Your experience will surely help you in the CELTA especially with regards to Language awareness. For example, some of our fellow trainees were unaware of the various uses for different tenses. Your knowledge and experience should put you in a more comfortable position than most I imagine. However, you will find yourself being de-skilled, a strange phenomenon that feels like your going downhill for a while. It’s a deliberate process and my advice would be “Don’t fight it, go along with it.” You’ll soon find yourself coming back up. Take note of what they advise you and show them in the next teaching practice you listened and you’ll be fine. Other factors to consider would be external ones. A place to stay? a long commute etc… By the way, London’s a great place of course but you won’t be seeing much of it…
Good luck.
I agree with hexuan and I wouldn’t lose too much sleep over it. It seems to me that each course is as varied as the trainers themselves. On my first tutorial I was told that I could forget an A pass which is reserved for only the most elite teachers. When I realised that an A from Cambridge is a little different from an A in a bushiban I felt better. I received 3 S+ for my teaching practice sessions and my other half got 2. I was awarded a B pass and Jessica a pass. However we were continually told we were being graded holistically, which seemed to me was able to give the assessors a lot more flexibility.
Perhaps we could get together and think about the next stage. Is anyone here planning to take it to the next level? A DELTA or a correspondance MA?
I am thinking about doing some more study, perhaps next year (DELTA)or later this year for correspondance MA - does anyone have the inside track on distance MAs - or else MAs that cross-credit DELTA…and also I would be interested in any thoughts in regards to US versus UK courses. UK courses seem far more organised and coordinated, but I think as far as Taiwan is concerned US English rules…but lets not discuss that too much here.
Well I am going … appreciate any links or book references concerning suprasegmentals (stress, intonation etc). I brought a book from Caves called “Teaching Amercan English” by Avery and Ehrlich - which is pretty damn good.
Oh, also just want to say thanks to Hexuan and Viba for the kind words. I’m not too hung up on the grade, just a little miffed, basically I got what I wanted out of the course. Would strongly recommend the course to prospective or current teachers.
The two courses are both administered by British organisations, but they don’t teach you how to teach “British English”. They teach you how to teach ESL/EFL. Both native and non-native English speakers can take the course.
Because the courses are only offered at approved centres and the each course is externally moderated to ensure it meets certain standards.
Check this link from the British Council for more information: Getting Qualified
Not that I’m aware of. It’s going to be merged anyway.
Blueulysses: they are certificate qualifications in teaching English - not necessarily British English. I have a CELTA and I am working at an “American” school, teaching “American” English.
I’m considering quitting my boring office job and going back into teaching. If I do go back to teaching, I will definitely do a TEFL cert. I’m most interested in the CELTA. I would do it at the British Council in Hong Kong. The HK course is probably one of the most expensive in the world; it’s over US$3,000. The only reason I would do it there is that I already have a place to stay and I don’t feel like going to a different city. Seeing as how British Council, HK is the closest CELTA site to Taiwan, have any of you done the course there? Any experiences to share?
I completed my CELTA in London this past summer. If you do study in London (where I felt it would be distinguished when I apply for a job in Europe since it was in British English), make sure you have knowledge of British English. They will want you to buy Michael Swan’s book (title escapes me now) which can be purchased at Caves and is a good introduction to just what they want in the grammar exam part of the interview. In my course, there were 12 candidates. One dropped out after a few days. The remaining members were mostly British, but there was a Macedonian, a Russian (we’re still friends), a Hungarian, a Kiwi, and an American (me). The age range was 21 to mid-40’s. Only four of us had taught before. The Hungarian had taught English in an elementary school for over 10 years. She got a Pass A. The Russian and I had taught for three years each by that point (we both got regular Pass), and a middle-aged Irish guy taught chemistry at a university. He was one of the two to fail. Also a really snobby, childish Brit got a Pass B even though she was only 21 and still in school. Experience didn’t dictate who would succeed and who would fail. The four papers weren’t that bad, but I did have to resubmit twice…beware of the grammar paper. Having a background in linguistics helped a lot, but it still didn’t prepare me to teach the way they wanted and I had an argument with my tutors over the phonetic portion of the course. I got a pass, nothing too impressive, and it seems that my school doesn’t give a shit about all the time, energy, and money I invested in it, but I’m sure that once I move on to a country where teaching English is taken more seriously, I will see some return on my investment. I only wish there was a CETYL program available somewhere. I would feel better having that. I am not too anxious to jump into a master’s program since coming to Taiwan was supposed to be my escape from doing just that, but I am starting to think I am ready to do one in either applied linguistics or in education. For those who have completed one or the other, how would you rate distance learning? Just how self-motivated does one have to be in order to complete these programs? How many hours a week could you work while working on these degrees?
