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      CELTA? What do you compare it with?
      Submitted by aminn on 25 September, 2008 - 19:55

      To do the course, I first got some sheets to fill up! well, it actually came along with a pre-interview questions sheet which I had to talk about on the interview day to approve my eligiblity to enter the course.

      A nice question on one of these sheets was:

      Learning to teach English on the CELTA programme will, I think, be like:

      # Parachute jumping                                 # Following a recipe

      # Learning to drive                                   # Learning your mother tongue

       

      What do you colleagues think? ? ?

      Average: 3.8 (6 votes)

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      Heath's picture
      Heath
      Interesting Question
      Submitted on 27 September, 2008 - 03:15

      Hmm, interesting choices.  TeachingEnglish.Org.UK should do this as a Poll.

      I suppose you could justify any of them if you think about it and word it carefully enough.  But I'd go for:

      Learning to Drive

      In Driving:

      • There are underlying rules that everyone should obey.
      • Even if you do follow the rules, everyone is free to go where they like, and different people have their own routes and shortcuts...
      • And on top of this people regularly bend (or blatantly break) the rules if it makes things more convenient for them.
      • Doing it requires theoretical knowledge and awareness of various areas (how the controls affect the cars movement; traffic rules; driver and pedestrian psychology, etc) as well as physical ability and practical skill
      • It involves interaction with other drivers, turn-taking, signalling, etc...

      So in teaching/learning driving:

      • Rules help
      • But rules are far from everything and it's important to help learners develop their own habits and skills and to encourage them to explore the roads on their own
      • Understand that 'incorrect' driving isn't always a mistake, it's often very intentional, and at times can be useful
      • Combine theory, awareness raising, and practice
      • It's important to provide practice interacting with others

       

       But I bet we can draw some interesting parallels between the other types of learning and language learning too!

       

       

      michelletoh's picture
      michelletoh
      Parachute jumping. It was
      Submitted on 27 September, 2008 - 10:29
      Parachute jumping. It was fast-paced (hectic and stressful at times) but also fun and exciting and every bit as adrenalin-pumping. So definitely parachute jumping.
      Heath's picture
      Heath
      I can't read...
      Submitted on 4 November, 2008 - 07:21

      Oh, yeah, of course... Stupid me - I wasn't thinking about 'learning on the CELTA course', I was thinking about 'learning a language'.

      If the CELTA course was like learning to drive, I think there'd be a lot of car crashes.  You don't even know where you're going at first, and even when you do, you don't feel in control until the last lesson - if that.  Definitely parachute jumping (with all the safety gear, of course).