#CELTAchat summary 7 August: What is the future of CELTA in the 21st century?

This #CELTAchat topic came from Christian Tiplady @xiantiplady who is delivering a session on the future of CELTA in the 21st century at the 3rd CETA Symposium in September in Sheffield.  

Many thanks to Darren Bell @bellinguist for volunteering to write the summary:

What is the future of CELTA in the 21^st century?

There was some brief discussion at the beginning about whether we need to be 21^st century teachers in order to be 21^st century trainers - Who is a 21st century Teacher?

@Cathyofnusle asked whether methodology on future CELTA courses may reflect current trends, referring specifically to DOGME or reactive teaching. @bellinguist stated that on his current course the MCT had decided to stick  to a text-based presentation format, fearing that other approaches such as TTT or TBL confuse trainees. @Marisa_C said that mastering the basic skills was still an issue for many trainees, even in their final lessons and the skill set for DOGME was not in place for many. @Cathyofnusle said that trainees generally coped better when they had researched the language focus of their lessons and found it more difficult to deal with adhoc questions.

In terms of online/blended delivery of CELTA courses, the following opinions were given:

@bellinguist – concerned about trainees not having loop input/demos.

@Cathyofnusle – online courses are useful for trainees post CELTA to “top-up” their knowledge and upskill

@fionaljp – provided a link to a YL course on future learn which could be of interest.

@angelos_bollas – people are still hesitant about online courses

@Marisa_C – her centre is now offering the blended CELTA course but is not sure whether it will take off. It is not possible for the trainer to use their own material with the blended course (it has to be IH material).

@GioLic1976 – the face to face value of CELTA is key

Some other suggestions were made about future course provision:

@GioLic1976 - Using more self-designed activities in place of coursebook reading and listening tasks and incorporating a more research driven/active learning approach, with less formal planning at the latter stages of the course.

@angleos_bollas would also like to see less formal planning on the second half of the course. @ChrisCattaneo tried less formal planning as an option on course, but the trainees opted to carry on with full lesson plans.

#CELTAchat Padlet & Storify 7 August 2017

Link to Padlet from Christian Tiplady's session in Sheffield - Password: CETA -Many thanks Christian