Does CELTA Really Prepare You to Teach English? | TEFL Teacher Reflections - S07E09

What stays with you after years of teaching English? And how much of the teacher you become comes from your original training?In this episode of How to English: Teach and Learn with Gav & Em, we look back at our TEFL journeys and the experiences that have shaped us as English teachers.We revisit our CELTA training and talk about what we still use today, what frustrated us, and whether teachers sometimes spend too long eliciting an answer when it would be easier just to tell the students!We also get into the unmistakable influence teachers can have on their students. What happens when you inherit another teacher’s class? Can you immediately spot the habits and classroom culture that have already been established?Then there’s the pressure of the first lesson: making a good impression, dealing with nerves, making mistakes and establishing the kind of classroom you want from the very beginning.Along the way, we also tackle some rather important TEFL questions: unusual places we’ve taught, ridiculously long journeys to lessons, competitive classroom games, student pets and the essential items that keep teachers going.If you’re an English teacher, TEFL/TESOL professional, CELTA trainee or language learner, join us for a relaxed look at how teachers develop—and how our experiences follow us into the classroom.In this episode: CELTA memories • teacher training • eliciting vs giving answers • classroom dynamics • inheriting students • correcting bad habits • first lessons • teacher nerves • making mistakes • TEFL experiencesWhat did your teacher training teach you that you still use today? Let us know in the comments.#TEFL #CELTA #EnglishTeaching #ESLTeacher #ELT #TeachingEnglish #TESOL #EnglishTeachers #TeacherTraining #HowToEnglishResources:Quiz music: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=proOvlY-WKk⏱️ Timestamps00:00 – Intro with TEFL nostalgia03:17 – Gav’s “true or false” quiz begins 😄03:47 – Weirdest places we’ve taught English04:40 – Cutest (and strangest) student pets06:02 – Longest commutes & travel stories07:09 – Funny things students have called us08:02 – Essential TEFL survival items ☕08:32 – When classroom games get too competitive11:02 – CELTA reflections: love it or hate it?17:05 – Teaching style, classroom vibe & being approachable18:22 – Can you spot another teacher’s influence?23:18 – Bad habits students bring with them25:24 – First lessons, pressure & first impressions26:59 – Surviving the “autopilot” lesson blur31:06 – Being human, making mistakes & wrapping up