Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Winterkalte]

OK, I used the search function and only found topics asking if CELTA is worth taking. I've already decided to take it. My questions are for people that have already completed the intensive CELTA course.
What can I expect? Are people exaggerating when they say how difficult it is? How much time do I put in? How much free time or sleep will I get every night? What kind of essays do you have to write?
Thanks

[Winterkalte]

And for extra credit: I'm planning on taking the course in Thailand. I haven't decided which school to go to yet. ECC or International House. If anyone has been to one of these schools, can you tell me what you think of it?

[Smee]

I did it last January in Seoul.

You're at the school for 8 to 9 hours a day. The first half of the day is teaching practice. You'll teach two or three times a week and watch your classmates teach the other mornings. You have to prepare pretty detailed lesson plans, accounting for basically every minute of your class, and you also need to take notes on your classmates' lessons. Later in the course you do an essay on what works and what doesn't in the classroom and you'll be expected to quote specific examples from your notes.

The second half of the day is classroom instruction on various topics related to language learning. They give you a lot of information, but I found it all very interesting and useful.

I spent most of the month doing nothing but CELTA stuff. During the week I got 3 or 4 hours of sleep a night. Lesson planning by far took up the most amount of time for me.

[Caffeinated]

More info here.

I did it with ECC in Phuket and had a great experience.

[Louis VI]

I did the intensive boot camp CELTA in Auckland, New Zealand even though it was more expensive there because there's nothing like doing some edutourism. I dedicated one day a week to sightseeing and the rest of the time to the course, getting travelling vibes from the daily commutes and local cuisine. If you go to Thailand, you'll have enough time for eating out and getting massages, just remember to get a good night sleep because it's important to be alert and able to perform daily.

If nothing else is on your plate, then the CELTA is manageable. Think of it as a full-time job, well,... like a 60-hour a week job. Think you'll be committing typically 9-5 weekdays plus two hours a night and one day on the weekend and you'll get a sense of what it takes.

[legrande]

I went with International House in Bangkok a coupla years ago.

Yeah, it is bootcamp, but you're all in the same boat, so you begin to build up a sense of camraderie and make some new friends, which helps you to get all the work done together.

If you end up in Bangkok living near Chao Phraya (the main river), you may want to consider taking the boat taxis in the morning to circumvent the congested roads. They'll save you time, and have a certain charm to them.

[Winterkalte]

I think I will go to the IH one in Chiang Mai. They provide accommodation in a resort like hotel, and the campus is at the actual hotel. This means no commute times and the cost of tuition covers includes the hotel feeding you three times a day. This cuts down on time spent shopping and cooking food. It is more expensive, $2300, but I think that will bring the stress levels way down.
I've heard stories about people get 3 to 4 hours of sleep a night. That is insane. I think it would hurt your performance more than the extra hours you spent studying the material.

[debb199]

I took the CELTA course last year with International House (not in Thailand though!).

We were on campus from 9am until 5.00-5.30pm Monday - Friday. Each person did teaching practice on alternate days eg Wk 1: T, Th. Wk 2: M, W, F. The day before a lesson, you would spend the whole evening writing your lesson plan. Each lesson plan took me around 3-4 hours to complete. The evening after your lesson is your own time.

In addition to teaching practice, there were also 4 written assignments to complete, approx 1,000 - 1,500 words each. I would give myself Friday evening and all day Saturday off and do the written assignments on Sundays. I didn't find the assignments too arduous, but some people did struggle with them.

I certainly wasn't surviving on a couple of hours sleep a night, I usually managed a decent 8 or 9 hours! However, I was disciplined about sitting down and getting lesson plans and assignments started and finished as quickly as possible, so I would finish lesson plans no later than 10pm.
However, some people would stay up all night writing lesson plans!

I guess the amount of free time you get can depend on being organised, not procrastinating and how easily you are able to get on with doing written work! Good luck! I enjoyed my course a lot and it has definitely made me a better teacher!

[Son Deureo!]

I did the IH Chiang Mai CELTA residency program, and I'd definitely recommend it. While you might be able to feed and house yourself a bit cheaper with one of the other programs having no commute, meals ready for you right outside the classroom door as soon as you were done, and laundry service reduced the stress of the program a great deal. The teachers they had while I was there were also excellent, and being kind of stuck in the middle of nowhere (the facility is actually 25km away from Chiang Mai, in a little village called Hangdong).

Being in class for 8 hours a day plus detailed lesson plans and four essays certainly keeps you busy, but accept that you've signed over your life for the month and you'll find that it is manageable. What I found was that during weekdays you'll be busy after class, but at least once or twice a week I could squeeze in time for a drink at the hotel bar or the open air beer bar up the road with classmates (very fun and interesting people who you'll get to know quite well). And as long as you stay on top of your lesson planning and essays during the week, you should be able to get away to enjoy Chiang Mai a bit on weekends as well. Usually I'd get away on Saturday for nightlife and sightseeing, and be prepared to finish up lesson planning and papers on Sunday. It's not a vacation, but you can enjoy the area a bit.

As for the essays, you have to write 4 essays that are 5-7 pages long. They'll give you very detailed info on what they want at the beginning of the course. They weren't really any more difficult than a term paper you would have written as an undergrad. If anything isn't up to standard, you also get a chance to resubmit, and they generally make it pretty clear what you need to do to get a pass the second time around.

Some advice before you go.

Bring your laptop if you have one. The hotel has excellent wireless internet, but the computer lab is small with unreliable computers. It helps a LOT to have your own computer in your room, and you'll find it can be useful in the classroom as well.

Bring some business casual clothes. IH does have a dress code for the model classes you'll be teaching. You have to wear a collared shirt and slacks at the minimum. I had to make a rush trip into the city (25 km each way) to buy a pair of trousers before class the morning of my first teaching day. Not fun.

Get a 90 day tourist visa before you go. Thailand has a 30-day visa waiver agreement with most countries, you'll want to have the extra time to enjoy Thailand after you're done with the program, and doing a visa run from Chiang Mai isn't exactly easy, especially while you're busy with your CELTA. Even if you're not going to stay in Thailand for long afterwards, a 30 day visa to do a four week program is cutting it awfully close.

Read How to Teach English by Harmer and Learning Teaching by Scrivener before you go. A lot of the ideas of the CELTA are based on what's in these books, and having a working knowledge of this and being able to use them in your lessons will definitely be useful. You'll probably also want to refer to these books often while you're doing your essays as well. To my knowledge, the only student in my class who got a Pass A for the class was the one who had already read these books before the class began.

Hope this helps.

[legrande]

Yeah that's a good point, if you did the Chiang Mai one all the meals/laundry is taken care of.

In the Bangkok program, doing the shopping/eating out/commmuting was an interesting way to meet the locals/get acquainted with Thai culture/relieve the stress. As the instructors were dealing with the same thing, they may have adjusted the load, as we all had ample time to study and take care of daily necessities, and get a good night's rest.

It may also be down to what sort of personality and outlook one has. I suppose the people drawn to the Bangkok program tend to thrive on and get inspired by the chaos and energy of a bigger city. I was living in Tokyo at the time so Bangkok seemed to be laid back in certain aspects.

[Epik_Teacher]

I'm in Barcelona doing the CELTA, just finished week 2. Damn intense course, but doable if you don't waste your time.