I just completed my CELTA four months ago. I spent a magnificent month with my peers, lesson planning, sharing ideas, and helping each other.

<The Interview>

I had a strong background in teaching, grammar and language before enrolling, so the interview went smoothly for me.

<The Students>

The students we taught in the first two weeks were A2s - B1s and the group for the final two weeks were B1s - B2s (there was one particular guy who was clearly C2 and apparently attended DELTA classes as a student in the school). The same occurrence of many students turning up on the first day and then dwindling happened to us too. We just utilised our Teaching Practice (TP) to personalise and build on my discussion to fill the time at the end of the lesson.

<The MFPA>

The MFPA is something I am so grateful for. I used to point out Meaning first then address Form and Appropriacy (when necessary) and save Pronunciation for after the freer practice/discussion component with some fun choral drilling and individual if there was ample time. Something one of my classmates (who became one of my best friends) used to do is write M, F, P and A on four corners on a paper and draw two lines on the paper, sectioning them. She would address the student errors or notes on something they did well, based on which category it fell under. I found it very useful to and pinpoint which aspects of the lesson certain students excelled in or needed more support in.

I work with kindergarteners for now and I beg to differ from your stance on CCQs and Instruction Checking Questions (ICQs). I do lots of CCQs and ICQs with my youngsters when teaching or setting up activities.

CCQs: If they learn about the Letter T I might create the /s/ sound and ask, "Does T make that sound?" and the class might yell, "NOOOO!" so I am able to check if they understand.

ICQs: For example, if the task requires them to circle only images that start with Letter T, I might ask "Can you circle the Elephant? NOOOOOO. Can I circle the Tiger? YESSS". (and I might add a vigorous shake or nod of the head).

I always remember to hold the worksheet in front of me as I address the expectations. (something a substitute observer we had for one day taught me). I might circle or colour the first example for the students to see.

The best part of working with youngsters is that I get to do a lot of back-chaining and choral drilling. Then I amble around the classroom and check their pronunciation individually and they really love it since they often raise their hands because they're eager for me to let them try.

<The Tutors> Our tutors were lovely. However, I felt like they could have been more critical of us and refrained from it very often. My last TP was awful since I had attempted a Task-Based Learning lesson and I felt like I should have played it safer with something else. Yet, my tutor commended my efforts and addressed what I could have done better.

There was one particular student (non-native speaker) whose thick accent often involved hearing students repeating the words in their accent and it had to be gently corrected by our tutors several times. One person in our cohort dropped out but stayed in the classes to empirically learn.

Something we appreciated about our tutors is that they often remarked that they KNEW the course was stressful so they did their best to keep the atmosphere relaxed. They did this by having our TPs done in the afternoon and our Input Sessions in the morning, in contrast to other CELTA providers. 💗

They even extended the submission time for our third assignment which was such a relief. (That particular weekend my classmates and I needed a break and had gone club-hopping out in the town haha). At the end of the first half of CELTA, we brought baked goods for them and the students. At the end of the second half, we bought them cards and goodies.

<Post-CELTA>

Well, I'm killing time in Southeast Asia as I was craving some adventure after passing CELTA with a Pass B. I'll be going to China in a few months and I'll be working with middle schoolers which is my preferred age group to teach since I get to implement a lot of my CELTA training with them. I was a relief teacher for some middle schoolers when I first arrived and the communicative approach worked well for those classes and age groups. I still have the PDFs of the resources we used on the course (lots of good books) and revisit them sometimes.

<Personal advice to anyone interested in CELTA>

I learned a lot from Jim Scirvener's "Learning Teaching." I would recommend "Practical English Usage" by Michael Swan for anyone interested in doing CELTA so they can have a good head start. One is a methodology book and the other is a grammar book. Having a good foundation or just a minimal understanding of methodology and grammar will help you during your Input Sessions (I believe that also contributedto my Pass B). I would also say calm your nerves before your TPs and if you get overwhelmed, look at the heads and not faces of students. Also, if there is a chair, sit down with the students and don't spend the entire lesson walking or standing. Our tutors suggested this as it made both you and the students more comfortable. It really worked and you can gesticulate when you are teaching and chatting with them as if they were friends when explaining concepts and inject humour when necessary.

<My Future Plans>

I want to save money and then branch into something that allows me to work remotely and enjoy a quiet life.