Job Discussion Forums

[frostytmf]

Anyone enrolling in the CELTA course there this summer? Start date is July 5th--I have heard great things about TH!

Also, has anyone done the summer intensive there? Any advice? I know courses vary from site to site, so I'd love any feedback/words of wisdom from those who've done their certification at TH specifically.

(I apologize if this was already discussed. The 'search' feature does not seem to want to cooperate and constantly comes back with a blank screen.)

[scintillatestar]

I did the CELTA there in 2009. The instructors are great and I highly recommend it. It's a very high-quality operation. Their references also helped get me into graduate school and at my current teaching position at NYU. A few things...

1) If you want to teach abroad, it's great. You'll be qualified for pretty much any entry level position at a language school. Some schools will only hire teachers with a CELTA/Trinity/or SIT cert.

2) It's also good for entry-level language schools in NYC. More and more often, I see the CELTA listed as a requirement. At the very least, schools ask for a CELTA or equivalent. A few schools (ELS, LSI, St. Giles, and more) strongly prefer to hire teachers who've completed the CELTA. Having said that, some language schools also offer business and accounting courses. These "Registered Business Schools" require a special course ($300) or a three credit university course in TESOL.

3) For higher paying work, you'll probably need a masters. However, some of the non-profits and universities will hire teachers enrolled in a masters if they have a cert.

Hope this helps!

[mudl]

Howdy,

This is my first post actually. I've been a long time reader of ESL cafe, but haven't posted before now. Sorry for the late reply, BTW, I got a job with Interac and it's been a pretty busy summer so I just go around to browsing the ol' forum.

In the main newbie thread they suggest you get a degree (BA/BS) from a good university and do the CELTA. That's exactly what I did, and believe it or not, I had a job before I even finished the CELTA.

I did the intensive course which was about 4 weeks, and I got to stay with a friend in NYC--which made the cost A LOT more reasonable.

The teachers are awesome. We had two for our intensive group: Christina and Lizzy ( http://thnewyork.com/staff ). They were both awesome and pushed me in different ways. You spend two weeks with two of the different learning levels, and each time you get a new instructor. I had Lizzy for the first part and it was amazing how much I improved in just a few lessons. The second section of the class I had Christina and I had a lot harder time improving. It may have been me, or it may have been the feedback sessions--but I think if I regretted anything about the course it's that I didn't talk to Christina about ways to improve more. Don't be afraid to bug the instructors, their busy, but if you aren't happy with how you're lessons are going or if you're not getting the marks you want on your feedback forms, talk to the teachers personally. They usually will just tell you how to incorporate something you've learned directly into your lessons. Anyway, you'll figure it all out if you decide to take the class. They also have a youth oriented extension I've been thinking about doing--though I'm going to be teaching elementary school children in Japan, so I guess I'll get some first hand Professional Development there.

If you do the course make friends fast, because it goes A LONG WAY. Hope this helped. Any other questions, feel free to ask.

[RedDinosaur]

I have a BS in technology education and I will have a MS in TESOL with intern hours. I'm also already a full time teacher albeit not in ESL specifically. Would I still need a CELTA? I've also been considering Teaching House NY as well but I don't really know anything about Teaching House.

Thanks in advanced for your help

[spiral78]

It would depend where and what you want to teach.