Job Discussion Forums

[mungo]

You convinced me, during the course of my last post, to do CELTA. I am seriously considering doing it in Thailand.
I am not necessarily looking for quality comparisons between the two providers, but location etc.
Any info greatly appreciated.

[Kent F. Kruhoeffer]

Hi Mungo


Actually you have three choices now,

and all of them are centrally located:


http://www.eccthai.com/training.asp (ECC Thailand - Bangkok & Phuket)

http://www.ihbangkok.com/teachertraining.html (International House - Bangkok)

http://www.eliteinstitute.com/CELTA/index.htm (Elite Training Institute - Bangkok)


ECC seems to get consistent & positive reviews.

The IH course is brand new, so there isn't much feedback yet,

and Elite has been known to cancel now & then due to lack of participants.


Due to external moderation by Cambridge ESOL,

the CELTA syllabus is fairly uniform, so you can expect

the course content to be similar at all three centres:


http://www.cambridgeesol.org/teaching/celta.htm


That's about all I can tell ya!

[Miyazaki]

I did CELTA at ECC.
Good location there near MBK.

I also see they have a training center in Phuket now.

CELTA can be quite a 'ride' - even for expereince EFL teachers.

I had one guy from California who took CELTA tell me it was one of the most intense things he's done on both a personal and professional level. aha!! And he was a trained. licensed, professional high school teacher from America, now teaching in high school teacher exchange program in Nagasaki, Japan.

You will see people 'lose it' emotionally and you will see people teach horrible lessons and then get ripped apart in feedback sessions - not by trainers either but by fellow trainees. CELTA trainees can be the meanest to each other, surprisingly.

One of my trainers one day was telling me all about the CELTA stories of trainees losing it and near fist fights, crying, screaming and CELTA romances that start early in the course Ha, aha!! Great stuf.

I recommend it, wherever you take it, as you'll be a better classroom teacher as a result, though.

[clock]

Hey,

I didn't do my CELTA in Bangkok so can't really give you a comparison. However, my boss in New Zealand used to be a trainer at ECC and she was very good. International House has a good worldwide reputation, it will look good on your CV...a fact they shamelessly highlight in their advertising "The name to drop wherever you pop"...what an awful slogan
As far as the CELTA being demanding, it certainly is, however I don't think it matters how much experience you have. Often more experienced teahcers do poorly because they are set in their bad habits, whereas fresh-faced enthusiastic blank-slates tend to do very well.

As far as criticism etc, it would de[pend on your fellow students, when I did it everyone was very positive , most citicism was intended to be helpful rather than hurtful.