For the love of teaching – The CELTA Course

For 20 odd aspiring teachers in the city, their English language teaching skills were polished and fine tuned at the British Council Library here. The next batch of CELTA (Certificate in English language teaching to Adults) scholars graduated recently. Among some experienced teachers, there were engineers, businessmen, first time teachers among other aspirants who had taken the course.

CELTA is a certificate course by the Cambridge University to enhance your teaching knowledge and gives the taker a ‘hands on’ experience. It is an internationally recognized course that will throw the doors open for the teaching community at international level. To apply for this month long course, all you need is a flair for the language and teaching and be 20 years of age or above.

The scholars selected for the training will have to give an exam that will be followed by assignments and interviews to test the compatibility of the aspirant to the course. Among hundreds of applications that they receive every year, only 20 odd applications are selected after a series of examination. The course is split into various sessions with valuable inputs on teaching English to a larger audience. “The teaching is fabulous! We get to know what our mistakes are and we can work on it,” said a student.

The students already warn you of the rigid schedule of the course. “The course is really strenuous and one should take it up only if they are passionate about teaching,” was the scholars’ unanimous thought while they added that yes it is a bit on the higher side of the fee structure, but it is totally worth it. Once you complete the course, one need not stick to just teaching. The options are innumerable. One can join as the instructor/ examiner for International English Testing exams with the BCL or work with various governments or can combine his/her thirst for teaching with many other opportunities like scripting to bring out the flair for the language.

If the world is your home, CELTA can work wonders on your resume. “The biggest advantage of the course is it is international and many institutes recognize it,” they say. “Also, the exposure that we gain through our training sessions really helps us,” they add.

Another student sums it all up saying, “All of us have felt the change in some way or the other and we are happy about it.” As I wondered loudly what they would do to the Indian society with this special knowledge, they were quick to add that an idea to reach out to the society was also in the loop.

For further details regarding the course, contact British Council Library.