CELTA and beyond!

Louise88

I hope this is the right place to post this, apologies if not.

This summer, I hope to do the 4 week CELTA course in International House Dublin (it seems to be the best, although I'd happily take anyone's recommendations into account!) with a view to teaching abroad for a few years. Eventually though, it would be my ambition to become a teacher-trainer myself. I'm finding it very difficult to find out much about how I'd go about this, I assume I'd first need a DELTA qualification and then some other course? I have a BA Int, but I was considering going back and doing a conversion course in order to get a BA in Linguistics, if that's any help!

TL;DR: Looking for info on how to go about beciming an ESL teacher trainer!

Dionysus

Louise88 wrote: »

I hope this is the right place to post this, apologies if not.

This summer, I hope to do the 4 week CELTA course in International House Dublin (it seems to be the best, although I'd happily take anyone's recommendations into account!) with a view to teaching abroad for a few years. Eventually though, it would be my ambition to become a teacher-trainer myself. I'm finding it very difficult to find out much about how I'd go about this, I assume I'd first need a DELTA qualification and then some other course? I have a BA Int, but I was considering going back and doing a conversion course in order to get a BA in Linguistics, if that's any help!

TL;DR: Looking for info on how to go about beciming an ESL teacher trainer!

Saw adverts looking for teacher trainers on the FÁS website in, I think, April. I think the jobs in question were in Smithfield. Anyway, check the FÁS website as it's fairly good for this stuff. I did the CELT qualification in January 2008 and I've had absolutely no trouble getting a job since; I've gone for two interviews and got each job.

All employers in Ireland seem to look for is ACELS accreditation. I haven't a clue about what they look for beyond Ireland but I suspect the entire CELTA thing is merely a rip-off. In fact, as somebody who holds a PhD but who decided against it, I'm quite certain it is.

See Ye

Hi Louise - one of my colleagues did her DELTA at then worked for IH Dublin they sound like a nice bunch. Cambridge guidelines are that you have at least two years post-CELTA experience before you can do the DELTA; having taught speakers from different language groups would be an advantage. The DELTA can be done intensively or extensively.

I can't recall how long you need to be DELTA-qualified prior to becoming a teacher trainer but the process is essentially a mentored one. You observe an entire course, run a couple of sessions/workshops whilst being observed (can't remember if this is on the course you observe or not) and do parallel observing of teaching practice and shadow marking of assignments. There is a written component, writing an evaluative piece on the course you observed and suggesting a new session.

Any more specific questions I'll do my best to give an answer.

ETA - you don't need to do another qualification, just the DELTA and plenty of practical experience.

See Ye

Dionysus wrote: »

employers in Ireland seem to look for is ACELS accreditation. I haven't a clue about what they look for beyond Ireland but I suspect the entire CELTA thing is merely a rip-off. In fact, as somebody who holds a PhD but who decided against it, I'm quite certain it is.

Ok, I'll bite since I do have a clue (& putting aside the whole other discussion about the correlation between letters after your name and teaching ability).

This is the situation outside Ireland - the CELTA is the most widely recognised, respected and requested English Language Teaching qualification. It is awarded by UCLES (University of Cambridge Local Examinations Syndicate) who are also the people behind some of the most widely recognised ELT exams for learners. As a result the Cambridge "brand" has visibility with both employers and learners.

Holding the CELTA, rightly or wrongly, is akin to having an international driver's licence - you can find work in reputable language schools anywhere in the world. At present the CELT is still like having a local license - you may have learnt the same skills and have the same knowledge but some people will be more wary of "lending you their car" outside Ireland and may ask for a copy of the syllabus or other evidence before giving you a job.

Mind you there will always be language schools who need a new teacher to start yesterday and generally once you have a qualification and some teaching experience the name of the awarding body on your teaching cert becomes less important until one day it's as relevant as the number of points you got in your leaving cert.

Full disclosure - I did a University of Wales "Cert. TEFLA" and had to provide extra info for a couple of employers until I got my Diploma (forerunner of the current DELTA). One of my colleagues, also a teacher trainer, also has a non-Cambridge teaching cert. She found jobs in Europe via a school in Ireland.

Louise88

Hi SeeYa, many thanks for the info! I'm planning to teach in Korea and hopefully Japan and SE Asia in general, but it's good to know that diverse experience is desirable! I was expecting to have to work for a few years before progressing but it's great to have it all explained for me! Thanks again!