Week 1

Phrase of the week:  Thank god I am not on the 4-week intensive CELTA course

Ah, it was mad of me to really believe I would be able to give a detailed description of every day spent on CELTA course. But you'll have to forgive me for my idealism. Or so I hope. Two weeks have passed so quickly that I've barely had time to breathe. Still, I will try to not go to much ahead of myself and give you a brief overview of week one.  As much as I remember, of course. We've been doing so much that it feels as if we've been doing this course not for 2 and half weeks but for years.

I gave you a quick overview of our first day. The highlight of the second day was obviously meeting our students for the first time. Fortunately we could all feel relatively free and relaxed as the first teacher practice lesson is  not observed by tutors. 

This, of course didn't mean we all felt relaxed and carefree. To be honest, we still felt quite nervous :) As for me, I would have never believed I'd be the punctual one, but I noticed how fabulously our best-laid plans grew over our heads. Well, I am exaggerating, but looking back, this was our first lesson in time management. You know what?  Managing time is extremely difficult! And as it turns out and as is and will probably be pointed out throughout the course - less is more.  I think most of us are still, during our third week slightly worried about having too much time and too few activities for students, but usually it's exactly the opposite - there's always too little time!

As for the afternoon seminars, they were fun and they were exhausting. I could of course describe them in detail, but if there is anyone planning on taking the course, I don't want to spoil their surprise by revealing everything! All I can say is -  I am still amazed by how I still have working brain. The amount of information received just during the first week, I thought, would turn anyone to a vegetable! 

This course is intense! And by intense I mean the most intensive course I've ever taken. Thank god I am doing just the semi-intensive course, not the full intensive one! Those guys must be crazy!  But strangely enough, this super-intensive, super-stressful course can and actually is fun! 

The further along we are on the course, the more fun it becomes. Seriously! And well...  yeah... more stressful and time-consuming and....

But I will tell you more when I'll find time to write some more... 

PS: never mind the seven hundred thousand grammar and spelling mistakes. Even though I am training to be a teacher and I know at least in theory what correct grammar is like, at 23:15  after hours and hours of lesson planning and other English language related activities I am well past caring about the mistakes.