Since most European English schools prefer British English over American English, I figure that by earning my CELTA in the UK, I might gain a slight advantage since it required some knowledge of British English, especially in grammar and pronunciation.
Congratulations on getting your CELTA. I’ve heard it’s pretty tough.
I too have considered doing a distance MA in ESL but decided in the end that it would be too much to handle. You need to spend at least 12 hours a week studying which may not sound like a lot but you would have to be extremely disciplined to balance work and study over a two-year period.
There are other things to consider. The woman I spoke to at London University said that you need access to a well-stocked library. In addition, you need to buy a ton of books, which doesn’t come cheap she warned. All things considered I felt it would be better simply to take a year off to do an MA back home in the UK. I am still unconvinced I actually need an MA anyway as the extra pay you get in Taiwan for having an MA is paltry and I have no interest in teaching at university here.
Also, you say you might teach in Europe one day. In that case I suggest you go for the DELTA. It’s as hard as nails, but it’s extremely well regarded in the ESL field and better in many ways than having an MA in ESL, which varies in worth depending on where you did it.
Just some thoughts on the subject.
ImanOU, if you have a background in linguistics (presumably a degree) and you had trouble with the grammar on the course, what kind of stuff were they throwing at you? Can you give us some examples of grammar questions on the paper?
[quote=“JGeer”]
If you want a Masters Degree in TESOL, while living in Taiwan. You can consider the accredited nonresidency programs of Australian universities.
For various reasons, I do strongly endorse these over most of the US programs.
If you have RSA accreditations, check out University of Wallongong. Your RSA credits are potentially transferable and can be integrated into the core program. A very unique Masters in Eduction (TESOL).
[/quote]
On the off chance that someone wanted to check out the above university as they interested it’s actually the “Univeristy of Wollongong” which is near Sydney (well an hour away).
Essentially they wanted us to analyze usage and the manner of teaching certain forms such as the following sentences:
“The lift was fixed, we needn’t have taken the stairs.”
“The lift was fixed, we didn’t take the stairs.”
example concept check questions for each sentence to distinguish the difference: Did you need to take the stairs? Did you take them anyway? Are you still taking the stairs? Will you take them again?
This was a problem for me because in American English there is no such word as “needn’t”. Now I know…and this was just in the interview that you have before being accepted.
For the paper, we had several sentences like this and had to come up with concept check questions to clarify the meaning (and tense usage), a way of teaching it, what materials we would use, what kinds of activities to use, and a context for which you would teach the tense. I forgot to include a clear context for each of my examples and that is mainly why I had to resubmit that particular paper.
I didn’t help that some bleeding wanker nicked my backpack with my papers inside so I had to rely on my peers to let me photocopy the paper’s requirements and rewrite it. I hope he got a lot of smack with my notes; battered, outdated ESL textbook; beat-up discman that skipped all the time; and a burnt copy of my favourite opera arias. Bastard.
(A little warning to those travelling to London in the future…Be ware of the orange internet cafe near Charing Cross station. According to the Charing Cross police they have an average of 5 bags stolen from there every day.)
Anywho, I was thinking of doing my DELTA, but the only programs in the UK run for 8 weeks (again, I would highly prefer doing it in the UK, especially London). I only get 6 weeks off for my summer vacation after summer camp. Besides, I think you have to have quite a bit of experience teaching adults to be accepted, and I have only had one year at that level, way back in 2000 although with one false beginner class and one advanced class, not counting my CELTA practicum. I have seriously thought about it though.
ImanIOU wrote [quote](A little warning to those travelling to London in the future…Be ware of the orange internet cafe near Charing Cross station. According to the Charing Cross police they have an average of 5 bags stolen from there every day.) [/quote]
Actually you need to be careful with your bags where ever you are in London. Some establishments have clips attached to their tables to secure bags, otherwise make sure they are where you can see them or are held down or inaccessilbe.