CELTA

Well, here's me with some of the students and fellow teachers, finally doing my CELTA.

I'd heard about CELTA years ago when I was looking for a way to figure out how to teach English in Latin America. I found out that it was an intense program run by Cambridge that required a lot of money (around $2400), and that's pretty much where I stopped.

It had always been on my mind though, and over the years I'd tried to figure out how to set aside a whole month of my life, along with the money, to finally get the certificate. In the ESL world, it's a respected certificate, and can translate into higher pay and better jobs.

So, when I came out to Dubai, I signed up for it. I figured it would be a great way to get in contact with some potential employers, while at the same time finally getting me some training.

Things didn't work how I'd planned though. I interviewed for my current job, and go it, so I had to postpone the training for later, and take it part-time. So, ever since February 19th, every Sunday night and Wednesday night I go in for 4 hours, along with 8 hours every other Saturday. There's lots of lesson planning involved, and other homework. On top of the 50-60 hours I'm already working each week, it's brutal.

Thankfully, I only have one more month of it, and then I will finally have the certificate. I'm not sure if it will ever make a difference in the jobs I get in the future, but, well, there's no use looking back now.

One last thing: the students were great. They were from the UAE, Yemen, India, the Philippines, and Nepal. I'd never met Nepalese people before, and I was really impressed with how warm and nice they are. It's not one of those places I'd ever planned on visiting, but I'm definitely thinking of it now.