It has been weird not having to plan lessons or do input sessions in the last two days. I miss my fellow trainees! (Well, graduates now.) Not saying that I'm dying to do another intensive course any time soon, but I definitely miss my group and the tutors. What did I do today? Not much. I went to the bank to sort out some things, ran a few errands, and went to see Inside Out, which is absolutely genius, so go see it! I have my pile of CELTA notes on the floor of my temporary room and I need to scan them in...but the desire to sit and do one page at a time on my scanner is not too appealing at this moment in time.
Anyway, I just wanted to share a few of the lessons that I learned from my CELTA experience at IH Belfast.
1) DO IT! It is a hard, intensive, somewhat emotional rollercoaster for the month, but totally worth every second. You learn so much not only about teaching, classroom management, lesson planning and that whole lot, but you learn about yourself and the people that surround you. What I love about teaching is that it isn't about you; it is about the students. How can you help them succeed? What can you do better in order to help them learn? How can they get a better education and utilize it in their lives? Education is powerful.
Okay, that was a bit a of a tangent, but I have a point. It was hard and difficult. I have done intense before, but this was a different kind of intense. This course showed me that I can not only do it, but succeed in it. Don't shy away from something that is hard.
2) Make friends. I loved the people that I met on the course. It is nerve-wracking to go to a new place and not know a single soul. When we were put into our TP group that first day, I realized that those people were going to be my mates for the next four weeks. The group came together beautifully and we worked together well. We became friends with each other, supporting and helping each other through the course. CELTA is not something that you can do alone. You need your friends to help you through it.
3) Be prepared. There are certain things that I wished I had known before CELTA, aka phonemes, grammar points, etc; however, you can't expect someone new to TEFL (ie, me!) to know everything. I was able to learn so much and apply it in the same day to my teaching. When I say be prepared I don't mean that you need to know everything, but be prepared to handle the load and the frustrations that come with CELTA. This is not something I would recommend doing on a whim. Not only does it cost you a nice chunk of change, but you want to be able to add something to the environment and lift others up, not drag them down.
4) You can't run at 113% all of the time. Yes, it is important to work hard and get things ready. I believe in trying to accomplish assignments early so you don't have to worry about doing 37 things at the last second, but make sure to slow down once in a while and take a break. That Saturday with Emma and Michael was so great and helped me calm down. Sure I ended up staying up late that night to finish a few things, but the day of fun (a bit of craic) was well worth it.
and finally....
5) Enjoy yourself. CELTA is a great sieve. It will weed out those who love teaching from those that realize that it might not be their talent or desire. Though it is a bit of a unnatural environment to teach (i.e. observed lessons that are graded), it helps you know if TEFL is something that you really want to do. This course not only gave me a greater desire to teach English and advance in the field, but to do DELTA eventually and become a CELTA tutor.
CELTA is worth it, 100%. IH Belfast is a wonderful place to do it. In fact, I have two coupons for 50 quid off a CELTA course there to anyone who is interested. (Comment below or contact me on Google+ if you are interested.)
Do something difficult. Take the chance and change your life. Believe me, it is worth it.
Anyway, I just wanted to share a few of the lessons that I learned from my CELTA experience at IH Belfast.
1) DO IT! It is a hard, intensive, somewhat emotional rollercoaster for the month, but totally worth every second. You learn so much not only about teaching, classroom management, lesson planning and that whole lot, but you learn about yourself and the people that surround you. What I love about teaching is that it isn't about you; it is about the students. How can you help them succeed? What can you do better in order to help them learn? How can they get a better education and utilize it in their lives? Education is powerful.
Okay, that was a bit a of a tangent, but I have a point. It was hard and difficult. I have done intense before, but this was a different kind of intense. This course showed me that I can not only do it, but succeed in it. Don't shy away from something that is hard.
2) Make friends. I loved the people that I met on the course. It is nerve-wracking to go to a new place and not know a single soul. When we were put into our TP group that first day, I realized that those people were going to be my mates for the next four weeks. The group came together beautifully and we worked together well. We became friends with each other, supporting and helping each other through the course. CELTA is not something that you can do alone. You need your friends to help you through it.
3) Be prepared. There are certain things that I wished I had known before CELTA, aka phonemes, grammar points, etc; however, you can't expect someone new to TEFL (ie, me!) to know everything. I was able to learn so much and apply it in the same day to my teaching. When I say be prepared I don't mean that you need to know everything, but be prepared to handle the load and the frustrations that come with CELTA. This is not something I would recommend doing on a whim. Not only does it cost you a nice chunk of change, but you want to be able to add something to the environment and lift others up, not drag them down.
4) You can't run at 113% all of the time. Yes, it is important to work hard and get things ready. I believe in trying to accomplish assignments early so you don't have to worry about doing 37 things at the last second, but make sure to slow down once in a while and take a break. That Saturday with Emma and Michael was so great and helped me calm down. Sure I ended up staying up late that night to finish a few things, but the day of fun (a bit of craic) was well worth it.
and finally....
5) Enjoy yourself. CELTA is a great sieve. It will weed out those who love teaching from those that realize that it might not be their talent or desire. Though it is a bit of a unnatural environment to teach (i.e. observed lessons that are graded), it helps you know if TEFL is something that you really want to do. This course not only gave me a greater desire to teach English and advance in the field, but to do DELTA eventually and become a CELTA tutor.
CELTA is worth it, 100%. IH Belfast is a wonderful place to do it. In fact, I have two coupons for 50 quid off a CELTA course there to anyone who is interested. (Comment below or contact me on Google+ if you are interested.)
Do something difficult. Take the chance and change your life. Believe me, it is worth it.
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