Fabiana is an Italian-born CELTA graduate who has always had a love for languages. During her University years she studied foreign languages and literature in Bologna. In recent years she has been working as a bilingual secretary. Now with a family of her own and having lost her job due to the pandemic, she thought it was the right time to seek a career change doing something she loves, teaching, and teaching something she really enjoys, the English language.
Fabiana tells us about her experience taking the CELTA via Florence to gain a qualification that will allow her to access a world of opportunities in the English teaching field.
Here’s what Fabiana has to say…
Why did you choose to take the CELTA?
Because I strongly desired a change of career and I needed a worldwide recognized certificate.
Why did you choose to take the CELTA via Florence?
Because it was the only one that offered a completely online course in that period of time.
Did you feel prepared for the course?
No, I didn’t. But I asked my tutor during the CELTA interview if I could study some books and she recommended me 3 or 4 books to start with.
N.B. with the CELTA course via Florence,
you also get the ELTcampus online Grammar refresher and Language Awareness course and an online “Teach ready for training” mini video course
completely free!
What was the experience of an online CELTA like?
Exciting. Comfortable. Reassuring. Having the chance of connecting to people during quarantine periods, when you cannot go out and when social contacts are so reduced has been of great importance. Of course there are also difficulties, such as a heavy workload has to be organized while attending other personal commitments, but for me it wouldn’t have been possible attending a face-to-face course. I’ve got a family and both of my children were ill and quarantined in that period of CELTA. On a face-to-face course I would have been obliged to abandon the course to take care of my family.
What were the tutors like?
Supportive. Friendly. Available. Experienced. Well-organized. Coherent. Logical. Very willing to answer to each of our questions. They had crystal clear ideas about methodologies.
How was the teaching practice?
Exciting. Interesting. Useful. Enriching. It offered an incredible open-mindedness. Multicultural. Rewarding. At times it was tense and overwhelming, but of the utmost importance is understanding the things going on ‘on the spot’ and to improve in the field of ‘anticipated problems and solutions’.
What was the relationship between the different trainees like?
I appreciated a lot the cooperative relationship we trainees had built up, but in this case I imagine that a face-to-face setting would have created a deeper one. The time together was not enough to get to know each other as much as I would have liked.
What will you do now that you are CELTA qualified?
I will go on with development as suggested by my tutors and I will start to look for a teaching job!
Would you recommend the course to others?
Definitely. I agree 100% with the CELTA methodologies, I’ve appreciated a lot the suggested books that I am studying and I’ve found the combination of synchronous and asynchronous study very effective. However, I would suggest studying the Moodle basis terminology before starting (for example the difference between a task, a discussion forum, an assignment as in the beginning it wasn’t clear to me, and also the different folders where to find the materials) and I would totally recommend being confident with technology before starting the course. For me it was difficult to learn the technology (Zoom settings, document sharing, PowerPoint presentations) together with the terminology and lesson planning.