Korean Job Discussion Forums

[birdflower]

MOD EDIT

The article above says that CELTA is no good.

Any thoughts?

[edwardcatflap]

NO. You need observed teaching practice and feedback before you go anywhere near a classroom. Whatever anyone else says to the contrary is wrong.

Having said that, a number of teachers do the CELTA and then find themselves teaching kids for a while after and I agree that it doesn't equip you particularly well for that. The problem is when you're just starting out you don't know exactly what area you want to go into . Ideally people should be doing the CELTA and the CELTYL to follow to prepare them for any eventuality but it doesn't often work that way

[Snowkr]

The CELTA focuses on teaching for adults. It's an awesome course, but most foreigners here end up teaching children.

You can do other TEFL courses that incorporate instruction for young learners as well. I would recommend one of those, but NOT online.

[Smee]

The CELTA is a preliminary qualification, and for many teaching "kids" in a hagwon or public school in Korea is preliminary as well, building up money and experience until it's possible to move on to other things. Even if a teacher is teaching kids, there's no reason not to complete the CELTA if s/he thinks of going on to other things in the future. For somebody who plans on teaching only elementary school children, snowkr is right, there are other routes to go. There is a young learners optional addition to the CELTA, but it's not available in Korea.

[Troglodyte]

Is the CELTA course available in Korea now? I don't think I've ever seen a school here that cared about it, and few even knew what it is.

It is a good course to do for people who plan on teaching adults (in Korea or elsewhere). In some countries, you really need it, in others you don't need it but it really helps you get a job.

[Smee]

The CELTA is offered in Korea at two places, but you're right most schools have never even heard of it, let alone think of it as a qualification.

It's offered four times a year---two intensive sessions, two part-time ones---at the International Graduate School of English in Seoul, and also---not sure how many times---at the British Council at the Korean National University of Education. I don't have time to look up the websites, but Google will be your friend for costs and dates. I just took it in January at IGSE.

If you run a search on this site for CELTA you'll find a number of threads debating the merits of it in Korea. But I found a very challenging course, but very helpful.

That's not the point of the OP, though, which is looking at it relative to young learners.

[maingman]

http://www.saet.co.za/articles.aspx?pn=19

[oldfatfarang]

CELTA is for teaching adults, and it's a requirement for many good/high paying TEFL teaching gigs (Uni's/Europe/ME). That said, Koreans don't know what it is (or how demanding the course is), and EPIK etc pay the same rate for a CELTA as a worthless on-line TEFL course.

However, if you want to develop as a teacher, or you're a first-time TEFL teacher (without teaching experience/training), then the CELTA is worth it. The daily feedback and criticism of your teaching practice is invaluable. Criticism from a trained teacher (and your peers) will save you a lot of stress later. Learning how to plan a logicial, progressive communicative lesson plan will also save a lot of stress down the road.

Interestingly, at my recent EPIK re-hire interview, the interviewer was more interested in my CELTA than my teaching experience and other qualifications. Go figure.

[air76]

I second the notion that a CELTA is worth your time and money regardless of what level you're going to teach. It makes teaching SO much easier, especially if you have no prior teaching experience. If you're 100% only going to teach for 1-2 years then it might not be worth the investment, but if you think that you might end up doing this for a few years then I would definitely do the course. Do it in Vietnam at ILA or in Thailand at ECC, it shouldn't run much more than $1500. I did mine at ECC and was very satisfied with how much I learned and how much easier teaching became after the course...adding a qualification to your CV is really the 2nd benefit to the course, becoming a better teacher is what you're really paying for. Hell, even if you could care less about the quality of your classes, the techniques and methodologies you learn will 100% make teaching easier and less stressful for you.

Plus, most university jobs in Korea will recognize what a CELTA is...and if you're going to teach ESL for more than a few years you will want to get into a university job. It's a completely different world. No kids, less contact hours, more autonomy, students that pay attention and can hold a basic conversation (comparatively), lots of vacation time....and so on.

[Mikealicious]

I took the CELTA course in England before I came out to Korea for my first TEFL job, and I'd fully recommend doing it to anyone that is thinking of TEFL/TESL as a mid/long-term plan.

In terms of content, it's far more comprehensive and involved than any other entry level qualification, and assuming you actually want to develop from the course and not just have a token qualification for the sake of the pay scale, the CELTA has to be one of the few real options.

Having said that, yes it is aimed at teaching adults, and the scenario in Korea for the majority of us teachers is vastly different to that of the assessed lessons. But it does teach lots of ideas and concepts that are applicable to any language learning situation.

As far as the cost is concerned, if you're in a public school it puts you on a slightly higher wage bracket, so it has paid for itself by around 12-16months of teaching.

Oh how I miss those classes of 10-12 self motivated adults!