8968 CELTA Course

Hi, I did the CELTA years ago and found it a great help. I had no trouble getting work with language schools afterwards. Try the British Council if you are in Italy.

Here you have all the information required concerning qualifications for teaching English as a foreign language:

[url=http://www.tefl.net/teacher-training/qualifications.htm]ESL Teacher Training: Basic TEFL Qualifications (TEFL.NET)[/url]

The site also contains very useful information regarding this topic.

[FONT=Arial]Hi[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial]Thank you for the advice, I will certainly have a look at the site you mentioned. :yes:[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial][/FONT]
[FONT=Arial]JP[/FONT]

The CELTA is only an entry level course, but still very useful, and even experienced teachers from other fields have found it challenging. You can do it as an intensive 4 week course (put all social life on hold) or part-time. I did mine at a local FE college in the UK.

Don't be put off by the pre-course tasks. Your reaction is what they want you to have, and to get you thinking about what you do and don't know. Get yourself a copy of 'Practical English Usage' Swan, OUP, 'Grammar for English Language Teachers' Parrott, CUP and you'll have the start of your English teaching library.

More recommendations if needed!

Just to widen this thread a bit, what are the true English teaching opportunities in Italy?

Can someone with a new CELTA qualification walk into a job with little experience or are schools looking for experience with a DELTA qualification?

It would be interesting to hear from anyone who is teaching .:GEEK:

[FONT=Arial]Hi[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial]Thanks very much for your reply, I will have a look at the book you suggested. As a matter of interest were you already a teacher before taking the course? Have you done any teaching in Italy?[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial]JP :smile:[/FONT]

[FONT=Arial]A good point , I would also be very interested in the job opportunities in Italy. :yes:[/FONT]

I was speaking with someone on the flight back to London last night. She had just moved from Milan to Rome and was about to teach English to Italian business men and women via an agency. The wage/fee/salary??? €18 per hour after taxes!!! Cool eh???

[quote=turtle;84688]I was speaking with someone on the flight back to London last night. She had just moved from Milan to Rome and was about to teach English to Italian business men and women via an agency. The wage/fee/salary??? €18 per hour after taxes!!! Cool eh???[/quote]
I can only speak from my experience in the UK but one to one business teaching is always better paid than classroom teaching. Also for those who do not teach it is worth pointing out that you are only paid for contact(teaching) time not for preperation etc.

I suspect the type of jobs mentioned above are few and far so it would be useful if someone could give an insight into rates of pay as well as the actual teaching opportunities available.

[quote=Luce Dell'Amore;84650]Just to widen this thread a bit, what are the true English teaching opportunities in Italy?

Can someone with a new CELTA qualification walk into a job with little experience or are schools looking for experience with a DELTA qualification?

It would be interesting to hear from anyone who is teaching .:GEEK:[/quote]

I don't teach any more but this is what I found:

with a CELTA I walked straight into a job at a language school. They got me a fair number of hours. In fact I had offers from several schools. Back then I got paid 15,000 lire per hour plus VAT. I didn't get paid for the hours spent travelling or preparing, just for the hour I spent teaching. Given that the jobs were spread all over the place (a school here, a company there, a private lesson at the signora's house here) it made it extremely difficult to earn a decent living. In fact I didn't really earn a living at all. And I know that the students paid up to 50,000 lire an hour for private lessons (to the school).

The British Council required DELTAs for teaching jobs and paid around 26,000 lire an hour if I remember what our teacher told us. Lots of competition for those places though.

Someone told me recently that she had been offered 10 euros per hour at a local language school.

That said, after the CELTA I felt completely confident at taking on a class of any size and level, it was very useful in that regard.

For anyone interested in teaching English as a SL I would recommend getting some experience in a local language school, then setting up on your own. Most Italians want to learn English.
By the way, the CELTA is sufficient for language schools but not Italian state schools, who want Italian-educated teachers.

Hi

I did some teaching here in Arezzo for the Local Chamber of Commerce three years ago, via a contract awarded to a private English language school. This was held at the chamber of commerce so no facilities needed. I discovered, once I had started, that the Chamber of Commerce was running this EU funded course and it was being charged 55 euros per hour for the' English Unit' by the private school.

I have a M.A. in education, celta and loads of other stuff, originally the private school offered me 8 euros an hour, I explained that this was not acceptable so they condescended to pay me 11 euros for my role as an experienced teacher (25 years experience!!) Thought at time would be a useful exercise to understanding some of the systems in Arezzo and did the contract.

22 hours and after tax I collected around 190 euros. These 22 hours were split over 6 weeks and for 2 hours each session in the early evening.

I was paid nothing to prepare this new course, lesson planning, tutorials, marking the exam paper etc.
Realistic hourly rate 5 euros an hour.

