To CELTA and beyond

We have already extolled the virtues of the CELTA course and what skills you take away from this internationally recognised teaching qualification. So, you get the qualification and you start your teaching career, but what next? Where can your English teaching take you and what are your options to progress in this field? One thing’s for sure, this is a vast and varied profession, which has a global reach. In short, the sky’s the limit!

Academic Management

Are you an organised person with good problem-solving skills? Maybe academic management is the career path for you. Once you have had a number of years of teaching experience, you might find yourself in a position where you are able to manage other teachers and get involved in the day-to-day running of the school. The positions that are involved in academic management are Director and Assistant Director of Studies. You may also get into this by first becoming a Senior Teacher in your institution.

Syllabus Design

If you feel you have a good grasp of the aspects of language that students need at different levels, then you could get involved in syllabus design. This involves analysing language and skills that need to be developed and selecting appropriate material to achieve this. For this, you’ll need to have the ability to see the bigger picture and use this knowledge to create the pieces of the syllabus puzzle.

Teacher Training

Do you think you have what it takes to teach teachers? It has to be said that teachers can be some of the fussiest students, but what better way to develop your own teaching skills? Teacher training takes creativity and a real interest in improving teachers’ approach to their classes. You also need to be independent in terms of keeping up to date with the current research and ideas in the industry, which you may get from books, journal articles, blogs, webinars or conferences.

Research

Would you like to look further into an element of teaching that you think other teachers would find useful? Every day you conduct small pieces of research without realising; testing out new activities, providing students with different examples and encouraging students to use the language more creatively. If you find this type of experimental teaching exciting, then this might be the job for you!

Presenting

Following on from the research conducted above, why not put your findings to good use? There are a multitude of ELT conferences around the world with willing teachers who give up their weekends to expand their knowledge and improve their skills. If you don’t mind a bit of public speaking, then this could be for you! Just make sure you speak about an aspect of teaching you really find interesting so you can inspire your audience; there’s nothing worse than being sat in a boring talk for an hour on a Saturday afternoon.

Examining/Invigilating

If you have had a good amount of experience teaching exams, then you could start thinking about becoming an invigilator or speaking examiner for an official exams centre. This involves an in-depth knowledge of the exams and the assessment guidelines for each level in order to give ss the correct mark. For both examining and invigilating you have to be able to follow strict instructions and guidelines in terms of the official processes set by the exam board.

Materials Writing

Have you created any material to use in class that you’re proud of? Are you a little bit of an artist at heart? If so, then you might like to try your hand at some materials writing. Whether this be for teachers in your school or on a bigger scale, teachers are always looking for new and exciting material to spice up their classes- so go ahead and brighten up their day!