Job Discussion Forums

[The Great Toad]

I just got done with the one month CELTA Certification course with TEFL International in Costa Rica Manuel Antonio

It cost me 1,590 dollars for the school and 400 dollars for the accommodations. So, was it worth it? Well the answer is not simple, however I�ll try not to bias too much despite my experience�

I�ll touch on five key things: Equipment / Facilities of the school, Trainers of the school, School Curriculum, living accommodations, and the actual environment of Manuel Antonio in Costa Rica.

Equipment / Facilities of the school�

Here is where we hit an all time low in my review. Sorry there my helpful School trainers (and they were positively helpful), but there is no way you can make copies without a copy machine. For 12 of the critical 14 days of the teaching period the copier machine was broken. They did have two computer printers- however students were advised to NOT use these to make copies with. Rather we had to walk down half a mile into town and make copies at the local stationary store.


The internet was incredibly slow and there were only three computers for all 26 students to use. (the net was slow everywhere in town too)

The school was thirty feet from the road and every time a truck went by class was disrupted. This seemed to occur at least four times a day when we were in the lecture part of the course.

On a positive note they had free Costa Rican Coffee and the AC only went off once I noticed- and that was because of a town wide power outage. (Power outages are a regular occurrence in Manuel Antonio.

Not sure why but despite me specifically stating I was allergic to dogs on my application form, the trainers thought it kindly to shelter a wounded stray dog in the school during class� I mentioned this to the student who was also caring for the poor dog and she said, �Oh you�re the second person who is allergic to dogs.� However, the dog was only about the school for a week. I�m not sure who housed it after this� Anyhow what�s a little snootiness in me against the good of an allying mongrel street pup. And it did add to whole laid back vibe...

Trainers of the school

The trainers were all helpful, kind, knowledgeable, polite, and fair . Not all of them had Master�s degrees- but I am almost positive all the main trainers had teaching experience with ESL students. The actual evaluations of the lessons were also sometimes done by Americans who were currently teaching in the public school. One of these had a teaching degree the other a degree in ???? However, both teachers had some experience teaching ESL. I got the impression that the trainers worked more as equals rather than there being some sort of military hierarchy. This seemed to make them all laid back and undemanding of each other. To me it seemed like they were sort of a team of friends- the director and assistant director leading by love rather than fear� This may have been part of the scheduling problem�

Basically there were NOT enough trainers for the course. We had 26 students and one head director- who didn�t teach, an assistant director, a regular American trainer, a Costa Rican Native trainer who DID NOT help do the lesson evaluations, and a Grammar trainer. And as stated there were two Americans who were currently teaching in the public Costa Rican Schools who helped with the lesson evaluations.

So, with this limited faculty working from 8AM � 630 PM 5 days a week there were some problems. The main problem being they DID NOT work form 8AM- 630 PM- and who can blame them? Therefore the school was not often open until 10AM and often closed at 3PM for half the course- the lesson teaching phases. This was unfortunate for the students because they were unable to use the materials / computers of the school when they needed time to plan there lessons. Further, previous devilish students had stolen materials from the school so the trainers discouraged taking home materials and rather encouraged students to purchase their own supplies to complete their required medias.

In my opinion, somewhere in the upper echelon of TEFEL International someone made an error in judgment when deciding how many trainers were required to teach a certain amount of students. The trainers had to evaluate the lessons. They could not be at a Public School, a Community Church lesson and the TEFEL school at the same time.

School Curriculum

The school curriculum seemed to heavily stress making posters, and paper media. So, if you like to draw with crayons and markers and then write intellectually about how your media was useful / failed / could be better this is the course for you. (I was a power point typed handout Korean teacher before� but hey I may make a poster or two now�)


The school curriculum was excellent for an absolute beginner teacher who had no basis for teaching ESL. I however am a teacher by degree and many years experience both- therefore much of it was redundant to me. But there were many media points / lessons that made me pause and say, "Hey that's a good idea."

But.. I told a trainer specifically that I would much prefer doing more lessons to actual Spanish Speakers rather than the ridiculous chore of teaching my fellow NATIVE ENGLISH speakers� The response I got was that they were a lot of trainees, it was difficult to schedule classes for all of them and that for a brand new teacher teaching in front of your peers was better as they no experience.

