I have been accepted for a CELTA course. Is it worth it?

Question

I hear that it can be very demanding and stressful. Its a four week intensive course from 9 am to 5 pm. I want to know if its worth the trouble or not. I am planning to become a teacher but how high is the stress level? Anyone done this before? Thanx.

Answer 1

Dear Sabrina, I too faced the same problem when I got a green signal for TESOL. I had no one to help me n I went for it. After having spent a fortune on it when I started applying I had to face a lot of disappointment as the recruiters wud want only Native Speakers of English with Celta or Tesol. The money has gone down the drain. I couldn't suceed inspite of having picked up the accent after having worked abroad for the last 4 years. Do think about it before going for it.

Answer 2

Hi Sabrina,

The truth about the CELTA is that, as the previous answer indicates, it is a very demanding course. I did mine in 4 weeks too and I remember staying at the college from 7am to 11pm most days, doing the coursework and planning lessons.  A lot of my friends didn't have time to go to bed at all some nights and one of them even took to eating instant coffee out of the jar to stay awake! LOL

To be honest, if I had to do it all over again, I would much rather do it part-time over 6 or 12 months!

Having said that, CELTA is THE qualification to get you into EFL/ESL teaching and without it your chances of getting employment in this area are non-existent. Have a look on any respectable EFL job site, e.g. www.tefl.com to see for yourself thst this is what all English schools need.

It is only an entry level qualification and, in the future, if you want to progress into teacher training or management, you will have to do the DELTA, but at the moment I would say, do it!

Good luck!