CELTA - What do I need to know?

Hi,

I was wondering if someone could offer me some advice. I’m thinking about starting the CELTA course – and was wondering what I’d be expected to know as a prerequisite.

I am a native English speaker – and did well at University, however I’ve not studied English since high school. My written and spoken English is fine, but I am weak on the technical side of grammar. Is this covered on the course, or would I be expected to know this already?

I am keen to start on the course asap – but would I be better delaying, and going on an English language course first?

How difficult is a CELTA? Considering the course fees – I’ll certainly work hard at it. Do many people fail the course?

Any advice you can offer would be much appreciated,

Thanks,
Steve

You should get yourself a good text book such as Michael Swan's Practical English Usage. It really depends on what you want to do.

You should go for Celta, I can't imagine native speaker with higher degree not being able to pass it. It is extremely intensive and you need to put everything else on hold while you are doing it, but it is worth it. Don't worry about your grammar - Celta is a very practical course focused on teaching methods, you will only need to revise particular grammar points for your lessons. Also, you will receive a booklet with grammatical terms before the course, as part of self-preparation pack- so really, there is nothing to worry about! Swan is great as a reference book for grammatical explanations for your lesson plans, but Murphy's "English grammar in use -intermediate" will give you more ideas what students might have problems with, so get them both :) Good luck!

I took CELTA a few years ago in NYC. It might be helpful for you to check out the book we used before you take the course. It might not be offered at all CELTA locations but may provide some insight:

"How to Teach English" by Jeremy Harmer

The Harmer book is widely used in other countries. ;-)

The Harmer book is pretty much the CELTA course on paper. Along with "Learning Teaching" by John Scrivener, it will tell you everything the tutors will tell you on the course.

If you get good tutors they'll bring it off the page and you'll be able to appreciate how various teaching methods work. Some grammar knowledge would definitely help before beginning the Celta, but I managed to pass so it can't be essential.

I have some reservations about aspects of the course I recently completed, but it seems to be based on sound principles and it at least gave me the confidence to get a job.

CELTA was great! I'm halfway through my graduate degree and can say that the practical nature of CELTA was far more valuable then the detached theory I'm learning now. My CELTA instructors were also wonderful facilitators that I now strive to emulate.