2014 Suzanne Furstner Scholarship and CELTA course winner, Shervin Hejazi, who has just arrived in Prague to claim his prize of a 4-week Trinity CertTESOL course at our partner school Oxford House TEFL.

Shervin started his course on Monday and is already well under way. When he’s not revising English grammar and carrying out teaching practice in front of fellow students, he’s busy updating his blog with his thoughts and experiences on his TEFL course in Prague – giving would-be teacher trainees a window into the world of a TEFL student, and hopefully inspiring them to do the same! We’re loving Shervin’s blog and we hope you do too!

Follow Shervin’s TEFL in Prague blog

Read Shervin’s winning Scholarship essay here

SFF logo

 

Cactus TEFL is an admissions and advice service for quality teacher training courses worldwide. Cactus works with the majority of well-known course providers to offer CELTA, Trinity CertTESOL, equivalent and online courses in over 90 locations across 36 countries. Cactus TEFL also offers free post-course careers advice and support, as well as access to our very own TEFL jobs board and job alerts.

Suzanne Furstner Scholarship 2014 – Winning Entry

Congratulations to Shervin Hejazi who has won this year’s Suzanne Furstner Scholarship. Shervin wins a 4-week CertTESOL course in Prague with Oxford House TEFL during 2015.

‘My Dream Teaching Job’ by Shervin Hejazi

“Time up!”

The class of students put their pens down, except the odd one or two who frantically try to finish their last sentence. It is my weekly intermediate English class to young Spanish students who wish to be fluent in the English language, and today’s exercise is to write about your ‘dream job’.

“Alex,” I call, “would you like to start?”

Alex beams as he elevates his notebook and begins to describe his dream job. “My dream job,” Alex begins proudly, “is to be the President of the United States!”

Suddenly the class erupts into laughter.

“Alex,” his colleague Cris whispers, “you know you’re not an American citizen, right? Kind of importante.”

“Oh,” Alex bemoans, his head sinking as the beam disappears from his face.

“Hey,” I interrupt the class’s unanimous laughter, “let’s not put Alex down. If he wants to be the President, he can be the President.” I look directly at Alex. “Alex, I challenge you to be the first Latino to be the President of America. That’s definitely a dream worth having.”

Alex’s beam returns.

“How about anyone else?” I ask, “who would like to share their dream job?”

One by one, my class of students share their hopes, dreams and passions. There were future lawyers, teachers, psychiatrists, athletes; as well as the less typical: circus clowns, comic book artists and ghost writers. It was a diverse class of optimists and enthusiasts, all determined to make their mark on the world, all possessing that young belief that the world is truly their oyster. Suddenly, I felt a pang of pride. Here I was, witnessing the development of a new generation of bright minds. I felt truly grateful that they accepted me as a tutor in aid of their journey.

The ‘dream job’ question then comes to Clara, one of my more cautious students. I noticed several scribbles on her notebook, and a conflicted look on her face. “Would you like to share your dream job with the class, Clara?”

“Well, Sir,” she begins, “I’m not really sure.”

“That’s OK,” I advise, “you don’t have to know what you want to be. My parents still don’t know, and they’re retired!”

The class laugh again.

“Well,” Clara continues, “I don’t know what job I want, but I know how I want to feel. I want to feel like I’m helping people, like I’m making a difference, that people can maybe depend on me, look up to me, and trust me to be there for them. If I have a job where every day would be like this… well, I think I would like that.”

And then there was no laughter. There was only silence. A universal silence, as each student knew that what Clara had said was something worth pondering. It was a noble endeavour, a reasonable dream, and my previous pang of pride could be felt once again, even stronger.

“And what about you, Sir?” Clara asks, returning the question. “What is your dream job?”

I look around the class of students, watching their faces as they eagerly anticipate an answer. A knowing smile forms across my face.

“Well, class. It seems I’m lucky.”

“Why’s that?” asks Alex.

I pause to smile again.

“Because I have already found it.”

The Suzanne Furstner Foundation was set up in memory of our much-loved friend and colleague Suzanne Furstner. The annual Scholarship reflects Suzanne’s love of TEFL, languages and travel, awarding a full time TEFL course in one of our best worldwide locations. Please visit www.cactustefl.com for details of all our TEFL courses and the Suzanne Furstner Foundation.

Suzanne Furstner Scholarship 2014: enter now to win a TEFL course!

Thinking of taking a TEFL course? Look no further if you want to WIN a prestigious Trinity CertTESOL course in the historic city of Prague, Czech Republic.

July 1st marked the launch of the 2014 Suzanne Furstner Scholarship, giving would-be teacher trainers the chance to win a TEFL course in an exotic corner of the globe.

This year we’re delighted to announce that the beautiful Czech capital of Prague is home to our scholarship prize of a fantastic 4-week Trinity CertTESOL course, to be taken in 2015.

