I'm very happy to be able to welcome you all to the July 2007 Cambridge ESOL CELTA course at the Berlin School of English. The next four weeks will be a very busy time for us all but I hope that we at the school can make your time with us as enjoyable and educational as possible.
Because the course is very intensive, it really is a good idea to prepare properly for the course. There are several things you can do to make your entry into the world of EFL teaching as comfortable as possible:
Do the pre-course reading
You should all have received or obtained a copy of the pre-course reading. Make sure that you have worked through the grammar development course as thoroughly as you can before arriving on the first day.
The CELTA course focuses on developing your skills as a language teacher, not your language knowledge per se. During the course, we have to be able to assume a certain degree of knowledge about how the language works in order to have enough time to focus on the core skills of teaching. This is why the pre-course reading is so important.
Do some shopping
You shouldn't need to buy any materials for your lessons during the course but make sure that you have all the personal stationary that you need for study purposes. We recommend the following: a large A4 arch lever file for your notes; pad of A4 paper; pens; pencils; highlighters; eraser; sharpener.
If you are travelling over from the United States or another part of the world which does not use DIN A4 as a stationary standard, then wait until arriving in Germany before buying a file and paper. Otherwise, the course notes you will receive probably won't fit properly into your file.
Get teched up
Your life will be easier on the course if you have access to a computer or a laptop. The school has up to eight PCs for your use but if you have your own laptop you will find preparing lesson plans etc far less stressful.
It is also very handy to have a USB memory stick to transfer files and back up your documents. The school is in the process of establishing a wireless network but there is no guarantee at this point that it will be in place before your course. A memory stick will enable you to prepare your lesson plans and assignments in comfort on your own laptop or at home before simply printing them out at the school.
Go Open Office
The school computers use Open Office software, which is an Office-style suite of programs by Sun Microsystems. It is freeware and it runs on all current platforms (PC, Mac, Linux etc). You may find it convenient to download Open Office for free from http://www.openoffice.org/ and install it on your computer/laptop.
Spend time with your friends
During the course (even at the weekends) you will have very little time to relax and so it is a good idea to catch up with anyone you want to see before the course starts.
You can expect to be working 2-3 hours per evening during the week plus the equivalent of one full day at the weekend on course-related work apart from any time you find during the "working day" at the school, so don't make the mistake of thinking "I'll surely have time to go to that party/pop over to Krakow for the weekend" etc: you probably won't.
Look at the CELTA syllabus
If you are interested, go to http://www.cambridgeesol.org/teaching/celta8_251103.pdf and familiarise yourself a little with the CELTA course syllabus. You should not worry if you don't understand everything you read; much of it makes more sense once you are actually participating in the course. But it may be interesting for you to see the broad principles behind the course you are about to undertake.
Start a reflective journal
One of the central skills that we will be trying to help you develop is the ability to reflect on your teaching. This means we want you to be able to think critically and evaluatively about what happened in your lessons so that you can identify areas which were central to lesson's success or failure. It is crucial that you develop this skill because it is this that will enable you to survive and continue developing your skills after the course.
Writing a personal journal where you explore your motives for taking the course, your expectations of how you will manage and (as the course progresses) your feelings about your lessons and what you are learning as a result of them could be very beneficial for you.
That's probably enough for now. The main thing is to relax as much as possible and enjoy the thought of starting the journey towards becoming a language teacher. It is a wonderful career and it is certain to be a rewarding experience but it will require organisation, discipline, honesty with yourself and openness to change.
Feel free to get in touch with us either by commenting here or sending us an email at info@berlin.school-of-english.de
I look forward to meeting you all in July.
Best wishes,
Anthony
