CELTA Week Two: From Rise to Fall

Second week at CELT Athens is over - and, yes, I am still alive!

Before writing about my TP3 and TP4, I would like to make clear that the purpose of this blog is neither to teach nor to preach others on how to go through the CELTA course. This is just me sharing my experiences as a CELTA trainee in case someone finds it an interesting read. For potential candidates, it is always better to read information written from someone that is going through this process than an administrator.

TP3 was a success, a great one. My aims where achieved, both the learning and the personal ones, and I managed to improve almost every weakness that I had up to that moment. Thinking back on it, a successful TP requires three important things: a devoted tutor, supportive fellow trainees, and ones own willingness to follow suggestions, recommendations, and advice. It is for that reason that I want to thank my fellow trainees whose help has been invaluable and the universe for sending in my way my wonderful tutor, Bita Rezaei; she is a good reason for anyone to travel to another country to get trained by her.

As for the third ingredient of the success recipe, there is no guide that can teach anyone how to absorb, internalise, and put in practice the things that s/he has learned. All one needs is to fully devote him/herself on the entire process, which, in turn, means that s/he must love it. 

When I started planning my TP3, I knew that it was going to be a very good one because I had fun even at the planning stage. I completed the plan, did some studying, and a couple of hours later I revised it. Same thing with the material, same thing with the activities, etc. It is very important for anyone to be able to detach oneself from the thing s/he works on and then go back and review it, afresh. It is after close attention to the detail that sets the ground for a successful TP.

And right after this great experience, TP4 was a complete failure. I will not commend on that because every minute of this lesson was an example to avoid. The reason? No reason. I know the procedure, I know the steps, I know how to plan, and I definitely know how to stand before students. I just had a bad day, which... happens I think to us all. The only word of advice, though: It is ok to fail every once in a while, it is ok to have a bad day, and it is ok to show weakness. After all, we are teachers: what we teach is that making mistakes is the best way towards knowledge, improvement, and development.