The scholarship assignment is to write a maximum of 1,000 words on the topic ‘My Dream Teaching Job’, in addition to a short language awareness task. Full details and an application form are available on the Cactus TEFL website, as well as examples of previous winners’ entries. The deadline for submissions is 1st October 2014.

Cactus is proud to run the Suzanne Furstner Scholarship each year as part of the Suzanne Furstner Foundation, which was set up in memory of our much-loved friend and colleague, Suzanne, who we tragically lost in a road accident in Spain in 2006. The Foundation aims to support language and educational projects across the world, a subject that was close to her heart.

Good luck to all those that enter – we’re looking forward to reading your entries and to sending one of you off to train to be teacher in Prague next year!

Cactus TEFL is an independent TEFL course admissions and advice service. We work with schools across the globe to deliver high quality, professionally-delivered teacher training courses.

World Cup language course winner announced

To celebrate the first day of this year’s football World Cup, Cactus launched a competition to give away a FREE 10-week evening course in the UK.

Entrants simply had to ‘like’ our Facebook page to be entered into a prize draw to win a course in the  language and location of their choice. They had until the end of the first England game, at midnight on Saturday 16th June, to like us and be in with a chance…

We’re delighted to announce that our winner is Heather Kingsley. Heather has taken a number of Spanish courses in London with Cactus over the past few years, progressing from beginner to intermediate level, and she has chosen to use her free course to study Spanish Intermediate 3 in Kings Cross, London next month.

Many congratulations to Heather and thank you to everyone who ‘liked’ us over the first World Cup weekend!

By joining us on Facebook you will be the first to see future language course promotions and have the chance to participate in more language-related fun and discussions.

Cactus runs 10-week foreign language evening courses in London and nationwide. Our next courses start in July and September 2014.

Cactus Teacher Awards winner & runners-up: Jan-March 2014

Thank you to everyone who submitted a comment about their teacher for the Cactus Teacher Awards last term (January-March 2014). As usual we received many wonderful comments about our teachers, and would like to thank both our students for taking the time to send in feedback and also our teachers for continually delivering such excellent courses.

We’re delighted to announce that our winning teacher was Lucie Prior, who taught our French Beginners 2 course in Victoria, London. Lucie wins a £100 voucher plus a certificate from Cactus and her student, Sophie Johnson, wins a free 10-week evening course.

Below are Sophie’s comments, along with three more of our best entries.

* Teacher Awards Winner: Lucie Prior (French Beginners 2, London Victoria) / Student: Sophie Johnson *

“My teacher, Lucie Prior, deserves to win this award as she is an exceptional teacher.

Her classes are lots of fun – after a long day at work and a trek across London, who would have thought that 2 hours of French would be something I would look forward to so much and leave on a high. Lucie is always energetic, dynamic and light-hearted and her classes reflect this. Her approach gets the best out of her students as she puts us at ease and has everyone participating right from the start.

Lucie’s classes are particularly enjoyable as they are so diverse. As well as covering the required grammar and vocab, we learn a lot about French culture. Lucie’s range of ideas and exercises always keeps the lessons fresh, including film clips, questionnaires, games, mime and song excerpts.

All in all I have thoroughly enjoyed the last 10 weeks and have certainly learnt a LOT. I can’t wait to start the next course and any other teacher wouldn’t cut it for me now! Thank you Lucie for your support and expertise!”

Teacher Awards Runners-Up:

1) Teacher: Aisha El-Turki (Arabic Beginner 3, Brighton) / Student: Evgeniia Makeeva

“My teacher, Aisha El-Turki, deserves to be nominated because she has a very confident, professional and kind personality. Those qualities are certainly important to be a great teacher. She makes everyone in the class very excited and we all always look forward to our next class with her.”

2) Teacher: Gaelle Monfort (French Beginner 1, London Bond Street) / Student: Katalin Zupcsán

“I would like to nominate our teacher Gaelle Monfort. Gaelle makes learning French really fun! I work full time so I often go to the course tired, but I always leave excited and feel like I’m improving well! For a 10 week course we found a really good place to learn – I didn’t think I would improve so much! I will sign up for the next course with Gaelle of course.”

3) Teacher: Romie Lamah (French Elementary 1, London Wimbledon) / Student: Rebecca Flower Cooke

“My teacher Romie deserves the best teacher award because she is always cheerful and friendly and after having tried so many different courses and ways of learning French (none of which have been successful – including one-to-one tutoring), I finally feel like I am learning and understanding a lot with Romie’s teaching. The mix of exercises and talks and discussions we have, have taught me so much new vocabulary and finally enabled me to understand French tenses. Thank you Romie!”

Congratulations to everyone and look out for our Teacher Awards next term – next time it could be you!

Cactus runs evening courses in London and in locations across the UK. The spring term starts in April and the Teacher Awards will run again (deadline Friday 27th June).