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Life after CELTA: Academic

Stay in School!

What’s a newly CELTA-certified teacher to do after completing the course? Stay in school of course. Language school networks, like ILSC and others, are a great option for recent graduates who want to teach ESL full or part-time.

Academic ESL Opportunities ILSC — *Ana Torres is the Academic Director for English at ILSC-Montréal*

These schools offer new teachers access to students, resources, and further opportunities. Ana Torres is the Academic Director for English at ILSC-Montréal and believes dedicated language schools are a good fit for students and teachers alike.

What Students Want

Teaching at an established school means the hard work of surfacing potential students is already handled. “The majority of ESL students join ILSC courses at the Beginner 4 and Intermediate 1 levels*,” says Torres, which means new teachers will know what to expect.

Knowing what to expect doesn’t mean teaching has to be stale, though. Full-service education networks like ILSC offer classes ranging from absolute beginner-level to advanced academic and exam preparation — not to mention student favourites like English through Songs & Lyrics or even Yoga!

Torres describes ILSC students as “focused and motivated to learn and improve their ESL skills,” which makes for an enjoyable classroom experience.

* (equivalent to A2 and B1 levels from the Common European Framework)

Tools of the Trade

In addition to highly motivated students, good language schools equip teachers to teach the best lessons possible. Torres says teachers at ILSC “love the number of resources available for them to use,” which range from printing and paper supplies to course books and online planning subscriptions. Classrooms are also equipped with audio-visual

Most schools also keep a library of resources teachers can consult. In ILSC’s case, the resource library also includes engaging games and authentic materials. Regular workshops are also held to train teachers in new techniques and how to use new resources.

Making Moves

Established institutions also offer new ESL teachers space to learn and options for advancement. “ESL instructors at ILSC can look forward to growing and moving horizontally in our organization,” says Torres. Academic settings allow teachers to gain administrative experience and have supporting departments teachers can seek opportunities in.

Those who don’t want to give up the classroom entirely may look to the growing exam track instead. Larger language schools often administer official tests (IELTS, TOEFL, etc.) and teachers who teach preparation courses can easily pursue positions as exam staff or even work as official examiners.

Teachers, these are some good reasons to stay in school!

Does teaching English to adult learners sound like an adventure you can see yourself taking? ILSC offers the Cambridge CELTA as an intensive 4-week program, and a flexible online format.

Teaching with CELTA

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Maybe you’re thinking of taking the CELTA or perhaps you’re a newly minted graduate, either way, you’ll need to think about teaching. Not just where you’ll teach English but what kind of English teaching you’ll do—because not every CELTA graduate ends up teaching in a traditional classroom.

The options for new ESL teachers are as varied as they are different, but with CELTA you’ll be ready for them all.

Corporate Lessons

If the classroom isn’t for you, there’s always the boardroom. When companies can’t send their staff to language classes, they often bring instructors into the office. Corporate language instructors will help students master business-specific English and improve in-house communication for international companies.

Business students tend to have higher expectations for their lessons than the average ESL student, so it’s important to be professional and well-prepared. Corporate clients aren’t learning English for pleasure, they’re acquiring an important skill to give them an edge at work. Of course, higher expectations mean higher compensation for enterprising teachers.

Private Instruction

Private lessons give English teachers more freedom and flexibility than most other forms of teaching. The format, length, and location of lessons are only limited by the imaginations of the teacher and client, and you get to be your own boss.

This freedom comes with an added cost, however: finding clients. But for entrepreneurial teachers, the opportunity to build a personal brand and charge attractive rates of $40+ per hour far outweigh the work of finding students.

Online Classrooms

Speaking of freedom and flexibility. The latest trend in ESL is for teachers to teach overseas without ever leaving home. There are a wide variety of schools and programs offering online ESL courses, so it’s important to do your homework to find a reputable provider.

Teaching online also requires a working knowledge of not only Skype (or other video chat software) but the various digital teaching tools available. Lessons over Skype are fine for conversation practice, but more specialized tools are often necessary for a more classroom-like experience.

The British Council has some helpful tips for those who want to learn about online teaching.

English for Specific Purposes

Teaching English for Specific Purposes, or ESP has grown out of the increasing demand for Business English. Teaching ESP focuses on equipping students with English skills for a narrowly defined purpose, such as English for Aviation and English for Medicine.

Teachers needn’t be former pilots or doctors to teach industry-specific English courses but experience in relevant industries, when highly technical, is an asset. Actually, teachers who want to teach ESP don’t need to target technical professions at all; there are opportunities to combine teaching skills with passions like cooking, cinema, or even yoga! But teaching ESP can also be as simple as giving crash courses in English for Tourism or English test preparation.

IELTS and Test Preparation

Good English test scores can be the deciding factor in a job or immigration application, so it’s no surprise test preparation courses are big business. By familiarizing themselves with the major standardized tests, new teachers can take advantage of opportunities to teach to the specific needs of test-takers.

