Program Reviews

THOUGHTS ABOUT TEACHING HOUSE: I DO NOT RECOMMEND.

I did the part time course on Mondays (530-930p), Wednesdays (530-930p) and every other Friday (530-830p). Students were divided into 2 groups, A & B. Group A taught on Monday, Group B taught on Wednesday.

Mon: Brief review of teaching points assigned to students in Group B. Group A does their practice teaching. Group A students write their self-evaluation. Group feedback is given.

Wed: Brief review of teaching points assigned to students in Group A. Group B does their practice teaching. Group B students write their self-evaluation. Group feedback is given.

Fri: These sessions usually covered upcoming written assignments.

The course is divided into 2 segments, each with a different teacher (pre-intermediate (I had Bita Rezaei) and upper-intermediate (Adrienne Radcliff)).

Once you complete the first segment, you will have no further access to your first teacher. (I sent an email to Adrienne asking for some clarification on some vague feedback she gave, but she completely ignored my email.)

Upon course completion, I had a few questions regarding the criteria used to determine my grade. I emailed Lizzy Adams (the director of the teaching program who sent me my grade) and she replied “the criteria is the criteria. You can file an appeal if you want.” I reached out to both teachers asking from some clarification and they both completely ignored my email. After a week, I decided to escalate to Lizzy’s boss, James Peaver. Lizzy took 4 days to give me her boss’s name. Lizzy seems unable to actually answer direct questions. After an entire month of emails to Lizzy and my teachers, I notified James Peaver. He offered to set up a meeting (M-F of the following week) between me, him, and a trainer. I replied letting him know I was available anytime on Monday or Tuesday and didn’t hear back from him for a week. The only time the trainer was available to me with me was 6am my time! I decided instead to notify Cambridge directly about my concerns. They responded to me promptly but referred me back to Teaching House so it wasn’t very helpful.

The appeals process is basically a joke (they even charge you to file an appeal!)

They will hold you to strict rubrics that they don’t adhere to themselves.

The teachers are not very accessible outside of scheduled hours. One of my teachers, Bita, took 3 days to respond to a question I had about my upcoming teaching plan.

They have an elitist attitude (Don’t question the CELTA gods!)

They are very helpful up until you are paid in full, then they will ignore you or say anything to justify their actions.

They will pass just about anyone but only award 2% of students with Pass A. They need to do away with their grading system. They emphasize that it doesn’t matter if you earn a Pass, Pass A, or Pass B. If that’s the case, why not just have Pass/Fail? (I got a Pass B, btw)

There’s no accountability – A teacher no-showed, both teachers ignored emails, they did not deliver the job placement services they promised.

The website advertises a multitude of available job placement services, however, they are virtually non-existent. We were supposed to receive 3 sessions dedicated solely to job placement (according to Lizzy) but we only received one despite the fact that the teacher cancelled our last class and instructed us to log in 50 minutes later than our scheduled start time during the last 3 weeks. This was all time that could have been used to provide the promised services that we PAID for. There is NO one-to-one sessions with a job advisor. There’s basically nothing. Telling me I can teach on Cambly or Preply is not helpful. When I voiced my concerns, they tried to do some damage control by telling me I could email them my resume so they could look it over. That is not enough. They did not deliver what they promised. That’s wrong.

THOUGHTS ABOUT THE CELTA:
The course is mostly self-led. There is coursework on the Moodle platform that you can do at your own pace. You will be assigned “Forum assignments” that will be mostly ignored. I was the only student to complete the forum assignment but never got any feedback from my teacher, Bita.
About 80% of the “for additional reading” links referenced at the end of each lesson are broken. Moodle in general is cumbersome and could be organized better. It’s also not terribly reliable. The chat feature doesn’t always work, for example, so you will have to set up an outside group on Telegram or Text to communicate with your teacher/cohorts.
In general, I recommend the CELTA certification. But for your own good, take it somewhere other than Teaching House.

I haven't been in school for 10+ years so it was hard to get back into that school work mode but it was ever so worth it. Great instructors - learned so much from them. Daily schedule is structured great - plenty of balance between input sessions, breaks and being able to actually teach in the afternoon was immensely important. Classmates were very helpful and everyone works together to complete tasks - there is no "i want a better grade than you so I'm not going to help" everyone was in it together. Do not expect this course to be easy but as long as you put the effort into it you will be able to pass. Glad I took this course and have the CELTA certificate that will allow me to begin the next chapter of my life.

Highly recommend this course if you want to get into teaching english.

