Hello Jack.

It demands full commitment.  Finished the CELTA last year in Oxford and can honestly say (with two degrees and the usual 60 hour week) its one of the most challenging things I have ever done.  Its really the volume of learning combined with the lesson preparation and course work.  You are expected to take it all on and use the new knowledge immediately. I remember working 8-11 most nights 5 days a week for the month.  By the second week everyone was tired, the third most were zombies.  Some of the girls actually cried from the stress.  Some of the students had been teaching for many years and they were pushed.  Everyone said it was one of the toughest and most rewarding things they had ever done, and that brings you all together on the course. 

Recommend reading Schrivener's Learning Teaching and getting into the habit of studying five hours a day before you start. Go for it.  

As an experienced teacher trainer, I would agree with the previous post. It can be demanding emotionally but you can minimise the suffering by doing lots of preparation beforehand. This will enable you to cope with the sessions on the nuts and bolts of the English language. If you haven't studied for a long time, get your writing and note-taking skills up to speed as this will help you to meet the deadlines for the written work.

An analogy I use with my trainees is that it is like a 10km run: most people can do it, some faster than others, but it is a lot easier if you get yourself in shape before the big day. Finally, it is tough but most trainees find it really rewarding because they learn an enormous amount about themselves, not least that obstacles can be overcome. If you go in with a positive frame of mind and be willing to take any professional advice on board, you should be fine.

Hi Jack,

the intensity of the Course depends on the school, and the country where you are taking it. I took mine in Moscow, Russia (BKC-IH) with two British tutors. It was very intensive and time-consuming. But I think almost everyone can do it successfully.

As you might know before being accepted to the course you'll have to do some paper work, i.e. write a short essay and do the Pre-Course task which is sent to you by the school (rather big). Try to be creative when doing this.

The books suggested for reading in one of the comments to your question are great, especially Scrivener. You'll get the idea what it's all about. You can also surf the Internet for some sample materials from or for CELTA course.

Don't worry about not having teaching experience and not having learned for a long time. In our group there were some people who had the same problem, and they did very well in the Course. 

In a nutshell it's worth doing.

Good luck!

Cheers,

Alyona

I've just finished a CELTA course. I did the part-time version over five months, but there was also an intensive course run in parallel by my centre (5 weeks). I spoke to the trainees on that course and they all agreed it was very intensive. Myself, I found the longer version of the course fairly easy. It's a nice alternative to take if you're a) not totally sure about teaching or b) need time to take things in, reflect, and so on.

One of things my friends on the intensive course said was that you basically get no time to recover during the course - it's straight from one thing to another. Whilst I don't have direct experience here, I can tell you that the intensive course at my centre has the trainees teaching on the second day, then every two days throughout the course, whilst you also have to hand in an assignment every week, plus classroom observation, input sessions, and tutorials. Throw in the fact that you're dealing with new grammatical concepts all the time and you don't get much time to reflect! On the occasions when I had a bad lesson, I really appreciated the breathing space that the longer course gives you. If you plan on doing the intensive course, make sure you're thoroughly prepared beforehand. Do some research, read some books (the ones mentioned here are all good, also check out "TEFL for Dummies", by Michelle Maxom, which contrary to its name, contains some good insights!) It will make it much easier if you know what you're dealing with in terms of grammar and TEFL jargon.

All that said, all the people on the intensive course passed. The CELTA is not particularly difficult to pass; it is just getting the higher grades that is difficult. The written assignments are very easy compared with say an undergraduate essay; they require nowhere near as much depth of research, though you do have to do strictly what the assignment tells you to and meet the assessment criteria. This can be frustrating as you can write a very good assignment but get failed on a technicality! If you fail any, you get a chance to resubmit and the tutors essentially tell you what to do. The assignments are very practical. One of them helps you to develop your understanding of theories behind skills lessons, which make them much easier to plan in future! Another one lets you record an interview with a student and analyse their errors; that one is quite interesting. I don't think being out of education for a while would really hamper your ability to do the assignments.

The lessons I found to be a different kettle of fish. Even with all the extra time advantage I had on the poor workhorses on the intensive course, I found them quite difficult and stressful. If, like me, you have no prior experience of teaching, it is very difficult to do well no matter how good you are academically. There are loads of things that you have to do as a teacher - plan the stages of a lesson, adapt the often dull coursebook materials, think of engaging activities for students to do, think about how the students' individual abilities will affect your lesson and how you will differentiate between them, plan the language you will use (because at lower levels you really do have to use simple words), etc. That's just before the lesson! During lessons, there are a wide range of things that can go wrong. You will forget most of your plan, if you're like me. The students will know words you didn't expect them to, and not know words you expected them to. The tape you're playing will get stuck, forcing you to eject it and think up a speaking activity on the spot while you sort it out!

The plan often goes out the window, but you have to try to notice what's going on the classroom as well as worrying about yourself (easier said than done, believe me). Students may be getting bored, they may not understand instructions, you may need to explain again, or students may even be speaking a language other than English (a big no-no!). The tutors gave me great feedback, though, and they were very good in giving you strategies on what to do if X happens in future. Overall, lessons are not easy to excel in.

There are three grades for each lesson you teach: Above Standard, To Standard and Not to Standard. If you put in a decent shift, ask your tutors if you need help and are generally a competent person it is not difficult to achieve To Standards, which is all you need to pass the course. I had a couple of absolute shockers which both comfortably passed. I think my friends on the intensive 5-week course all got on OK. 

However, to teach good lessons and get Above Standard is really challenging, even with all week to prepare and plenty of rest the night before. I managed two out of ten at AS, and sometimes it is just impossible. To get AS you need to have a good rapport with the students and motivate them, and dull material or a complicated grammar point makes this much harder.

Statistically you are pretty unlikely to fail the CELTA if you get accepted on the course. The grades are A, B, C and Fail. About 3% of people get an A, and I suspect they are the kind of people who have had years of previous TEFL experience, or are just irritatingly bright. No-one at my college got an A. A B grade is somewhat more common, about 20% of people get this. It is quite possible for a 'normal person' to aim for this, especially if you can improve over the course and work on the areas your tutors tell you to. A C or just 'Pass' grade is the most common with about 65% achieving it. This is not too hard to achieve but some good teacher trainees get it as they just miss the cut for the B. I will probably get this when they decide on our grades. Only about 5% actually fail, another 5% or so dropout before the course finishes.

In summary, the course seems to be well within the ability of most people to complete successfully, even the intensive one although it is tough. I would advise anyone who is considering doing it to consider what would work best for them. Also note that some centres do an intensive CELTA in 4 weeks, not 5 or 6 as at my centre. Personally I wouldn't reccommend this as it's just too much work and you won't get any satisfaction from the course. But that's just my opinion. Good luck to anyone who takes the plunge - hope it works out for you!

Hello Jack,

I am 26 and a non-native English speaker. I completed the CELTA course in Edinburgh a week ago. I had already had a BA and an MSc in the field as well as teaching experience. The first two did help but not the latter! I had to learn how to teach from scratch; changing past habits and practices or even adapting them was really hard. So, having experience does not necessarily mean things will be easy. Another point worth mentioning is grammar. Most of the native speaker trainees thought studying the English grammar was the most difficult thing to do. So, I suggest you get as much prepared as possible; Murphy's grammar is very good and so is Parrot's. Regarding Methodology, Scrivener is one of the best. Thornbury and Harmer are top as well. In any case, it is really worth doing the course! It will be very emotional! Enjoy it coz then you'll be missing it! Good luck!

Maria