Pre CELTA preparation and application

[Tdol]

There are plenty of sites out there offering loads of jobs. Some of them (both sites and jobs) are good, but some are dubious.

I think EnglishteacherX's advice to always have your fare home is probably the best advice to any teacher going to work abroad. That way, you are never dependent on your institution and if things go wrong, you can get out. Expecting different legal systems and contracts to offer perfect protection is often unrealistic. Being able to leave is not.

[Mairi]

Hi all,

Ok so I have just received information on when my phone interview for the CELTA course will be (Wednesday next week!)

I have been advised that I buy one of the following books -

Methodology
The Practice of English Language Teaching (4th ed) - Harmer Logman.
Learning Teaching - Scrivener Heinemann.

and also one of these..

Grammar
Practical English Usage (new ed) - Swan OUP
Logman English Grammar - Alexander Longman
A-Z English Grammar and Usage - Leech, Cruickshank, Ivanic Logman.

Does anyone have any recomendadtion on these particular books?

I have also been told that along with my pre-interview task that I will need to have at hand, there will be further language tasks such as a spelling test. Tullia could you or anyone shed some light on what these could involve?

Any advice or tips before Wednesday would be great. Many thanks.

[5jj]

Scrivener and Harman are both good. If I had to choose just one, I'd go for Scrivener, but if you asked me again tomorrow I might have changed my mind.

Swan should be in every EFL teacher's pocket - if your pocket is large enough. It's saved me from embarrassment a number of times in my career.

I haven't used the Leech enough to pass judgement.

[Tullia]

Honestly, I used the Swan for pretty much every single lesson I planned on my course. Buy it, if you can; it will be useful in a a practical way for lesson planning - and long-term I suspect.

The Scrivener wasn't bad, although I think it makes a lot more sense now "looking back"; I didn't find it useful at the start of the course at all, not until I'd begun to experience actual lessons.

The Harmer is available online as a free download if you look around; I suspect the Scrivener may well be too if you browse enough. They were both useful for me for my written assignments, but you might well find your school has copies you can use for those, so if your budget is limited I'd recommend the Swan as a first purchase.


My interview was a Skype video call, very relaxed and quite conversational - but I had had a fairly hefty application form before that. I was sent a list of things to "think about" before the interview but really we only covered a few of the things on there.

[Tdol]

I'll third the praise for Swan.

[Mairi]

Hello all.

So I have been accepted on my CELTA course and I start in January! thanks to everyone for the advice.

Now the real work begins! I have already started on my pre-course tasks which are proving to be a little tricky in areas... such as 'the past and future of must' hmm...

Anyway, I have just tried to PM Tullia and I have to wait till I have reached 15 posts! so a few more to go!

[5jj]

Good luck with the course, Mairi. Let us know how you get on.

[Mairi]

Thanks fivejedjon, I'll be sure to keep you posted throughout!

[henny008]

Does anyone have notes from the courses they attended that could share? I am especially interested in lesson planning and how to teach vocabulary because these are aspects I feel no confidence at all and would love some help!

[of course any other note would be much appreciated, I feel the course has nothing to do with real life teaching and am a little confused on whether the one I attended was a bad course or all courses are the same...]

thanks!!!