In this blog, even more recent CELTA graduates have taken time to share their stories. Check out how far and wide our graduates have travelled, and the huge variety of career paths the qualification can take you down…

 

I’m María, a 36-year-old translator and teacher from Argentina. I have just got my Celta Certificate, and I would like to share my experience.  

The Celta course is a special milestone in my career since I started my own business, and I needed to redefine some teaching techniques and acquire new tools to make the most out of my lessons. 

Now, I’m much more aware of my students’ needs and interests and I’m able to set a good learning environment. Furthermore, I have been able to work in a multicultural class that provided me with the chance to know people from different parts of the world. 

Overall, I can only say that the Celta course has been a wonderful experience for my personal and professional life. I had the chance to meet colleagues from different nationalities and, nowadays, we are still in contact. Last month, I invited one of the trainees to chat online with my students so they could work on their speaking skills. It was great! Everybody was really happy. 

If you are looking for a training course, I strongly recommend this one! You won’t regret it! 

María, 36, Argentina

 

 

After completing my CELTA in August 2021 I got a job at an educational charity, chairing Q&A sessions between politicians and young people in their constituency. I also volunteered once a week teaching English to refugees remotely.  After 7 months at the charity, I decided I needed a change and am now living in Valencia, Spain, teaching English at a language school and training to be a Cambridge speaking examiner.  

My CELTA has helped me get each of these opportunities in different ways, having provided numerous transferable skills not limited to teaching English. Being able to confidently lead a room full of people has been perhaps the most significant of all. I’m so grateful for the security I have knowing I can get a job pretty much anywhere teaching English, and that I could tutor remotely for more flexibility if I wanted, too.  

Ottilie, 24, British 

   

 

 

I did my CELTA online last year and would like to share a note on my experience. 

It has been almost a year since I finished the online CELTA course at IH London all while the UK was still grappling with the pandemic. I subsequently interviewed with a language school in Hanoi and secured my first teaching position. We watched in suspense the quarantine clock wind down from 14 days to 12, then to 7, followed by only 3 days until it finally struck midnight and Vietnam waived its quarantine requirements entirely. Fast forward a couple more weeks and here I am sitting in T2 Heathrow Airport clutching a ticket to Hanoi.

CELTA is taking me (my husband and our dog) half way across the world to finally pursue a career goal of mine. As I struck up a conversation with another passenger (also an English teacher) I was reminded of my fellow trainees and that the goal is in fact shared by many in our CELTA community. If any of them are reading this post I hope they have found the courage to pursue it. I’ve literally just landed in Hanoi to start my new job.

Marta, 35, Poland/Ireland

  

I completed my CELTA accreditation in August 2021.  

During my time on the course, I thoroughly enjoyed meeting my fellow teachers, all the students I had the chance to teach during the course, and my course tutors. It was truly one of the most rewarding courses I have taken part in, and I learnt so many valuable skills, which enabled be to be more equipped for the world of teaching. 

After completing the course, I went onto privately teach a number of students from back home in Italy. I started off teaching 2 kids, and this has now risen to 6 kids, that I teach English on a weekly basis. This has allowed me to continue to develop and improve my teaching skills, while implement the many skills I picked up during my time on the CELTA course. 

I also had the opportunity of teaching a few English classes at my local council’s education authority. This is something which I volunteered for, and was truly rewarding, as it allowed me to give back to the community. To anyone out there considering enrolling onto CELTA, I would say don’t hesitate and sign up today! 

It is a great experience, and although it was hard work, the reward at the end is well and truly worth it. 

  

Tullia, 41, Italian 
 

 

I come from Italy, I have been living in London for the past 4 years and I was 25 when I took my CELTA course in January last year. Having been teaching Italian as a foreign language for a while and enjoying language teaching, it felt quite natural for me to broaden my horizons by training to teach English as well. 

I chose IH in particular for the professionalism shown by the school at the very beginning (through an open day, a very helpful admin team and a thorough application process) and the support offered once the course had finished, during that delicate phase of throwing yourself into the teaching world. The first steps into the world of work are always challenging, but I believe IH set me in the right direction from the very start. 

Only a few months after completing the course I was teaching at an English Summer Camp in Italy and I was then offered a place for an Erasmus+ teaching scheme in Seville. My experience in Seville was stimulating, formative, eye-opening and crucial from a professional and human point of view, and I would not have considered it had I not taken a CELTA course! I am now teaching languages in London and loving the diversity of people, cultures and stories I get to meet through my job. 

My journey since taking my CELTA has just started, but this training has definitely pointed me towards new and unforeseen opportunities, personal growth, a love for working with people and an open mind to what will come next. Whether I will make teaching a lifelong profession or not, I am confident that the CELTA course and the opportunities that came with it are shaping my personal and professional path. 

 

Maria, 25, Italian

 

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