The lowdown on CELTA Certifications
When I was an angsty 16-year-old yearning for a peripatetic lifestyle, I came to the conclusion that getting a certification to teach English would be my ticket out. I tried to convince my mom to send me to Costa Rica for the summer: I would go through the TEFL course with a cohort of like-minded individuals, ending my days on the beach. Of course, the $2,000+ price tag attached to this glorified vacation ended the discussion quickly.
After graduating with a communication degree from the University of Texas, I was still interested in getting my certification to teach English. Conveniently so, a CELTA center was offered at my alma mater. Between my faux-gap year and global pandemic, it seemed like the opportune time to pursue my CELTA Certification. Despite being prepared to take the course in-person, all certifications for the year had been moved to online.
Today, I’m certified to teach English pretty much anywhere except the US (not that I would want to, as teachers are severely undervalued here). While the course itself was only four months, it was more complicated than I ever expected. Throughout my research, one thing that everyone failed to mention was how much of a clusterfuck these programs are.
These certifications are becoming increasingly popular as a means to travel and make easy money. Teaching English can offer flexibility, adventure, and benefits not found in the traditional 9-to-5 work environment. This all sounds great- if you can make it through the chaos of obtaining your certification.
For context, I took a part-time online intensive course through the UT-Austin CELTA Center. The course ran from August-November, with two weeks in October for live teaching sessions with real ESL students.
TEFL or CELTA?
There are two main certifications that are globally recognized for English language teaching: TEFL and CELTA. Neither certification requires teaching experience, which means that anyone of any age can take the course, as long as they are a native speaker of English or have passed certain exams that attest to their English proficiency. No bachelor’s degree is required. These certifications never expire or have to be renewed, which is why I consider them an investment for stable income at any point in the future.
TEFL, or Teaching English as a Foreign Language, is the standard certification. It is interchangeable with TESOL (Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages). TEFL requires 100 hours of coursework, while teaching hours vary program-to-program. Some TEFL programs do not require teachers to complete their practicum with actual English language learners, instead having them role-play with other teachers. Without real ESL students, there will not be an opportunity for teachers to recognize common errors, or to adjust lessons to the student’s level and understanding.
CELTA, or Cambridge Certificate in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages, is regarded as the more premiere certification because it adheres to stricter standards of teaching. The CELTA certification requires a 120 hours of coursework, and a minimum of 6 hours live teaching with real English-language learners. The CELTA instructors are certified by Cambridge, supposedly making them more qualified. While CELTA programs are typically more intense and time-consuming, 95% of applicants pass the course. Upon completion, CELTA students will receive a Pass A, Pass B, Pass, or Fail.
Full transparency- I received a Pass. I expected at least a Pass B, as I was considered one of the stronger students in the course (feedback from instructors and on lessons indicated as such). I don’t believe anyone got a Pass A in my group, and I’m certain that at least one person failed out of a group of eight. These grades are entirely subjective to the instructors, which I’ll speak more to later on. Here’s the good news: all of these Pass grades are arbitrary! Schools only care if you passed! You’ll be hired somewhere!
I chose to pursue a CELTA certification because it is more competitive in the global job market. It assures schools, as well as private clients, that I am knowledgeable, professional, and capable as a teacher due to the rigorous training I received. As these certifications become more popular, those with CELTA certifications will stick out in applicant pools. More and more international educational institutions are requiring the CELTA and do not accept TEFL certifications any longer. Might as well get a leg ahead while ya can.
The Legacy of The English Language
“Language is the dwelling place of ideas that do not exist anywhere else.”
I could talk at length about colonization through the English language, the violent erasure that it has perpetuated and how it has been used to mutilate ways of thinking and existing. Language is power. The values, traditions, and histories of cultures are held in words, and to sever ties to one’s native tongue is to sever them from their identity.
The English language, now considered a ‘universal language’, is as such because it was used to colonize across generations and geographies. ESL Teachers must acknowledge this history in the classroom and use it to reflect on their own teachings, positionality, and intentions. I do not believe the English language is superior. But in our contemporary world, it is useful and valued. The language of business, as people say.
Going into the program, it is beneficial to have experience as a language learner. Understanding the complexities of learning a language will make you a more empathetic teacher, and help you identify where students will find difficulties.
