CELTA

The Cambridge Certificate in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (also known as the CELTA, or Certificate in English Language Teaching to Adults) is an initial training course designed for those people with little or no previous teaching experience.  It is also suitable for people who have already been teaching English but have no formal teaching qualifications and teachers of other subjects who wish to retrain as English teachers.  Although designed for native speakers of English, it is also open to non-native speakers who have native speaker competence in both their spoken and written English.  Applicants must have a school leaving certificate or equivalent.  A high standard of spoken and written English is also required to pass the course.

CELTA Courses are run worldwide all year round.  Certificates are awarded by Cambridge ESOL.  Cambridge ESOL also approves all aspects of the course including the course programme, the training and facilities.  CELTA is an internationally recognised qualification and has British Council approval.  It is the minimum qualification for employment in most recognised language schools. Course tutors are experienced English Language teachers who have taught in a variety of countries and situations and are accredited CELTA trainers. All courses are externally moderated, thus ensuring that rigorous standards are maintained.

For very useful background information on the CELTA, see the Cambridge ESOL website

Why should I do my CELTA course at RELA?

We ran the first CELTA course in Rotorua in November 2002, which was also the first CELTA to be run in New Zealand outside the major centres.  We are accredited by Cambridge ESOL and employ only highly experienced trainers who have broad teaching and training backgrounds.

The main course tutor is David Clark, our Director of Studies. David has been a teacher trainer for 12 years, running 30 CELTA courses in the UK, New Zealand and Australia. He has also written materials for language teachers in the Middle East. He set up the first CELTA in Rotorua and has run all the CELTAs here.

What is the basic core content?

The core of the course is six hours of teaching practice.  You teach a variety of lesson types to adult learners of English at two different levels.  Teaching practice is preceded by supervised lesson planning, and a feedback session on your teaching comes after each lesson you have taught.  There are three hours of input each day and these sessions include demonstration and discussion of teaching principles and techniques, materials evaluation and language analysis for teaching purposes.  You also observe six hours of lessons given by experienced, working teachers. Additionally, there are four written assignments to complete, which are of a practical nature and have a total word count of 3000 words.  All of your teaching practice records and assignments are submitted in a portfolio at the end of the course for assessment.

For the full syllabus, please visit http://www.cambridgeesol.org/assets/pdf/celta-syllabus-assessment-guidelines-2011.pdf

How is it assessed?

The course assessment is both continuous and integrated, so there is no final exam. You are made fully aware of the criteria for assessment and given one-to-one tutorials during the course in order to focus on your strengths and development needs.

Assessment details
Trainees are expected to demonstrate competence in the following areas, in both their teaching practice and assignments:

• Language awareness, including aspects of vocabulary, grammar, phonology and a consideration of how language is used to express different meanings.
• Classroom techniques to manage a language class effectively.
• Effective lesson planning for adult learners.
• Awareness of teaching and learning styles and the different contexts in which English is taught.
• Professional development and the ability to evaluate strengths and weaknesses in their teaching.

Entry Criteria

Applicants should:

• be at least 18
• have an awareness of language and a competence in English, both written and spoken, that enables the applicant to undertake the course and prepare for teaching a range of levels
• have the potential to develop the necessary skills to become an effective teacher and to successfully complete the written assignments and the assessment of practice teaching.

How is the course graded and what do I get at the end of it?

The grades awarded are Pass, Pass ‘B’ and Pass ‘A’ and are based primarily on teaching ability and effective planning for teaching.  Written assignments are also taken into account for the final grade.  Applicants are reminded that award of the CELTA requires an ability to teach adult learners of English and, on occasions, candidates can fail the course. 

Provisional grades are awarded just after the end of the course.  A certificate, issued by Cambridge ESOL, is sent out approximately six weeks after the end of the course and will include a report written by the tutors.  The report focuses on teacher strengths and areas to work on beyond the course.

The course is moderated by an external moderator representing the Cambridge ESOL unit.

How long is it and when can I do it?

Full-time courses run for four weeks.  The normal working day is from 8.30 to 4.30 but is sometimes extended by up to an hour on Fridays. The course is very intensive and, in addition to the above, trainees will need to keep evenings and weekends free in order to prepare classes and complete assignments. We advise you not to have any other commitments during this time as you will need to dedicate all your time to the course.

How and when do I enrol?

First you need to fill in the application form and do the pre-interview task and then send them to us.  We will review your application carefully, and will normally invite you for an interview here at the school.  If you are not local and unable to get here, we can arrange a telephone interview for you. Acceptance onto the course does not guarantee a pass grade and the interview process is, therefore, designed to ensure that applicants are more than likely to succeed on the course.  If you are accepted and wish to take up the place you pay a deposit to secure your place.  On receipt of your deposit we send you a pre-course task (with answers) and reading list in order to help you prepare further.

There are a maximum of twelve places on the course.  Applicants are advised to apply six weeks or more before the start of a course, although there may be places available after that.