One thing I did not like- though I truly liked the teacher, was the Native Costa Rican Indian Language classes. Perhaps one could argue that learning a language in itself is enough- and that just because you will never use the language again does not mean you have wasted your time. To this I would say, �Moreno.� Yes, the exercise in itself gives one insight into teaching ESL. But, I still wish the three language fine Native Costa Rican Indian would have taught me Spanish instead of his Indiana Dialect� Oh well I suppose I can Still go to the tribal area and try to use it�


The student teaching was great and also irritating. The children were great teaching and the adults were friendly as well but the lesson planning was problematic when I was put with a partner to team teach. Four of my six lessons were to be team taught. I ended up doing three of the six alone though. Anyhow, you could argue that team teaching is applicable to ESL as you will work with a Native speaker in the real world. That�s often the case, but it seems more often the case the Native Speaker just gives you a suggestion and then does little or is a no show for your actual class. But, I have never taught an actual ESL class with another Native ESL speaker. I guess it might happen in a kindergarten setting? Basically the bad thing about the team teaching was that the other students I worked with: did not want to do a dry run practice / arrived at the class with some material I had no chance to look at / disagreed with my brilliant and sensible suggestions (I ended up giving in rather than speaking with the trainers). The worse was when this person- my team teacher very kind and intelligent overall- came in with this inane, stupid, boring chant that person completed the night before and proceeded to repeat it around 6 times all of which I had to also do and seem excited about too� Oh, but otherwise the person was a great individual � just a bad chant writer and chanter.

On the professional side� the trainers evaluations were well thought, detailed and fair.

One small thing that bothered me was a trainers insistence that it was my fault I did not have enough copies for a class. I had checked the paper which listed the number of the students and made enough for all of them. Then more students came to the class and I ran out. The trainer claimed I should have observed and asked another teacher who had previously taught the class about the student numbers. I had not. Another trainer had previously stated the numbers and names were on the papers. At any rate, the trainer seemed to assert herself as correct and me as wrong- which is good when you are a teacher or trainer

Yet the actual scheduling of the teaching and observations was chaotic. This was due to the elementary school suddenly canceling classes. According to the trainers this often happens and is a cultural thing inherent in Costa Rica. I had kind of hoped some or all of the teaching would be done in the same place where the TEFL school was. Instead the teaching was done in a community style volunteer area and also at a local public school.


living accommodations

I began at a Home stay. The Family was very kind. However I had no AC, and no ventilation so I opted for an apartment which was sweet. Except for the dogs who would bark at me every time I came onto the grounds. Note: if you are afraid of dogs opt for a house in town with a roommate. I visited a students and it was large, secure, and had a complete kitchen / fridge.


Environment of Manuel Antonio in Costa Rica.

Good: Manuel Antonio has an Awesome national park with monkeys, sloths, cats, birds, beaches and good surf. You can go rafting and do zip line tours- I recommend the zip line tours! I also swam in the huge waves and snorkeled. The above confident trainer who would not agree on the attendance was also very helpful in directing me to the snorkel spot as well as offering a free forest tour to all the students on Sunday.

Bad: Quepos is full of Crack Heads on the Beach, two drug dealers were shot and killed while I was attending school. There are prostitutes on the street and strip clubs with prostitution�? not sure though only heard about them saw the outside of the clubs- this could be good if you are a sad pimp type� Beggars will ask you for money. Young men will ask, �Want some weed.� Once again this could be good if you like dope head beggars and smoking pot. I did give some beggars food but didn�t support the dope dealers.

So for me, a person of Great Intellect and Cleverness degreed in teaching English from University as well as a teacher with years of ESL experience the course was redundant and sometimes useful. I chose this school for the location not the certification program. However, for a beginning teacher who wants to learn how to create lessons and the media that goes with it by all means try it out. I suppose the Cambridge and Oxford programs are more recognized but a month long course with real teaching time is what you get here too. Then again, I think this course failed in that it did not have the infrastructure / materials and that they needed to:


ether hire more teachers�

or

limit the number of students�

But if you are a surf dude who wants an easy CELTA certification and never taught before this is it � I for one thought it would be a lot more work.