I really enjoyed meeting the italian students, and learning a bit about the italian educational system but it would be impossible to support oneself on earnings from a private school unless you work many many hours. AND, there is absolutely no security in these jobs.

Sorry if this sounds a little pessimistic.

ps I have never taught again in Italy and don't plan to!

I did a quick look in Pagine Gialle for the school that paid such a large amount but without success. I think the school was called More Languages. However there does appear to be many schools in Rome listed (though not alphabetically for some reason, which is annoying)

I don't think 18 euros an hour is a huge amount, even after taxes. Compare with a lawyer who charges 250 pounds sterling an hour (on average) for consulting, including charging for every minute of phone calls, time spent preparing etc. Teachers get paid purely for the hour they teach, not for the hours of preparation, research, marking etc.

OK I know a lawyer works in an entirely different field but I do think that teaching is undervalued by comparison, particularly given the studying, training and experience required to be to good teacher.

I was lucky during my teaching days because I worked for the government and... although I was under contract and paid only for the hours I was teaching, without preparation, marking, etc., was good. But no holiday pay... nothing. The best way to go is to start your own business, although you should get first some experience through a language school, etc. I finally did that and I also combined teaching with interpreting and translating as I had official qualifications. I ended up having an agency for multilingual interpreters and translators as I knew very many colleagues who were willing to hand over the administration to me and I also had a very good list of clients who literally pushed me to obtain translations in other languages for them. As I said, my experience did not take place in Italy, so I do not know what is the situation there... although I guess it is pretty much the same....
As for hourly rates, I totally agree with Gardahomes, 18 euros is not a huge amount taking into account all what you have to do to get 1 hour of teaching.

Please can you tell me then what actually is involved in preparing a lesson.

you need to take the course to get the proper answer to that but for each lesson you need to make a lesson plan, prepare materials, prepare exercises, role-playing, etc.

Of course you can always just plough through the exercise books instead but I know a teacher who was "let go" from a private school because she "couldn't be bothered" to do proper lesson plans. At 7/8 euros an hour before tax I can't say I blamed her.

[quote=turtle;84788]Please can you tell me then what actually is involved in preparing a lesson.[/quote]

Well, between 1 and 3 hours of preparation, depending on the length and the complexities of the lesson, but basically it involves:

- Reading and revising all the texts you are using
- Reading specific instructions in your Teacher's Manual (if your text books have it)
- Preparing slides and transparencies with specific examples of the content of the course
- Preparing other teaching or visual aids, as required
- Looking for further examples to illustrate your points
- Making lists of complementary material which you may have to use
- Working out which exercises you want students to complete
- For a language course.... preparing a million other teaching aids which can help your students, and this goes from making puppets for kindergarten students to selecting and obtaining movies, TV programs or documentaries for older students

This list, as you see does not include the time you spend after the lesson evaluating results and marking homework.....

No matter how experienced you are, you cannot walk into a classroom and teach without preparing your lesson thoroughly.

Some good advice and information there!

With individual lessons I tend not to prepare so much as the lessons are less structured and you can be responsive to the individual and their difficulties as they arise. In a classroom context you have to anticipate them more, and the dynamic is completely different.

There are opportunities out there. I did a very short and intensive course with soldiers. I had very little time to prepare and had to do 7 hours a day in the same room with the same group (other teachers will empathise!) but I got €32 an hour gross. I nearly got some work for a local village library who wanted to run an English course, but unfortunately they didn't get enough subscribers. The way the pound has gone down makes me think I need to start on a renewed marketing drive!

[quote=sueflauto;84797]Some good advice and information there!

With individual lessons I tend not to prepare so much as the lessons are less structured and you can be responsive to the individual and their difficulties as they arise. In a classroom context you have to anticipate them more, and the dynamic is completely different.

There are opportunities out there. I did a very short and intensive course with soldiers. I had very little time to prepare and had to do 7 hours a day in the same room with the same group (other teachers will empathise!) but I got €32 an hour gross. I nearly got some work for a local village library who wanted to run an English course, but unfortunately they didn't get enough subscribers. The way the pound has gone down makes me think I need to start on a renewed marketing drive![/quote]

You are right, individual lessons are highly unpredictable. I prefer group teaching, preferably a small group, 6 to 10 maximum.
To teach 7 hours a day in the same room with the same group is hell!!! The maximum I have done is 3 hours and this with a 15 minutes coffee break.... which you need to keep you going. Interpreters are not allowed to work for more than 45 minutes without a proper break and I think that it is only fair,
I believe that you are up north, in the Aosta region. Perhaps it may be an idea to contact the local Chamber of Commerce and a few other organisations to see whether you can get some learning groups going. Good luck!