How to Earn Your CELTA Certificate

Hi Chloé. There are 2 main types of lessons you will be teaching: Language lessons (learning and using new grammar, vocab etc.) and Language Skills lessons (where your learners will practice reading, writing, speaking or listening). Both of these normally use a different lesson plan.

The basic building block of a Language lesson involves teaching something new, followed by an activity, followed by feedback. This repeats as necessary.

The basic building block of a Language Skills lesson involves explaining the activity (e.g. listening to a CD), learners doing the activity, and then feedback. This repeats as necessary, but normally starts with a lighter (gist) activity, and then a more difficult (detailed) activity.

Whichever lesson you teach, you will need to include estimate stage timing, teacher-student interaction, a lead-in section at the start to get the lesson started.

I’ll write some dedicated articles on lesson plans soon (with downloadable examples) as I think this is a subject that a lot of people would like help with. However, don’t get too stressed as your CELTA tutors will definitely teach you how to plan your lessons.

Hi Miguel. Thanks for your kind words. It looks like you’ve done a lot of preparation already, but I’ve got two suggestions for you…

First, I wrote this new article on Parts of Speech last night. It goes through the basic sentence component terminology that you will use in your CELTA course. You might already know a lot since you’ve been revising grammar, but it doesn’t hurt to give it a read and learn the abbreviations for your whiteboard work.

Second, if you’re doing the intensive 4-week CELTA, I totally recommend that you get some rest now, eat and stay healthy, and spend some quality time with your friends and loved ones. Your life will be on hold during your CELTA so take this opportunity to socialise.

Good luck!

Hi Anna. Your first written assignment will expect you to use the knowledge and terminology you’ve learned so far. You obviously won’t be expected to demonstrate anything you haven’t yet been taught by your CELTA tutors.

CELTA centres set their own written assignments (in line with the framework and objectives set by Cambridge) so you won’t get the same ones as I did. My general advice is to read the brief again and again, and stick to it very closely. Try very hard to stick to the word count – use simple sentences that get right to the point.

Very important… once you’ve done your assignment, ask yourself if it satisfies the brief fully. That’s what you’re being marked on.

My most challenging part of my CELTA was being expected to immediately demonstrate new skills and terminology (which comes at an alarming rate and never slows down!).

Hi Zeena. Congrats on starting your CELTA course. Be sure to read my reply to Anna on this page, as it gives some good advice on what to expect from the written assignments. Have you done the pre-course task? That is excellent preparation for the course.

I’ll be sharing some written assignment examples very soon, and will drop you a message when they’re available. Hopefully I can get them online before your course.

Hi John. Large is an adjective. Adjectives answer “what is something like?” (red, large, amazing) while adverbs answer “how was something done?” (quickly, simply).

Hope that helps!

Hi Lauren. Your written English uses an acceptable level of grammar, so I’m assuming your problem comes from struggling to identify grammar (form and meaning) when asked. The CELTA interview task doesn’t expect a very high knowledge of grammar, but you need to be able to answer certain types of question e.g.

What is the difference between these sentences?

When Martin arrived home, his wife locked the door.
When Martin arrived home, his wife was locking the door.
When Martin arrived home, his wife had locked the door.

Each of those sentences has a VERY different meaning, just by changing the tense of the final verb. You probably understand them naturally without even thinking about it, but how can you explain the difference to language learners?

Parrott, Scivener and Murphy can help you with grammar rules and forms, but they won’t easily help you to answer the above question. Try your best on the above question here in the comments, and I’ll be happy to reply further with any help I can.

Hi Yao. Here’s lot of advice about what to expect on the CELTA interview. Just relax and be honest. And yes, it’s absolutely possible for Chinese to take the CELTA course (on my course we also had Brazilians, Italians, Koreans etc.)

Hi Huma. I’m working on creating a quick course pack for people soon. There’s really nothing else available but I recommend you do the CELTA interview as soon as possible to establish your level of grammar. Any CELTA centre will then be able to advise you on what elements you need to work on.

Hi Esraa. You probably need a minimum of IELTS 7 (CEFR C1 / CAE grade B level). Looks like you’re almost there.

I’d recommend looking at your IELTS component scores to prioritise your learning. Concentrate first on improving the skill that pulled the average down to 6.

