Page 17 - ELG2111 Nov Issue 478

TEACHER TRAINING
teaching
practice

Does
Does teaching practice
make perfect?
make perfect?

Melanie Butler weighs up the advantages of teaching certificates

ne of the main changes the module on the core teaching theory in The only places we are aware of that allow
pandemic has brought to EFL the designated area and the opportunity non-graduates to teach English are Malta,
is the rapid growth of online to choose to specialise in one age group: the UK and – only if you are a EU citizen –
Oteacher training. It’s not adults, adolescents and children. The UK some language schools in Europe. As a rule of
altogether new – International House certificates tend to focus exclusively on thumb, if you need a visa to teach somewhere,
(IH) London has been offering an online adults, arguing that teaching kids follows the then you need a degree and if they also want
CELTA for well over a decade. However, same basic principals. This may be true with you to have a certificate they generally insist
with Cambridge now extending its permission older teenagers, but seems very odd when it on one with teaching practice.
for all CELTAs to be offered online and comes to teaching English to pre-schoolers Will online teaching practice do? It’s
Trinity launching its own online self-study – probably the fastest-growing EFL market beginning to look that way, not least because
course for teaching online, the trend looks in the world. so many teachers are now required to teach
set to continue. Teaching practice – or practicums, as they online even when they’re working abroad.
Most of the major players in teacher are often called in the US – are the hallmark Indeed, most online teachers aren’t based
training are now offering online courses: of acceptability for four-week certs across the in the English-speaking world and in China
Bell; Teaching House in the US, the UK and Anglosphere and many foreign governments it’s now illegal to teach online unless you
Australia; IH all over the world, but there require foreign teachers to have a certificate live there.
are reservations. NILE in Norwich, a pioneer with at least 30 hours practice with students It’s certainly true that the class
in online and hybrid, blended learning to work as native-speaker teaching assistants management skills you need in a physical
courses for teachers has drawn the line at in their state schools (yes, most do still insist classroom are different from the ones you
entry level qualification. on native speakers, I’m afraid). There are need online. However, it’s also true in reverse:
Blended learning may actually be the exceptions. Neither the JET scheme in Japan knowing how to run a classroom lesson is not
optimal method. IH London, the school or the Spanish scheme for language assistants the same as teaching in the digital world. Nor
where the course that became the CELTA in state bilingual schools need any teaching indeed, is practising your teaching with adults
was first developed over 50 year ago, qualifications. A certificate is theoretically going to prepare you for a class of three-
reported a few years back that having the needed in Thailand and one with teaching year-olds. In the best of all possible worlds,
trainer input sessions delivered online, often practice is preferred, but demand is such that teaching practice would include a wide range
asynchronously, can be more successful than many foreigners get jobs without a cert, as of contexts
when they are delivered in person. It’s easier long as they have a first degree. In the real world though, when it comes
for trainees to follow recorded sessions at their In fact, a bachelor’s degree is the one thing to opening doors to a good job, any teaching
own pace, at a time of their choosing and as that is more vital than a certificate with practice with actual students is better than no
many times as they want, and then ask any teaching practice in the whole of the world. teaching practice at all.
questions at a live session with a trainer.

The UK certificates
tend to focus exclusively
on adults, arguing that PHOTO BY JAGRIT PARAJULI FROM PIXABAY

teaching kids follows the
same basic principals

The giant US teachers’ association
TESOL also recommends hybrid courses
with the teaching practice done face to face.
It names CELTA, Trinity and the course
from the School of International Training
in Vermont as fitting their requirements
and has developed the TESOL Core
Certificate programme (which is currently
being redesigned).
Whether online or hybrid, one great
advantage of the US certificates over
the UK ones is that they include both a
editorial@elgazette.com 17