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CELTA Trainee

Dear All,

I'm taking a CELTA course in July and wondered if anyone could give me general advice.

Marc

CELTA Trainee

Comments

Submitted on 9 June, 2008 - 07:16

i picked up some advice for u. and hope it could help u a little bit.

The CELTA is a basic training course and you don't need to produce startlingly creative lessons. So don't waste hours trying to think up new activities or materials: Plan simple but effective lessons using/adapting published material and based on example/procedure sheets given to you by the trainers. If you spend too much time on planning, you won't have enough energy left to interact with the students when you teach your lesson!

However hard you work, some of your lessons may go wrong. (If you could produce perfect lessons, why would you be doing the course?) If this happens, remember that mistakes are excellent learning experiences. So don't stress out or become defensive, particularly during the feedback discussions after practice lessons. With help from the trainers and your colleagues, identify what went wrong - and then make a specific effort to avoid making the same mistakes in your next lessons.

Even if you feel stressed, be cooperative and courteous to your colleagues, your students, the trainers and the center's staff. Also, be punctual throughout the course. This is all good practice for how you will be expected to behave as a "real" teacher. Also, your behavior during the course will affect the grade that you receive and the reference that the center writes for you afterwards.

Submitted on 12 June, 2008 - 16:02
Many thanks for your useful and clear advice. I feel much better now!
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