Why You Should Take the CELTA

What is the Celta and why do we ask for it?

Today we are talking to Lewis Richards, who is our Exams Director of Studies.  He has worked here at LSI Portsmouth since 2000 and is now also a CELTA teacher trainer.  

So Lewis, firstly for anyone who doesn’t know, what is the CELTA?

So, CELTA stands for Certificate of English Language Teaching for Adults, and it’s an entry-level qualification for people who want to teach English as a foreign language.  It’s a course accredited by the University of Cambridge, and you can take a CELTA in one of hundreds of officially recognised CELTA training centres all over the world.

Who would usually do this course?

You don’t need any teaching experience to do a CELTA, so many people who do it are coming to teaching for the first time, and want to learn how to teach English.  Some people do the course with some teaching experience already, either in another field (for example, they have been state school teachers and are looking for a change), or they have done some English teaching abroad, for example, but without a recognised qualification.  The course is designed for people who have never taught before, so it assumes no prior knowledge.  Once they have passed the CELTA, trainees then can apply for teaching jobs in reputable EFL schools in the UK or worldwide.

What does the training include?

It’s a very practical, hands-on course, and in fact on most courses you will be in the classroom teaching a short lesson (either 20 minutes or 40 minutes) on the first day of the course.  The course is divided into several parts – there is input from the tutors on different aspects of teaching (how to teach grammar, for example, how to correct students, or how to manage a classroom), there is teaching practice, where trainees teach lessons to real students (who are offered a free or very cheap course), and there are four assignments to write during the course, which require the trainees to research and reflect on different aspects of teaching.

After teaching practice, the trainees evaluate their own lessons, and also give feedback to their peers, so it’s a very supportive and developmental atmosphere.

Why do you think it is important for teachers to do a CELTA?

I think it’s essential to have knowledge of and experience of the basics of teaching English as a foreign language, in order to be able to give good lessons to students.  Without the training, input and feedback, it isn’t really possible to teach properly.  The fact also that you are trained and mentored by highly qualified and experienced tutors helps a lot.

What should potential teachers be aware of?

Well, unfortunately there are many ‘EFL’ or ‘TEFL’ qualifications out there online, and only the CELTA and the Trinity TESOL are recognised by the British Council and by good schools around the world.  Be very careful not to pay for a course which looks like a CELTA or a Trinity but actually isn’t.  The best way to check is to look at Cambridge’s list of recognised CELTA centres.  I’ve had the experience of having to turn people down for a job because the qualification they had wasn’t the right one.  It’s worth investing in the proper qualification.

What made you want to become a CELTA trainer?

Well, I was lucky enough to be trained by a brilliant tutor, Paul Seligson (he’s the co-author of some of the well-known ‘English File’ series), and I wanted to try to pass on my experience and knowledge of teaching from the last 20 years to new teachers, just as he did to me.  I’ve taught quite a few courses now, and I find it very interesting and very rewarding.

Thank you so much Lewis, that has answered so many questions.

Fact file:

Cost: £1300 approx.

Length: 4 weeks full-time; part-time courses vary in length.

What else is necessary (first degree and skills):  Education to A’Level or equivalent.  If you are not a native speaker, a C1 level of English is the minimum required.

British Council Accreditation requirements and link

As LSI Portsmouth is a British Council Accredited institution we follow the requirements as laid out in the British Council handbook of minimum requirements for Academic Staff (section 4.2) (https://www.britishcouncil.org/sites/default/files/accreditation_uk_handbook_2016-17.pdf) as well as a minimum of two years teaching experience.

Didn't They Do Well! DELTM, English UK and Cardiff.

We couldn't be more delighted to be able to congratulate Lea Brophy - The Vice Principal, Lewis Richards - Director of Studies (Exams) and Sue Hodgson - Assistant Director of Studies and Social Media Manager on passing their DELTM (Diploma in English Language Teaching Management) Qualification after nearly 18 months of studying.

They have been studying for this qualification since September 2014, completing five assignments, a project and ten monthly face to face sessions in London.  The course effectively ended when they handed in their final projects in November 2015 with their results being given in the first week of March.  The assignments and projects were then moderated by Trinity College, and the certificates were finally presented at the English UK Management conference held in Cardiff 10th and 11th March.

