TEFL course feedback: CELTA in Argentina
Friday, 9th October 2009
Cactus client Jennie Rhodes shares her experience of doing a CELTA course in Buenos Aires...
Travelling, learning another language and learning more about my own language are all been things that I always knew I would do, it was just a question of getting around to doing them. So having decided that mortgages just don’t suit me I sold my house and finally got around to doing those three things.
I have spent several years studying other languages and wanted to do something practical that allowed me to ‘study’ English. Thanks to the wonderful English school system I had very little idea of English grammar; structures, names for tenses etc. I only had some idea through learning other languages.
In addition to this I have always enjoyed travelling and living abroad and had started, after several years of living solely in the UK, to get itchy feet again. So taking a TEFL course seemed like the ideal thing to do to combine my wanderlust, interest in the English language and enjoyment of meeting people from other countries.
I decided to incorporate CELTA into a 9 month trip around South America and Buenos Aires is one of the few places there that offer the CELTA. Added to this the plan was to do a circuit up the west side of South America and down the east, with my plane ticket requiring me to fly back to the UK from Buenos Aires.
So having passed the application process and interview, which was conducted via SKYPE, with me in an internet cafe in Ecuador and the interviewer in BA, I arrived on day 1 to be greeted by a friendly and slightly nervous looking bunch of fellow trainees. We soon bonded over coffee and lesson plan ideas and went on to become good friends outside of the classroom as well, with further bonding over a few bottles of Cabernet Sauvignon and Saturday brunch in our favourite BA cafe.
We had a fantastic group of students to teach, who said they enjoyed being taught by trainee teachers, because the lessons are well planned and taught by people who are still enthusiastic about teaching!!
The most challenging things about the course for me were the intensity and not having ready access to a computer and internet. It is tiring, but get a good group of fellow trainees and excellent tutors, like I did and there will be a lot of laughter, fun and support too.
Two weeks after returning from South America, I moved to Spain to teach in a language school. By sheer coincidence I timed my return to Europe to coincide with the start of term there and a lot of last minute recruiting. So be prepared to travel at short notice there are jobs to be had. It is worth thinking about when to take the course to time it with term times in various corners of the world. In Europe it’s September/October and in South America the start of the school year is February.
There are some other things to bear in mind. I tagged it on to 8 months of travelling, so didn’t have all of the resources that may have made life a little easier, such as a laptop, or space in my rucksack to take back home with me the folder of work I rapidly built up, or the suggested text books. These I did manage to get in Buenos Aires, but books tend to be some of the few things that are more expensive across South America than Europe.
When they tell you the course is intense, they’re not joking! I thought I had done intense courses before, but CELTA is something else! There’s very little time to fit Spanish or tango lessons in at the same time. That’s not to say that we didn’t manage to enjoy what Buenos Aires has to offer, but it was very limited. Monday to Friday is all about being in school then lesson planning in the evenings and weekends are set aside for the written assignments, so make sure you allow time before or after the course to get to know the place and its welcoming residents, known as Porteños.
Buenos Aires is a very European city, but with largely South American cost of living. Although more expensive than some of its neighbouring countries’ capital cities, it is still, compared to Europe, very cheap. Meat eaters can enjoy a huge steak for less than £4 and a decent bottle of wine from a supermarket will cost no more than £2.
For anyone thinking of doing the CELTA in South America, I would definitely say do it! It’s a fabulous part of the world and the course could either be done with a view to teaching English as a way of living there afterwards, or do like I did and fit it in to the end of travelling, with a view to thinking about the next destination!
Tags: celta, efl, course, language, languages, spain, tefl, learning, spanish, english
Posted by Laura Harrison 2009-10 under Types of Courses,
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Posted by Teach English on 10/29 at 10:37 PM
I am so excited to hear about your journey, I love teaching English and it is always nice hear of others who share the same feelings,
Thanks for sharing keep it up.
Posted by Emma on 08/28 at 10:34 AM
It is very reassuring to hear a recentish glowing report on the Celta in Argentina. I don't have a mortgage myself but have definitely decided that struggling to obtain one and developing my current career, as much as I have loved it, is not for me. I have chosen to go to South America in January 2011, I mainly chose that location because I would love to learn spanish and it looks amazing! I'm also very keen to teach english. I was going to do the celta here in the UK before going but think I may as well just get there asap! I have a volunteer teaching placement organised in Ecuador - not just teaching english but that can be part of it. Just thinking though - do you think it will be best to do the celta then look for a teaching english job straight away to gain experience in Argentina before travelling to other parts? I am worried that if I do the Celta then don't teach straight away employers will think I've forgotten it all? Also - I can't decided whether to do a months spanish course over there before or after the celta - any views?! I've been advised that Bolivia is the best place to learn spanish as they have less accents/ dialects and tend to speak more slowly - is this true?
Very grateful for any advice - and very grateful that you wrote this - thanks!
Emma
Posted by Laura Harrison on 08/31 at 02:23 PM
Hi Emma,
Thanks very much for your comment on the article about taking a CELTA course in Argentina. I'm glad that you found it helpful!
I think doing a CELTA course and not working for a few months should be fine. You do risk forgetting some of what you learnt, and also losing some of the confidence you've gained on the course if you leave it much longer than that though, I would say.
Doing a CELTA course in the country where you'd like to teach can be beneficial in that often the tutors will have contacts with local language schools who may have teaching vacancies.
In terms of taking a Spanish course first, I think that this would be really helpful, if possible. Firstly, it allows you to acclimatise to a new environment and culture before you start a fairly demanding course, and secondly, you will learn Spanish in the same way that you'll be teaching English, which will give you a useful insight into how the 'immersion' method works, and how students can feel - especially at beginner level.
In terms of your question about Bolivian Spanish, I understand from colleagues who have studied in South America that this does apply but that Colombian and Mexican Spanish is also considered to be slower and less hard to understand than other forms.
Below is a link to details of all the Spanish courses available around the world, including South America.
http://www.cactuslanguage.com/en/languages/spanish.php
Please just let us know if you have any further questions.