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Sashadroogie · Posted: Wed Oct 30, 2013 2:42 pm Post subject:

Must say I am disappointed with the lack of information on this thread about why Celta is outdated. I was hoping that the Celta scales would drop from my eyes. But this has not happened.

Anyway, cheers to those of you who did reply

Cool Teacher · Posted: Thu Oct 31, 2013 2:20 pm Post subject:

I havent read teh therad but I must say that I think the CELTA is great and I got an A!!! Cool

It's a good course and I think teachers need to do something like this of the MA. I dont think the CELTA is outdated I think it will change with the teaching styles. I was told that the PPP method was always used by CELTA for a long time and then they founf new ways like guided discovery and stuff and they put that in there too and also test teach test and they put that in there and a few other things. So I think the point is wrong. Cool

Denim-Maniac · Joined: 31 Jan 2012 Posts: 1238

Id agree with the above post .. I have Trinity rather than CELTA, but its a fair comparison I think. Anyway, when I did my course in 2008 the course provider did say that PPP was the previously favoured method, but they had their own system which Trinity had accepted as being an accepted method of communicative teaching / learning and so we learnt and taught using the course providers method.

At the time I was doing my Trinity, a friend of mine was doing hers at another venue. Our courses had different content with different emphasis being placed on different modules. She had to do a review of a coursebook (following several input sessions on them) for example, we had just a single input session on them. So this leads me to believe the courses arent rigid in their delivery or syllabus. They can change, and no doubt incorporate new ideas, methods and technology as soon as said ideas become an accepted part of teaching practice.

Interactive whiteboards where used on my course during input sessions ... we never taught a lesson using them though (the school only had 1). As they become more and more common, I would expect they would feature more and more in teaching practice. I bet Ipads might feature in trainee lessons now for images and slideshows.

Definitely not outdated IMO

I'm With Stupid · Joined: 03 Sep 2010 Posts: 432

One of the complaints two of the people on our course had was that it wasn't useful for the large classes they had to teach, which I suppose is an economic reality in many parts of the world. Although I can also understand why people going on the CELTA to learn best teaching practices wouldn't want to waste their time with techniques to cope in classrooms that are the antithesis of this.

Sashadroogie · Posted: Thu Nov 07, 2013 4:42 pm Post subject:

Yes, class size is an issue. Large numbers do not lend themselves to communicative lessons, or learning based on communicative principles. These principles are the keystone of Celta, so Celta is not going to deal with managing 20 plus groups. Anymore than it deals with principles of translation.

If trainees are dissatisfied with that, then that would be like going to piano trio recital and complaining it wasn't an orchestra.

fluffyhamster · Posted: Thu Nov 07, 2013 5:11 pm Post subject:

It shouldn't be too difficult to transcribe between chamber and orchestral, though.

Sashadroogie · Posted: Thu Nov 07, 2013 5:56 pm Post subject:

Transcribe? Transpose? Transition?

I fear we'll get tied up in knots with this metaphor.

In any case, some music just wasn't meant for a full orchestral treatment. Lieder music, for example. Just won't work as a choral version backed up by an eighty-piece. Same with TEFL...

fluffyhamster · Posted: Thu Nov 07, 2013 6:19 pm Post subject:

But this would be a fantastic opportunity for the Crouch End Philharmoania to do Strauss' Beim Schlafengehen with a 100-voice chorus plus cannons! Drill 'em, Maestro!

vabeckele · Joined: 19 Nov 2010 Posts: 439

LongShiKong · Joined: 28 May 2007 Posts: 1082 Location: China

vabeckele · Joined: 19 Nov 2010 Posts: 439

[quote="LongShiKong"]
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@Spiral: Universities in Canada are starting to change, which once started, is likely to accelerate. It's not just Moodle, MOOCs and iPads. Uni's are starting to pay more attention to student learning and in some faculties they're subdividing profs into those who prefer to focus on research and those who prefer to teach and they're the ones creating the 'flipped classroom' phenomenon where class time is focused on discussions, Q&A, group work etc, rather than lectures which the prof uploads as lesson prep for students. Communicative TEFLers were the first to flip classrooms! So you see, it's not that o*****d after all.

The University of Toronto offers an online TEFL for just over a grand. Seems as if things are moving ahead in the world of ESL. Isn't Toronto uni within the top 20 of the world? Still, the CELTA crowd will moan, whinge and wail as it doesn't have the extra special 6 hours of (im) practical teaching component.

Sashadroogie · Posted: Sat Nov 09, 2013 7:55 am Post subject:

The Celta crowd will point out the obvious: that any online course without the all-important observed TP is going to do very little in the way of preparing newcomers to EFL for the realities of classroom life. It doesn't matter which of the top twenty universities offers an online, this is hardly a case of 'moving ahead'. Pandering to the market, perhaps, but that is about all.

Sashadroogie · Posted: Sat Nov 09, 2013 8:01 am Post subject:

spiral78 · Joined: 05 Apr 2004 Posts: 11534 Location: On a Short Leash

Shroob · Joined: 02 Aug 2010 Posts: 1339

It has been said that we've moved from the communicative approach era (such a broad term) to a post-method era.

“It has been realized that there never was and probably never will be a method for all, and the focus in recent years has been on the development of classroom tasks and activities which are consonant with what we know about second language acquisition, and which are also in keeping with the dynamics of the classroom itself” Nunan, 1991.

Coupled with Prabhu's, 'Sense of Plausibility' I think means that there will be a much more individual focus on teachers' methodologies.

Don't get me wrong, I think a CLT approach has a lot going for it - I'm a fan, but to say that this is the best way for every teacher should teach is sweeping statement. In my opinion, it's a good guideline - it's the best method for the most amount of people. Unfortunately it seems that if you don't fit into this camp, you're out of luck.