1.0 Course Availability and Suitability

Every attempt will be made to place you on the course of your choice. For some courses, placements are not guaranteed until the appropriate entrance test has been taken. Please check the appropriate course literature for admission requirements. In the event of insufficient applications for a course, the school reserves the right to offer an alternative course of equal value or a refund. The school will endeavor to notify affected candidates one working week prior to course commencement.

Age

Our minimum publicized age for all teacher training courses is 22.

Attendance and Student Holidays

Students are expected to attend lessons regularly and on time. No refunds will be provided for lateness or absence.

Public Holidays

Unless otherwise stated, there are no classes on public holidays in Thailand. The confirmed dates of the public holidays for 2024 are as follows: 01-02 Jan (New Year's Day), 06 Feb (Makha Bucha Day), 08 Apr (Chakri Day, observed), 13-15 Apr (Songkran Festival), 01 May (Labor Day), 06 May (Coronation Day, observed), 20 May (Visakha Bucha Day), 03 Jun (Queen Suthida's Birthday), 16 Jul (Asahna Bucha Day), 17 Jul (Buddhist Lent Day), 12 Aug (The Queen's Birthday), 13 Oct (King Bhumibol Memorial Day), 23 Oct (Chulalongkorn Day), 05 Dec (King Bhumibol's Birthday/National Day/Father's Day), 10 Dec (Constitution Day), and 31 Dec (New Year's Eve). Course fees are not pro rata for weeks where bank holidays take place. Partial refund requests for lessons missed due to public holidays will not be considered. Please note that there will be no classes from 21 December 2024 until classes restart on 06 January 2025.

2.0 Visa & Immigration Regulations

It is the student’s responsibility to ensure that they have the correct visa for the length of their course.

Essential TEFL admissions officer will consult with every student before they travel to Thailand regarding their visa status.

The school has a legal obligation to collect and maintain application information, as well as passport and visa data. For Student Visa holders, the school has an obligation to inform the Immigration Authorities about students whose attendance falls below the standard required by their visa. We are not able to extend a course beyond the length of the current visa. A course may be terminated at any point if a participant is found not to have a valid visa.

It is important that you apply for a visa well in advance of the start dates of your course. Late application may mean that you lose your place on a course. You must confirm that you have the visa at least seven (7) days before the course.

3.0 Course Bookings

Essential TEFL Bangkok only accepts bookings made via our website, approved course booking link(s) or application form(s). Bookings made via a third-party ETO (Educational Tour Operator) will only be accepted from officially registered affiliates. For more information, please email [email protected].

TEFL internship applicants are subject to additional admission criteria which will be made clear at the time of booking. Any place offered on a course may be time dependent, details will be shared once a course offer has been made.

Payment of Fees and Deposits

All our courses require full and upfront payment on the first (1) day of the intended start date.

For TEFL internship applicants, you will be asked to complete the application process, confirm your availability for the course dates selected, and pay the deposit or full fees to book the course. Our courses can be booked via the online booking system, or an invoice will be raised and sent to you. We do not allow students that owe any fees to continue on the second day of the course.

Where payment via bank transfer is made, you are responsible for any associated bank transfer fees. Arriving students with an outstanding balance will be asked to make full payment before being admitted to their course. IHL reserves the right to suspend the student from any course and accommodation should any outstanding fees be owed post-arrival.

Any unpaid course or accommodation bookings are not considered confirmed until the full fees or a deposit payment is made. Essential TEFL reserves the right to release any provisionally (unpaid) course or accommodation bookings without warning. Deposits are non-refundable, except under the visa refusal conditions detailed above. Course deposit payments are fixed at a minimum of 20,000THB for TEFL. Accommodation booking deposits must equal two weeks of accommodation fees, including the booking fee. No official course or accommodation confirmations, including visa supporting documents, are issued without prior deposit or full course fee payment.

Any group bookings are governed by separate payment terms as outlined in the Service Level Agreement (SLA) applicable to the group booking.

Special Offers

Any promotional special offers or campaigns are subject to separate booking terms which are made clear at the time of issue. Special offers cannot be applied retrospectively to existing bookings which are made prior to the eligible booking period for a given promotion. Promotions cannot be combined under any circumstances. Essential TEFL reserves the right to refuse or discontinue a promotion without warning.

Variation to Fees

We usually set, and hold, our fees for a calendar year. In certain circumstances, Essential TEFL may revise and publish new fees midway through a calendar year. Fees are chargeable based on the fee for the course published in the brochure for the year in which you choose to study. Courses booked before 01 November with start dates in the following year are chargeable using the fees applicable at the time of booking.

Changing, Postponing, or Cancelling Your Course

We understand that you may want to change your course dates before the course starts. Changes made to start dates are dependent on the type of course, availability, and notice given and may incur an administration charge.

5.0 Supplementary services

6.0 Bespoke & Closed Group Programmes

Bespoke and closed group courses are governed by an accompanying Service Level Agreement (SLA). Please check your SLA for any additional terms applicable to your booking.

7.0 Payments & Refunds

How to Pay

All fees are stated in THB.

We accept payment using all major credit cards including MasterCard, Visa, American Express, and JCB. You can pay via our website at the time of booking or by a secure payment link. For bank transfers, please refer to payment instructions on the invoice provided. Please make sure that you quote your Student ID (ST-XXXXX) in the reference section. Essential TEFL is not responsible for international bank transfer fees and these must be covered by the payee when making the bank instruction. Any outstanding fees will be collected on arrival and students will not be permitted to enter class until the balance is settled in full, this includes any unpaid bank charges.

Refunds

Any agreed refunds will be paid up to thirty (30) days following the date of cancellation. Refunds are only payable to the bank account or card used for the original booking and must conform with Essential TEFL’s Anti-money laundering (AML) policy and any other regulatory or statutory requirements applicable. Any course or accommodation that is postponed and then subsequently cancelled is bound by the same terms and conditions that would have applied at the time of the initial postponement.

All refunds exclude accommodation booking fees (where applicable). If a booking fee was waived at the time of booking it will be deducted from the total refund payable. All refund requests which do not incur the deposit penalty are processed with a refund handling fee of 5,000THB per transaction. Where a course booking has been cancelled after having only paid a deposit the deposit amount is non-refundable, and no additional refund handling fee applies.

Anti-Money Laundering

Essential TEFL policy and aim is to fully comply with all Thailand's legislation in relation to Anti Money Laundering and to ensure it minimises the risk of money-laundering taking place in its operations.

8.0 Force Majeure

In the event of ‘force majeure’, such as fire, flooding, pandemic, infectious diseases, and other events outside our reasonable control which may cause the closure of the school, no refund of fees will be made to students, except at the school’s discretion in exceptional circumstances.

9. Reviews

Essential TEFL will contact you via email to invite you to review any services received from us. We use an external company, Google Reviews, to collect your feedback which means that we will share your email address with Google. If you want to read more about how Google processes your data, you can find their Privacy Policy here.