CELTA in London?

[NicholasJB]

Hi,

I'm just finishing my MA in Linguistics at SOAS and am wondering where the best place to take a CELTA course in London is.

Also, are all the courses roughly the same price and/or can one get a grant/funding to do a CELTA? I am a British and American citizen.

Best wishes,

Nicholas

[pokedmund]

Hi there,

First and foremost, apply to courses which appear on the official Cambridge website.

Difficult to say which is "the best" place to take a CELTA course as there is no ranking system, but all Cambridge accredited centres abide by the same standards and are monitored by Cambridge. I really enjoyed my course in Soho where I completed my CELTA with SKOLA.

Anyway, prices? You're looking at approximately 999 pounds (I paid this much for my course) but places such as International House charge around 1,250 pounds. I don't believe there is funding/grants to take a CELTA.

[dabevan]

Hi,

I completed a CELTA at Regent Teacher Training in central London (although this was about 4 years ago). It's located near Trafalgar Square. It's a legit place, monitored by Cambridge.

I chose Regent because it allowed me to complete the course part-time (although you can also do a 4-week intensive course) and it was reasonably priced, and I only have positive comments about the place. The instructors were very helpful and informative, and they assisted me in forming connections with potential employers.

I can't compare Regent to anywhere else in London, but all of my colleagues and I were very satisfied with the course.

[wasabi]

I had a bad experience with Language Link in London, who run a CELTA course - so I would say avoid them.
Their premises are not the best and they squeezed too many people into a tiny room which made moving around the room or doing any activities with students impossible (other groups were in larger rooms but all paid the price...). Also the temperature was well over 30 degrees and there was no window or air-con. There was some dis-organisation around timetabling. I didn't feel adequatly supported with teaching practice, which starts too early in their course in my opinion.
You can definitly get a better course for a similar price in London. Maybe consider TRINITY instead, because CELTA were not really interested in the problems I had with my course.

Good Luck :)

[NicholasJB]

Hi,

Thanks for your help guys. I eventually decided to do a full-time, four week Trinity CertTESOL at Tefl Lab London. I completed the course on the 18th of December.

I'm now looking for jobs teaching English in London.

Best wishes,

Nicholas