Many language schools offer test prep as part of their course offerings and major tests like IELTS and TOEFL offer lots of resources to help teachers prepare students for their tests.

What’s Next?

CELTA-certified teachers have a lot of options after wrapping up the course but there’s no reason to be intimidated. In fact, teachers who prize flexibility don’t need to choose just one option. Pursuing different types of teaching (private lessons, contracts, etc.) adds variety and enables teachers to increase their income, all while holding down secure classroom work at a school.

Does teaching English to adult learners sound like an adventure you can see yourself taking? ILSC offers the Cambridge CELTA as an intensive 4-week program, and a flexible online format.

Life After CELTA: Where are they now? – Part 2

CELTA opens doors across the world, but what exactly does that look like? Where do newly-minted teachers really end up? Our regular series “Where are they now?” offers a window into the real lives of CELTA graduates.

We hope this peek into the post-CELTA life gives prospective candidates a better idea of what’s in store for the future.

Stefan

After a lot of research and some interviews, I started pursuing a teaching position in Shenzhen, China. I left mid-October 2016 and have been having an amazing time teaching, learning, exploring, and skateboarding! I chose the area because it’s a great place to skateboard and pretty much doesn’t have a winter … although I do find myself missing the cold a bit. That’s part of the reason why I just spent Chinese New Year in Japan!

CELTA was a great course. I find myself using the techniques and skills I learned all the time. I teach kids from 4 to 14 years old of all levels. Living and teaching abroad is such a rewarding and challenging experience, especially learning Mandarin!

I’m very happy and extremely grateful for the opportunities CELTA has offered me.

Georgiana

After CELTA, I got the chance to teach English in Turkey in the beautiful city of Izmir. Thanks to my CELTA qualification, language schools were confident in my ability and knowledge to teach English as a foreign language.

Christopher

After finishing my CELTA I flew straight down to sunny Mexico and started working at the Anglo Mexican Foundation. The experience of landing in a new country and being in charge of whole groups was surreal, to say the least, but the preparation from the CELTA could not have put me in a better position to deal with the challenge. Even now, after two and a half years at the school, I still think back to my course with Chris and Najma and ask myself what they would do when I’m lacking teaching inspiration.

Since arriving in Mexico, I’ve taken the In-service Certificate in English Language Teaching and started a film club at my school, as well as travelling a little around the country. I’m about to move to a different school, where I hope to take my DELTA. I would definitely recommend Mexico for teaching English, as the country and people are incredible! Teaching is not an easy job but, if you love it, it can take you to incredible places.

Where will they go next?

Stay tuned for the next edition of “Where are they now?” and until then, consider where CELTA can take you.

Does teaching English to adult learners sound like an adventure you can see yourself taking? ILSC offers the Cambridge CELTA as an intensive 4-week program, and a flexible online format.

Life After CELTA: Where Are They Now?

Photo by Capturing the human heart. on Unsplash

We hope this peek into the post-CELTA life gives prospective candidates a better idea of what’s in store for the future.

Thiago

Greetings from Brazil. I am very happy to report that taking the CELTA at ILSC-Montreal was a watershed event in my life, as being CELTA qualified led to my being hired at Cultura Inglesa SP, one of the best schools in Latin America, according to BRAZ-TESOL.

In São Paulo alone, they have more than 85,000 students and many more throughout Brazil. The selection process was very intensive and the one-month training was very similar to CELTA in many aspects, including TPs, LP, MFP, receptive skills, PPP, TTT etc.

They told me that I was only selected because I had taken the CELTA course, which they really value at the school. They also confirmed what you had already told me: that one of my strengths is a great rapport with students. Lol.

In a nutshell, I am extremely happy and grateful for all the feedback and training I had from you, and also, because I will be working in a company that really invests in the qualifications of their staff, with plenty of room for professional and career development opportunities. Once again thank you very much.

Melanie

Since obtaining my CELTA in September 2013 I have been working for the Australian Centre of Education in Phnom Penh. After years of working in Korea prior to getting my qualifications, I decided I needed a whole new change – and Cambodia certainly gave it to me! I have found my niche in teaching university-aged students and am lucky to work at the only school that pays well there (thanks to having the prerequisite CELTA?).

I have had to opportunity to visit Angkor Wat, the beaches of Sihanoukville and can easily travel to a variety of destinations in Asia like the Philippines, Thailand and Japan. I can now wrangle prices in Khmer, whirl around the city in a tuk-tuk and slip away on a bus at a moment’s notice to all corners of the country all while learning not only about their horrific persecution under Pol Pot but also the proud traditions and culture in this fascinating corner of the earth!

Where will they go next?

Stay tuned for the next edition of “Where are they now?” and until then, consider where CELTA can take you.

