Hey Hexuan, would you mind telling me what CELTA is and how you can get into the program and where it offers it? I’ve also heard of DELTA. Is it similar program?
Thanks a bunch in advance,
CELTA is a pre-service qualification offered by the University of Cambridge Local Examination Syndicate which indicates that the holder has reached a certain standard in English language teaching to adult learners of English as a foreign language. The course consists of teacher training, assessed teaching practice, and observation of experienced teachers. There are also assignments on langauge, designing programs for learners, and critical analysis of teaching materials. It is very very tiring. Along with the Trinity College London Certificate, it is recognised around the world, and a basic requirement for teaching posts in Europe. Excuse the spelling, I am knackered having just finished my 2nd week. Type CELTA into google, and you should find Cambridge Uni’s website. It’s probably www.cantab.ac.uk ?
For the record, the CELTA I am currently doing at the Queen’s University Belfast is GBP970, four weeks full time. But it’s closer to GBP2000 if you include all the coffee and cigarettes you have to get through to survive the course.
Hexuan
I saw an ad in a newspaper (Weekly Telegraph) for a MA in TESOL at Queen’s which mentioend that you could do the DELTA course there at the same time which would earn you credits toward the Master’s degree. Do you know anything about that?
I have often toyed with the idea of doing a master’s but always came to the conclusion that in Taiwan CELTA, DELTA and MA TESOL don’t make a big difference to your teaching career here unless you want a job at university, in which case you would probably need a PhD as well. Do you think doing a CELTA is worth it for Taiwan? I once called a college in Taichung about a job. They offered a measly 465/hr, super low even for two years ago. However, if you had an MA you could get 520/hr - WOW! Calculate how long you would have to work there to recoup the costs of doing an MA! I don’t think they would give you anything extra for having the CELTA. They probably have never heard of it. Of course, I decided not to go to the interview.
Spack, you pretty spot on the money there. But what the CELTA IS good for, is giving you the foundations of how to teach. Their methods are solid. Teachers here in Taiwan, range from business majors to agricultural specialist majors. Very few really are chalkies by trade. Therefore, the average Joe Blow, graduate greenkeeper from the University of Ohio teaching at Hess, has practically no hands on experience in TEACHING, let alone training on how to teach. So yes, I’d say the CELTA is worth every cent, especially if you’re a specialist in a field aside from teaching.
I was talking the other dfay to one of the guys that teaches the MA and he was basically saying that doing the DELTA was beneficial because an MA doesn’t necessarily mean you can teach whereas (his words) very few bad teachers get through the DELTA.
I’m doing the CELTA because I might like to leave Taiwan at some point and I have a lot of free time on my hands. There is a substantial amount of theory in it, and it emphasises teachers analysing and improving themselves. In addition, it doesnt just focus on PPP, we have had lessons on various methodologies including the lexical approach. It is something along the line of a pointer in the right direction. We know what books to read (Harmer, Scrivener, and Thornbury are the authors QUB recommend) and the basics about analysing learners and language. What I have noticed is that a lot of teachers I used to know were doing all this without the benefit of CELTA - but I certainly wasn’t. I am basically doing it 'cause I used to be a shite teacher and hopefully now I am slightly less shite !
Whether it will mean anything to Taiwanese schools is a good question. I would imaging the only people who have heard of it are the foreign teachers.
I don’t doubt that the CELTA and DELTA courses are great for learning how to teach. Before I left the UK, I had enough money to get either the RSA certificate or a plane ticket to Taiwan with a bit left over. I had read somewhere that it was fairly easy to get work in Taiwan without any teaching qualifications, so I booked the flight.
Learning on the job is one way to go, although you don’t get to know all the names of the various theories.
I worked at Hess when I was fresh off the boat which is a great iway to learn the ropes (for kids anyway) as everything is so structured. After a while it became boring though. I moved to ELSI (Kojen) which is also a great place to learn to teach as there are all kinds of teaching materials, training and a TA (teachers’ assistant) who is paid to help teachers prep for class. Low pay though. I think I was lucky though - there was a healthy working atmosphere at the branch I worked at, which is not always the case at other branches apparently.
For teaching outside Taiwan, though, I agree that CELTA is a must.
I taught at ELSI about 10 years ago and it was fine. What the trainers who weren’t up their own arses had to say was pretty much in line with what I’m learning at the mo’.
Finally finished the CELTA. Apparently there is a significant failure rate on the DELTA. I spoke to the guys at Queen’s and the way the MA works is that it is basically a DELTA with some extra bits thrown in (like a dissertation) for the MA. If you don’t pass the extra bits you leave with a Diploma (DELTA) but a lot of people failed last year’s DELTA - apparently it is monstrously difficult.
