Is the CELTA Enough?
Fatime Losonci
Enneagram and Marketing Coach | Niche Whisperer | I help introverted coaches and Enneagram practitioners become better at promoting themselves by using personality to get the right clients. | 3 months 1:1 coaching $2,997
The other day I got this very insightful comment (question?) from @Peter Anderson here on LinkedIn:
"Dear Fatime,?
I doubt it that a CELTA qualified teacher is unable to teach IELTS. CELTA is the most thorough course and trains you how to teach English communicatively with observed classroom practice, written assignments, etc. I don’t understand why a CELTA teacher who has already been ‘trained’ to teach English needs ‘training’ to teach IELTS. Surely, if they’ve passed CELTA, they can take on teaching exam preparation on their own? Or is it inexperienced non-CELTA people you train?"
I liked this "comment-question" because I get some version of it a lot.?
So I thought my response is also worth sharing here... ;)
"Dear Peter,?
thank you for your question, it's such an important one! I especially love your enthusiasm about the CELTA course, as I also believe it's an AMAZING course.?
Just like you (?) I'm also a huge fan of it because it DOES
??equip teachers with the basic LANGUAGE AWARENESS needed to get started (especially if they're native speakers of English), as well as?
??some useful CLASSROOM MANAGEMENT strategies, AND
??the CONFIDENCE to step into a classroom, be in front of a group, sometimes for the first time in their lives (at least in their new role as an 'English teacher').
Having said that, given its scope and length, the CELTA cannot (and does not even promise to) make teachers excellent at teaching
??all areas of LANGUAGE (i.e. grammar and vocab),?
??or, especially SKILL.
Instead, it gives teachers the tools to?
??know how to RESEARCH any language area before class it (i.e. how this target language 'behaves' in 'action', i.e. what its characteristics are when it comes to MFPA (=meaning, form, pronunciation, and appropriacy), and
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??how to 'run' a 'skill lesson', often focusing on 'OUTCOME' only (=comprehension or product, as opposed to sub-skill development) while following the same path that's available in most coursebooks, e.g. in the case of receptive skills for example
1) raising?interest in topic
2) pre-teaching any?‘blocking’ vocab
3) setting a?gist task
4) reading/listening?for gist
5)?setting a?detailed task
6)?Ss?read for detail
7) follow-up language work or personalized speaking/writing
In my free masterclass (at https://fatimelosonci.com) and teacher training courses (such as?https://fatimelosonci.com/product/how-to-teach-ielts-listening/?and?https://fatimelosonci.com/product/how-to-teach-ielts-reading/?and?I talk about why this is often not enough for IELTS students, because just 'testing and scolding' them 'post-hoc' (e.g. after administering a past paper) is no guarantee that they'll do better at executing on a particular sub-skill next time when they try.
Hope this helps."?
What do YOU think? Is the CELTA 'enough'?
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Hi. I'm Fatime. I'm an IELTS Teacher Trainer, helping CELTA-qualified English language teachers become better at teaching SKILLS, as opposed to just testing them.?
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Educator
2 年IELTS is big business these days as people from all around the world look to sit this essential English exam. I am well aware that completing CELTA alone would not automatically prepare me to teach IELTS preparation class. However, sadly, it’s more of a trend nowadays; people claiming to be IELTS teachers just because they successfully achieved higher band scores on IELTS tests without having teaching qualifications. In that case, I would doubt that they will be able to give proper feedback as comprehensive as what is demonstrated in the CELTA training.
Independent Education Management Professional
2 年I see the CELTA as a license to start General English teaching and learning. IELTS is a specialist area like EAP and requires specific training and guidance.
ESL Teacher - ISL Teacher - Teacher Trainer and Communication Coach
2 年I took the CELTA less than one year ago, and it was the best professional choice I ever made. I can't do anything but praise how good that course is and how much one can get out of it. That being said, I agree with everything you wrote about teaching skills. ?? The CELTA course raised my awareness of many aspects of the language and its teaching and provided many techniques, some of which I was already using without knowing, far more of which I hadn't even heard of. What it didn't give me (nor did it promise that) was a precise method and approach to teaching skills and sub-skills, which I found in your course instead. ?????? However, I don't particularly agree with you on the CELTA not making you an effective teacher of the language systems (grammar, lexis and functions). ???? In my experience, we were given all the tools, conceptually and methodologically, to acquire and apply different techniques to teach each of those systems. Research before classes (how to do it and why) was an essential part of the program, well integrated into the practice, but far from being the most relevant.
PhD(c). ELT Professional. Researcher. English and Serbian Teacher. Native Speakerism-Buster. Equity Advocate. Heritage Language Advocate.
2 年This post is spot on!
Mrs. Asma, an ELT Writer?? + ??Writing Pro@ ?Ielts Task-1 +??Math (Algebra Sp.). Contact me for related vacancies ??.
2 年Nup! There are way too many, uncountable, strategies ESL teachers gain while teaching in the everyday classrooms. Certifications are just a basic, show-up stuff, that the world looks out for, to step on the field.