CELTA

Pre-course information

General Information about the CELTA Course 2023

TUTORS
You will have 3 tutors on the course: Neil McMahon for online input (IP) and Fran Padilla, Kate French and Neil
McMahon for teaching practice (TP):

ATTENDANCE
You are expected to attend the whole course and, since CELTA is a course-based award, absence may
jeopardise your chances of successfully meeting the assessment criteria. If you are unable to attend a TP
session or expect to be late, please let the tutor taking the session know in advance:
● Neil: Mobile: 113 140 7366 Email: neil@ih-buenosaires.com
● Fran: Mobile: 115 725 7685 Email: fran@ih-buenosaires.com
● Kate: Mobile: 113 109 0719 Email: kate@ih-buenosaires.com

WHAT YOU ARE REQUIRED TO DO:

● Attend and participate in the course
● Comply with any rules/code of conduct set out by the centre
● Complete six hours’ supervised teaching practice online at two different levels
● Complete six hours’ observation of experienced teachers, either in Zoom or videoed lessons
● Submit assignments in accordance with the centre’s submission deadlines and policies
● Work supportively and collaboratively with colleagues and course tutors
● Complete the 30 units of the Cambrudge CELTA Moodle online and participate in all online forums as
instructed by the Online Tutor in their weekly email.
● Maintain a Candidate Portfolio throughout the course (including CELTA5* which must be kept up-
to-date, read, and electronically signed as appropriate)
*your candidate record booklet that you are given access to on Day 1 (Roles and responsibilities of candidates,
CELTA5 Pg 1)
● Demonstrate your teaching professionalism by working constructively with the tutors and your peers. Imagine
you have just obtained your first teaching job and behave accordingly.

CANDIDATE ASSESSMENT
Assessment for CELTA is continuous and integrated, with a final grade decided by the course tutors. There is
no quota system for grading. Each candidate is assessed on their progress over the whole course against a set
of prescribed criteria (see CELTA5 appendix 1).

To be successful overall, a candidate needs to be “to standard” in each of the following areas:
● Classroom teaching and lesson planning (6 hours of TP)
● Written assignments (4 assignments, total of 3-4000 words)
● Professional development and insight into teaching (evaluation)

Final grading
● Pass A: Candidates’ planning and teaching show excellent understanding of English language learning
and teaching processes.
● Pass B: Candidates’ planning and teaching show good understanding of English language learning and
teaching processes.
● Pass: Candidates’ planning and teaching show satisfactory understanding of English language learning
and teaching processes.
● Fail: Candidates’ planning and teaching show minimal understanding of English language learning and
teaching processes.

Candidates who fail more than one written assignment are not eligible for a pass. You will be issued with a
letter providing details of the course input and tasks completed. Any candidate wishing to withdraw at any
time during the course should inform a course tutor in writing. A report will not be issued.
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Pre-course information
TEACHING PRACTICE
As this is a practical course, the development of teaching skills is very important. You share the teaching
sessions with your colleagues: the lessons are divided up into 45 minute slots, with up to a ten minute ‘buffer’
between them if necessary.

Generally, try to implement the ideas and procedures discussed in the input modules and those mentioned by
the tutor in the written and oral TP feedback. If one of your lessons is unsuccessful, try not to worry too
much, as this can happen to everyone. However, it is important to try to analyse the lesson, and to suggest
what you would do differently next time. Over the series of TP lessons, aim to become aware of patterns and
trends in your teaching and in feedback. An awareness of your strengths is very important, and it is also
important, of course, to attend to aspects of teaching which require development.

In the online CELTA5 booklet, you are asked to record the grade of each lesson. Your lessons will be graded as
above standard, at standard, or not to standard, for that stage of the course. Overall final grades are decided
after the course has finished, when all aspects of your work can be considered (see CELTA5).

TP GROUPS
You will teach two groups of adults at a pre-intermediate and upper intermediate level. Mid-course you
change groups. The TP rota provides your exact schedule and will be given to you on the first day of the
course.

ASSISTANCE WITH LESSON PLANNING

TP consultation time is scheduled each week after the feedback to that day’s lessons. A tutor will be available
to discuss any questions you have about your next lesson. Early in the course, the tutors will give you help, i.e.
with what to teach, how to teach, alternative ideas, etc. However, you need to have looked at the material
prior to the discussion and to have concrete questions already prepared. Towards the middle and end of the
course, we would like you to become increasingly independent with your lesson planning. But if you are
having difficulty, please feel free to consult your tutors.

