Is the CELTA course worth it for ESL/EFL Teachers? | Teaching English

Is the CELTA course worth it? In this video, I give you both the pros AND cons of taking the CELTA.

But first, what is the CELTA?
CELTA is a type of English certification program that Cambridge University offers. It has the perception of being the most prestigious of the programs offered, making it more desired in highly competitive job markets and international cities. Any school that offers the CELTA program adheres to strict standards and regulations.
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Transcript:
A common question that English teachers have is, should I do the CELTA course? It usually takes a month of your life and can be quite expensive, like around 2,000 USD. It's a serious investment in both time and money. Should you do it? Here are my thoughts.

Number one: yes ,the CELTA will help you become a better teacher. Nothing helps you get better than the observed teaching sessions with the feedback. I remember I had done the CELTA when I'd already been teaching for a few years at a university and you know, I was confident. I was pretty sure I knew how to plan a lesson, do all the things. The observed teaching practice, I just kind of felt like, I'm actually not the best teacher, I actually could be better and the tutors that I had at least, were very good at kind of seeing that I already had some skills and I was already quite confident, but I just needed a little push to get slightly better.

The second reason to do the CELTA is that you can often get better pay. You can get often better pay at the job you're at, especially like in things like public schools in Korea, you get a pay jump for that. And it also opens the doors to better job opportunities. So these job opportunities come with fewer teaching hours, better pay, etc. The CELTA is often what is needed to kind of get your foot in the door for some of those more like premium, or just kind of better jobs.

The next reason to do the CELTA is if you want to be an ESL teacher for more than a few years, an advance in your career. Maybe you want to get into teacher training, teaching adults, that kind of thing. The CELTA can open a bunch of doors for you.

And the next reason to do the CELTA is that it's sometimes a legal requirement to get a visa for teaching in a certain country.

All right, the summary: it can be expensive, it can be a bit time-consuming, but for me, it's totally worth it if you're going to be teaching for more than one or two years. If you're going to teach for three or four, five years, 10 years for your career, I highly recommend doing the CELTA. It may not be worth it for just one or two years if you can get a Visa without it.

Some other factors to consider are that there are some countries that require a teacher certificate. A couple that I've heard of, I didn't double-check the requirements, but I think UAE, and Taiwan. Double check for yourself if you're considering teaching there, but they are looking for teaching certificates so if that's the case, spend your time and energy and money and focus on that, not on the CELTA. The other case to maybe not do the CELTA is if if you want to teach at a university say in South Korea or Japan. In this case, a master's degree in something like education, English, TEFL trumps the CELTA times a million. If you want to do that, focus on getting a master's degree instead.

Okay, so that is it. Those are some reasons to consider doing the CELTA and then also a few reasons why you might consider not doing the CELTA. Please leave a comment and say hello and tell me where you're teaching in the world, and also hit like, subscribe,and I'll catch you next time.

Timestamp CELTA video:
0:00 Intro
0:24 Observed teaching sessions
0:55 Better pay!
1:23 Teaching
long term
1:37 Legality
1:44 A summary
2:04 Cons
2:44 Final thoughts