The conference was really informative, with many superb speakers giving talks.  One that had almost every person spell bound was from Geoff Burch, author, business expert and TV personality. His talk was inspiring, thought provoking and hugely entertaining.

Also, our own Lewis Richards gave a talk on observations which was very well received.

All in all, it was a great success and enjoyed by all who attended.

Going to New Heights (with a monkey) - The DELTM Course

As LSI continues to grow, so has the importance it places on personal development.  We recently wrote about five of our teachers who are following an inhouse DELTA course.  As well as this, LSI is sending three of its staff to London once a month to follow the DELTM course run by English UK.
Lea Brophy (Vice Principal) Lewis Richards (Exams Director of Studies) and Sue Hodgson (Assistant Director of studies - Executive).  Below is a brief outline of the course from the English UK website;

"This course provides excellent professional development for managers and aspiring managers of language centres, and is run by English UK and validated by Trinity College London.

The course focuses on management at three levels: routine, tactical and strategic, and is run by George Pickering, Terry Phillips and Keith Harding.

It runs in London from September to June, with ten monthly face-to face sessions, and a requirement to complete five 3,500-word assignments and a 5,000-word project. These are practical, with a theoretical underpinning".

The guys below have just completed their third assignment, and as the photo shows are having a great time in London with the other participants (plus a monkey - used during the course to visually explain a point).

From left: Lea, Lewis, Sue, (Monkey), George (Pickering)

English UK Visit website

We are so proud! Graduation Day 2014 MA Linguistics and TEFL

Today was a very special day for some of our teachers.  For the last two years they have been working their socks off studying for their Master Degrees in Applied Linguistics and TEFL, and today they graduated.
So massive congratulations to Lewis Richards, Robyn Brooks, Caroline Gwatkin, Gordon Scruton  and Stephanie Furness-Barr.  Gordon and Steph have moved to pastures new now, however we still love them dearly ;-)
We are very proud of all of you!

Also our new Administration Officer Amelia Gibson also graduated in
BA (Hons) English and Creative Writing degree.

What a fab week we had celebrating all our colleagues hard work!

No Ordinary Class, No Ordinary Superman!

Our latest CAE Exam group came to the end of their course last week and decided to celebrate in style!

Superman in the middle is actually the Director of Studies for Exams Lewis Richards!  (Not really how we remember exam classes from school is it ;-)



We are looking forward to starting our next Cambridge FCE and CAE classes in two weeks.

EnglishUK in Bristol Management Conference 2014 - what a great time we had!

Once a year EnglishUK hold a management conference, the destination changes each year. This year it was held in Bristol, and five of the managers at LSI Portsmouth attended. The programme that was organised was stimulating and thought provoking.  The refreshments were delicious and the venue, The Bristol Marriott Royal Hotel, was superb, an added bonus was that we were able to catch up with some old friends.

From left: Lewis Richards (DOS) Lea Brophy (DOS) Leanne Prescott (ADOS) Sue Hodgson (ADOS) and Robyn Brooks (Course Manager)

We met up with some old friends:

colleagues from the TEN group

(From left: Viv - Sue - Nigel) 
Viv Canal the Academic Manager at Excel English Language School in London
 Nigel Paramor the Principal at English in Chester

It was lovely to finally meet Mel from Keltic who we have only ever spoken to on the phone  before and for Lea to see his old friend from Keltic Hugh Butland.

From left: Lea and Hugh

It's always good to see the new books that are available - here are a few Keltic had on show.

And we were so happy to meet up with Russell Hall, who used to work with us here at LSI Portsmouth before moving to Manchester.

From Left: Lea, Robyn, Russell, Leanne and Lewis

The hotel was placed in a perfect spot right next to this green.

And look who we found... We have the same Queen Victoria statue in Portsmouth!

Russian into Portsmouth

We recently had the pleasure of welcoming to LSI Portsmouth a group of 35 students and 5 teachers / lecturers from The Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration and Ivanavo State Power University.

The teachers certainly kept us on our toes, their English was so good. As always sharing cultural differences was so interesting and all the LSI teachers who were involved with the Russian students thoroughly enjoyed the experience.
We had a little tea party at the end, with some lovely treats prepared by Le Cafe Parisien (next door).

