Many of you will have seen that Cambridge is offering the CELTA course fully online during these strange times, something which has never been possible before. So what are the advantages and disadvantages or is this a purely win-win situation?
There may only be a small number of people who fail CELTA but don’t let yourself be one of the minority. Read on to find out some of the reasons for people failing the course so that you can avoid these pitfalls.
In our centre in Munich our fail rate is particularly low but, as with many centres, we do have our share of fail candidates. But why?
Continue reading “Why do people fail CELTA?”I often read or hear from trainees that their aim is to achieve a Pass A when doing CELTA. So what exactly is the best way to go about this?
When I decided to do the CELTA course many years ago, I was living in Germany at the time but looking for a way to return to the UK. I did some research and decided to apply to International House in Newcastle. I had never been to Newcastle before but relished the opportunity to embark on what turned out to be a very challenging four weeks in a place where I would be alone and have no distractions. I wasn’t disappointed.
Completing the CELTA course opened up a wealth of opportunities for me within the UK and I made my way into a fantastic College of Further Education in Manchester where I was given tremendous support from a very experienced team. It is there that I went on to do the Dip. TESOL (Trinity College London’s equivalent to Delta).
For me, completing the course in the UK was important because I was looking to settle back down there. My decision was the right one for me at the time.
Amanda and I now run the CELTA course in Munich and are pleased to enrol trainees from all over the world. However, Munich does not tend to be a destination CELTA Course, unlike perhaps places like Prague or Istanbul or Bangkok. I have thought about why that is and to be honest, I can’t put my finger on it. There is of course the matter of money, the aforementioned places can offer cheaper courses and their cities offer cheaper accommodation but should cost be the overriding factor? Surely, if embarking on the TEFL career path, the opportunities post CELTA should also play a part in the decision making process?
Things to consider:
I would be interested to hear from anyone who is currently deciding where to apply for the course and/or those who feel they made the right or wrong decision. Where will you / did you do your course and why?
Looking for a nice final lesson before Christmas?
On our most recent CELTA course in Munich, some of the trainees seemed to have a problem with the stages a lesson should include so I’ve tried to break down the basic stages for different lesson types.
Continue reading “A Guide to Lesson Planning: Basic Stages”Worried about receiving a not to standard grade?
Have you taught a CELTA teaching practice lesson and the grade was not to standard (NTS)? Are you concerned as to what this might mean? Let me put your mind at ease.
Continue reading “CELTA Grading – not to standard”Do everything you can to get ready for the CELTA course to ensure it is a good experience.
We often get asked by CELTA candidates what they should do to prepare for the course. This was one of the reasons we decided to write The Ultimate Guide to CELTA so of course our first answer is to buy the book but for those of you who can’t wait for the book to arrive here are some pointers to help you get started.
Continue reading “How to prepare for your CELTA Course”Written assignments form a major part of the CELTA assessment process and are a compulsory part of the course. There are 4 written assignments in total but some centres conflate two of them to make one larger assignment. In this series we will look at each individual assignment and provide you with some advice and guidance as well as highlight some of the common pitfalls.
Disclaimer: All centres create their own written assignment rubrics, make sure you check with your centre exactly what is required. We can only provide general information here, rather than specific. With this in mind, do you think it would be wise to pay for other peoples’ assignments to help you write your own?
On our CELTA courses in Munich, the trainee teachers teach two dfferent levels of students, namely A2 & B2 (CEFR levels). As we have recently changed the course books I thought it was time to sit down and really get to grips with the new books, after all that’s what we CELTA tutors expect our trainees to do! Following the criteria we use in our input session “Evaluating coursebooks” on our CELTA course, here’s what I discovered when I looked at Cambridge English’s Empower B2 Upper Intermediate book. Continue reading “Cambridge English Empower: An innovative new coursebook?”
