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Level 1 · I

Foundation.
The first rooms, the first lessons.

Guided Hours
60
Duration
4 Weeks
Next Intake
6 May · 3 June 2026
Investment
₩135,000
(USD $100)
Level 1 foundation class in session

Level 1 is for the teacher who has not yet taught. It is a foundation in the literal sense — the ground from which the rest of our curriculum is built. We do not presume any prior experience, any linguistic training, or any particular aptitude. What we do presume is that you are willing to prepare.

Over sixty guided hours across four weeks, the Foundation course covers what a teacher must do in the first hour of the first lesson. By the end of it, you will have taught three lessons, received feedback on each, and designed a fourth that you could, if circumstances required, deliver tomorrow. Most trainees describe the course as intense. None, in seventeen years, has described it as premature.

Who this course is for

The modules

  1. The classroom, the teacher, the learner

    An unflinching look at who you are teaching, why they are there, and what your presence in the room is actually for.

    8 hours
  2. The grammar of English as it is taught

    Tense, aspect, modality and voice from a teaching perspective. The grammar you need, not the grammar you were once tested on.

    14 hours
  3. Lesson shape

    The PPP framework, the ESA framework, and why the trainee must know both even if they will eventually prefer neither.

    10 hours
  4. Classroom language

    The actual spoken English a teacher uses — its register, its pace, and its restraint. Graded teacher-talk is the single greatest skill of the novice.

    8 hours
  5. First materials

    Choosing from a coursebook. Adapting a coursebook. Knowing when the coursebook is wrong. A practical workshop across three titles.

    10 hours
  6. Observed practice

    Three thirty-minute teaching practices with volunteer learners. Feedback from tutor and peers.

    10 hours

On completion

Trainees who complete the Foundation module receive the Hanseo Certificate in the Foundations of English Language Teaching, mapped to TICA Level 2 equivalence. The certificate qualifies graduates for entry-level tutoring positions and serves as the required prerequisite for our Level 2 Intermediate course.

"Level 1 is not a short course. It is a short version of the course most people should actually take before they stand in front of a paying learner."

Mode of study

Delivered online through our live-video seminar platform, or via synchronous online seminars for trainees outside Seoul. All seminars are recorded for asynchronous review, subject to the discretion of the tutor of record.

Next Step

Begin at the beginning.

Admission is rolling, places are finite. Write to our admissions office to arrange an interview.

Enrol in Level 1

Please include in your email:

Our admissions office replies to every message within two working days. Applicants are scheduled for a short admissions interview before final enrolment.