If you need to work on listening and speaking then force yourself to meet native English speakers (Skype, friends, local meetups etc). Watch English films without subtitles, listen to BBC radio etc.

If you need to work on writing and reading then it’s probably worth getting some lessons, either privately or with a school. Just make sure that they tailor the lessons to these skills. Good luck!

Sledging (and most other -ing actions) is both a verb and noun, depending on the context. It looks like you’ve just discovered gerunds!

“I am sledging on the big hill” – Here it’s a verb (present continuous in this case)

“I like sledging” – Here it’s a noun. It’s a thing or a concept, and not an action.

More reading

Hi Ro. The website here is full of advice, but if you want the exclusive tips (interviews, downloads etc.), you should sign up for my newsletter.

Hi Rustemova. I think you misunderstand… I recommend CELTA completely! … “cannot recommend something highly enough” means it is recommended as highly as possible 🙂

Glad you find everything useful 🙂 I received mine about 1.5 months before. It probably varies from centre to centre.

Hi Clara. It’s not really possible to prepare for the written assignments before the course, as you will be required to incorporate skills and knowledge from the input sessions. Your preparation time before the CELTA course is best spent revising basic grammar, doing the pre-course task, and staying well-rested and healthy.

Short paragraphs is probably best, depending on the space your application form allows. I would say that bulletpoints probably won’t give you the opportunity to expand on your answers to provide additional information on why you should be approved.

Hi Webber. That’s great news and congrats on the interview. 3 weeks is plenty of time to prepare if you’re committed to working hard on the course and taking on board the new terminology and skills. Of course, it’s better to have longer to prepare, but only if you are genuinely going to use that additional time.

You’re very welcome. I wish you the best of luck on your CELTA course. This is the latest redesign of the website, a huge improvement on the last version, which was just a WordPress blog 🙂 My plan is to continue adding new guides as I write them, but recently I’ve been very busy creating interviews with CELTA tutors and writing some premium guides that are available to buy.

Next on my list is to create guides for the written assignments, lesson plans, online grammar tests, and maybe even advice for non-native speakers. If you sign up for the newsletter and drop me an email, I’ll be happy to offer specific advice and experience on the written assignments.

Hello! I think I’ve replied to you via email on this topic also, but I’m going to post it in the comments too to help other people with the same challenges.

Applications for the CELTA course are expected to have a minimum level of English good enough to teach at a range of learner levels. In reality, this is CEFR C2, or high grade at C1. Many of the international CELTA centres I’ve spoken to use IELTS too, and require an overall IELTS score of 7.0

If you already have a high CAE or CPE certificate, you should have no problem with the CELTA course.

If you’re level is currently B2, I recommend reading this guide for non-native speakers, and contacting your local CELTA centre so they can make a proper assessment of your skills (you may be underestimating your own level).

Yes, it’s a pass (standard, B or A) or fail grade after the CELTA. There’s no formal examination, but instead you are assessed throughout the course and written assignments.

Any understanding of teaching methodology will certainly help. Be sure to book a quick phone interview with a CELTA centre to assess if the course is suitable for you.

Hi Maria, I so sorry for the late reply. I didn’t get a notification of your comment.

I can’t answer if your previous teaching qualifications are recognised in Wien, but I confidently say that the CELTA is the most widely recognised TEFL certification internationally. I would personally choose to take your CELTA course in another country if possible, as the syllabus is standard across all centres and it will force you to think and speak 100% in English, rather than falling back on using Romanian with the tutors, trainees and outside the classroom.

Hi Caitlin. Apologies for the very late reply, Disqus didn’t tell me I had new comments.

The CELTA course is an entry-level qualification to get you started in the TEFL industry. You are definitely not expected to work without guidance, and you always will have the support of dedicated CELTA tutors to help you… that’s their job!

Hi Sneha, I’ve very well thank you 🙂 All centres will conduct their interviews slightly differently, but I’ve written a more detailed guide on sample questions and the process further down this page.

That’s great news! Thank you for sharing this confidence booster with everyone – and good luck for June.

No, there is no self-study option. There is an online variation with some self-study component, but it isn’t free and still requires some contact time.