TEACHING PRACTICE FEEDBACK

There are generally 3 aspects to this:
1) self-evaluation – hot feedback – directly after you have taught, you have to complete a hot
feedback form on Google Docs with reflections on your lesson and suggesting ways to teach that
lesson more effectively. The tutor will read this before the oral feedback session starts.
2) discussion and oral feedback on your lesson. You and your colleagues will be involved in
analysing and talking about the lessons.
3) oral and written feedback from the tutor. The tutor will keep a written record of the lesson and
upload a copy to your online portfolio after the feedback session.

Your participation in this process is important for your assessment (in the area of Professional Development).
It is also useful training for your future careers when you may be asked to observe and comment on teachers
and lessons.

WRITTEN ASSIGNMENTS
The CELTA syllabus nominates the following areas to be covered in written work:
1) Language related tasks
2) Focus on the learner
3) Skills Assignment
4) Lessons from the classroom

These will be set as the course progresses and details of each assignment are available on the Moodle from
the beginning of the course. You should not start on them until advised to do so. In your CELTA5 you will find
more details on grading and resubmitting assignments. Note that candidates who have to resubmit
assignments will be given a specific resubmission date and details of what has to be resubmitted.
 CELTA
Pre-course information
PROGRESS
During the course, your progress will also be recorded through tutorials in your CELTA5. You will receive one
individual tutorial during the course after TP4. If your performance is not to standard, you will be informed
and areas requiring attention will be identified.

OBSERVATIONS
During the course you are required to observe experienced teachers for a minimum of 6 hours. 4 hours will be
via live-observation of your tutors and the rest on video. This is recorded in your CELTA5. You will be informed
of where and when you can do this. While observing live lessons you will keep your video and audio muted so
as not to disturb the class. You will be given observation tasks to do when observing your peers each week on
Google Docs.

COURSE ASSESSMENT
The course is assessed by an external assessor, whose role it is to ensure that the centre is maintaining the
required standards and that trainees are receiving suitable training and feedback. They will observe a TP
session and inspect your portfolios online. (NB: The assessor doesn’t award candidates’ final grades. They
validate the tutors’ grading decisions.)

COMPLAINTS PROCEDURE
If you feel you have a justified complaint about the delivery of the course, you should raise the issue with a
tutor in the first instance. Alternatively, you can contact Bruce Thompson, who is the Director of International
Training, by emailing the secretaries: belgrano@ih-buenosaires.com. Mark it for the attention of Bruce
Thompson. You will be invited to discuss the problem at a private Zoom meeting. At the meeting, you should
state clearly the grounds for your complaint, and an appropriate course of action to resolve the area of
difficulty will be decided on. If necessary, a follow-up meeting will be scheduled.

Finally, if the issue cannot be resolved satisfactorily at this level, the candidate can have the Centre forward
the complaint to Cambridge ESOL. The Centre is bound under the terms of the course provision agreement to
adhere to this request. (See CELTA5 for further details.)

ILLNESS AND DEFERRAL

In the unfortunate circumstance that a candidate suffers a prolonged illness, family bereavement or
insurmountable and unforeseen technical issues that affect their ability to finish the course, deferral to a
future course will be considered by the centre in line with Cambridge English regulations, on production of a
medical certificate. An admin fee and a new enrolment fee will be charged for the new course and places are
only allocated subject to availability. We also remind you that the CELTA course is a Pass/Fail course and that
‘Fail’ grades cannot be altered or changed and the course fee will not be refunded. The course fee is also
non-refundable if you decide to withdraw from the course.

EQUAL OPPORTUNITY
The CELTA staff at International House would like to endorse the following statement issued in the CELTA
administration handbook:

“CELTA is based on the principle of open and equal opportunity for all, irrespective of gender, marital
status, sexual orientation, creed, colour, race, ethnic origin, age or disability.
The principle is promoted in all aspects of CELTA including:
● Statements of eligibility for entry on to all courses that are based solely on professionally relevant
criteria;
● The methods of recruitment, selection, briefing and training of those working for or on behalf of
Cambridge ESOL;
● Language assessment criteria based on the use of English in ELT classrooms world-wide.
Cambridge ESOL procedures ensure that all aspect of practice are and remain non- discriminatory.”
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Pre-course information

FINAL NOTE
We, your tutors, hope that you find the course interesting and challenging. Most of all, we hope you see it as
a fundamental development in your ELT career. We wish you every success and look forward to working with
you.

Good luck!
Fran, Kate & Neil