CELT Courses

Course details

The Certificate in English Language Teaching (CELT) is an initial course that aims to provide the necessary skills to teach English as a Foreign Language. The course is recognised by the Irish Department of Education (QQI-ACELS) and is subject to regular inspections.

Admission Requirements

Applicants must have successfully completed the Leaving Certificate and should have a sufficiently good command of both written and spoken English to enable them to undertake the course and to prepare for teaching learners at a range of levels.
           
Applicants whose first language is not English may be admitted to the course provided that their level of English is equivalent to or higher than that of the Council of Europe’s Mastery Level C1. IELTS (6.5+) or Cambridge (CAE+) certification must be provided on application to document this.
 
Previous teaching experience is not a requirement.
Acceptance of applicants is based on completion of the application form and screening procedures (interview and tasks).

Course Outline

In line with Department of Education and Skills requirements

• A minimum of 100 programmed hours face-to-face contact between course trainers and participants
• A minimum of 420 minutes of observation of real classes
• A minimum of 7 supervised teaching practice sessions representing a minimum of 360 minutes
• Trainer-directed study
• Micro and team teaching
• Feedback , review and evaluation session

The maximum number of participants on any course is 18.

Grading and Certification

The course has two components - the teaching practice and a portfolio. The final grade is reached through assessment of these two elements of the course.

Successful trainees will be awarded a grade of Approved, Approved Plus or Approved with Distinction, depending on grades achieved in both teaching practice and portfolio modules.

The CELT certificate will state the overall grade awarded as well as individual grades for the Teaching Practice and Portfolio components.

Candidates are regularly informed of their progress through oral and written feedback from trainers on the course.

Attendance Policy

We keep a strict record of trainee attendance, punctuality and participation. These will be commented upon in the final report. According to ACELS guidelines, trainees must attend 100% of the teaching practices and at ACET we require a minimum of 95% of the input sessions. Trainees who have attended between 95% and 90% of the sessions are required to submit an additional portfolio task. Those who attend less than 90% of the input sessions are deemed not to have met the attendance specifications and will not be awarded a certificate. Trainees who do not attend all 7 TPs are deemed not to have completed the course and will not be awarded a certificate.