Hexuan: congrats on becoming a ‘real’ teacher - on Teacher’s Day too! Have yourself a nice pint of Guinness.
The DELTA sounds scary. Any idea what is so hard about the course? You’re our man at the scene so to speak. Do you reckon you would do it yourself in a few years maybe?
I doubt it. I only did the CELTA because I was what is known in the jargon as a “Crap Teacher”. Now, if I am still a Crap Teacher, I can blame inadequacies in the CELTA program rather than my own shortcomings.
The DELTA / MA route is expensive and appears to require a trip out of Taiwan (?). I don’t plan to leave Taiwan once I go back, but if I do and go to a country where EFL is taken a bit more seriously by the government and language schools, the CELTA will be useful (“Hey look ! I’ve got a bit of paper with Cambridge written on it!”)
Hope I actually learnt something. It was so intensive (9-6 every day and huge assignments at the weekend) and nerve racking (8 assessed lessons pulled apart afterwards by no less than three different assessors) that I can’t even even take a dump now without thinking about whether my motions are toilet centred enough.
Dipthongs, Tripthongs, non-rhotic accents, velar fronted something or others, task-teach-task, lexical chunking, the frigging affective variable, the Natural Approach, the Silent Way, the Noisy Way, the 40 Marlboro and 200 Cups of Coffee a Day Way… Too much for a month - it nearly bloody killed me.
I am currently in the Australian College of English (ACE) Australian TESOL Training Centre CELTA program in Sydney. It was a rigorous application and interview process. Online exam, another exam at the interview and three hours going over my answers to the exam! My first week is nearly over. It has been very intensive. I have already taught a 20 minute lesson and a 40 minute lesson with the first written assignment due tomorrow. Next week I teach two 40 minute lessons with 3 written assignments due by the end of the week. Today is only my third complete day, however, I am holding up well. Talk about jumping right into the pool. It is sink or swim. Be prepared to know your grammar and verb tenses extremely well. Language analysis, teaching techniques (Elicit, Model, Drill, Write), checking students for understanding with CCQ’s (Context Checking Questions), other feedback techniques and verb tenses have been the big areas of concentration this week. Subject, nouns, verbs, adverbs and adjectives are not enough language analysis. Be prepared to know about and use auxillary verbs, modal auxillary verbs, participles, prepositions, conjunctions, determiners, definite and indefinite articles, the lot!!! I have learned quite a bit in three days. My classmates have been using lunch and the one break in the morning to do lesson planning and the written assignments. My total fees were A$2,400+ the A$230 Cambridge CELTA assessment fee. The course completes November 1, 2002. I will let you all know how things are going next week. I have a self-evaluation to write about today’s lesson right now.
Hideous isn’t it ? Do you have to do a Focus on the Learner, and a Material Analysis assignment ? That’ll kill you. But in any case the assignments aren’t terribly important. It’s the teaching practice that really matters. I found it all a little contrived, and hard to tell what exactly is being assessed an any given time. But anyway - I survived. And I passed, so that’s all that matters. Another piece of paper - and who knows I might even become a better teacher as a result ?
Keep us informed. It will be interesting to note the differences between your experience in Oz and mine in N. Ireland. Are you coming out to Taiwan ?
Dear Amos,
Exactly which of these certifcations are the best applicable for landing the best paying job in the ESL industry? And what are the employment bonus for having 2 BAs instead of one, because I will have 2 in History and Political Science when I graduate in 2003. Thanks.
Tomwood
Umm … What is the employment bonus for having 2 BA’s, both of which have nothing to do with teaching English? Er… zero?
Some schools might or might not give preference to holders of the various ESL certificates, but the BA is a minimum requirement set by the Ministry of Education for ESL teachers here. The number of BAs is immaterial.
Ditto for what Sandman just said, see my pm reply. Cheers Amos.
Generally speaking the Trinity College London TESOL Certificate and the Cambridge University (UCLES/RSA) CELTA certificates are the only ones which are recognised internationally. Having said that, you won’t need either in Taiwan. There are various discussions on this in the teaching archives.
:shock: Thanks Hexuan you are the proverbial fountain of good knowledge.
Tom
Those certs are very expensive (my CELTA wa USD1500). Don’t be afraid to do a cheapie one if and only if it gives you real classroom time with real students under the supervision of experienced teacher(s) (preferrably of Asian students).
Well, I’ve arranged for a CELTA telephone interview this coming Friday and I was wondering what kind of questions are typically asked or if the interview is like a quiz. should i prepare for this? Should I get the heebie geebies??
thx