CELTA

CELTA Course Description 

The Cambridge CELTA is an introductory teacher training course designed for candidates with little or no previous English language TEFL teaching experience, enabling them to get the skills, knowledge and hands-on teaching practice needed to be a successful English language teacher.

 It is also suitable for teachers who have teaching experience but have had little or no formal teacher training. International House Newcastle is one of the few CELTA centres in North East England.

As CELTA is awarded by Cambridge English Language Assessment, part of the University of Cambridge, it is internationally recognised, highly respected and considered a benchmark for a solid foundation for teaching English as a foreign language. The CELTA teacher training course is recognised by EFL organisations worldwide and the certificate is the most highly respected of its kind in the world.

CELTA is regulated by Ofqual (Office of Qualifications and Examinations Regulation) at Level 5 on the Qualifications and Credit Framework (QCF) for England, Wales and Northern Ireland.

All CELTA courses come with a 1-year Membership of Cambridge English Teacher at no extra cost. This continuous professional development website supports your training and career through short courses, webinars with experts, knowledge articles and videos, and a global network of thousands of teachers. The Jobs Board can also help you find work as an English teaching professional.

Applicant Profile

Applicants for the CELTA course should have an awareness of language and a competence in English, both written and spoken, that enables them to follow the course and complete the assignments and teach English at a range of levels. They should normally have a standard of education that would allow them entry to Higher Education in their country.

Candidates must usually be 20 years old at the start of the CELTA course (although candidates from the age of 18 may be accepted at the centre’s discretion where it is confirmed that they have the potential to develop the necessary skills to become effective EFL teachers and that the course is suitable for them in terms of their background and their career plans).

Course Requirements

The Cambridge CELTA requires an attendance of a minimum of 120 hours over 4 weeks. These hours include:

• Input

• Tutorial support and consultation

• Supervised lesson planning

• Six hours' assessed TEFL teaching practice

• Peer observation of TEFL teaching practice

• Six hours' directed observation of live lessons taught by experienced ELT teacher training professionals

• PLUS a minimum of 80 hours of unsupervised work outside of timetabled course hours

• Candidates must be present for at least 80% of each component of the course in order to pass, although 100% attendance is expected, and time off is granted only in exceptional circumstances