If like me, you’re looking for a career change, teaching English as a Foreign Language (TEFL) might be an option for you. Although having official certification like the CELTA is by no means a necessity, it can give you more legitimacy and make you more attractive to employers.

What is the Celta?

The Certificate for English Language Teaching to Adults or CELTA is a teaching qualification accredited by Cambridge University. Once you have this qualification, you can teach in schools all over the world.

How do you get the Celta?

Short answer? By doing a course. I did my course with the languages school International House, but there are plenty of other schools available. I did a month-long online course, but you would have options to do it face-to-face or to do it part-time, which takes three months. If you are planning to teach online like me, it’s more logical to do it online, but if you want to teach in a classroom then do a face-to-face course. Both require different skills.

Something you should be prepared for is the workload. I had my lessons from 9am to 4pm UK time. And then after that I worked, went to the pub and saw my girlfriend, right? Wrong. I had to put my social life on hold, as well as tell my girlfriend that I wouldn’t be seeing her for a month. Why?

Because all my evenings and weekends were spent either completing written assignments or preparing for my teaching practices (more on this later.) But be prepared to not see your friends. Be prepared to not see your partner. And you cannot be working a job alongside the CELTA. One of my classmates was working alongside her studies. I found it amazing how she managed to balance the two. Save up some money and be prepared to live on that for a month.

How much does it cost?

I can’t speak for all courses, but be prepared to spend at least £1500. It is a lot of money, but it holds you accountable. it After all, if you’ve spent £1,500 on a course, you’ll make damn sure that you pass.

How does the application process work?

A simple Google search took me to the Cambridge website and from there I navigated to the International House website and arranged for an interview. They sent me a simple interview task to complete. This was straightforward. It’s a few short questions on how you would teach certain activities to your class. It doesn’t matter if you don’t know the right answer. Just give it a go.

The actual interview isn’t anything to worry about. it’s an informal assessment to see how you’ll fit into the course. They’ll also ask you about your pre-interview task.

In the interview, they’ll tell you there and then if you’ve been accepted. And in the run-up to the course, you will also be sent a pre-course task to complete. At 50 questions, it might seem like a lot, but it isn’t marked or assessed. Rather it’s to give you a taste of what to expect from the course.

Will I actually be teaching?

Yes. What separates CELTA from other teaching qualifications is that it isn’t all theory. You spend the morning learning different methodologies and frameworks. In the afternoon, you put this all into practice by teaching living, breathing learners.

I taught 8 lessons – six, 40 – minute sessions and two 60-minute sessions. The first four sessions were with upper-intermediate learners from all over the world including China, Japan, Chile, Italy, Turkey, Portugal and Ukraine.

The next four sessions were with a group of pre-intermediate learners. These students were from Sudan, Iran, Ukraine, Brazil, Colombia and Turkey. Each of your teaching practices will be assessed by your fully-trained and knowledgeable tutors who will provide you on feedback on what to improve for next time.

Do I need teaching experience to do the CELTA?

No. It can help if you do, but it isn’t necessary at all. And in some ways it can hinder you. If you’ve taught for years without any formal training, you might have picked up some bad habits that you will need to unlearn. As for me, I have never taught before in my life.

And that’s the whole point of the CELTA. They’re teaching you how to teach. They’re not expecting you to be brilliant from the get-go. They’re looking for progress. Not perfection.

Do I need to be an expert in grammar?

No. My grammatical knowledge isn’t awful, but I’m not a grammarian either. Obviously, it might help having a background in grammar, but it isn’t essential. You learn much of this while on the go.

Do I need to be based in London or the UK?

Obviously for the face-to-face courses you do. But if you’re doing it online, you can do it from anywhere in the world. I and two of my classmates were in the UK, my three other colleagues were in Canada, Cyprus and Dubai.

What written work do I need to complete?

I can only speak from my experience, but we had to complete four written assignments that focussed on assessing our learners’ needs, language analysis, designing a reading task and a self-evaluation.

There are also five planning documents you need to complete for your teaching practices: a cover page with your lesson aims, action points and anticipated problems, a language analysis section, a stage-by-stage breakdown of your lesson, a handout for your learners and powerpoint slides for you to display your teaching.

Can I fail the CELTA?

Of course. If you don’t do the work, how could you ever expect to pass? My advice would be to manage your time. Stay on top of your assignments and lesson planning. Do not save all your work for the last minute. You will regret it later.

It might sound impossible due to the workload, but also take the time for yourself to relax and unwind.

Is the CELTA right for me?

If you’re not afraid of hard, never-ending work, then yes. If you want hands-on teaching experience, then yes. But consider why you want to teach and where you want to go. Like I said, a CELTA qualification carries a lot of weight for applying to schools. And if you’re hoping to freelance online, it can give you serious legitimacy.

Plus, it’s great fun. Over the last month, I worked very closely with my course mates. We got to know each other very well and we’re all good friends now.

Any last words of advice?

If you’re doing an online course, then invest in a comfortable chair with proper back support; you will be sitting down for most of the day. And practice good posture. Your upper back will thank you.