CELTA certification program

[Juggler]

Hi all!!

Here I am in beijing for the long run. Wanting job security and a solid future as a teacher here or anywhere else in asia I may go.

So, I am heavily considering the CELTA certification program and wonder if anyone else has it.

a few questions.

1) Did it open more opportunities for you?
2) Do you feel it was worth it to you?
3) How difficult was the exam and the course?

and of course I have more questions, but i'd like to have an ongoing thread about this one.


Its rather important to me. Any help, comments, hate mail etc etc blah blah would be great!!

[burlives]

I've just finished a CELTA. I did mine at ECC Bangkok. (Caveat: within the Cambridge guidelines every CELTA school creates their own program.) It was a blast!

1) So far everyone I've met has little to no idea of what a CELTA does for a teacher. The opportunities it has opened for me so far are all in my classrooms. But it's going to do more. I'm going to use it to move into different kinds of classrooms, make some money and meet some new people. I wouldn't have done so otherwise.

2) For me, it was worth it, big time. It's a massive boost to what and how I can teach.

3) There was no exam per se. At ECC they have four assignments and regular trainer assessments of how well you take up and deploy the method in front of your students.

They pile on the work. (I found the second week included a lot of cursing.) But people doing the CELTA are a motivated group. It was a great environment. Basically, if you start working and keep working, the concepts sink in and get worked out and you find yourself doing what's needed and you pass.

And Thailand's a great place to visit after China. I was there in Feb-March, after the wet and before the stinking hot. One piece of advice, though: I can eat it every day, especially with a decent beer, but it is worth learning how to say something other than just "pad thai gai."

[Newbs]

I did a CELTA course in Melbourne in 1999. It was a good eye opener, as it showed me how little I really knew about teaching English. Up til then I thought teaching English would be dead easy, cos after all I'm a native speaker. Don't laugh, I bet a few of us have thought like that at one time.

In Melbourne I got the feeling that Cambridge was looking over Melbourne's shoulder all the time, so I don't know how that sits with Burl's comment, but hey, different country, different time.

1. Can't really answer as I did the course before I began ESL teaching.
2. Worthwhile as a starter, and showing me how little I knew. Since then I've done a Post Grad in TESOL, and maybe an MA in Linguistics soon. (I don't want to create the impression that I'm highly qualified or know what I'm talking about, just giving you the personal details. Also, I'm not a junkie for uni degrees, I just like to have a good mix of theory and practice. I am, however, a grade A certifiable smart @r$e.)
3. It was time demanding. I did the 4 week full time course and at the end I went back to full time teaching for R and R and that's no joke.

I've been teaching since 1976, okay. In any subject there are some teachers who are born naturals, and can teach any bloody thing, with no qualifications, and I just totally admire them. Then there are some who collect every bit of damned paper they can and they still don't know diddly squat. So how worthwhile is the CELTA? It depends on the person getting it.

[Juggler]

so far the replies ive gotten are excellent. i want to thank you guys for helping me so far.

i want this certificate but have to do some work on my grammar. I think that its too important although my work so far in china has had nothing to do with grammar at all.

seems that my years of an entertainer has made me comfortable enough to be in a class room but is that enough? i doubt that very much

[burlives]

I still have some things to work out about the CELTA. I think it's worth doing, and I agree with Newbs, it's a great starting point. And it's a people thing too. At ECC there were two classes of twelve trainees each, with each class split into two teaching practice groups of six permanaent members each. There's all kinds of character studies right there.

I think motivation was the key for everyone there, and for the success of the course itself. A truism, no doubt, but there you go.

[MK]

I went back home and did mine after my first year of teaching. Having been in a classroom before helped - I wasnt as nervous as the others.

3) The course was difficult, but mainly because of the sheer amount of work you have to get through. you can't have any other distractions while you are doing it.

2) It was worth it for me. I came out of the course knowing that I was a better teacher, and I had a solid foundation to improve on.

1) Opportunities? Well, I think if I wanted to find work in Europe or the UK, then yes, more opportunities. But here in China, and I suspect the rest of East and South East Asia, it doesn't make that much difference to your employment prospects. Universities seem to want Masters Degrees or PHDS (in any field), and nobody else really cares. Alot of schools put it in their ad's as apreference, but I have found that it makes little to no difference to salary etc when it comes to the negotiation part. They'd just as sonn get someone without a Cert' for less.