CELTA Course
The CELTA training course requires 120 contact hours. This relates to 20 days of 6 hours studying for the full-time version. Course completion requires the following:
- Full attendance and participation in the course
- 6 hours of teaching practice
- 6 hours of lesson observation of experienced teachers
- 4 written assignments
- Upkeep of a portfolio of coursework (i.e. lesson plans, self-evaluations, etc.)
Course Content
The CELTA course covers the following topics:
- Language Analysis and Awareness
- The Learner, the Teacher and the Learning/Teaching Context
- Planning for Effective Teaching
- Classroom Management Skills
- Teaching Procedures and Techniques
- Resources and Materials
- Professional Development
- Classroom Observation
- Teaching Practice
Observed Teaching Practice (OTP)
One fundamental section of the CELTA course is the observed teaching practice sessions. Over the period of the course, each trainee will be observed teaching in a real classroom environment by a professional teacher trainer. In total, 6 hours of OTP is required, with each lesson lasting between 40 and 60 minutes. Immediately following each class the tutor will provide detailed feedback on the lesson and highlight the strengths and weaknesses so you always know which areas you can work on for the next lesson.
Written assignments
As well as the practical teaching element, the course also requires theoretical work in the form of four written assignments. To complete the course, three of these require a passing grade; however, re-submission is allowed if the first draft is not up to the necessary standard. The four assignments are:
- Focus on the Learner, which encourages you to find out about your learners’ backgrounds, needs and purposes in learning
- Language Related Task which is a review of your language awareness
- Language Skills Related Task where you consider how to use an authentic text in the classroom
- Lessons from the Classroom where you reflect on your strengths and weaknesses over the course
Observation of experienced teachers
Early on in the course the trainees get to spend time observing the course tutors teaching English lessons to genuine language students. Four hours of live lessons will be observed, with a further two hours spent watching video lessons that deal with specific classroom scenarios.
Maintaining your portfolio
Each trainee is expected to maintain a portfolio of their work throughout the course. Items that need to be included in the portfolio include lesson plans from every lesson taught, self-evaluation forms from OTP lessons and trainer’s evaluation forms. The four written assignments should also be included, along with the CELTA 5 record-keeping booklet. This booklet is where you record various details about your teaching practice and teacher observations, and any progress reports you receive.
Trinity Course
Course Content
The CertTESOL course is made up of five individual units. Units 1, 2, 3 and 5 are assessed by the course trainers, although they will also be checked for moderation purposes after the course by a member of the Trinity moderator’s panel. Your work for unit 4 is assessed by an external moderator.
The 5 course units are:
Unit 1: Teaching skills, assessed through:
- Tutors’ evaluation of six hours of teaching with real learners
- A journal including trainees’ own lesson plans, with self- and tutor-evaluation
- A journal covering trainees’ reflective comments following observation of four hours of ESOL teaching by experienced teachers
Unit 2: Language awareness including grammar and phonology, assessed through:
- A test or practical project
- Ongoing use of spoken and written English
Unit 3: Learner profile, assessed through:
- The preparation of a simple linguistic profile and needs analysis, including some basic phonemic transcription, of a single learner
- The planning of, and reflection on, a one-to-one lesson
- The preparation of recommendations for the learner’s future language development
Unit 4: Materials assignment, assessed through:
- Written rationale for the development of one piece of teaching material
- Written evaluation of use of this in classroom teaching
- Interview with a Trinity moderator to discuss the above and the ways in which materials development is beneficial to the development of teaching skills
Unit 5: Unknown language, assessed through:
- A journal covering trainees’ reflective comments on four hours’ tuition in an unknown language from the point of view of the beginner, including an analysis of the key aspects of methods and classroom management that affect the learner positively and negatively
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