Hello Claire, thanks for dropping by. There are LOTS of non-native speaking English teachers across the world… including Germany of course. In fact, this can give you a great advantage as you will be more aware of English grammar (form, meaning, pronunciation etc.) I studied with trainees from Korea, Brazil and Italy – there’s no reason why you can’t succeed too as long as your accent isn’t too strong.

I have heard that, in China and Japan especially, schools have a strong preference for native speakers with a clearly Caucasian look (I’d love to hear your view on this!). I don’t know if that is true, but this definitely isn’t the case in most European countries.

Hi Darius, great question. Here’s a very detailed CELTA guide for non-native speakers where we go into detail about IELTS scores. I don’t know specifically about the academic IELTS, but I would recommend you think about it more in terms of proving your level of English during application and interview… if you hold an IELTS (acadamic) of 7.0 and can demonstrate your English is sufficient for the course, there is unlikely to be a problem.

I recommend you call your nearest CELTA centre and ask them this question directly – and update us here with the answer 🙂

Hi Joel, so sorry about he late reply! The comment system got a little stuck. Those are great questions, and concerns that a lot of people share… I should probably write a full guide on this one day. Don’t be too concerned about only having secondary education; I also didn’t go to university or college, so important that you have an open/learning mindset, are able to get your head down, and a willingness to take onboard constructive criticism from your tutors.

On this page, there is a good comment thread with Lauren which includes a helpful thought experiment to get your brain working like a teacher. I’ll repost it here…

What is the difference between these sentences?

* When Martin arrived home, his wife locked the door.
* When Martin arrived home, his wife was locking the door.
* When Martin arrived home, his wife had locked the door.

Each of those sentences has a VERY different meaning, just by changing the tense of the final verb. You probably understand them naturally without even thinking about it, but how can you explain the difference to language learners?

This skill in communicating real-world meaning is one of the most critical skills for CELTA trainees and teachers in general. Anything you can do to get into this ‘mode’ of thinking will help you to re-activate your brain after 10 years away from a learning environment.

The full-time course is definitely intense, no doubt about it. The advantage is that you are completely immersed in the CELTA and can focus 100%. However, if you have other commitments like children, you should consider a part-time course, as the 4-week course will use up all your free time.

anything in retrospect that you wish you’d revised more before starting the course?

Wow, great question John. Not revision as such. My tutors and the books available gave me access to everything I needed prior to my lesson plans – although I’ll be honest and say I sometimes fully understood complex grammar (conditionals, phonemes etc.) only a few hours before teaching it to my students!). I would say pre-course revision isn’t as important as your physical and mental preparation. You need to be healthy and you need to be in a mentally good place. You can’t be distracted by family issues, love life, friends etc. Put it all on pause for 4 weeks and you’ll do yourself a huge favour.

Best of luck, John. Do let us know how it goes and drop by if you have any more questions. I’d be glad to share my own experiences.

Each CELTA centre does the assignments slightly differently. From what I understand, they are free to create their own unique take on the assigment objectives that Cambridge ESOL give them. My own assignments were:

FOL (Focus on the Learner) – An interview with a foreign language student, identifying his/her needs and challenges (in the context of his/her background and learning style) and then putting together an activity to help them achieve those aims.

LRT (Language Related Tasks) – Demonstrating you can check students understanding of vocabulary, grammar and form, with a variety of eliciting methods e.g. clines, timelines, pictures etc.

LSRT (Language Skills Related Tasks) – Breaking down an lesson plan to show you understand the various stages and aims. Also commenting on the suitability of the activity material to various learner levels, with relation to language level, layout, interest, culture etc. Finally, we designed our own extension activities and a worksheet activity (I drew a map with a blank 7-day itinerary!) to fit with the same objectives.

LFC – (Lessons From the Classroom) – This is where you critically analyse your lesson observations (the sessions where you observe qualified teachers during their own classes). Along with our tutors, we selected 2 areas of personal focus each (mine were effective monitoring and balancing STT vs. TTT.) and analyse those areas from our observations, stating what we felt worked well and what didn’t work well.

The main thing is to read the assignment briefs in full, and then read it again… and then ask someone else to read it to you etc. 🙂 Do exactly what you’re asked to do, keep your word-count down, and cut out any fluffy ramblings before you submit it. A few of my colleagues on the CELTA course had to do re-submits because they didn’t stick to the brief, and re-submits can really mess with your relentless workload and add unnecessary pressure!

