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Why do a CELTA in Brighton?
Brighton is one of the most popular destinations for tourists visiting the UK, and it's easy to see why. Brighton is a young, fun...
Connor O'Donoghue
Nov 7, 20233 min read
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How to teach advanced students
New teachers can be intimidated by advanced students - "What if they know more about grammar than I do?" "What if they correct my...
Connor O'Donoghue
Oct 31, 20233 min read
216 views
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Teacher Talking Time: How can we reduce it?
For many new trainee teachers on their first CELTA course, one of the first and most frequent action points that they get told to work on...
Connor O'Donoghue
Oct 24, 20233 min read
1,657 views
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Teaching English in Taiwan: What it's really like
Why Taiwan? When someone is thinking about where they could live abroad, one of the things they worry about is whether or not they will...
Connor O'Donoghue
Oct 19, 20235 min read
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What is controlled practice?
Part of learning anything is to practise it. When I was a teenager and I learned to drive in Ireland in the 1990s, my father took me to...
Connor O'Donoghue
Oct 17, 20233 min read
1,779 views
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How can you prepare to teach IELTS classes?
Students have many different reasons for learning English, but one of the most significant motivations is the doors that English can...
Connor O'Donoghue
Oct 6, 20232 min read
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Five top tips for writing a CELTA lesson plan
When we meet people at the end of their CELTA courses, one of the comments they often make is that they didn't realise just how much time...
Connor O'Donoghue
Oct 3, 20233 min read
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Why CELTA is worth doing for non-native speakers
Thirty years ago, almost everyone who did a CELTA course was a native speaker. The idea was that young British people often went to Spain...
Connor O'Donoghue
Oct 1, 20233 min read
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Receptive skills tasks for the English language classroom
Reading and listening are known as the 'receptive skills' because we receive language while reading and listening. The other language...
Connor O'Donoghue
Sep 27, 20233 min read
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Where can British people teach English abroad after Brexit?
Until Brexit, European countries like Spain and Italy were among the most popular options for teaching abroad for British citizens after...
Connor O'Donoghue
Sep 22, 20233 min read
1,219 views
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Checking students' understanding of meaning
One of the most important skills to learn as a new teacher is the skill of checking students' understanding. We might think we're...
Connor O'Donoghue
Sep 12, 20233 min read
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Giving feedback to students in CELTA teaching practice
On a CELTA course, you'll be encouraged to get students to do most tasks by themselves, maybe working alone or in pairs or groups, and...
Connor O'Donoghue
Aug 30, 20233 min read
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Should I do my CELTA part-time or full-time?
All CELTA courses share many features in common. Every course has the same basic elements: At least 120 contact hours At least 80 hours...
Connor O'Donoghue
Aug 18, 20233 min read
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Why DELTA?
DELTA is an in-service qualification in teaching English – this means that it’s aimed at experienced teachers. The standard...
Connor O'Donoghue
Aug 11, 20233 min read
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Product writing: a simple approach to teaching writing
Some CELTA tutors will avoid giving trainees writing lessons to teach, even though it is part of the syllabus. It is true that it's...
Connor O'Donoghue
Aug 8, 20233 min read
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Connor's CELTA experience - why I did it and what it did for me
When I was 21, I didn't really know what I was doing with my life. I'd finished a degree in law and I knew I wanted to go on an adventure...
Connor O'Donoghue
Aug 4, 20235 min read
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Anticipating problems when planning your CELTA lesson
Some parts of writing a lesson plan are easier than others, and many CELTA trainees complain that they just don't know where to start...
Connor O'Donoghue
Aug 1, 20232 min read
1,652 views
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A helpful guide to TEFL and CELTA acronyms.
The EFL world is littered with acronyms (there’s one in this sentence already). These can sometimes get confusing. This blog hopes to...
Danny Wilkins
Jul 28, 20235 min read
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How to drill pronunciation like a pro
Drilling simply means repeating things aloud. It's one of the simplest language teaching tools we have and it's one of the ones we've...
Connor O'Donoghue
Jul 26, 20233 min read
1,003 views
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What is guided discovery?
As you progress through a CELTA course, you will start to get comfortable with all the things you need to do when you're teaching new...
Connor O'Donoghue
Jul 18, 20232 min read
521 views
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