At some point during the curriculum I realized, perhaps because hitherto I'd had no previous teaching experience, knowledge of grammar was far from being the main focus. That's not to say that I believe if one were deficient they wouldn't encounter a mighty struggle, no; only that there were many more details relating to other aspects of teaching. In fact, one thing that intrigued me most about this course was how it went about demonstrating the process of acquiring knowledge, and all that that might entail. It really is hard for me to go into detail, though I'd like to, because I wouldn't want to spoil anything! (and, in all honesty, because I am still looking through my notes and other literature in an attempt to apprehend more...). Paula Ellis and Lise Bell taught the curriculum and I believe were more than equal to the task of guiding us neophytes; especially when thinking, now, about what was being taught.

There was a lot of work involved in taking the CELTA! I loved the course, loved the people I studied with and particularly appreciated Paula Ellis and Adrienne Radcliffe, both absolutely fabulous trainers. The workload is challenging, and having the structure and clear guidance (at which both excel) to put order into the rather large amount of information we were absorbing in a limited amount of time, made my experience a really positive one.

I am a lawyer, so teaching English as a second language is a new career path for me. I've been out of school for a long time, too. I was probably the eldest in my class.

I took the CELTA course in 4 weeks, because my personal situation required me to take the condensed course. I wish I had taken it over a longer period to let the sheer volume of the material sink in more. It is VERY condensed, and quite demanding, and valuable.

There are two reasons I think CELTA is the premier ESL training program. First, you teach real students immediately, and second, you get thorough feedback after each & every teaching session. That's extremely important and I think it's unique to CELTA.

The trainers are grammar gurus, too. They KNOW their stuff and can articulate it well, and usually can help you figure things out for yourself (which is what we need to do for our own students, so they "walk the talk").

The only problem I faced (other than the sheer volume of information), is that there was a lot of education "jargon" which was totally new to me. Their methodology seems sound, so I trusted it even though the underlying theories were not always intuitively obvious. Also, there are a ton of different reference materials used in the course. But there's no central index, so you have to spend time looking for things that could be found more quickly with an index.

I graduated in late July, 2018. Within days of posting my ESL resume online, I had employers inquiring. I had to narrow my search down b/c I was actually getting too many inquiries. (This job search was more immediately productive than looking for a job as a lawyer, believe me). The CELTA course is more expensive than other ESL courses but I have a hard time believing the other courses are as thorough.

I signed a contract to work overseas within a month of graduation and am moving to Eastern Europe next week. I chose this particular job because they are modeled after CELTA's program so their content & approach were familiar. Also, the interview on Skype was with staff who were very warm, open and supportive. They were not recruiting so much as looking for a good fit. I didn't want to jump into a classroom without any support for my first teaching job. So that sealed the deal for me.

This career change is doing exactly what I hoped it would do. I have always wanted to live overseas, immerse myself in a new culture, and I've always wanted to teach. I leave for Poland next week, 6 weeks after graduating from CELTA.

Excellent training for anyone that is looking to teach abroad or pursue teaching as a career. When I was looking for a certification course to teach abroad I found a lot of online programs, however, I wanted the most experience for what I was going to pay and finally came across the CELTA program. They give you actual experience teaching in front of a class, lesson planning, and observation feedback from a trainer that helps you every step of the way. If you're someone like me that has little to no experience teaching from your own lesson plans then I would highly recommend this course. Coming away from the course I feel so much more prepared to go out and teach, even beyond ESL. However, some words of warning when they say it is intensive it is definitely intensive. I recommend not working because it will take all of your time and concentration. This is one of the most stressful things I have done and feels similar to being in finals week of college, except for 4 weeks. Be prepared for being pushed and devoting 4 weeks of your life to this course, I really do promise it's worth it.

Having recently graduated from Teaching House's CELTA course in San Francisco, I can say with complete honesty that it was a very rewarding experience. I will always remember the friends I made on the course and the students I had the honor of teaching over the 4 weeks.

The schedule was packed on a day to day basis, filled with lesson planning, teaching, observing peers, receiving/giving feedback on teaching performance and sitting through valuable input sessions from the tutors in the evening on a variety of teaching strategies and topics (including how to find a job after the CELTA).

The course is very challenging. I had to say "no" to friends' requests to go hiking/have lunch on a weekly basis because of lesson planning and projects that we had due every week. Having a part-time job on the course is not feasible and is a recipe for burnout (although, a couple of trainees did work a job about 8-10 hrs a week - but it was much more stressful for them, and it showed.).

The tutors (instructors) gave consistent, constructive feedback on the content, framework and delivery of the classes taught by the trainees and made every effort to support the trainees by answering questions, offering advice and engaging the trainees in conversations about their own experiences teaching abroad.

