Swansea University’s English Language Training Services is continuing to run its prestigious Cambridge CELTA programme despite the lockdown.
Nine new trainees (and their dogs and cats) have just started their course and will be studying online instead via a dedicated portal, with full support from ELTS’ experienced trainers.
Course leaders say they are able to deliver every element of the course digitally including the embedded teaching practice which will now will be conducted online, with classes composed of asylum seekers, refugees and other non-native speakers largely based in the Swansea Bay region.
The trainees learning how to teach English as a foreign language are mostly from the local area, with three training via a nomination from Discovery, Swansea University Student Union’s own charity project.
Among those latest trainees is Emma Burton, from Neath, who is currently a student in the University’s College of Arts and Humanities.
Emma, whose assistance dog Elphie will be by her side as she learns, said: “I decided to do CELTA as I study modern languages and teaching and want to be a language teacher in the future, either teaching foreign languages here or English abroad.
“I am delighted and relieved that the course has been able to go ahead digitally and I will be able to use this time during the pandemic so productively towards my future career.
Peter Neville, of ELTS, said: “We are committed to running CELTA courses throughout this lockdown period, either online or face-to-face as the developing situation surrounding the pandemic allows.”