Does teaching English to adult learners sound like an adventure you can see yourself taking? ILSC offers the Cambridge CELTA as an intensive 4-week program and a flexible online format.

Keep going with CELTA

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It’s never too late to put experience to work. Whether you’re just coming out of a fruitful career or years into an equally fruitful retirement, there are always new experiences on the horizon. After years of work, though, who doesn’t want to do something new and valuable? With CELTA, you can continue to do meaningful work and experience the world in a whole new way.

A quality certification

CELTA is the University of Cambridge’s highly respected Certificate in English Language Teaching to Adults and is the most recognized certificate of teaching English as a second language worldwide.

CELTA is offered in a variety of formats and covers five essential language teaching and learning topics. Theory-based input sessions with experienced teacher trainers are combined with practical teaching practice—with real students—to ensure you know what you’re doing and how to do it. There’s no preparation for teaching quite like teaching under the watchful eye of practiced instructors.

The program is offered in a variety of formats to fit your schedule. Get started quickly with the 4-week intensive course or take the more flexible approach of the new online CELTA course.

Whichever variety of CELTA, new teachers leave with the confidence to teach students from diverse backgrounds in a variety of settings. Not everyone ends up teaching daily to classrooms full of students; many get involved in community organizations or simply offer private instruction.

Make a difference, or just do something different

Everyone’s motivation is different, and if you want to help refugees and new immigrants feel at home, CELTA offers the tools to complete that mission. If you want to travel and experience and learn from a different culture, that’s also available to you.

With a widely recognized qualification like CELTA, it’s as easy to travel the world as it is to welcome it to your neighbourhood. In many cases, it’s not even necessary to become a full-time teacher at a school or training centre.

Put years of experience to work

Retirement doesn’t have to mean leaving behind a lifetime of knowledge, in fact, a former career can bring a lot of value to teaching ESL. There is an increasing demand for teachers who can tailor lessons to students who require instruction in English for Specific Purposes (ESP). This means new teachers with experience in domains like business, tourism, medicine, science and technology can put their experience to work for students.

Whether you’re planning to teach abroad or at home, students looking for careers in these industries may require this kind of ESP instruction and teachers with relevant experience are more attractive than those without it.

Next steps?

All that’s left is to decide where and when to take life’s next adventure!

Does teaching English to adult learners sound like an adventure you can see yourself taking? ILSC offers the Cambridge CELTA as an intensive 4-week program and a flexible online format.

Changing Careers with CELTA

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Mick Jagger famously sang: “I can’t get no satisfaction,” and although the feeling of continuous striving is probably universal, those who are unsatisfied in their work can relate in a special way. If 40 hours of every week are going to be spent doing something, it had better be something enjoyable. So, whether that lyric above makes you want to scream, “I can’t get any satisfaction” or just makes you want to sing along, it could be time for a change.

Get some satisfaction

Change is always a bit of a risk, but making a change isn’t necessarily the result of making a mistake. It’s possible to graduate, land a good job, work at it for years, and wake up one morning with career wanderlust asking, what else is out there? It’s also possible to work an unfulfilling job for years out of necessity and to be no stranger to a nagging sense of what if that won’t quit. Thankfully, possibility never expires.

Why not travel the world? Why not learn a new language and culture? Why not start something new? CELTA could be the risk worth taking; it could be the answer.

A quality qualification

CELTA is the University of Cambridge’s highly respected Certificate in English Language Teaching to Adults and is the most recognized certificate of teaching English as a second language worldwide. With CELTA, paths unwalked open up and the opportunity to experience life in a new way, in a new place surrounded by new people can be found in nearly every direction.

Opportunities near and far

Getting a teaching certification like CELTA certainly opens up the world of teaching English as a second language (TESL) but that doesn’t mean the past gets left behind. Changing careers doesn’t have to mean leaving home because the ESL market for English-speaking countries always has a demand for native-speaker teachers to teach recent immigrants and international students. Even skills and experience from previous careers can be put to work in a post-CELTA life and position new teachers for specialized roles like management and administration within schools and training centres.

Of course, there’s no change quite like extended international travel and, compared to going back to school for a different degree, getting a CELTA certificate is actually less of a risk. The course is relatively cheap and gets you trained and ready to work in as little as four weeks, so the whole process can be quick, efficient, and exciting!

Experience the world like never before

If any change is a risk then it might be worth it to go all in. It could be a dream a location; a country and culture that begs to be experienced. The first available position could also be perfect—no overthinking, no time to doubt—just accept the job and figure it out on the fly. Everyone has a different tolerance for adventure, but making a change with CELTA is the first step to discovering it.

Does teaching English to adult learners sound like an adventure you can see yourself taking? ILSC offers the Cambridge CELTA as an intensive 4-week program and a flexible online format.