Here we are. CELTA is over. There is no more rush, stress, hectic daily schedule. No more sleepless nights, nervousness before the lesson. No more feelings or thoughts of “I could have done it better” after the lesson.
These days are in the past. CELTA was an eye opener, wasn’t it? Now with the newly gained self-confidence I am sure you know how to handle a class of students. You’d agree if I say that – CELTA course was stressful, but it was really rewarding. It was definitely worth all the efforts, wasn’t it?
How do you feel now?
You are relaxed and not stressed. You are absolutely proud of yourself. You did it. Good job!
There were moments when you were absolutely not comfortable that you would reach the end, weren’t there? You can afford yourself to relax and take a deep breath. Enjoy these emotions.
What next?
“What will I do next after completing my CELTA?”
“What is life like after my CELTA?”
Aren’t these questions visiting you now? and these are justified worries. You worked really hard and committed to having the result, improving the quality and gaining confidence.
Without further ado let us dive straight into few options that you can consider after your CELTA course:
1. Gain more practice
You have improved your teaching methods, developed new techniques and tools during CELTA. If you are already teaching, continue practicing with these new expertise in your kitty and gain more experience.
It would be wise to continue in the same school or teaching center where you worked before taking your CELTA, because you know the place, environment and the students. This is your comfort zone. Keep practicing and make it a default activity.
You will soon understand that you feel the pulse of teaching and will soon teach a great lesson with little or no preparation.
Keep reading if you are looking for new teaching opportunities.
2. Move forward and looking for a change
Take a deep breath and make a step. Take a risk and go to the unknown and the unexplored. Now you have the necessary knowledge and skills to teach both adult and young learners.
Choose a new and reputable school or a teaching center. Take the initiative to start teaching the levels that you have no experience working with. Work with books you are not familiar with. Take more and more challenges.
Teach bigger classes, older students. Now you know how to do it. You know how to write good lesson plans, how to anticipate the problems, how to manage the classroom and how to bring different interaction models in the class. Yes, you have developed new skills and improved the ones you had. And now you know how to handle challenges.
So, search for vacancies in new schools and teaching centers in your area. Choose the reputable and popular ones. You have now the expertise to teach there. Go, get you CV and apply for these schools.
3. Search for new opportunities abroad
Now when you have a CELTA, you are more confident about what you need to do. Search for opportunities in other countries. Apply for the teaching vacancies abroad, as CELTA is recognized and accepted almost everywhere opening many doors that were closed in the past.
Quite many teachers with CELTA find jobs in China, Korea, Vietnam, Thailand, Spain, Dubai and other countries. Google the websites of language centers and teacher recruitment agencies. You can find a lot of them. You will also find many popular websites where you can find teaching vacancies.
Further Reading:
We have high seasons of teaching opportunities as you know. As soon as you decide to apply to teach abroad, summer is a great time as most schools and centers are recruiting teachers in summer. Be ready to have a demo lesson which should not be a big deal for you. Some schools may have Skype interviews to get to know more about you and your professional knowledge.
Join Facebook groups where people discuss teaching opportunities on different countries. There are quite many Facebook groups where teachers discuss and share their experience. In quite many of them I come across top vacancies that teachers post for their schools. These groups are very informative and helpful.
Now when you have decided to move to one specific country, you need to do the following.
- Do some research on the culture and educational content of the country you are willing to move. Visit the website of the schools or the teaching center you are going to apply for. Do not forget to read the reviews of that institution; they will give you a better idea whether it is worth teaching there or no. Knowing the culture will help you easily pass the interview and plan your demo lesson if needed. As cultural awareness is very much appreciated in the teaching environment.
- Prepare you CV, make some updates. Add CELTA certificate information in your CV. Edit the teaching skills section. Scan you CELTA certificate as schools and institutions usually need to see it. You will need to send your CV, recommendations, scanned copies of your certificates. Some schools will ask you also to prepare a short video introduction of yourself. Make all the documentation ready. You can also record one of your lessons and send it as well. This is very much appreciated usually.
- As soon as you are invited to teach in those schools, you should get ready. Do not worry about the lesson plans as the lesson plans we prepared in CELTA are usually very easy to apply in any teaching environment. The overall process of conducting the lesson according to the lesson plan you have is very safe and secure. You will not meet any criticism from a professional perspective. CELTA course prepares global and professional teachers, who can work in any environment. Such techniques as organizing different interaction patterns, asking CCQs , monitoring the class, organizing speaking and creative writing activities. These will work almost everywhere.
Further Readings:
- Tips to prepare for an ESL job interview – for information on preparing and attending an ESL interview.
- 7 Important Tips to become a successful English teacher – to know what it takes to become a successful teacher.
Conclusion: And here we are, ready to enter the competitive job market with confidence and professionalism. We know what we are doing and how we are doing it. Take the initiative, prepare the plan with milestones. Put deadlines and try to meet them. Start planning it now and follow the steps you have read in this article.
And finally, you may share this article with those you think may find it useful.
This article was originally published in Jun-2019 and was last updated in Sep-2019.
Author: Lusine Stepanyan
