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Certificate in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages
FULL-TIME & PART-TIME COURSES
Course Fee: £1,200 (includes assessment fee) 12 places
£1,280 blended (includes License
fee for Cambridge online materials) 10 places
Introduction to the course
The English for Academic Study Unit offers full-time, part-time and part-time blended CELTA
courses for people interested in training to be teachers of English as a Foreign Language to
adults. The course is aimed at those with little or no previous English Language teaching
experience, or with little previous training. The course follows the *Cambridge ESOL
syllabus, and successful candidates are awarded the Cambridge ESOL Certificate in English
Language Teaching to Adults (CELTA) (graded at Pass, Pass ‘B' or Pass ‘A'), which is the
minimum requirement for most EFL teaching posts.
The full time intensive course lasts for 4 weeks, five full days a week. The part time runs
over 12 weeks, with input over two evenings (usually a Tuesday and Thursday, 5.00pm to
8.30pm) and teaching practice 1 afternoon a week (usually a Wednesday or a Friday,
approximately 1.30pm – 5.45pm). The part-time blended course has teaching practice in late
afternoons/early evening slots (usually Monday and a Thursday, approximately 3.30 – 8.30).
Input is provided online for the blended course. The blended course is only available in
January of each year. All courses are subject to availability.
Course Content
The aim of the course is to provide you with basic skills to allow you to prepare and teach
English as a foreign language. The emphasis is on practical teaching skills and although an
awareness of the underlying theory is important, it is kept to a minimum.
Input sessions cover practical methodology and language analysis. You also have guided
lesson preparation time with tutors, and assessed teaching practice followed by group
feedback. The teaching practice is with specially recruited classes of international students,
and allows you the opportunity to put theory into practice. Participants are required to take an
active and reflective role throughout the course. You will frequently be asked to take part in
activities and then analyse stages and procedures to gain a better insight into the underlying
rationale.
CELTA courses are internally assessed and externally moderated by an approved
Cambridge assessor. There is no final exam, instead assessment is on a continuous basis
and focuses on two areas: progress made in relation to criteria for planning, and the
successful completion of 4 assignments.
In addition to the above, trainees must undertake at least 6 hours' observation of classes
taught by experienced teachers. Most of this is incorporated into the course times, but there
may be occasions when you will need to be available outside the timetabled hours.
Actual course contact hours are a minimum of 120. Cambridge also recommends at least
120 additional hours for reading, research, lesson planning preparation and for completing
course assignments.
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Entry requirements and Application Procedure
Candidates should be 20 years of age or over at the start of the course and should have a
good educational background (qualifications that allow you entry to higher education). While
you do not have to be a native speaker of English, you should have an awareness of
language and a competence in English, both written and spoken, that enables you to follow
the course and complete the assignments set throughout the course.
In order to be considered for the course, you must complete the centre application procedure
as follows:
You must first of all complete and submit an application form and the associated tasks.
On receipt of a satisfactory application, you will be invited for an interview. This will take
approximately 3 hours and generally proceeds as follows:
 In groups you will be given a series of questions and tasks to discuss related to
methodology.
 You will then be asked to give a short 3-4 minute lesson to other members of
your group (fellow applicants). The idea is to teach something you know. It can
be anything, from origami or a dance to how to say something in a foreign
language. In planning this, you should be thinking about what is the best way to
get your message across, and how to involve and engage your ‘audience’.
 You will have a one to one interview with one of the CELTA tutors, focussing on
why you want to do the course and what skills and knowledge you have to offer
the course and the profession.
 You will also be given a written language awareness task to complete.
In the days following the interview, you will be informed if your interview has been successful,
and also whether you have a place on the next course: numbers are restricted to twelve and
competition for places is always keen, and as a result, while your application and interview
may be successful, this does not always guarantee a place.
You will also be sent a pre-course task on language and methodology, which will take
approximately 15 to 20 hours to complete. This is essential preparation for the course and
will be taken as assumed knowledge by tutors when planning input lessons.
Although we will only accept candidates who we feel have a good chance of passing, it must
be pointed out that acceptance does not guarantee a pass, and candidates do sometimes
fail. It should also be stressed that the course can be very demanding.
Recommended Reading
During the course we will have a range of ELT books available for borrowing. However, in
preparing for the course and also for your future use, we recommend purchasing the
following:
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A methodology reference book, for example:
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Harmer, J. – How to Teach English – 3rd edition (Longman)
Scrivener J – Learning Teaching (Macmillan)
A grammar reference, for example:
Swan, M. 2005. Practical English Usage. OUP
Eastwood, J. 2005. Oxford Learner’s Grammar. OUP
Leech, G., Conrad, S., Cruickshank, B., & Ivanic, R. An A-Z of English Grammar &
Usage. Longman.
CELTA Practical Details
Successful applicants must pay the full balance fee within two weeks of the interview in order
to secure their place on the course. If demand exceeds the number of places available
on any course, successful candidates who are unable to be placed will be able to
nominate a subsequent course within 12 months of the interview date, a nonrefundable £200 deposit must be paid to secure future places. If an applicant
subsequently decides to change to another course, a £100 administration fee will be
charged, in addition to the full course fee.
ILA Scotland will partially fund our course. For further information regarding eligibility please
contact ILA Scotland ILA_Scotland@scotland.gsi.gov.uk or 0800 917 8000. Please note that
ILA Scotland grants cannot be claimed retrospectively where a learner has already paid in
full for their course of learning.
You must inform us beforehand if your company/organisation will be paying your
fees. We also require written evidence of this.
Please note: 100% attendance is a requirement of the course
Applications forms can be obtained from the department office or accessed from our web
page:
http://www.gla.ac.uk/schools/mlc/eas/teacherdevelopment/celta/
Return applications to:
CELTA Course
English for Academic Study
University of Glasgow
Hetherington Building
Bute Gardens
Glasgow
G12 8RS
Tel: (0141) 330 6521
*For more information about CELTA and Cambridge ESOL, visit:
http://www.cambridgeenglish.org/teaching-english/teaching-qualifications/celta/
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