CELTA Survival Tips

Good advice! When I did mine, no one had laptops (most of us handwrote the assignments-ugh!). I’d definitely take a laptop and familiarise yourself with free online sources like http://iteslj.org/. If you’re doing it in a non-English speaking country, take the recommended books and then some. I found the academy I did mine in Barcelona had so few resources, scholarly (for the purpose of your papers) and otherwise (for the lesson planning). I’m sure the trainers would happily recommend additional resources if asked. With the second hand books available through Amazon.com you don’t have to spend much money to get so great books (”Planning Lessons and Courses” by Tessa Woodward is a worthwhile investment, IMHO).

Everyone gets stressed out at some point during the course, so I think being emotionally prepared for the hard work is something many students don’t take into consideration. It’s definitely NOT a working holiday. I saw so little of Barcelona during that month, though we did manage a nightly swim in the Med! Almost 10 years on and I am still friends with some of my cohort.

Just my 2 cents, K!

The thing to remember about the Celta is that it’s not a learning experience, or one of ‘personal discovery’ - it’s a very simple and direct sytem that they teach, and if you don’t spew out at one end what the trainers have been chucking in at the other, you will fail. So don’t show any initiative, or knowledge of other methods and approaches, at least not IN the classroom. It’s fine to bring up ‘the direct method’ or suggestopedia in your discussions, but when you get in front of the punters, just give ‘em the old PPP stuff.

After you’ve done that, you can learn how to teach properly by yourself.

Cairogal - good tips. I also didn’t have a laptop during my CELTA, so I feel your pain! I was lucky that my school had a lot of resources because it would be hard to pick out relevant resources before you even do the course…especially to pick out just a few. I never considered iteslj.org in light of its use for the CELTa…it could be useful. And yes, it’s definitely not a holiday!

Sandy…what do you mean, not a journey of “personal discovery”? You didn’t do yoga and sing kumbaya during your CELTA?

To be serious now, I think you are right to some extent…hence my advice “listen to feedback and do what they say.” But it’s a one-month course intended for people with no teaching experience - it’s just logical to me that they show you things to do and you do them. There are seminars and advanced degrees if you want to bring in methods and techniques of your choosing. Passing isn’t assessing you as “good teacher or bad”, it’s about whether you “mastered the content of the course” or not. Or something like that.

In my experience, a trainee doesn’t have the task of “teach present perfect continuous and sports vocabulary and incorporate TPR”… it’s “think up and ask concept check questions and make a good timeline…give clear instructions”. And someone banging on with TPR is not demonstrating whether or not they can do those other things which make up the course content. I don’t think it’s about initiative, I think it’s about working within the guidelines they give you, much like you have to do in many other situations.

I don’t really disagree with your points about the course - I just don’t think it’s all that rare or all that bad given that it’s a one month intro course.

By the way - congrats on having four blogs now (…or is it five?) - pretty impressive.

Katie said:
“Sandy…what do you mean, not a journey of “personal discovery”? You didn’t do yoga and sing kumbaya during your CELTA?”

We had a Reiki master working in our academy. She offered little pick-me-ups to the students in the course.

You had a Reiki master?! Looks like I was taken with this yoga stuff…

Yeah-she worked for the academy and lodged one of the students in the course. She read cards, too. If someone was stressed out, hungover, etc. she offered a little recharge at no cost!