How the CELTA Prepares ESL/EFL Teachers

Learn to Teach English to Non-Native Speakers

Sep 20, 2008 Katherine Kocisky

The CELTA is an interactive course that involves teaching practice, feedback, and observations, all detrimental to making an effective and successful ESL/EFL teacher.

Patience, energy, creativity, and a desire to learn how the English language works make up the base components of someone who’s likely to succeed at the CELTA. This is a course for anyone who is interested in teaching English to non-native speakers and doesn’t know how to get started. It can be as short and intensive as four weeks long (full-time) or more relaxed at three months to fifteen weeks (part-time). It's also possible to take the CELTA in several different countries.

First Day on the CELTA

On the first day, a whole group session puts trainees in the position of students, while the trainers play the teacher. Instead of lecturing, trainers use real ESL lessons on trainees, including introductory icebreakers, speaking activities, and grammar games designed to kill two birds with one stone: trainees get to know one another and trainees get valuable lesson ideas to use when they become teachers the next day.

The whole group is divided into smaller groups of about 6 trainees, led by one trainer. Trainees are assigned lessons to teach real students the following day and given assistance from their trainer. This sounds daunting at first, but the first few lessons are only 20 minutes long and are typed up by the trainers.

Teaching, Observations, and Feedback

The hands-on approach to the course allows trainees to jump right into the teacher role so the trainer feedback can begin right away. Trainees will get to use their lessons on real students who want to learn English, aged anywhere from eighteen to upwards of sixty years of age. This allows trainees to become aware of their speech, transitions, and efficiency within their first lessons.

Immediately after teaching, the group meets for a feedback session, making sure to allow positive and constructive criticism from everyone including fellow trainees. Trainees will receive six hours of teaching observation during the course. The length of lessons will get progressively longer, so that trainees go from teaching twenty minutes to sixty by the end.

Whole Group Sessions

However, the whole course is not spent teaching. During whole group sessions, trainees learn about the phonetic alphabet, how to teach tenses to beginner and pre-intermediate students using colorful Cusenaire Rods (wooden blocks of different lengths used to represent different parts of speech), and observe more experienced teachers within the school and by video.

Trainees also get an hour-long crash course in a language they’ve rarely spoken or heard before, such as Chinese or a dialect of Africa. This gives trainees the opportunity to understand the frustration and joy of learning the first words of a new language. They also obtain teaching techniques to use with their students who may be hearing and speaking English for the first time.

In addition, the CELTA includes sessions on teaching YL's (Young Learners age 6-12) and Business English, which give trainees a general idea about the type of student they would like to teach in the future. At the end of the course, trainers give recommendations and can even help with job placement.

This course is a great opportunity to learn about teaching ESL while traveling and meeting people from all over the world. Expect to work hard from the very first day, while gaining insightful knowledge from teaching practice, peer observations/feedback, and unique whole group sessions.

The copyright of the article How the CELTA Prepares ESL/EFL Teachers in Language Study is owned by Katherine Kocisky. Permission to republish How the CELTA Prepares ESL/EFL Teachers in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.

Cusenaire Rods Used to Teach English