How can I prepare for the Cambridge CELTA course?

You have been offered a place on the Cambridge CELTA course. Now, you are ready to start on some pre-course material to help you get prepared for the course. This is what you can do:

1. PRE-COURSE TASK

This will be sent to you once you have made your first payment for the course. This task contains grammar and language awareness exercises which you can complete in your own time before the course starts. You do not need to submit it to us. We will send you the answers with your welcome email. Don’t worry if you have not answered everything correctly—this is really just to get you “warmed up” to the language and terminology which we will teach you during the course.

2. READING MATERIAL

You don’t need to buy any books for your CELTA course. However, you may feel you would like to buy a reference book or brush up on some grammar. These are our recommendations, in case you would like to buy a book.

TEACHING

• How to Teach English, Jeremy Harmer (Pearson) – an introduction to English language teaching.
• The Practice of English Language Teaching, Jeremy Harmer (Pearson – Longman) – a more in-depth and comprehensive guide.
• Learning Teaching, Jim Scrivener (MacMillan) – another comprehensive overview of everything connected with English language teaching.
• Practical Techniques, Michael Lewis & Jimmie Hill (LTP) – just pick it up, open it and read a paragraph. Instantly useful advice without the jargon.

METHODOLOGY & DEVELOPMENT

• The Developing Teacher, Duncan Foord (DELTA) – ideal for teachers who want to take control of their own development.
• Teaching Unplugged, Scott Thornbury & Luke Meddings (DELTA) – the DOGME bible. Dogme ELT advocates teaching ‘unplugged’: a materials-light, conversation-driven philosophy of teaching that focuses on the learner and on emergent language.
• Approaches & Methods in Language Teaching, Jack Richards & Theodore Rodgers (Cambridge) – a comprehensive view of the various methods and approaches taken to ELT over the years.

GENERAL REFERENCE

• An A-Z of ELT, Scott Thornbury (MacMillan) – a jargon-buster.
• Practical English Usage, Michael Swan (Oxford) – an excellent go-to resource to answer all those ‘why?’ questions.
• About Language, Scott Thornbury (Cambridge) – what a teacher needs to know about English in order to teach it effectively.
• Learner English, Michael Swan & Bernard Smith (Cambridge) – a guide to first language interference.

GRAMMAR (Reference)

• Grammar for English Language Teachers, Martin Parrott (Cambridge) – an excellent resource for helping develop an understanding of English grammar.
• How to Teach Grammar, Scott Thornbury (Pearson Longman) – a good overview of teaching grammar.
• Teaching English Grammar, Jim Scrivener (MacMillan) – presents commonly taught structures with activities to use in class for practicing them.
• The English Verb, Michael Lewis (LTP) – one to read before you start your DipTESOL.

GRAMMAR (Classroom)

• English Grammar in Use, Raymond Murphy (Cambridge) – actually a self-study book for intermediate level students, but a great resource for teachers too.
• The Anti-Grammar Grammar Book, Nick Hall & John Shepheard (ELB) – mainly tenses presented through context and discovery.
• Grammar Games, Mario Rinvolucri (Cambridge) – interesting ideas to present grammar.
• Teaching Tenses, Rosemary Aitken (ELB) – ideas for presenting and practising tenses.

3. ZOOM (100% Online CELTA Only)

We will be using Zoom throughout the course so it is a good idea to familiarise yourself with the features of this tool. Zoom has a useful range of tutorials that you can watch to help you get prepared for participating in or delivering classes. Watch these videos in YouTube:

• Basic In-Meeting Navigation
• Meeting Reactions and Non-Verbal Feedback
• Using Breakout Rooms During a Meeting
• Share Your Screen, Video, or Audio
• Chat In and Out of Meetings

4. GOOGLE DRIVE (Online and Face-to-face CELTA)

You will be using Google Drive for uploading, sharing and saving files. Google provides their own tutorials which we recommend watching to help you stay organised. Watch these videos in YouTube:

• Google Drive Tutorial
• How to Share Files and Folders
• How to Convert Google Docs into PDFs

If you would like to get as prepared as possible for the course, we do recommend watching the tutorials above and getting a head start on some reading. Don’t worry, our tutors are here to support you and answer any questions you have during the course.

Now that you are ready, let’s get started!