What is a CELTA course like?

To find out what doing a CELTA course is like, Tom Walton talked to Rob McCaul over the four weeks the course lasted...

Week 1

So far the course was going well, Rob thought. Today was his second day of teaching practice - or "TP" as we call it. "I was a lot more nervous today - didn't feel I'd done nearly as well, but the other trainees who were observing me gave me a lot of encouragement and said in fact they thought I'd done better," he said. The first TP session had been a lot less nerve-racking. "I didn't have to take on board what the tutor had told me then," Rob explained.

Three days ago I wasn't a teacher but in thirty days' time I'm going to be

After TP the tutor sits down with you and runs back over the class with you. What went wrong, and how could you have improved it (and what went right, too!) - that sort of thing.

One thing that Rob's tutor Dave had drawn his attention to in feedback was the language Rob had been using with the class (elementary students). "I had to be conscious of them today whereas on the first day I just went in and did it". An example? "Yeah, like saying 'Let's go through the answers' rather than 'look at' or maybe just speaking a bit more slowly or using body language".

Everyone seems to find the course pretty intense - was that Rob's feeling; too? Well, yes, quite. "Tonight I've got to prepare the lesson I'm going to give tomorrow, for example," Rob said. But then again, he was going to find time to go and see Barça play this evening. "There's a lot of work to do, that's for sure, but I suppose a lot depends on how good you are at managing your time, doing your planning properly - not panicking, I suppose that's it." Funny, Rob doesn't strike you as the kind of person who does a lot of panicking!

So, on the whole, coping with the course, learning...? Yeah, coping, learning definitely. The tutors (Lynn and Vicki, as well as Dave) had been great. "I'm learning a lot from them - it's almost like learning the language for a second time. I'm learning about things like pronunciation and classroom management issues I just would never have thought of before - they're all being brought up by the tutors in the mornings and then you have the chance to put it all into practice in the afternoons."

What about being observed, how was that? Definitely "a little bit intimidating at first", Rob felt but everybody - the tutors, the other trainees - are all in it together. "Obviously, you've got to be corrected and criticised, that's part of the learning process," Rob says. The tutors had been very careful about how they'd criticised, "suggesting rather than dictating" was how Rob put it.

"There's a learning curve," Rob says. "Three days ago I wasn't a teacher but in 30 days' time I'm going to be and obviously there's a lot you've got to learn."

But it sounded as if the learning had begun...

Week 2 » | Week 3 » | Week 4 »