Some Basics

Constructivist Teaching 

Constructivist teaching is the theory that the CELTA is based on. This theory says that everyone should start the learning process with information that they already have and then build on it. It  is a premise that learning occurs when the students are active. After experiencing an activity, the student should continually review and evaluate what they did. This applies to how you will be taught and how you will be expected to teach.

Videos 

Please view a few of the plentiful CELTA demonstration videos online. They will dramatize what is expected when you teach using the CELTA method . When I saw the first video for homework, I thought we were being taught what not to do. I observed that the formula was corny and to compound my cringe fest the teacher kept asking her students questions. After they answered she told them NO . That is not a very encouraging response.I think no   is possibly the only word they learned from her. This teacher also used so much body language, I assumed that she had been trained as a mime.

The videos that were shown in the class about other teaching methods highlighted extremely odd and rarely used ways of teaching English. I saw this as another mind game, as the trainees are being led to believe that if those are the other teaching methods than the CELTA method makes a lot of sense.

Celta Online

When the pandemic began in 2020 the CELTA jumped online. The CELTA was designed for face-to-face teaching. When I moved to the UK, I was told that I had to take the CELTA because employers wanted me to have six hours of live teaching observations, now that was out the window. I do not think that the teaching practice sessions transfer well to online teaching. It is a different medium and a different skill set. There is no way to work with a partner online, which was a main component of the CELTA teaching technique. 

Additionally, virtual interaction between students is not the same as it is in a classroom. The course is just too expensive to take a lesser version. If you are going to take it, please take it in a classroom. If you want to learn to teach online take a class that is designed to teach techniques for online teaching. 

I base my beliefs on this issue on what was taught in my  class or more accurately, what wasn't taught in my class. When I took the CELTA the tutors never taught one lesson about how to teach online.Oddly, about three weeks after I finished my course ( beginning of the pandemic) online teaching  became the main focus of the CELTA. I think it definitely makes me wonder about the  purpose of the CELTA. Is it to train teachers by providing them with live teaching experiences or is it just to make money ?

Pre-course Tasks Were Never Reviewed

The CELTA pre-course tasks include an extensive number of grammar exercises. It takes a lot of time to complete. Please note – the answers are all online.  In my class the tutors never graded the work. These tutors did not even give us the courtesy of reviewing the material in class or go through the motions of having us submit it for review. These exercises create the illusion that before you begin the course you will need to know complex grammar rules by heart, this did not apply in my class.

Teaching an Audio Lesson 

One of my tutors felt very strongly that before playing the audio the students need to be given the opportunity to read the comprehension questions. I was opposed to this method because it was my experience that students only focus on answering the questions in front of them and they cannot concentrate on listening to the main ideas. However, this tutor insisted ( after my practice teaching ) that there was no other option for presenting an audio lessons. In my CELTA class the concept of "what works for you " was never taken into consideration, it was about learning one method of teaching through trial and error.

It is important to know how the classroom audio works before the first teaching practice or you will be guessing your way through that in front of your students, like I was.When you start teaching the audio equipment will usually be a cell phone or CD player that you provide. When you actually teach EFL you will find yourself very fortunate if you have access to a classroom computer and a smartboard. 

Further Reading

This thesis offers interesting information about the course. I suggest that you read it when you are considering taking this course.

Life after CELTA: A precarious transition into English Language Teaching 

by Bessie O’Connor

https://dro.deakin.edu.au/eserv/DU:30043936/oconnor-thesis-2011.pdf