New Positions for the New Year

To start the New Year with vitality and fresh ideas, we are delighted to announce some new appointments and positions.

As our student numbers have grown, we have needed to re-organise a few of our areas.  

Firstly, the exam department now has their own Director of Studies to organise the IELTS and Cambridge courses, and we are delighted to announce that Lewis Richards is the new Director of Studies for Exams.  Ross McKenzie is the Director of Studies for General English, and helping them both is Leanne Prescott as the new Assistant Director of Studies for General English and Exams.

Lewis Richards - Director of Studies - Exams

Leanne Prescott - Assistant Director of Studies for GE and Exams

Last September, Cristina Purcell, the Pre-sessional course manager retired which led to a reorganisation for the Pre-sessional department. The new Pre-sessional Course Manager is Robyn Brooks and the Pre-sessional Logistics Co-ordinator is Ed Humphreys, supporting them is Joanna Glos the Pre-sessional Support.

Robyn Brook - Pre-sessional Course Manager

Ed Humphreys - Pre-sessional Logistics Co-Ordinator

Joanna Glos - Pre-sessional Support

And finally, Rosie Ford has joined us at LSI as Quality Assurance Manager and P.A. to the Principal Andrew Edwards.

Rosie Ford - Quality Assurance Manager and PA to the Principal

We wish all of them great success in their new roles.

Yet another inspection, yet another celebration!

It's a part of teaching life nowadays to need inspections by various groups, which always mean the teachers and staff have to work particularly hard before and during the inspection.  What better way to mark the end of the week than everyone getting together for a drink or three?

Allan Gray, Ceri Tipler, Dave Cann

Dave Cann, (background: Jacqui, Will) Alan Daysh (June) Emma Hoyle

Alan Daysh, John Hicks, Emma Hoyle, Andrew Edwards

Lewis Richards - showing what Real Men don't drink ;-)

Interactive Whiteboards

Keeping up with technology is a never ending task. No sooner do you have the latest than you find it has become old hat!  I still remember a student telling me all about ... Power Point back in the late 90's.  I sat there open mouthed as he explained the concept to me. At that time there were no laptops or computers in the classrooms.  Very quickly that changed and we had laptops available and the era of PowerPoint started.  Then came mobile phones for everyone, WIFI, ipads etc.  It's never easy knowing which will stand the test of time and which will pass into the anals of history with a wry smile (remember Beta videos?).

In our ongoing quest to keep up with all the latest technology, we have just had some superb new equipment set up in the classrooms.

We have recently had some interactive whiteboards set up in some of our clasrooms.

With the lovely Jeremy and Lewis modelling
the latest technology installed at LSI 

To their advantage...

The second book was ‘IELTS Advantage: Writing Skills’, co-written by Lewis Richards, our General English Assistant Director of Studies, and Richard Brown a former LSI teacher who now works in Spain.  Both of whom have extensive teaching and training experience.

Richard and Lewis at the book signing in Cafe P last September

Lewis says: “IELTS Advantage is a book that aims to help students achieve a 6.5 or 7.0 (or more!) in the writing section of the IELTS exam.  Richard and I developed the ideas for the book over many years at LSI of writing our own materials to help students with writing.  We found that, although there are many good IELTS books on the market, what was missing was a step-by-step guide to all the different types of writing that students have to do in the exam.  After years of working together on materials, and trying them out in our classes, we decided to see if we could put them together in book.  IELTS Advantage has now been on sale for around nine months, and has proved really successful in helping students (either in classes, or by self-study) achieve a high writing score in the exam.  We’re currently writing a new book, this time an IELTS course book, which will focus on all four parts of the exam”

(Don't tell anyone but...Lewis spent a day recently showing screen shots of the fact that his book had a higher ranking on Amazon than Raymond Murphy's 'English Grammar in Use'!)