The classes we taught were multi-cultural and the students were (for the most part) eager to learn and have their English critiqued.

I've come away feeling confident in my abilities to take on a classroom, either in the U.S. or abroad, and put the new skills I acquired on the CELTA course to work. I definitely recommend this course to anyone serious about becoming a teacher, whether as a career or just for a year!

I signed up with Teaching House full of bravado and confidence rooted in a 32 year career in policy analysis that, among other things, demanded precise and fluent oral and written expression in English nearly every day. I was a master of my native language, I told myself, and the Teaching House CELTA course would be like plowing a field of sweet whipped cream. Well, the reality turned out to be quite different. Mastering the use of English, on one hand, and understanding its rules, and being able to convey content and theory in a manner helpful to an English learner are two very different things.

The Teaching House experience was constructively humbling. Weekdays were full of learning the new craft though guided "input" sessions, and afternoons were spent teaching or watching others teach, and then reflecting on strengths and weaknesses of the lessons. Then, planning the nine lessons and preparing the four written assignments pretty much took over my entire life outside of the full day at school. There were moments of defeat, despair, and near-exhaustion, but the competence and encouragement of the teachers and of my fellow student helped me endure and succeed.

I can see now why CELTA is considered the gold standard in ESL training. Teaching House Chicago is a great place to be certified. You will have extremely competent instruction, constructive and incisive feedback on all your efforts, and moral support to sustain you through low moments. You will also develop new friendships that you'' want to sustain. And you will emerge with well honed tools and an eagerness to use them on the road to mastery of a new craft. Take up the challenge!

Besides the cocktail of energy drinks I heavily binged during the last two weeks of this 4-week course, the culture of the class, the amazing students and tutors, and the beautiful classmate teachers I made made it extremely worth the work.

Teaching House, particularly, Oxford House College, is a great place to do your CELTA. I was pretty lucky having only a total of six students (including myself) in my CELTA wave. We got immense attention from the tutors due to the small class size.

If you're from the United States and are considering in doing the CELTA, I highly recommend doing it in the UK. The cost of the course, flight ticket, and housing will add up to the same cost it would take to do only the course in the U.S.

Lizzy and Makkie were my tutors. They are the epitome of Teaching House. The cream of the crop. Count yourself lucky if you get to be beside their wing. With all the expertise they have, they never make students feel like their less than them and fully believe in each student's ability to excel as an educator.

Check them out! You won't regret a single pence.

I completed Delta Modules 1, 2, and 3 with Teaching House over the course of about 9 months. I did the Blended Delta program, where Modules 1 and 3 were done by distance and Module 2 was done mostly onsite, at Teaching House New York.

For Module 1, I found the Moodle and accompanying online materials helpful and relevant, and my tutor, Paula, was excellent - she provided in-depth feedback in a very timely fashion, and was consistently available to me, even though she was working in a different timezone. I couldn't have asked for a better distance tutor! I received a Pass with Merit in the Module 1 exam.

Part of Module 2 was done by distance, and Lizzy Adams was my tutor for this part of the program. Like Paula, she was easy to get in touch with and very helpful and encouraging with her feedback.

The majority of Module 2 was done onsite, at Teaching House New York. The workload is extremely challenging - you need to clear your calendar 100% in order to keep up with the assignments. My tutors, again, were excellent - Lise and Paula, my Module 1 tutor. They were helpful, knowledgeable, and accessible and provided so much guidance and feedback. The students and staff at Teaching House New York were fantastic as well. It was an absolutely exhausting 5 weeks onsite, but I received a Pass with Merit at the end of it all, and I was delighted with that.

I had started Module 3 after taking the Module 1 exam, and before starting the Module 2 coursework. After finishing Module 2, I picked up Module 3 again and finished it in time for the June deadline. I did this by distance, with my tutor, Bobby, providing assistance from Teaching House London. I really struggled to make the deadline, but Bobby was understanding and supportive, and provided me with plenty of focused feedback. He was away on holidays towards the end of the process, and Lizzy stepped in to look at my final draft, which I really appreciated. My timetable was topsy-turvy during this time, but the Teaching House staff were very accommodating. I managed to finish Module 3 in time and received a Pass, so I was very happy with that!

All in all, I would recommend the Blended Delta course at Teaching House. I started in early October and was finished in early June. It was intense, but do-able. The staff are really dedicated and extremely helpful. They want you to pass and will do their best to support you. I'm very appreciative to all of them for helping me along the way.

Thanks a million! / Go raibh mile maith agaibh!

Mary Beth
Dublin, Ireland