The CELTA Diaries: day 1

Throughout second quarter of 2015, I was involved in setting up a CELTA course in a university setting. Conversations regarding this go back more than a year, but now the course is up and running and I am enjoying becoming a CELTA Trainer in Training. The path has not been particularly smooth, key staff finding fantastic jobs elsewhere, poor recruitment that led to the cancellation of a proposed course and money worries. That said, now the course is running, it is absolutely worth the trouble. Within these pages are journal notes during the first course…

First day of the course. Still no sign of the audio CDs and observation DVDs. Lots of supporting the tutors in terms of trying to get them set up systems and reprographics. All CPs arrived on time and the course started very well. The first session was given over to administration and the candidates seemed to engage more when the first lesson on an unknown language took place. This was particularly impressive as it was an obscure language that the ACT had to learn especially for the purpose of this session as her other L2s were too widely known. The learners arrived on time and, as a result, this was a lot less stressful than I had anticipated. They formed two groups quite naturally, although there are a lot more at the Upper-intermediate level than the Pre-intermediate level. They seemed enthusiastic and pleased to be attending the free classes. The final session was structured to give the CPs their planned TP and although they seemed tired from an abrupt star to the course, they seemed to understand the task for the unobserved TP tomorrow. One candidate asked to leave early and seemed tired throughout the day, very possibly because he is observing Ramadan and the sun is up for 18 hours a day at the moment.