Distance Celta- is it worth it?

[Thiago]

Dear all,

I'm a teacher from Brazil and I've been considering taking the Distance Delta and I'd like to hear from you. Is it worth it? How was the application process?

I've been an English teacher for 5 years, but in terms of formal experience I have 4. In terms of teaching qualifications, I hold TKT papers 2 and 3 I have a BA in languages, a major in Portuguese and English. Do you think I would be a good candidate for Delta?

Thanks in advance.

[Alex Case]

TKT is usually seen as preparation for the CELTA or ICELT, so the DELTA might be a bit of a bit of a jump for you unless you have a lot of professional development such as workshops and observations and read a lot. Have you ever had any assessed observations?

[systematic]

The Distance DELTA is very expensive at £3,000 by the time you've added up all the costs. As Alex says, it's also a great leap beyond the TKT. The TKT is a very low level test of teaching knowledge and is not a qualification at all - it's exactly what it says it is: an evaluation of your knowledge of teaching English, possibly useful for people want to know if they could be ready in another two years or so to do a CELTA.

The TKT therefore offers no teaching training or teaching practice whatsoever.

[Alex Case]

As CELTA is a starter qualification, I don't think many people need two years to prepare for it. The exception would be people who don't have the right level of English. Also, as most people who take the TKT are primary and secondary teachers in their own country, neither the CELTA nor the DELTA are particularly relevant to them. The ICELT is usually more like it.

[systematic]

Ironically, when we did the TKT pre-release field trials among the non-native EFL mainstream teachers who already had a BA in English/Education, we found that they were more like five years off a CELTA!

[Alex Case]

I guess you mean in terms of language development (being Cambridge Proficiency level in English), as you don't need any knowledge of teaching, grammar terminology etc to enter the CELTA. But studying full time you could get almost anyone up to CPE level in two years if they were motivated enough

[systematic]

Exactly. Most of them could hardly pass a PET, let alone follow the TKT prep course and read the instructions on the test papers. Probably not so acute in the countries you work in Alex ;)

[Azariah]

The Distance DELTA is very expensive at £3,000 by the time you've added up all the costs. As Alex says, it's also a great leap beyond the TKT. The TKT is a very low level test of teaching knowledge and is not a qualification at all - it's exactly what it says it is: an evaluation of your knowledge of teaching English, possibly useful for people want to know if they could be ready in another two years or so to do a CELTA.

The TKT therefore offers no teaching training or teaching practice whatsoever.

...oh, who told you that? (Referring to TKT)

A colleague of mine attended a three month TKT course and they did teach how to teach. Also, there is a practical part (TKT:Practical). https://www.teachers.cambridgeesol.org/ ... tpractical

As for me, I just prepared myself using the TKT books. It's no where near as rigorous as the CELTA, obviously, but it wouldn't be fair to TKT to say that is has no teaching practice element at all, nor any tips on how to teach. I've done both CELTA and all of the TKT modules so I'm speaking from experience ;)