English Language Teaching to Adults (CELTA)

...for a qualification in teaching English as a Foreign Language and looked into possible places to study, you will no doubt have been overwhelmed by the number of institutions offering courses. A quick search on Google can bring up hundreds of possibilities. There are language schools, agencies, universities, HE colleges, Mrs. Bloggs down the road, you name it. I chose Leeds Met, and here I’ll explain why.

Unlike university degrees, ...
...a good academic CV. GCSE English at grade C (or equivalent) is a must. You will find the course very, very difficult if you don’t have the basics of spelling and punctuation. Grammar is taught on the course, but the more you know beforehand the easier it will be. On application, (which can be done by snail or online), you will have to complete a pre-interview task. This comprises a page of questions asking how you would explain the difference between ... more

THIS COURSE WOULD APPEAL TO:
People interested in language, reading, travel
People who are adventurous and quite creative

THIS WOULDN’T APPEAL TO:
Anyone who thinks grammar is boring, or that the ability to spell is unnecerserry
Very, very shy people

FINDING A COURSE
If you’ve ever considered studying for a qualification in teaching English as a Foreign Language and looked into possible places to study, you will no doubt have been overwhelmed by the number of institutions offering courses. A quick search on Google can bring up hundreds of possibilities. There are language schools, agencies, universities, HE colleges, Mrs. Bloggs down the road, you name it. I chose Leeds Met, and here I’ll explain why.

Unlike university degrees, the majority of TEFL/CELTA* courses take only 4 weeks. With this in mind, it’s a good idea to think about the criteria which are really important for you, before selecting a course. Some things to think about are:

Location
Cost
Resources available
Reputation

LOCATION. You have two choices: stay where you are or go somewhere else. There are obvious advantages to staying put (less hassle, cheaper), but several advantages to heading off to pastures new for a month, namely:

You will have to work so hard any distractions will have adverse effects on your studies.
You will be immersed in the TEFL experience, everyone you talk to, night and day, will be discussing verbs. Most students need all the help they can get!
Somebody else can feed the cat/lawn/husband while you get on with more esoteric tasks.
Nobody will complain when you come home at 11pm after spending a night hanging out in the library.

If you live in Leeds, all you need to know is that the course is based at the Beckett’s Park Campus. If you don’t, you need to know that this is a small Leeds Met college with an emphasis on education. Whereas the main Leeds Met campus is based practically in the city centre, Beckett’s Park is in the leafy green suburbs of a decidedly lovely part of the city. There are frequent buses into town, but you won’t have time to go. There are several homely hotels nearby, as well as B&Bs.

COST. The course at Leeds Met is not cheap, but also not the most expensive you could find. The cost depends on the time of year you choose. Winter term costs £770, Spring £920 and Summer £1040. You also need to add on c. £85 for the certificate fee. This is because although Leeds Met teaches you how to teach, it’s the University of Cambridge who assess you (mainly through your written assignments). (It will cost more if you are not an EU citizen). Add on your living costs, beer money, (the student bar is dangerously affordable though), and the cost of one or two books you might want to buy. Leeds itself is a relatively cheap city.

RESOURCES AVAILABLE. Leeds Met at Beckett’s Park specialises in education of all flavours, so there is a very commendable library full of not only directly appropriate titles (such as copies of classroom text books, grammar books for students and teachers, fun activities, teaching support, linguistic analysis etc.), but it also holds books on teaching in a much wider context, as well as other subjects. There are TVs available to watch recorded media, PCs with Office, the Internet and everything else you would expect, newspapers, photocopiers, printers and friendly staff if you get stuck. There are also study rooms available where you can work in peace and quiet, alone or with a group of your fellow trainees.

REPUTATION. When you start looking for a job, some schools will be fussier than others about where you qualified. It’s worth remembering that “university” is similar in most languages worldwide, and is a very respected word. “Doris Bloggs Inc.”, however may not be so highly esteemed.

ENTRY REQUIREMENTS/PROCEDURE. Ideally over 20 years old, with a good academic CV. GCSE English at grade C (or equivalent) is a must. You will find the course very, very difficult if you don’t have the basics of spelling and punctuation. Grammar is taught on the course, but the more you know beforehand the easier it will be. On application, (which can be done by snail or online), you will have to complete a pre-interview task. This comprises a page of questions asking how you would explain the difference between various pairs of sentences, e.g. “My sister is writing a letter/My sister writes letters” or “In the end he needn’t have gone to the station/In the end he didn’t need to go to the station”. See the link below for more. If your pre-interview task is ok, they’ll call you in for interview. You’ll be asked why you want to do TEFL, and may be asked to teach your interviewer something (anything).

THE COURSE. There are usually 18 people taken on each course. You are put into groups of 6, which stay the same throughout the course, so you really get to know each other. You observe each other teach, as well as observing qualified teachers. The students you are teaching are from all over the world, and there are about 12 to a class. They pay less money for their English lessons in exchange for getting a student teacher some of the time. There are seminars on teaching technique, grammar, lesson planning, and finding a job, amongst others. You are given homework written assignments each week, and these are very important as they form part of your assessment. You will be filmed teaching, and will have the very unpleasant task of watching yourself and analysing your own performance. It’s painful, but it’s good for you! The day is generally from 9-5, with a break for lunch, and your evenings will be spent planning the next day’s teaching. At first, your lessons will be literally only about 5 minutes long, but it will take you approximately 2 hours to plan 5 minutes. As you progress, your lessons get longer. Hopefully, you’ll find that it also gets easier to prepare. You’ll probably wonder how qualified teachers manage to plan their lessons when they teach 30 hours a week- all I can say is, it does get easier! If you pass, you’ll be awarded a straight pass, a B or an A. You’ll get your certificate and a breakdown of your assessment. There are 5 criteria: Language Awareness, Lesson Preparation, Awareness of Teaching and Learning Processes, Classroom Performance and Professionalism. Each has a maximum of 5 points

MY EXPERIENCE. I had a tough, but thoroughly rewarding time doing my CELTA at Leeds Met. The tutors were all very professional, experienced and tuned in, very willing to help and honest with their assessments. I can honestly say that I learnt far more about teaching from this course than I did from the PGCE course which I took at the “old” Leeds University. I would not hesitate to recommend this course.

TEFL= Teaching English as a Foreign Language
CELTA= Certificate in English Language Teaching to Adults
Links:
www.leedsmet.ac.uk
http://www.leedsmet.ac.uk/lsif/sol/documents/TEFLPreInterview.pdf

For more about the job, see my op “Get Paid to See the World!”

 

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