How Amazon puts it: 

Product Description



"IELTS Advantage: Writing Skills" is a fully comprehensive resource for passing the writing section of the IELTS exam with a grade of 6.5-7.0 or higher. Students are guided step-by-step through the different tasks in the writing module, using material developed in the classroom, by authors with many years' experience in helping hundreds of IELTS candidates achieve a high IELTS score. "IELTS Advantage: Writing Skills": shows students how to organise and structure an answer for all types of task 1 and 2 questions; contains a model essay in each unit, showing students exactly what is required; contains a general interest article in each unit, developing ideas and vocabulary for a common topic in the exam; quickly develops students' fluency and confidence in producing pieces of writing through a focus on academic vocabulary and collocations; and, contains grammar exercises in each unit, showing students how to apply a wide range of grammar items in their IELTS writing. Key features: suitable for classroom study or self-study; includes answer key; real writing samples from IELTS students, with examiners' comments, show in detail what is required to achieve a 6.5 , for example, frequent exam tips from the authors' experience as IELTS examiners help students achieve a higher score; and, check and challenge sections allow students to revise material and take their writing to the next level. "IELTS Advantage" is a series of course books offering step-by-step guidance to achieving a high IELTS score.

Reviews:

i have bought this book in 2011, and i am now preparing myself to take ielts exam and i need 7, this book is an amazing and informative book,which is teach you step by step,it is the best book i have ever bought for ielts ,one things which is not related to the author is the page 129 is missing which is a shame there are two more diagram in this page,guys you are brilliant, i wish i have known you in reality as i chose both of you as my teacher for ielts. thanks
please wish me high score

Although this book is not published by Cambridge University Press, it is the best writing guide for IELTS. Cambridge books seem to have neglected writing part of the exam, at least when it comes to aiming for band 7+. This wonderful book does job much better than they do. Collocations and phrases are the main characteristic of this excellent reference, but is not the only thing I adore. Sample essays and comments teach you as well. I've been struggling to understand rules of task 1, including a plan of this kind of essay. I purchased this outstanding book and everything changed. I feel more confident. Missing page is not a problem because the publisher attached this for my request. Worth buying and working through it!

Link on amazon:

LSI Hosts the First IELTS Conference in the UK

 May the 19^th and LSI holds the first ever IELTS conference in the UK.

LSI has a fantastic reputation for their IELTS courses, and, with a published IELTS course book author as head of the team, the classes are constantly full.

In May LSI hosted the ‘IELTS Conference – Ideas and approaches for teaching IELTS’, led by three of our very own teachers and a guest speaker and attended by over 50 different visitors from ten institutions.

All the speakers generously offered advice and tips on how to make the potentially dull exam classes lively and interactive, each drawing on their many years of experience.

‘We were very proud to be able to showcase our school and what we have to offer.  It was great to meet everyone and as teachers we really enjoyed being able to share what we have and also to hear from others’ says Lewis Richards.  Teacher, teacher trainer and co author of ‘IELTS Advantage: Writing Skills’, Lewis outlined practical ideas and approaches for teaching IELTS writing, addressing the difficulties of how to make IELTS writing more interactive and student centred.

Senior teacher trainer Suzie Coates looked at how to help lower level IELTS students improve their speaking for the exam.

One of our most popular IELTS teachers Fiona Lewis focussed on methods of training students to improve their listening skills, giving practical tips and advice.

We were delighted to have multi-published author of IELTS and Medical English course books Sam McCarter as a guest speaker.  Sam looked at the difficult subject of reading and how to make this more interesting and dynamic, which would surely be welcomed by teachers and students alike. ‘Sam was just so generous with his time and knowledge and everyone really appreciated the time and effort he put in to come here and share his ideas’ explained Lewis.

The day was rounded off by an informal and interactive session where everyone was able to share ideas and talk about the problems they face in teaching IELTS.

As Lewis says "What made it really special was the way everyone joined in and shared ideas, we couldn't have hoped for a better day".

The Uncountables at the Edge of the Wedge

The musical talent at LSI is quite astounding, with at the last count, no less than four different bands made up from teachers and staff in the school.  Recently The Uncountables played one of their gigs at the Edge of the Wedge in Southsea.  The band members Lewis Richards (Bass), Alan Daysh (keyboards and vocals) Tom Easey (Drums) and our lovely ex teacher Luc Owen (guitar and vocals) played a very lively set with audience participation at an all time high – particularly from our lovely Kurdish students.