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The Mystery Cow
Joined: 02 May 2004
Posts: 5
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 Posted: Tue May 25, 2004 1:42 am Post subject: Bangkok CELTA / Starting Late |
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In the interest of thrift, I'm seriously considering taking a CELTA certification course outside of North America. In particular, I'm looking at the program offered at the ECC school in Bangkok, Thailand. I've got a few questions I'm hoping some of the pros around here can answer.
First, has anyone had any experience with this particular school? I know all the CELTA programs are supposed to be scrutinized annually by the Cambridge ESL department, but can anyone give me a thumbs up/down on this particular institute?
Second, in order to pay for the program, ticket and cost of living I'm going to have to work in the States until September, then take the program in October. What are my chances of finding work in either Thailand or China (where I had originally intended to work) during that timeframe? |
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struelle
Joined: 16 May 2003
Posts: 2372
Location: Shanghai
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| Posted: Tue May 25, 2004 7:33 am Post subject: Re: Bangkok CELTA / Starting Late |
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| First, has anyone had any experience with this particular school? I know all the CELTA programs are supposed to be scrutinized annually by the Cambridge ESL department, but can anyone give me a thumbs up/down on this particular institute? |
I did the course last August, and my overall review of ECC is positive. I was especially impressed that they accepted me at the last minute. But what really inspired me was that they let me re-take the course next month at no extra cost when I had to cancel over a death in the family.
The location and cost ($1400 US) are great, and the overall program is solidly designed. Students are friendly and eager to learn, and you get a good mixed group as many are refugees. I taught Burmese, Sri Lankans, Iraqis, Cambodians, and Thais last summer, all of whom were greatly motivated.
The downside is that the tutors don't go out of their way to help you plan lessons. They prefer a 'sink or swim' paradigm. I imagine this is par for the course in any CELTA program, but for some reason the ECC tutors have a reputation for being colder than usual.
Steve |
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Aramas
Joined: 13 Feb 2004
Posts: 874
Location: Slightly left of Centre
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| Posted: Tue May 25, 2004 12:18 pm Post subject: |
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| Other options for a CELTA in the region are KL, Saigon and Beijing. You don't mention if you have a degree, and you'll need one for a work visa if you want to work in Thailand. If you want to work in China then Beijing would make more sense. Viet Nam is worth a look while you're doing research. |
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zorro
Joined: 05 Jan 2004
Posts: 68
Location: in anticipation of euro2004
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| Posted: Tue May 25, 2004 7:03 pm Post subject: |
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same observations as struelle really. i did mine jan 2003. i would definetly recommend doing it out of your home country though. mainly because the whole purpose of doing the course is to see some of the world anyway (plus you get to leave 1 month earlier).
i'm not sure that i totally agree with the ECC tutors being cold though. i found them to be very good teachers and they even helped me with planning lessons!
good luck anyway. |
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stillnosheep
Joined: 01 Mar 2004
Posts: 2068
Location: eslcafe
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| Posted: Fri May 28, 2004 5:48 pm Post subject: Re: Bangkok CELTA / Starting Late |
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Mystery Cow,
I did my CELTA at Leeds Metropolitan University in the UK and found the tutors to be extremely approachable.
For the first assignment four of us might each have had to prepare 10 mins of a 40 minute lesson within a given lesson plan with as much tutor contact time as requred. Two days later maybe 20 mins each with a little less tutor time. By week two the given structure for each lesson starts to be withdrawn. By week four we were each planning and teaching our own section of the four lesson mini-course we'd developed ourselves earlier, with the tutors chasing us up, requesting a sight of the lesson plans before we taught them, instead of afterwards!
So less 'sink or swim' as slowly removing the training wheels until you discover that you've been cycling along on your own two wheels for ages. You just hadn't noticed.
Damn hard work though.
Last edited by stillnosheep on Mon May 31, 2004 2:17 pm; edited 2 times in total |
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khmerhit
Joined: 31 May 2003
Posts: 1874
Location: Reverse Culture Shock Unit
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| Posted: Fri May 28, 2004 9:20 pm Post subject: |
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You can say that again.
baaaaaaa! |
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jimtheclarkster
Joined: 02 Jun 2004
Posts: 5
Location: St Louis
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| Posted: Thu Jun 03, 2004 6:17 pm Post subject: Newbie with question on this subject |
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Hello,
I am considering a career as english teacher in SEA. Money will be rather tight for me, would taking the TEFL course at Stamford Institute in Songkhla affect my hiring potential, if say I planned on going to Vietnam after one year in Thailand?...
Can anybody provide me with feedback about this program? |
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