Job Discussion Forums

elinori · Joined: 21 Nov 2006 Posts: 3

I am in the middle of filling out the application for the CELTA at IH Chiang Mai.

I got to Part 3, where there are questions specific to "How would you explain the difference in meaning between the following pairs of words and phrases to a learner of English?"

The words are:
overweight/fat
win/beat
She�s at the school / She�s at school
I play football / I am playing football

Now, I am a pretty well educated person with teaching and counseling experience, though without English teaching experience. THAT'S WHY I WANT TO DO THE CELTA... Duh. The differences between the words/phrases? I know them, but not how to explain them.

Then, there is a paragraph I must rewrite and explanations needed for difficulties with phonology.

Am I getting in over my head? It seems you need to already be an ESL teacher to do the CELTA. What gives?

Last few years of college are spent writing essays, not explaining word functions! Evil or Very Mad

I plan on being a decent ESL teacher and I don't want to start out as another jerkoff in Korea who knows only how to speak English and not a thing about teaching it.

I ask the Thai Forum, because that is where I am applying to do CELTA and know that there are probably a lot of you who have done it there. If not in Chiang Mai, Bangkok, or elsewhere.

Help a sister out with links, suggestions, encouragement, or anything else. That would be super!

Kent F. Kruhoeffer · Joined: 22 Jan 2003 Posts: 2129 Location: 中国

Stephen Jones · Joined: 21 Feb 2003 Posts: 4124

The questions are there because they want you to think about them. If you don't know the answer they will expect you to look it up.

Asking for somebody on the internet to do the test for you will serve little purpose as you will be quizzed on your answers in the phone interview, so take Kent's answers as a starting point, and look up the technical words he has given you on the internet and see if you get the idea.

You are not expected to know all this beforehand; you are expected to be interested in it, and capable of working out the difference or researching it, and being able to explain it to students in language they can understand.

elinori · Joined: 21 Nov 2006 Posts: 3

Thank you so much for your replies. They are really helpful and the the kinds of answers I had hoped for. I just didn't even know the right words to reseearch and explain like "intransitive" and that the football one is an example of present simple/present progressive. Now, I can at least follow a trail, instead of poking around grammar books and websites without a clue in my head.
Any more thoughts on the subject of CELTA application process or experience at IH Chiang Mai are much welcome.

ozvaldo · Joined: 31 Jan 2006 Posts: 13

ECC also run an (apparently) good 2 week TESOL course as well as a full-on CELTA. It's only US$400 and appears to be very hands on, which is probably a good thing. Check out their web page. www.eccthai.com

Anybody here happen to have done it?