As I move forward and become responsible for classrooms of language learners, I will continue to educate myself on how I can make the English language more inclusive and more accessible. While encouraging students to be curious learners, I will honor the background and knowledge they bring into the classroom from other languages, emphasizing the rich diversity of multilingual environments. Language diversity is beneficial because it offers different perspectives and solutions to the ever-changing landscape of society. Decolonizing education, as well as my own mind, is a lengthy and active process that I choose to commit to.
My CELTA Experience
And now, we’ve arrived to the fun part. This is the unofficial roast of UT Austin’s CELTA program. I would not advise anyone to take the CELTA program at UT Austin unless they are very self-motivated, direct, and can devote an excessive amount of time and energy to the course.
The online course was self-paced, so I appreciated that I could work ahead. The online modules are very simple and require little attention, other than clicking through every thirty or so seconds. There are two online dashboards to alternate between: Moodle and Canvas. Files are uploaded to Canvas with no clear names or indication of what they should be used for. A lot of the time, I would have to ask the facilitators to send the pages, assignments, or handouts needed for the assignment because they were never uploaded in the first place. Expect to download about 300+ files without ever knowing when you’ll use them. I spent more time looking through my emails for random files to aid in my lesson planning than I did working on the online modules, if that tells you anything.
Your CELTA program will likely have two facilitators. Your experience (and grade) is subjective to your facilitators, at the whim of their organizational and time-management skills. The facilitators are very particular and each have their own way of doing things, so you have to tailor each assignment in accordance with who will be grading it.
In my experience, the two facilitators for this program were disorganized, vague, unsupportive, unprofessional...I could go on. It was normal to email my instructor 4-5 times a week asking for clarification. If I didn’t unabashedly email them as often as I did, I would’ve failed the course due to the confusing specificity of the assignments. The facilitators switched off each week, and it felt like I was taking two totally different classes. They were not on the same page at all, and did not communicate with each other. When I would email one facilitator for clarification, they would tell me to ask the other.
Every Monday at 8:00pm, my peers and I would tune in for a meeting run by a facilitator, where they would waste our time rambling on about something that has nothing to do with the week’s assignment. They would go through a lesson plan only for them to send out a completely different lesson for that week. The environment that was created as a result of their ambiguity and disorganization was intimidating. There was too much sarcasm and never enough clarity.
I wrote everything they said down in these meetings, because it was impossible to distinguish whether or not it would be useful later on (the instructors would also tell us not to take notes, but fuck that). They send out assignments in page numbers and tell you ‘to run with it’, with little-to-no instruction. When you give it your best effort, based off the previous examples given, they tell you you’re absolutely fucking wrong.
Don’t expect any flexibility with the schedule. CELTA does not advise folks to work during the course, but that is a very classist and unrealistic expectation. CELTA students are expected to take two weeks off for live teaching, but we were not given the exact schedule for teaching until the week before, making it impossible to coordinate with work. We would receive an email at night saying that there was a meeting in the morning and that we were expected to be there- it was obvious the facilitator forgot to pass this message along until then.
The best advice I have for someone in the program is to make a friend, cling to each other desperately, and hope for the best. With a partner, you can ask questions and confirm that you’re not the only one losing your shit. Two people = more emails to instructors, hopefully more clarification. The facilitators seemed peeved that I had chosen to link up with someone, but it was truly the only way to survive the course.
This course was overwhelming and all-consuming, not because it was difficult, but because we were not set up for success by the program facilitators. Like I said before, your experience with a CELTA certification is dependent on the facilitators. Everything I’ve said here could be irrelevant if you have instructors that are patient, understanding, and accessible.
Initialisms and Abbreviations
There are a lot. I don’t know why. Perhaps to make things easier? It does the opposite of that, because it takes 15 minutes to decode the meaning of any piece of feedback offered during the course.
CCQs: Concept Checking Questions
ICQs: Instruction Checking Questions
TP: Teaching Practice
TTT: Test-Test-Teach
One last thing: you will use the phonetic alphabet in most of your assignments, and it’s a bitch to learn. I’d recommend familiarizing yourself with it at least a little bit before the program starts, because my head almost blew up trying to comprehend the symbols and letters. Even now, I don’t understand it. This website will be your best friend.