I've tried be fair I can post more positives if you want too... this may blow my chance of ever working for them or destroy my recommendation... (note to self don't put them on your resume as a recommendation ) However, if I an experienced teacher had before read this exact post I might have gone to another CELTA cert like an Oxford or Cambridge one ... then again those might mostly be boring for a vet teacher too..

[White_Elephant]

The Great Toad, TEFL International does not offer the CELTA. They briefly offered the Trinity TESOL in Thailand but that was many moons ago. I believe you have a TEFL Certification. There's one main difference, CELTA is for teaching adults. Hence the "A" in CELTA.

[thrifty]

A fake CELTA bought for a CELTAish price-well done.

[The Great Toad]

CELTA TESOL wahtever it's the one month real student in the classroom degree right... I mean how hard do these jobs look at it... Or am I a lame duck without the CELTA via Cambridge or Oxford?

And thrifty it was not fake... it was real students with real lessons. I can draw better now with markers and crayons. Ahhh no no- I did learn some new teachering stuff mmm maybe the CELTA Oxford Cambridge thingy was what I should have done... Oh well I did get in some good beach / hike / snorkel time, and the Costa Rica jungle monkeys were able to lay eyes upon their King.

[pollitatica]

100 hours classroom
At least 6 supervised teaching hours.


That's what employers are looking for. That's what you got. It's more than fine.


Some people just like to get others worked up.

[Guy Courchesne]

That is not what employers are looking for.

[White_Elephant]

[some waygug-in]

What they don't tell you is..........

what kind of jobs they are talking about.

Most of those kinds of jobs could easily be obtained without any kind of certification at all.
Extremely low pay and or sketchy working conditions.

If you want any kind of decent working conditions, you will need some kind of real certification.

[ntropy]

[Justin Trullinger]

100 hours and 6 hours classroom practice is a good start though- much better than all the online, do it yourself courses that are getting more common all the time.

I've heard mixed things about TEFL international's courses- it seems that they vary a lot from site to site.

Though the OP was more than usually fair-minded and even-handed in his evaluation, I've gotta say this one sounds like a heap to me.

[The Great Toad]

Hey there Justin. Yes I�d be willing to bet they all had ESL Teaching experience however it seemed one of them did not have an ESL or English or Linguistics degree. So, I was never quite sure what they had. But, overall they seemed all vet. teacher pros.

However, I will say again that I�d have liked to have had the option to teach actual ESL learners as opposed to my fellow students- but they were short of classes as it was. If they got an additional public school to teach in it would have been better.

I also would have preferred the option to NOT do any team teaching, this would have saved me the terrible memory chant I did... I think the said chanty master is now in Costa Rica teaching too No the chant maker was a kind person overall but the pain of the six time repeated chant is cool points I may never regain.

Maybe I should email TEFL a link here so they can get on and respond to my review.

Anyhow the kids were cute...

http://img62.imageshack.us/img62/6075/costamaelem2hy5.jpg

...the nearby ocean was aqua beautiful...

http://img209.imageshack.us/img209/1382/dsc05068pp3.jpg

...and I am a man without enough respect for death and gravity...

http://img172.imageshack.us/img172/3867/dontjumpsy8.jpg

...or silly rope rails that block my view of the Manuel Antonio Park.

http://img170.imageshack.us/img170/5327/dsc05073jp1.jpg

So, don�t think me more wise and clever than Deus on TESOL / CELTA schools.

[thrifty]

It is not a CELTA.

[Like a Rolling Stone]

Boy oh boy oh boy!!!!!!!! You got rippppppped off!!! What do you mean you are "almost postive" the trainers had ESL experience.... well..... duh! Like they should

Also CELTA is the Cambridge English Language Teaching Adults.... Why did you teach kids!!?????????????????????????? If I do CELTA I want to do a real one. Not a fakey one!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Sorry to hear it

[White_Elephant]

University of Cambridge ESOL Examinations:
"CELTA
Certificate in English Language Teaching to Adults

Teaching English to speakers of other languages can be a highly rewarding career, offering you the chance to live and work abroad. You will need an internationally recognised teaching qualification, and CELTA - highly regarded throughout the world - gives you the skills you need and will make it easier to get a teaching job anywhere"

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

[Like a Rolling Stone]