What's in the CELTA course?

The CELTA course covers the principles of effective teaching, and gives you a range of teaching techniques and practical experience. You get hands-on teaching practice and observation of experienced teachers, and you’ll apply your learning by delivering communicative teaching with English language learners.

Course format summary

The CELTA course in detail

CELTA courses are delivered by authorised centres on behalf of Cambridge English. All CELTA courses include at least 120 hours of contact between candidates and course tutors, and include:

• tutorial support and consultation
• supervised lesson planning
• 6 hours’ assessed teaching practice per candidate supervised by a course tutor
• feedback on teaching practice
• peer observation of teaching practice (i.e. watching the other candidates’ lessons)
• 6 hours’ directed observation of lessons taught by experienced ELT professionals, up to 3 hours of which may be of filmed lessons

You should also allow for 80 additional learning hours for pre-course preparation, reading, research, assignment writing, lesson preparation and record keeping.

The maximum ratio of candidates to tutors is one tutor for every six candidates, and there are at least two tutors on each course.

Course topics

The CELTA course covers a range of topics:

• learners and teachers, and the teaching and learning context
• language analysis and awareness
• language skills: reading, listening, speaking and writing
• planning and resources for different teaching contexts
• developing teaching skills and professionalism

Download a summary of the course topics

Download the CELTA syllabus

How you will be assessed

You will be assessed throughout the course and there is no final examination. The two types of assessment are:

Teaching practice

You will teach for a total of 6 hours, working with adult classes at a minimum of two levels of ability. Assessment is based on your overall performance.

Written assignments

You will complete four written assignments (each 750–1,000 words). These focus on:

• analysing and responding to adult learner needs
• analysing language for teaching purposes
• teaching language skills
• reflecting on classroom teaching

Your teaching practice and written assignments are assessed by your trainers during the course. Your trainers will discuss your progress with you, including in at least two one-to-one tutorials, so you should have a good idea of your strengths and areas to focus on.

Results

There are four possible grades for CELTA:

• pass A
• pass B
• pass
• fail

At the end of your course you will be given a candidate report form, which will give your provisional grade. This will also say whether you took the course face-to-face, online or as a mix of face-to-face and online.

Cambridge English will issue your certificate when grades have been confirmed. Certificates are usually despatched up to eight weeks after the completion of the course. The certificate will state your name, grade, the centre number where you took the course and the date of the award.

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