Life Experiences from CELTA
Learning has always been an intimate affair for me. I crave knowledge, and I find myself entwined in an amorous relationship with learning language. Learning leaves me enlightened and cultivated. I believe the experience of learning is always positive as it renders one au fait with the complexity of worldly matters.
The CELTA programme is where you learn the nuances of the language. It can be quite taxing for those who aren’t sure of what to expect from it. I went in with little to no knowledge of the amount of time and dedication it would take to complete the course. While the theoretical part of the course can be crossed with medium difficulty, the real hurdle comes when having to plan for lessons and to execute the goals of the lesson plan in Teaching Practice. Taxing as it might be it surely was a rewarding experience.
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The word teacher itself is self-explanatory; it denotes that one is an entity of knowledge willing to impart that knowledge onto someone else.
Being a teacher is no easy task: it requires one to be empathetic, adaptable, passionate, compassionate, enthusiastic, and ever evolving. It is quite impossible to build a complete and definitive list of qualities required for a good teacher. A good teacher inspires a student to want to learn; be it in a classroom or on his own. A good teacher doesn’t walk into class to teach. A good teacher walks into class to inspire – I am well aware this sounds very ‘Dead Poet’s Society’-ish but I’m drawing from my experience as a student who had the most glorious teachers throughout my journey.
It would take someone who has ‘been there, done that’ to be able to connect with the learner. Every teacher was once a student and don’t we all start at the very bottom. I believe a good teacher should have the ability to get through to learners of a subject by instilling interest. He/she would and should be able to make a dull lecture into a refreshingly different experience which makes students devour the lesson and keep them hungry for more.
Passion for teaching stems from the passion for learning. Ultimately teachers were learners once before; teaching is just a branch stemming out from the thirst for knowledge. The drive to keep ahead with the times and have a wide range of knowledge should be internalised by a teacher; for without that drive, it would be hard to be able to keep the passion for learning alive. Learning itself is a living, breathing organism. A good teacher never ceases to inspire and almost never ceases to learn. CELTA gave me the foothold I needed to inspire learners.
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About the Author
Uma Baduil is an English tutor who has taught in Hong Kong, Paris, and İstanbul. She holds a Cambridge CELTA and is looking to delve into the DELTA programme. She’s currently pursuing a certificate from the University of London in TBLT. She is also an avid reader and traveller. She is now a freelance English tutor who teaches online to students from all over the world. Uma is taking full advantage of her flexible schedule to travel while teaching English, in the summer you can find her rummaging through books at Shakespeare & Company on Rue de la Bûcherie in Paris.