Good luck with your CELTA! Drop me a line if you need support along the way. David

Thanks for sharing John, and congrats on passing!

Hi Mali, Yes you’re right above getting thrown in front of a class. I had a 20 minute lesson to 12 learners on my first day!

First of all, your first teaching will be completely unassessed; it won’t affect your grades at all. You’ll make loads of mistakes and you’ll feel completely out of your depth BUT it gets that first time out of the way quickly. After that, you can only improve 🙂 You’ll all look back on your first lesson and laugh about it. It’s hard to prepare for the first lesson because it’s more about setting yourself a mental benchmark. Like any lesson, you should try to understand the target language you are asked to teach and use the opportunity to get accustomed to the classroom layout and 12 sets of expectant eyes on you.

I know it’s futile to tell someone not to stress about their first lesson, but remember that the learners sign up to their lessons knowing they will be taught by trainee teachers. They won’t be expecting much from your first appearance either.

Hey Hanane, which assignment in particular? I might be able to help you understand how to approach it.

I’m happy to offer some advice on how to approach it (but obviously I can’t tell you the answers). Can you share the assignment brief?

Thanks Peter. Best of luck!

Hi Ada. Thanks for your kind words. Very best of luck on your CELTA course – don’t worry too much about those grammar points; you’ll be given every opportunity to learn them before you teach. But it always pays to do a little studying yourself too if you get time before your course. A grammar book like Murphy’s can be very useful.

Hi Sam. Honestly, the best preparation are the pre-course CELTA tasks; they’re constructed in a way to re-start your brain for learning again. My advice would be to listen to your CELTA tutors carefully and immediately demonstrate you have incorporated their advice in the next lesson plan. That’s probably the biggest tip I can give anyone on the CELTA. Don’t worry too much about feeling behind the other students, you are assessed independently against a matrix of skills.

Books… I’d recommend Murphy’s grammar of course. It’s a great reference for the CELTA and your career. There should be some other pre-course books on the recommended books page too.

Yes, ‘English Grammar in Use’ is the one I always recommend. I’m not familiar with Teacher Knowledge… please do share your thoughts with us after you’ve read it!

You’re not assessed on the pre-course tasks. They’re designed to get you thinking again and in the mindset of learning, and to help you and your tutors to assess your strengths and weaknesses. As such, I strongly recommend you don’t study for them, but instead approach them honestly from your natural skill and knowledge level. There will be plenty to study when you’re on the actual course!

Hi Jack. This is the book I generally recommend. You’ll use it through your CELTA course and your teaching career. Well worth picking up a copy.

Hi Laurel. I’ve never used grammar software. I have used flashcard memory software like Anki for learning foreign languages, so that might be an option to look at. Just remember that you need to do it every day, even if only for a few minutes. Most adults learn best through repeated exposure, not by cramming.

Hi Abdallah. I’m currently re-designing the website in October and hope to be able to offer a lot more advice on the written assignments when the new version launches. However, given how close you are to your CELTA course, I’ll send you some guidelines for the assignments via email tomorrow. However, please remember that the written assignment tasks are different for every CELTA centre (Cambridge only supply guidelines and objectives) – you will not have the same questions as I did so do not copy my answers. Instead, just look at how I approached the questions.

Hi Rahima, I’ll be publishing a new section dedicated to written assignments soon, so I’ll keep you updated before your course starts.

Hi Mehwish. First, remember that your pre-course task does not contribute to your final grade at all, so don’t stress about it too much. It’s purpose is to help you and your tutors know where you will benefit from support, and to help you get you back in the mode of learning and thinking about how to teach English. Don’t worry about buying any books specifically for your pre-course task – just be honest in your approach and take your time on each question.

Your pre-course task is like a little window into the kinds of challenges you’ll be facing on the course itself, so make a note of the questions you struggle with and discuss them with your CELTA tutor. Good luck in November!

Hi Henrika. I’ve decided to not share my assignments until I have had time to properly prepare them for the public in a way that respects the copyright of my CELTA centre. Unfortunately this won’t be in time for your course, but you are more than welcome to drop by the website and ask any questions.

Hi Maya. Getting a Standard grade for your first 3 lessons is very good – it implies you are immediately incorporating your tutors feedback and the new skills into the next lesson… which is exactly what you need to do to push for a higher grade. Here’s my advice for aiming for a Pass B or A:

Continue with your detailed lesson plans for sure. This is key!

