Certificate in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (CELTA)

The course is for people who are interested in learning to teach English and wish to gain an initial teaching qualification that is recognised worldwide.

It is suitable for candidates who have some English language teaching experience but no initial qualification, as well as for people with little or no previous teaching experience.

The Centre

UCL CLIE is a Centre within IOE, UCL's Faculty of Education and Society, ranked number one for education worldwide every year since 2014 in the QS World University Subject Rankings (2024).

CLIE educational activities focus primarily on language teaching, teacher education and preparatory courses for higher education.

The Cambridge Certificate in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (CELTA) is an important part of CLIE’s teacher training provision, alongside the CLIE Module on the IOE MA TESOL (Pre-service).

Your teachers

Our CELTA course tutors have extensive experience in English language teaching and training. They have worked in a range of learning contexts throughout their careers both in the UK and overseas.

The tutoring team has a strong commitment to professional development and keeps up with the latest developments in English language teaching.

They also produce teaching materials for major publishers and speak at international conferences in the field.

All members of the CLIE teacher training team are actively involved in the work of Cambridge CELTA and DELTA.

Hear from our previous students

We've asked our previous students some questions about studying the CELTA at UCL.

Entry requirements

You must meet the following entry requirements:

• have a standard of English that would enable you to teach a range of levels (for example a minimum of Cambridge English CAE Grade A or an IELTS score of at least 7.5)
• be a UK university student or alumni
• be 18 years old or older at the start of the course

Course dates

24 August to 20 September 2024.

Classes will start on Saturday 24 August. There will be no class on Monday 26 August due to the bank holiday.

From Tuesday 27 August classes will be held each weekday (Monday to Friday).

Classes are held on the UCL Bloomsbury campus, 10:30 - 18:00.

Sample timetable

This sample timetable below shows how a typical week is organised.

Experienced tutors will prepare and deliver input sessions in which you will learn about teaching in a collaborative learning environment with your peers.

Teaching practice takes place every afternoon.

Each participant teaches twice a week throughout the course.

Course content

The course is made up of four parts.

1. Input sessions

You will be taught in the way we would like you to teach your future students.

These sessions cover:

• Language analysis and awareness (grammar, vocabulary, and pronunciation)
• Language skills (reading, writing, speaking and listening)
• Learners and teachers and the learning and teaching context
• Developing teaching skills and techniques
• Classroom procedures 
• Planning lessons
• Adapting published materials for use in lessons
• Use of resources and materials including ICT
• Introduction to a wider variety of teaching contexts e.g. younger learners, business, examinations, monolingual classes.
• Professionalism
• Future employment advice

2. Teaching practice

You will undertake regular teaching practice throughout the course.

This will include six-hours of teaching while being observed by your tutors and classmates.

You will be observed teaching a range of English language levels during the course and teach lessons of up to an hour, depending on the stage of the course.

On days when you are not teaching, you will observe your peers and give constructive oral and written feedback on their lessons.

3. Assisted lesson planning

You will receive support from your tutors when preparing your lessons. This will be reduced as the course progresses.

4. Teaching observation

You will watch experienced teachers teach lessons (six hours during the course).

Assessment and workload

We use continuous assessment rather than a final written examination.

You will be assessed on your language knowledge, lesson planning and preparation, teaching, and assignments.

You are expected to attend 100% of the course, and must:

• teach a total of six hours of assessed lessons
• write lesson plans and self-evaluations for the lessons you teach
• observe your peers' teaching and take part in giving constructive feedback on each other’s lessons
• observe six hours of lessons taught by experienced teachers
• submit four assessed written assignments (comprising a total of 3000 words)

In addition to the core contact hours, we estimate that you will need to spend a minimum of 80 hours during the course on the required reading, research, pre- and post-session tasks, assignments, and lesson preparation.

The final grades awarded are Pass A, Pass B, Pass or Fail.

Fee

The course fee is £2,070. This includes the Cambridge Assessment English entry fee.

Once you have been notified that your application has been successful, you will be required to pay the full fee to secure your place on the course.

How to apply

Applications for this course are made directly to the UCL Centre for Languages & International Education via the application form.

Once your application has been considered, we will let you know if you have been selected for an interview.

The interview will be held online via Microsoft Teams, except in exceptional circumstances.

Following your interview, if your application is successful, we will email you an offer of a place on the course, providing information about how to pay the course fee.

Application deadline

Applications are now closed.

Refunds

Refund requests must be received by 14 June 2024 (the refund request deadline) to be considered and are subject to a 10% administration charge. Refund requests must be submitted by email to clie-celta@ucl.ac.uk

Requests for full or pro rata refunds for students withdrawing from a course of study after its commencement will not be considered.