The CELTA has many obvious benefits, opening doors to travel, creating opportunities to teach in schools all over the world and a golden ticket to a brand new career. But there are plenty of other less obvious benefits of the CELTA. Ways it which it boosts your CV, creates employment opportunities and develops your character. In this blog we’re going to take a closer look at some of those hidden benefits of the CELTA qualification:

Confidence:

Confidence is key in teaching, it’s a skill we can all develop, constantly improve and refine. Standing up in front of a class of students can be daunting, but demonstrating that you were able to overcome this challenge in your CELTA course is hugely valuable for employers in all sorts of career paths. Making presentations, talking to various members of a team, and being able to lead a group are valuable assets in the classroom and beyond. 

Communication:

To teach English as a foreign language you need to be a clear and talented communicator, able to explain ideas and reasoning to your students with expert simplicity and certainty. This is a skill you’ll work on and develop throughout the CELTA course, through your assignments and practice lessons. Communication is a vital skill in nearly every career path, and something all employers want to see evidence of.

Planning and organization:

Teaching requires a high level of organisation and forward thinking, whether that’s planning lessons, acquiring materials or practicing activities. Through practice during the CELTA course, you will develop ways to keep yourself organised, as well as allowing you to practice planning and thinking ahead. When planning lessons it is important to imagine a range of possible outcomes to each activity, questions that might arise and different problems your students may face. This foresight and problem solving can be applied in many different contexts. These skills benefit a huge range of careers, and are key elements of passing the CELTA course.

Leadership

When teaching, you naturally pick up a lot of leadership skills. You are in a position to guide and lead your class of learners towards their desired goal. Classroom management takes control, understanding and patience. This are all skills the CELTA course will help you improve. Understanding what assistance people require, how you can help them reach their goals and ways in which they can work independently to achieve tasks are all key parts of teaching as well as any leadership position. 

Flexibility

Pretty quickly most teachers begin to discover that you can never quite perfectly predict how a lesson will go. This will become apparent very early in your CELTA course. There’s no way of knowing for certain how students will react to any given activity. Questions will arise that you may not have thought of, and unexpected difficulties with activities or students understanding are unavoidable. As a teacher you need to learn to be adaptable, to bend and mould to whatever is happening in the class you’re leading. The ability to adjust to a situation quickly, and respond in a successful manner is a beneficial skill to any fast paced working environment, both within the world of education and outside.

Problem-solving

Every class is different, as is every student. Although there are plenty of examples and previous resources to draw from, as a teacher you will always need to adapt your materials and activities to your particular students. Sometimes things will work, sometimes they won’t. Teaching involves plenty of trial and error, as well as solving issues in front of you. As a teacher, and during your CELTA course, you will be faced with all sorts of challenges, overcoming these will help you develop your ability to reassess and find solutions. Problem-solving is one of the most universally employable skills, valuable is almost every career context. 

There are a huge range of transferrable skills that can be gained through the CELTA, skills which can take you just about anywhere. The world of education is vast, and teaching English as a foreign language can not only take you anywhere globally, but also career-wise. The CELTA is undoubtedly a qualification that will benefit your CV for life, by improving skills you can take down any career path you choose.