Be sure to include teacher-learner interaction and stage timings. You’ll get better at estimating accurate timings as the course progresses, but for now just make sure you’re including them and trying to keep within their limits.

Always try to anticipate problems in your lesson plans and include enough time for feedback (delayed, peer-led, elicited etc.)

This is one of my favourite tips and was immediately effective in my lessons… Use a clipboard in your actual teaching practice! It keeps your lesson plan available in a professional way (which boosts confidence), and gives you somewhere to quickly note any errors for later delayed error correction. Plus, you can have all the activity answers in front of you when monitoring 🙂

Remember that teaching confidence comes from 3 things…

1. a useful lesson plan

2. knowing the activities and answers (seriously, do the activities yourself the night before!)

3. repeated exposure to the teaching environment.

Finally, I always recommend that you simply ask your tutor what you need to do to push your grade higher. Your lesson feedback session is the perfect time to say “Hey Mike, can you tell me the top 3 things I need to improve on to aim for a better grade?”

I’m assuming you’re trying to profile this learner and identify ways to help him improve? If so, try to find common problems (grammar and pronunciation) encountered by Spanish native speakers. Very often they struggle with the “sk” sound at the start of words (school etc.) and confusing B and V.

Try to identify your learner’s motivation for wanting to learning English, his background, and his preferred learning style too. Of course, it depends on what you’re brief is specifically asking you to do.

You can find a list of CELTA centres in the USA on this page. I advise phoning a few and asking about their application process.

Teaching adults is, in my opinion, much easier than teaching children! Adults want to be there, they want to learn. Children are often looking for entertainment or to just wait until their parents collect them.

However, adults will challenge your knowledge a lot more. Many of them will have better grammar knowledge than you, and they expect to improve as a result of your teaching. But it’s a lot of fun teaching adults too – you can have a laugh and really relax with a class of students who you know well.

You can find a lot of information on the new FAQ page for approaching the written assignments. Let me know if anything anything isn’t answered there.

It depends if you are native speaker or not. If English isn’t your first language, I recommend reading my tips for non-native speakers where I offer some useful advice on improving your reading and writing skills.

If you are a native English speaker, then you just need to practice! Daily reading and writing will improve your skills a lot before your CELTA 🙂

This is really one of those difficult questions that I’m not qualified to answer – I’ll give you my opinion as a graduate, but it’s only that and nothing more. The assessment criteria is complex and certainly does allow for some judgement from your trainer.

I’m fairly sure you’re “in the danger zone” if you’ve failed 2 written assignments after re-submissions plus you’re getting N/S TPs (which I think you already know), BUT it’s great that you’ve been told you “still have a chance of finishing the course strongly” by the person who makes the decisions.

I would recommend you understand exactly which areas you are falling short on, and focus on them with all your energy. Can you schedule a ‘crisis meeting’ with your tutor and just be honest about your need to put together some kind of action plan to improve your performance?

You’ll need to keep up the momentum with TPs 6-9, taking into account planning, teaching and self-evaluation. In my experience, N/S TPs mean less at the start of the course, but by TP 6 onwards you should be getting at least Standard TPs to demonstrate you are growing and putting everything into practice.

Hi Tina, thanks for your kind words about the website 🙂 It’s a labour of love for sure.

I can’t comment on whether this is acceptable from a Cambridge or CELTA centre policy perspective. It sounds excessive from my experience, but does it really affect your lesson?

If there are physically too many learners to comfortably fit into the classroom, then I would speak to your CELTA trainer and say it is becoming a problem that is affecting your ability to professionally manage the class.

However, if the classroom can adequately hold 15+ learners, then perhaps make this very clear in your lesson plans and self-evaluation that it is becoming impractical to monitor and feed back to the entire class each time. Again, bring this up with your tutor if you are struggling as a result.

Don’t be afraid to directly ask… “what is the maximum number of learners I should be teaching? I’m feeling like the classroom is getting over-crowded and it’s affecting my ability to properly manage the class”. If you get brushed off by your tutor, arrange a chat with the centre director.

No one likes confrontation, but it’s important if classroom crowding is honestly becoming a problem for you and your fellow trainees.