Job Discussion Forums

Deicide · Posted: Fri Nov 13, 2009 6:29 pm Post subject:

Neither.

Sashadroogie · Posted: Fri Nov 13, 2009 6:53 pm Post subject:

True that. It can help with finding a job and settling in etc. But not so convinced that there are any specific skills to be gained in one place or the other. And not so sure that it is so good to have a course that might 'specialise' in the teaching of one particular nationality. May help in the short-term, if that is all a newbie needs, but is only storing up trouble for later if a teacher were to re-locate.

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

I'm in total agreement. The usefulness is really limited to contacts and local knowledge of practicalities such as housing and visa requirements.

Justin Trullinger · Posted: Fri Nov 13, 2009 7:43 pm Post subject:

And, in a good course, ongoing support. I take a call or an email at least once a week from a course grad here in town, looking for a little advice. Sometimes about teaching, sometimes about where the post office is, you know...

Deicide · Posted: Fri Nov 13, 2009 8:15 pm Post subject:

Admittedly I am drunk but I just think you shouldn't do anything with EFL; get an Engineering Degree instead!

Sashadroogie · Posted: Fri Nov 13, 2009 9:33 pm Post subject:

I haven't been fully sober since '94. Perhaps it is for everyone's best that I took the CELTA and not the engineering course. But judging by the perilous state of some of the flats here, a few of the locals should have entered linguistics too...

coledavis · Joined: 21 Jun 2003 Posts: 1838

Why eliminate CELTA if you know it's the best option? Haven't you got a friend or relative in a city offering the course? If you have, couldn't you stay with them for a good cause? (If you're wondering about other activities, put them out of your mind: a good TEFL course requires all your time.)

80daze · Joined: 15 Oct 2008 Posts: 118 Location: China

ssjup81 · Posted: Sun Nov 15, 2009 8:02 pm Post subject:

I'm working on my CELTA now and since it's here in New York, I'm staying with relatives. Everything 80daze mentioned is definitely true in regards to the course, even the pre-interview stage where you do have to take a grammar test, but one thing that was told to me was that I was a unique candidate. For the grammar test, I didn't use any type of sources to help me do it. I just went right in, and answered the best I could. Some of it I got wrong. Some of it I was on the right track, but was still off. They felt it was "unique", because everyone else, usually goes to the net or library to look up the answers to the questions asked. I pretty much told them that I thought it was a test to see "how much I already know".

Anyway, the actual course, is very stressful. I'm entering my third week. Even I feel like quitting, but I refuse to since I'm serious about learning more about ESL teaching as I'd like to do so even if it's for a small part of my life. So far, though, one person has dropped out and another person has left, but no idea if she's out due to being sick, or if she's going to eventually quit. Failing just isn't an option for me.

I feel that I'm doing okay so far (although, I feel my first writing assignment was a load of crap, but at least I'll probably be allowed to do a rewrite), but the fact that one can still fail gets to me at times and I worry. I am trying very hard, though. The first assignment was to talk with one of your students, interview him or her, give him or her a writing assignment, and then pinpoint a grammar problem (which would be easy to find in the writing assignment) and a pronunciation problem (which you can probably get through the actual interview and by observing themin the classroom, when it wasn't your turn to teach) and write what you could do to help resolve the problem. I felt my paper was crap because of the pronunciation situation. The student I interviewed had very good pronunciation, so trying to find a problem was difficult. His weakness is definitely vocabulary and sometimes, he might forget to conjugate a verb into the past-tense, but he's good at noting his own mistakes and correcting himself almost immediately. In this regard, I felt that the teachers could've helped me more.

The main thing I like about the CELTA course, is that I'm working with real students, as opposed to trainers acting like students. I was first assigned the Upper Intermediate Group, and I loved those set of students, but starting tomorrow, I will be working with the Intermediate students. I'll probably be okay with them too.

The main problem they feel I have a problem with (mostly) is Classroom Management. I keep talking to the students as if I'm in a classroom filled with Elementary children. It's a bad habit, I suppose, since that's where most of my background is.

Whatever you decide is up to you, though. By the sounds of it, the TEFL type course that 80daze mentioned, seems more lax and way less stressful.

coledavis · Joined: 21 Jun 2003 Posts: 1838

Stick at it. Remember that you won't have the burden of such copious lesson planning in future and - to some extent - you can rest on the book. Also, a lot of the stage fright (if you get this) will disappear too. Just keep putting in the effort over this period. It's hard but a really useful foundation.

coledavis · Joined: 21 Jun 2003 Posts: 1838

Sounds like a CELTA student writing quickly in his or her rather limited free time. Maybe an American CELTA student, as we're playing guessing games.

coledavis · Joined: 21 Jun 2003 Posts: 1838

This is a bit like the Turing test, where the 'intelligence' of a computer program is measured by its attempts to fool interlocutors into thinking that they're interacting with a human being. Perhaps we should have a poll: American or fine non-native speaker?

coledavis · Joined: 21 Jun 2003 Posts: 1838

ssjup81 · Posted: Sat Nov 21, 2009 3:52 am Post subject:

ssjup81 · Posted: Sat Nov 21, 2009 3:55 am Post subject: