CELTA: full-time
Gain the gold standard of initial English language teaching qualifications.
Your CELTA course fees refunded in full when you work for Bell teaching English this summer!
Enrol on the CELTA in June 2024 with Bell and then work in one of our prestigious summer centres. At the end of your summer contract, your CELTA fees will be reimbursed in full.
T&C’s apply. Learn more here.
Get the best English language teaching jobs anywhere in the world
CELTA is widely recognised as the gold standard of English teaching qualifications in the world.
With over 65 years of teaching experience and a commitment to continued classroom research and innovation, we believe there is no better place to gain your qualification than at Bell. We are a leading English language school, rated ‘excellent’ by Independent Schools Inspectorate (2018) and ranked top 2% of English language schools in the country (2019).
You will learn with the support of our expert teachers, and practise teaching at our flagship school in Cambridge. This highly-intensive programme will focus on developing your practical face-to-face teaching skills, giving you the tools, techniques and confidence you need to start teaching as soon as you finish.
It is an incredibly rewarding programme, but we do encourage you to ensure you have the strength, space and mental capability before committing to this course.
Course overview
On this course, you will:
- Develop essential language knowledge, awareness and teaching strategies
- Assess learner needs, background, and preferences to inform lesson plans
- Learn a range of practical skills for teaching English to adult learners
- Plan and prepare lessons to develop learners’ overall language competence
- Demonstrate your ability to apply your learning in a real teaching context
PRACTICAL WORKSHOPS
Understand language teaching
CELTA is a four-week assessed course which focuses on developing your practical skills. You will have 120 contact hours that will focus on key concepts or models:
- Language awareness
- Phonology
- Language learning
- Teaching methodology
- Professional development
Our teacher trainers are experts in their field and use a variety of effective educational methods and strategies throughout the course. This means trainee teachers benefit from an outstanding learning experience themselves before applying the knowledge and skills they have gained in their own classrooms.
TEACHING PRACTICE AND OBSERVATION
Practice makes perfect
We will introduce you to hand-on teaching experience straight away. You will teach 6 hours of classes in our school classrooms, with enthusiastic people from the local community that want to improve their English (Bell offers all lessons with trainee teachers free of charge to students). After each session, you will get in-depth verbal and written individual feedback from your tutors.
You will also have the opportunity to observe your peers and a minimum of 6 hours of classes led by our expert Bell teachers (this may include 2 hours of audio material), so you can reflect on different techniques and strategies employed in context, and apply this learning in your own class planning.
LESSON PREPARATION
Delivering your own learning experience
Time to put your learning into action. You will research and plan sequenced lessons that are appropriate for the needs of your learners. This should incorporate all your learning during the course. You will be initially supported by the course tutors, but you will increasingly be encouraged to work independently as the course progresses.
It is important for you to recognise that CELTA is a highly-intensive course, and many of our previous students report that they spent 2-3 additional hours at home each evening researching language, completing written assignments and preparing lessons. It is recommended that students dedicate a minimum of 80 hours for the required reading, research, pre- and post-session tasks, assignments and lesson preparation during their 4-week course.
Sample timetable
How will I be assessed?
CELTA is an assessed course accredited by Cambridge English Language Assessment (CELA). In order to pass the course you will be assessed on the lessons you deliver and on four written assignments. You will be informed at each stage of the course of your progress; if you are not meeting specified criteria for any reason you will be given clear information about this and advice on how to adapt and improve.
During the last part of the course an assessor from Cambridge English will visit the centre to ensure that the course and criteria have been standardised and run appropriately. Your final result is ratified by Cambridge English after the course has finished.
Dates & locations
Bell Cambridge
3 June - 28 June 2024
5 August - 30 August 2024
7 October - 1 November 2024
4 November - 29 November 2024
6 January - 31 January 2025
