Certificate in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (CELTA)

Overview

This 4-week course is for people who want to learn to teach English as a foreign language and gain a teaching qualification that is recognised worldwide.

It's suitable for those who have some English language teaching experience but no initial qualification, as well as for people with little or no previous teaching experience.

When you pass the course, you'll gain a Certificate in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (CELTA), a widely recognised qualification for teaching English as a foreign language.

Course content and structure

The course is made up of four parts.

1. Input sessions

You'll be taught in the way we would like you to teach your future students.

These sessions cover:

• language analysis and awareness (grammar, vocabulary, and pronunciation)

• language skills (reading, writing, speaking and listening)

• learners and teachers and the learning and teaching context

• developing teaching skills and techniques

• classroom procedures 

• planning lessons

• adapting published materials for use in lessons

• use of resources and materials including ICT

• introduction to a wider variety of teaching contexts e.g. younger learners, business, examinations, monolingual classes.

• professionalism

• future employment advice

2. Teaching practice

You'll undertake regular teaching practice throughout the course.

This will include six-hours of teaching while being observed by your tutors and classmates.

You'll be observed teaching a range of English language levels during the course and teach lessons of up to an hour, depending on the stage of the course.

On days when you're not teaching, you will observe your peers and give constructive oral and written feedback on their lessons.

3. Assisted lesson planning

You'll receive support from your tutors when preparing your lessons. This will be reduced as the course progresses.

4. Teaching observation

You'll watch experienced teachers teach lessons (six-hours during the course).

Teaching and structure

The course is delivered on the UCL Bloomsbury campus every day from Monday to Friday, 10:30 - 18:00.

The exceptions to this are:

• The first class will be held on Saturday 24 August

• There will be no class on Monday 26 August due to the bank holiday.

You'll also need to spend a minimum of 80 hours during the course on reading, research, pre- and post-session tasks, assignments, and lesson preparation.

Assessment

You'll be assessed by continuous assessment (there's no final exam).

You'll be assessed on your language knowledge, lesson planning and preparation, teaching, and assignments.

You are expected to attend 100% of the course, and must:

• teach a total of six hours of assessed lessons

• write lesson plans and self-evaluations for the lessons you teach

• observe your peers' teaching and take part in giving constructive feedback on each other’s lessons

• observe six hours of lessons taught by experienced teachers

• submit four assessed written assignments (comprising a total of 3,000 words)

The final grades awarded are Pass A, Pass B, Pass, Fail.

Entry requirements

You must:

• have a standard of English that would enable you to teach a range of levels (for example a minimum of Cambridge English CAE Grade A or an IELTS score of at least 7.5)

• be a UK university student or alumni

• be 18 years old or older at the start of the course