If you're a native speaker of English and can prove it with a passport, you don't need to get a TEFL certification. Yes, it is useful to get the idea of how to teach your own language, as being a native speaker doesn't mean you know it or know how to explain it, but that can be achieved by individual research and self study, without the need to pay loads of money for a certificate that no one will ever ask you for anyway. Depending on what country you're from and which one you want to live in, your American/British passport is enough to find you a job (at least in most European countries). My experience was mostly in living and teaching in Spain, and if that's the country you're interested in , then the best option would be going through the program called Auxiliares de Conversación. It's a far better option than TEFl, as you're guaranteed work placement, you will be working less hours than TEFL teachers, and won't have to prepare any lessons (which can take hours a week). International TEFL Academy stresses that you don't have to be a native speaker to get their certification as long as your level of English is sufficient. As much as that is true, they fail to mention that you will face huge descrimination as a non-native, with most companies not wanting to even speak to you or conduct an interview. That doesn't mean it's impossible to secure a teaching job as a non-native, but it's much more difficult and can take months of struggle. Even then, you might be forced to lie to your students about your background. That's exactly what happened to me, as, even though English is my main language, I studied it extensively at university for years and have a degree to prove it, passed my TEFL certification with better result than any of the natives I know (receiving 99% on final exam), I still faced descrimination for months on the grounds that I wasn't born in an English speaking country and don't have a British/American passport. The International TEFL Academy does provide solid grounds of the language and teaches you various techniques, however it is still hugely overpriced for what it is. For me, the best part of it was that I got to meet many people on my course and made friends for years, but I didn't get much out of it professionally.